Neue Protestformen im Iran
After a ban on Telegram and a crackdown on recent protests, Iranians have sought new methods to express their anger towards the government.
Iranians have begun writing notes on currency – putting protest notes in everybody’s pockets, according to images that have gone viral on social media a day after the country banned popular messaging platform Telegram.
“Free Iran,” “Unity, Brotherhood, Freedom,” “Strikes in Kurdistan,” and “Down with dictatorship” were among most repeated lines scrawled on the bills.
The strikes referred to have been ongoing in the Kurdish provinces for over two weeks. Shopkeepers and business owners have closed their doors to protest a government decision to close semi-official borders, putting kolbars out of work and increasing prices in the markets.
In addition to the strike, they have laid empty tablecloths in the streets, symbolizing their inability to feed their families with slogans like “No bread dad” and “I am a kolbars.”
In the city of Baneh on the weekend, strikers stretched their empty tablecloths out in front of the governor’s office, along with tents, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network.