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Ideas

Iran's Tale Of Two Revolutions, 1979 & 2022 — And What To Look For Now

The revolt in Iran began in protest of police brutality and the Islamic Republic's rotten structures, but quickly became a "revolution of minds," hastening the rise of a national community united in its resolve to live in a free and lawful state.

photo of woman holding up hand that says 'help'

The movement is not abating

Onur Dogman/SOPA Images via ZUMA
Elahe Boghrat

-OpEd-

The revolutionary uprising of Iranians against the clerical regime of the Islamic Republic did not end with the last days of 2022.

Two of the movement's defining traits have been its nature and essence, as shown in protesters' slogans and initiatives, as well as the support of the international community — something the world, watching protesters' courage and resilience, couldn't refuse.

But one of the demands made by the Iranian defenders of democracy still hasn't received meaningful support from Western governments: their call to investigate the residency rights given to families of Islamic Republic officials in Western countries.


Some Democratic and Republican legislators in the U.S. have echoed this call. Taking action on this would confront not just the regime in general, but the individuals who make it work, by sanctioning their loved ones. These loved ones belong to parents and families who have no qualms about shooting and hanging the beloved children, spouses and parents of other Iranians, all in a bid to hold onto power at all costs.

This initiative could become a precedent not just for Islamic Iran, but for other dictatorial countries — sending a message that those who kill and maim cannot expect to find refuge or protect their families in a democratic country. The more these figures in the regime pressure Iranians today, the more pressures they will face in time, both in Iran and abroad.

The Iran revolt is built on unity

The other point of historical significance is the revolt's essential gravitation toward unity. Those who focus on identity politics and insist on dividing societies based on sectoral, political, gender or social demands — or into antagonistic groups — and whose divisiveness has even begun to shake Western societies, have been extending their zeal for labels to the Iranian revolt.

They forget that in open and democratic societies, sectoral demands are either already met or will be met, through the legal guarantees given to individuals as citizens. Human societies naturally tend toward unity, or at least convergence, and that is certainly the case with Iran, whose society needn't be divided into men and women, Kurds, Azeris and Persians, or religious and secular. Labels harm the social unity that ultimately serves every member of society.

The Islamic Republic loves its labels — the better to divide and rule.

That makes this revolt also a rejection of state-sponsored segmentation and separatism. So while the revolution of 1979 fomented disunity and was left unfinished and untenable, the results of the revolution of 2022, will, like the fruits of the Enlightenment, prove lasting and irreversible.

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Economy

How A Xi Jinping Dinner In San Francisco May Have Sealed Mastercard's Arrival In China

The credit giant becomes only the second player after American Express to be allowed to set up a bank card-clearing RMB operation in mainland China.

Photo of a hand holding a phone displaying an Union Pay logo, with a Mastercard VISA logo in the background of the photo.

Mastercard has just been granted a bank card clearing license in China.

Liu Qianshan

-Analysis-

It appears that one of the biggest beneficiaries from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to San Francisco was Mastercard.

The U.S. credit card giant has since secured eagerly anticipated approval to expand in China's massive financial sector, having finally obtained long sought approval from China's central bank and financial regulatory authorities to initiate a bank card business in China through its joint venture with its new Chinese partner.

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Through a joint venture in China between Mastercard and China's NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, dubbed Mastercard NUCC, it has officially entered mainland China as an RMB currency clearing organization. It's only the second foreign business of its kind to do so following American Express in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the development is linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting on Nov. 15 with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco, part of a two-day visit that also included dinner that Xi had with U.S. business executives.

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