Agustina Vergara Cid: Iranian protesters deserve our moral support

Hundreds of thousands of people are protesting on the streets of Iran—women are ditching their hijabs, others are burning photos of the ayatollah and lighting cigarettes with them, and protesters are yelling “death to the dictator.” The protests are massive and existentially threatening to the Iranian theocracy. 

It can be hard to fathom the degree of the depravity of the Iranian regime, and what these protesters are fighting to the death against. Understanding the nature of the evil of the Iranian dictatorship should make us realize that protesters deserve our full moral support.

Iran is a theocracy where unelected religious leaders hold massive power. Its goal is to maintain and grow an Islamic state—and to do so, it exerts control over Iranians by enforcing Islamic law. That means that the government has almost total control over what people watch, read, or say, how they behave in public and private—and even more so over women. They aim to completely erase the individual: people are seen not as human beings with preferences, personal ambition, and a right to pursue their own happiness, but as tools to achieve ideological goals.

Concretely, this manifests in myriad ways for Iranians. Women are second-class citizens and must cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothing in all public spaces. The morality police patrol streets and other public areas looking for violators, who face arrest, fines, beatings, or detention. An Iranian immigrant recently told me that this police “function[s] as if they’re hunting animals. . . as if it’s a game where they have to squash dissenters.” In 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was killed in custody after being arrested by the morality police for improperly wearing her hijab. Her killing sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that year.

All speech is monitored. Thousands of websites are censored by the government. Criticizing the regime or Islam online or in conversation can result in arrest, physical punishment (like lashes) or worse. In November, activist Omid Sarlak posted a video burning a photograph of the ayatollah. He was later found shot in the head.

The daily life of Iranians is under the control of the government: even how they can socialize and what music they can listen to. Many freedoms Americans take for granted— like education, art, association, speech— are criminalized or tightly controlled in Iran. Iranians also endure crushing poverty due to the regime’s policies.

Tahmineh Dehbozorgi, an attorney originally from Iran, calls the regime’s actions “psychological warfare”: “A twisted system of extortion and coercion designed to force obedience, silence, or collaboration.” Iranians want to put an end to this warfare. 

The number of people murdered in the last wave of protests is hard to estimate because the Iranian government censors information and there’s an internet blackout. CBS News reported 12,000-20,000 feared dead as of January 13. Dehbozorgi describes talking to an acquaintance in Iran, who told her that “[there are] body bags everywhere. Families can’t even bury their dead.”

Iranians want and deserve to live in freedom. “The people are rising up because the Islamic Republic of Iran has spent decades suffocating every aspect of life . . . under a clerical system that treats liberty as a crime,” says Dehbozorgi. Given the length to which they’re going to free themselves, it’s clear they won’t settle for a new tyrant. They are fighting for at least basic freedoms so they can live as human beings.

The Iranians’ fight deserves our full moral support at all levels— from our government officials to everyday Americans. Moral support isn’t useless: by standing up for the good and denouncing the evil theocracy, many of those who still work for it (and are not beyond redemption) will feel the weight of the West’s moral judgment. That may lead them to defect from the regime. This is particularly true for military and police personnel, who may refuse to fire on their own people, thereby creating a wedge between the regime and its instruments of force. This is what happened during the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Supporting Iranians also emboldens those fighting for the good. Learning about millions of people in the West rooting for their success may be part of the spiritual fuel protesters need to keep going. It’s easy to underestimate the reach that support can have— but it can mean the difference between success or failure (life or death) for Iranians. 

Supporting the Iranians is in our self-interest. A world without the Iranian theocracy will be better for everyone who cares about freedom and Western civilization. Recall that the regime defines itself in opposition to the United States (the “Great Satan”) and Israel, and has vowed to end both. Since 1979, it has supported terrorism in the Middle East— Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and various militias in Iraq and Syria. Its violence has shown up at our shores. (This is one of the reasons why military support, if carried out appropriately, shouldn’t be discounted either.)

A free Iran will also mean more people to trade with—only with freedom people can create, innovate, and engage in productive exchange with others. Freedom can unlock Iranians’ potential that has been suffocated for decades.

America is rooted in the rejection of arbitrary power and the subjugation of the individual to the state. Iranians are now fighting for the bare minimum freedoms that we take for granted. Offering them moral support is a reaffirmation of what we stand for as Americans may impact the future of freedom in Iran.

Agustina Vergara Cid is a SCNG columnist and the author of the Substack “From Her Beacon Hand.” You can follow her on X @agustinavcid