The anniversary of the Iranian Islamic revolution was meant to become a party but also a show of force by the establishment after the protests that have rocked the country since September. Tehran had been adorned for days with banners commemorating this date on which, 44 years ago, thousands and thousands of people of different backgrounds, beliefs and appearances had put an end to the monarchy and placed their hopes in the figure of an ayatollah, the Imam Ruholah Khomeini, who days before had arrived in Tehran after years of exile.
As usual at this time, the country's leaders visited Khomeini's tomb in his mausoleum south of Tehran, the generals unveiled a new underground air base as a symbol of their advances in the military field, a veteran Intelligence Ministry official announced without giving further details that 90 countries want to buy Iranian drones and put on a great pyrotechnic light show on Friday night as a preamble to yesterday's celebrations. “Allahu akbar”, some shouted when they heard explosions around the Azadi, or “Freedom” square, while shouts of “death to the dictator” and “death to Khamenei” were also heard from many residential sectors of the city. A clear sign that the unity in the country that the supreme leader was calling on these dates is far from resembling the one that existed in 1979. But it is also a sign that thousands of people continue to have the courage to show their discontent with the regime despite the fact that thousands of citizens have been arrested in recent months – four of them were executed – and more than 500 were killed during the protests. The slogan "woman, life and freedom", which represented thousands of women who took to the streets, most of them young, was quickly accompanied by that of "death to the dictator" and the request for a change in the system. The diaspora, which for decades had no weight in internal politics, managed to mobilize to the point of calling demonstrations with thousands of people in different parts of the planet.
Only on Friday night some of Iran's most visible opponents abroad had a meeting in Washington – broadcast live on Persian-language channels such as the BBC – in which they sought how to leave personal interests behind to find a path towards democracy. And in the interior of the country, two of the most important figures in these years, the former reformist president Mohamed Khatami and the former prime minister Mir Hosein Mousavi, made public proposals where they stated that the Islamic Republic was in a "dead end."
Hence, yesterday's celebration was so important for the authorities, who made a great call through all their media. And so it was: hundreds of thousands of people, many more than on pre-pandemic anniversaries, walked along Enqelab or Revolution Avenue. But unlike other days, this mobilization was not dominated by the traditional official posters of "death to the United States" or "death to Israel" despite the fact that the leader has blamed these countries for being behind the protests.
Yesterday the march had to do with the survival of the Islamic Republic and the unconditional support for the supreme leader. "We are until the end," said one of the most widely circulated posters along with those of Ayatollah Khamenei and the general of the Al Quds forces, Qasem Soleimani, assassinated by a US drone. “Our support for the supreme leader,” read another sign. In some places on the avenue, you could see some models of the drones that Russia uses to attack Ukraine and also its missiles, which are the flag of its defense project. At the center dais located in Azadi Square, President Ebrahim Raisi took the opportunity to appeal to the "youth deceived" by Iran's foreign enemies so that "they can be forgiven by the supreme leader." "They want to take away our independence," he said during the speech that he would end up getting hacked for 20 seconds by a group called Edalale Ali or "justice Ali." The virtual transmission of his intervention was interrupted to present a short video in which a person covered by a mask appeared where he spoke of corruption in Iran and recalled the protests.
Several streets away from the Azadi square, Elnaz, a 30-year-old lawyer, carried the leader's sign. She recognized that it was the first time she had attended this celebration. “Nothing will make us throw in the towel. The West and the United States try to separate us and want to divide us, but they make a mistake. We young people will be with our Islamic Republic to the end,” she said. A few streets further up, already distanced from the march, a boy who worked in a cafe saw this day in a different way: "Don't make me talk, you know what young people think about all this."
