Iran Regime, Opponents Lack Solutions To Economic Woes (S01E71)

Last week Tehran-based tech entrepreneur Hamidreza Ahmadi stunned Iran watchers with an insightful and extraordinarily brave essay written from Iran about the real reasons behind Iranians’ misery in the leftist journal Jacobin.In the piece, the Queens College graduate and one-time New York resident stu recounts the double tragedy of the January protests in Iran. Not only were the protests brutally crushed, costing thousands of lives. But they were effectively hijacked by both the government and the opposition to obscure the underlying difficulties that prompted people to head into the streets:Over the span of two days, thousands lost their lives, and many more were injured. The details of the crackdown are grim and well documented elsewhere. Both the state and the Pahlavi camps had an interest in burying the economic angle. The protests were swiftly reframed as a civilizational clash: Islamic Republic versus monarchical restoration. Both sides gained from this framing because neither could offer a credible answer to the material grievances that had brought people into the streets. Neither had redistributive policies to propose. Neither wanted to talk about the VAT hike, the forex shock, or the rising price of food and rent. So they didn’t. The economic origin story was erased. And so January became about security and treason for one side and freedom and democracy for the other.In an exclusive interview, badlands’ first on-camera dicussion from Tehran, Ahmadi discusses the impact of Iran’s economic troubles, how sanctions relief helped launch a whole generation of entrepreneurial verve, and how the re-imposition of sanctions crushed that spirit.He also discusses the day-to-day troubles in Iran now, how his own small business is going, and whether people fear a return to full-scale warfare.We also get a live view of the snow-capped mountaintops of northern Tehran.Please listen or watch, subscribe and share.badlands is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit borzou.substack.com/subscribe