Abbas Milani Explains How Authoritarian Regimes Use Fear To Stay In Power

The Iranian regime is profoundly misogynous. 

If you ever look at any picture of the Iranian leadership, you see a misogynous septuagenarian male elite that has had virtual control in Iran for 39 years. 

They literally tried everything they can to push Iranian woman back into the model of what they think the model of womanhood is. 

Nevertheless, in spite of the systematic effort at every level, Iranian women have fought this regime. 

The significance of the women’s movement is not just about the veil. 

It is about breaking the authority of a despotic regime. 

Fear is an absolute essential ingredient of authoritarianism. 

No authoritarian regime survives if fear dissipates. 

Women have been fighting this gradual dissipation, this gradual challenge to the authoritarianism to the regime. If you can beat them in the streets, as women have, maybe we can beat them in other places.