How are the “hijab revolutions” and “white sheets” similar in Iran and China. Why protesters in countries important to Russia achieved different results

Two strategically important countries for RUSSIA, Iran and CHINA, are engulfed in lengthy protests. So far, the demonstrators have achieved different results. What do these movements have in common?

How the hijab law came into question

Over the weekend, the world media reported that the Iranian authorities are ready to soften the rules that govern the appearance of women in the country. On Saturday, according to The Guardian, the Attorney General of the Islamic Republic, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, said that the law requiring the wearing of the hijab in public spaces, which has been in place for almost forty years, could be revised. “Both parliament and the judiciary are working [on] whether any changes to the law are needed,” he was quoted as saying. According to Montazeri, the law review team has consulted with the parliamentary commission on culture and a decision could be made in the coming weeks.

On December 3, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, speaking at a national conference, recalled that the Constitution of the Republic fixes both the rights of citizens and the duties of officials. Constitutional oversight is an effective tool by which rights holders can know what rights they have and officials can understand whether they are fulfilling their duties. “The constitution contains principles and values ​​such as republicanism, Islamism, independence and freedom, which are unchanged, but the methods and mechanisms for implementing the Constitution can be changed and improved, and if necessary, the mechanisms for implementing [the Constitution] can be revised,” Raisi was quoted as saying by Tehran Times .

This statement was taken as a sign of possible changes in women's rights and as an attempt to weaken the current protest movement aimed at this, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The next day, the Iranian Prosecutor General announced the dissolution of the so-called morality police, whose patrols control the wearing of a hijab by women and monitor how their appearance meets established standards. "The vice police have nothing to do with the judiciary and have been abolished," Al Arabia quoted Montazeri as saying. This decision was commented by the US Secretary of StateAnthony Blinken, who noted that the abolition of the vice police "may be a positive thing." Iran's state television later denied this information and announced that "no Iranian official has confirmed the closure of the vice police." Montazeri's words, the TV channel explained, were misinterpreted by foreign media. The VOA edition emphasizes that the morality police is under the jurisdiction of the Iranian Interior Ministry and the country's prosecutor general does not have the authority to announce its dissolution.

According to Euronews, on December 5, the status of the vice police remained uncertain. No Iranian official ever came forward with an explanation; the TV channel failed to check the status of the vice police. Journalists cite analysts who echo earlier claims that claims to disband the vice police may have been an attempt by the authorities to dampen the protests without making real concessions.

As RBC wrote, demonstrations in Iran began in mid-September, after reports of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police in Tehran for wearing the hijab incorrectly. A few hours after the arrest, the girl fell into a coma and died in the hospital without regaining consciousness. According to the official version, Amini died of a stroke and cardiac arrest, but her parents claim that the girl was healthy. Photos of Amini's intubation in the hospital appeared on the Web, and information began to spread that her death was the result of a beating in the department.

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How close has Iran come to the “hijab revolution” Politics

Among the main demands of the protesters are not only the abolition of harsh rules regarding the appearance of women, but also calls for regime change, caused, among other things, by harsh attempts to suppress the current protests. Two and a half months after they began, non-governmental organizations report almost 500 dead.

Why China is softening 'zero tolerance'

Unlike Iran, the protests in China are not as massive and decisive, but they also turned out to be quite sensitive for the authorities, since they received a wide response outside the PRC and were recognized as the largest after the events on Tiananmen Square in 1989. They are called the “white sheet revolution” because many protesters are holding blank sheets of paper rather than banners in order to avoid criminal penalties for criticizing the authorities.

The Chinese began to publicly demand the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions after the death of ten people in a fire in a residential area of ​​Urumqi in late November. This metropolis was partly in one of the most severe lockdowns: 4 million residents of Urumqi were ordered not to leave their homes for 100 days. In the Chinese segment of the Internet, information began to spread that the cause of death of people was severe restrictions on movement: they could not get out of the building engulfed in fire, since the exits were blocked. The city authorities denied this version, but their words did not stop the protests. Starting in Urumqi, they covered the largest cities in China .

How the protests in China threaten Xi's power and the Communist Party Politics

As part of Beijing's "zero tolerance" policy for the CORONAVIRUS, entire cities or their individual districts could be sent into a prolonged lockdown if the number of new cases of the disease rises. Strict rules for testing and visiting public places have also been introduced. Nevertheless, since the third decade of November, China has seen the strongest increase in the incidence of covid-19 , at least 30 thousand cases are recorded daily.

However, Beijing has gone to some easing of pandemic-related restrictions. Vice Premier of the State Council of China Sun Chunlan, who is responsible for implementing the strategy to combat the pandemic, said that the omicron variant is less dangerous than previous strains (this is the first time such a statement has been made by a Chinese official). “The country is facing a new situation and new challenges in epidemic prevention and control as the pathogenicity of the Omicron strain wanes, more people are vaccinated and experience is gained in containing the virus,” she said. The Deputy Prime Minister also announced measures to optimize testing, increase vaccination coverage and other innovations.

Earlier, the State Council of the People's Republic of China proposed a strategy for vaccinating older people over 80 years of age, calling for the number of people vaccinated with the first dose in this age group to be increased to 90%. Following Sun's statements, the lockdown was lifted in several major cities, including Guangzhou, on November 30, and in Beijing, people with mild symptoms of the infection were allowed to self-isolate at home, which goes against current protocol requiring isolation in designated centers.

What do the protests in the two countries have in common?

China and Iran, with a reputation as authoritarian states that tightly control the media and social networks, are long-standing allies on the world stage, which are united by strong trade, economic and political ties (China is Iran's main trading partner). Both countries are seen as strategic allies of Moscow after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. Experts believe that the protests that broke out in them have common features.

According to the Indian Express, the protests are similar in that the trigger in both cases was a situation that would otherwise be of secondary importance. In Iran, the protests began in the small Kurdish town where Mahsa Amini was from. Kurds are a national minority in Iran, and usually their problems do not fall on the national agenda. Urumqi is also far removed from the rest of the country - it is the administrative center of Xinjiang province with a predominantly Muslim Uyghur population, which Beijing has repeatedly accused of discriminating. Indian Express stipulates that, despite the similarity of the conditions for the emergence of protests, it is impossible to predict whether they will develop according to one scenario.

James Chin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania, notes in an article for The Conversation that youth have become the main driving force behind the protests in Iran and China, and the demonstrations themselves, in addition to addressing specific problems, have obvious social overtones. “Young people in China and Iran want political freedom and reform, they want their voices to be heard,” Chin said. He does not undertake to predict the development of the protest movement in the two countries, but reminds that China has a well-established system for suppressing protests. The expert also mentions the inability of other countries to influence what is happening in Iran and China, since the authorities of both countries can ignore the opinion of the rest of the world.

The Diplomat, on the contrary, notes that these peoples are at a "tipping point" and that the further development of the situation depends on the level of international support provided to the protesters. According to the publication, democratic countries should try to establish contacts with the leaders of civil societies in Iran and China.