At least 1,325 protest rallies held in this autumn
27-December-2021
Category: Labor and guilds
25-December-2021
Newsgroup: Workers and Guilds – Teachers –
Breathing in Confinement: The number of protests in the autumn of this year reached to more than 1325, which showed a significant increase compared to 1043 protests held in the summer.
According to Breathing in Confinement, the news organ of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, this autumn, concurrently with the rise in inflation rate and the cost of living, the number of protest rallies held by various groups of people also increased significantly. After the presidency of Ibrahim Raisi, the price of essential goods showed a constant increase with a significant rise in monthly point-to-point inflation rate.
The bellow chart represents the number of protest rallies held throughout the country in the fall of this year, divided by month, showing a dramatic rise:
According to a member of the board of directors of Tehran Garment Union, the garment purchase rate this year has sharply dropped, which mostly is related to the poor economic condition. “Some people no longer buy clothes,” said Majid Eftekhari. He added: “Iran’s clothing market is dominated by low-quality Bangladeshi clothing. However, people do not even have the ability to buy these poor quality clothes!”
Furthermore, a member of the Fruit and Vegetable Union announced: “Fruit purchase on Yalda night decreased by 30% compared to the last year.”
Ahmadi, the director of the Nuts and Dried Fruits Union also, announced a 25 percent decrease in the purchase of nuts. He said: “As people’s purchasing power has diminished, they no longer buy nuts.”
This is especially true for essential goods such as dairy products, legumes and meat.
Poor living conditions, unemployment, unpaid salaries, excessive inflation rate, and consequently, a decline in the purchasing power of the people provoked the protests.
The protest rallies of the people of Isfahan against the water crisis and for the farmers’ water right in autumn, were violently attacked by the security forces, with dozens of protesters were targeted by birdshot bullets and lost their sight. The exact number of injured is unknown, as most of the injured did not go to the hospitals or medical centers for fear of arrest.
It should be noted that the number of protest rallies held in December, broke the record of this year’s protests and was unique in terms of scale, with the total number of protest movements reached to more than 631 rallies showing an increase of nearly 70% compared to 381 rallies held in the month before.
Teachers’ protests even spread to small towns and villages. The highest number of protests was related to the protests of both employed and retired teachers. The teachers’ nationwide protests held against the incomplete implementation of the ranking plan as well as their poor living conditions. Farmers protested for their water right in the autumn, and workers and other groups of people protested against their unpaid salaries.
