Ongoing protests rage on in Iran, glimmers of public resistance surface in China, and Americans continue to speak out against police brutality in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ murder. In recent months, these diverse stories of citizen resistance and communities fighting for justice continue to captivate public attention, passion, and outrage.
On September 16, Mahsa Amini, a twenty-two year old Iranian woman, died in the custody of Iranian officials as the result of a beating she sustained while imprisoned for violating the stringent compulsory hijab policies in the country. As long as the brutal oppression of citizens has existed in Iran, so too have dissidents opposed the regime. However, Amini’s tragic death was a salient rallying call for many citizens, especially Iranian women. In major cities such as Tehran, Tabriz, and Mashhad, citizens have demanded change through both retaliatory violence and acts of civil disobedience – such as the viral photo in which a man and a woman share a public kiss, with the woman forgoing a hijab. However, as the protests have continued through January, Iran has cracked down. A regional humans rights group, Iran Human Rights (IHR) reports that as of January, 481 protestors have been killed. While progress is slow and costly, citizens are hopeful for change. In December of 2022, officials reported that Iran’s morality police, the sector of the police force known for often violently enforcing Iran’s compulsory Sharia dress code, has been disbanded. While this claim has not yet been wholly authenticated, many activists and organizers believe the protesters are winning small victories, and will be pivotal in shifting towards a more just Iran.
In China, similar protests against authoritarianism sprang up in early December following the harsh COVID lockdown policies in Urumqi. Specifically, peaceful protests originated after news of the 10 citizens who died in an apartment fire, speculated to be barred from exiting the complex due to these lockdowns, spread through the country. China’s “zero-COVID” policy is but a facet of the governments extensive campaign against Chinese citizens’ personal and political liberties. To many, these deaths were the final straw. Protests began in Urumqi, then quickly moved across the country. In Shanghai, citizens held up white pieces of paper, taking a symbolic stance against China’s oppressive censorship. Others, more boldly, called for Xi Jinping and the Communist party to “step down”. In recent weeks, news of the repercussions which protestors are facing has surfaced. While the protests were nonviolent, NPR has confirmed eight people connected to the demonstrations have been quietly arrested in recent weeks.
Most recently, protestors in Tennessee took to the streets of Memphis to protest the violent police beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29 year old Black man first pulled over on the basis of “reckless driving”. A graphic video of the altercation depicts the five police officers repeatedly physically assailing Nichols, a physically slight man who pleaded with the officers to stop. Nichols suffered extensive bleeding and died three days later in the hospital. The flagrantly violent abuse has sparked major protests, with demonstrators in New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, and Los Angeles all calling for an end to racial violence and police brutality. Tyre Nichols murder has also led to continued conversations on the nature of American policing and anti-Black police brutality. The race of the officers involved, all whom are also Black, has been a particular point of discussion. Howard University professor Lenese Herbert comments on this, stating that “the only color that matters here is blue”. She argues that anti-Black violence is ingrained into the system of policing. De Lacy Davis, a former police officer who founded the organization Black Cops Against Police Brutality, echoes Prof. Herbert’s argument, stating that violence is in “the culture of the organization” and police violence towards ethnic minorities, particularly Black Americans, is “baked into the system”.
ABC News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/US/tyre-nichols-timeline-investigation-death/story?id=96695791.
Drenon, Brandon. “’Shameful and Inhumane’ – Black Officers Reckon with Death of Tyre Nichols.” BBC News, BBC, 1 Feb. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64488677.
Fassihi, Farnaz. “Iran Cracks down as Protests Show No Sign of Easing.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/world/middleeast/iran-protests-tehran-metro-shooting.html?searchResultPosition=27.
Nierenberg, Amelia. “Your Friday Briefing: China’s Campaign against ‘Zero-Covid’ Protesters.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Jan. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/briefing/china-covid-protests-ukraine-india.html.
Yee, Vivian, and Farnaz Fassihi. “Iran Has Abolished Morality Police, an Official Suggests, after Months of Protests.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/world/middleeast/iran-morality-police.html.