Masha Amini’s Murder: On Liberty, Iran and The Subjugation of Women



We're talking about the recent history of Iran in the context of the murder of Mahsa Amini, a woman who was recently beaten to death by the "Morality Police" in Iran for the crime of improperly wearing a head scarf.

In September of 2022 Mahsa Amini, a 22 year old Kurdish woman was arrested by the Iranian "Morality Police" for improperly wearing her head scarf in public. Witnesses said she was severely beaten while being detained. She later died in custody, from what the authorities say was a heart attack, but from what medical examiners say was a cerebral hemorrhage followed by a stroke. Her death has sparked nation-wide protests in Iran, in response to which the government has cut off the internet and killed about 100 protesters thus far in efforts to disperse the mobs in the streets. If you like our content please become a patron to get more premium episodes like this one, as well as our public episodes ad-free.

In light of all of this, we're talking about the history of Iran from the early 20th century until today, and how they came to be a theocratic oil oligarchy. In one of the great economic swindles of all time, the country's former monarch sold the country's entire oil reserve to the company which later became British Petroleum for a modern equivalent of 2.3 million dollars, and a 16% cut of the oil profits after 60 years.

When the Iranian government under Mohammad Mossadegh in the 1950s tried to nationalize oil production, the British navy blockaded the country and MI:6 and the CIA overthrew the elected Iranian government in a coup codenamed Operation Ajax, and re-installed the Shah in power.

In league with the US, UK, and the world's major oil companies the Shah tried to modernize Iran and implement social and educational reforms through the 1970s to maintain the populace's complacency, but this plan didn't last. In 1979 the Shah was overthrown just like Mossadegh's government had overthrown the prior Shah, this time in favor of Islamic clerics led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran has lived in an Islamic theocracy ever since, but protests have increased in the past few years particularly in the cities among middle class people, professors, and students. 1

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