How Iranians Protest: The Green Movement
- Genocide Watch
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Alžběta Frommerova
Since late December 2025, Iran has experienced widespread protests in response to a dramatic decline in the value of its currency, ongoing government mismanagement of basic services, and deteriorating living conditions. The protests began with strikes and store closures, then progressed into large-scale street rallies across the country. Millions of Iranians went into the streets demanding the overthrow of the Islamic Republic regime.
These protests are part of a much longer struggle. For more than one hundred years, Iranians have repeatedly mobilized in pursuit of democracy, but they have not yet achieved it. In just the past three decades, major protest movements have erupted, the first being the Green Movement (2009-2010).
The Green Movement formed after the 2009 presidential election, when, just hours after polls closed, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was proclaimed the victor, sparking widespread charges of electoral fraud and leading the other three candidates to contest the validity of the vote. Public indignation increased when official results revealed opposition candidates were underperforming even in their home regions. In response, Iranian authorities arrested journalists, activists, and opposition leaders, curtailed media coverage, and blocked access to the internet and telephones. At first, protests were allowed, but the government quickly approved a brutal reaction by security forces, including the Basij militia. Thousands were unlawfully detained, and dozens died in jail or were killed in the streets. Many protesters said they were tortured or otherwise mistreated.
The Green Movement was driven largely by the youth, university graduates, and a disillusioned middle class facing economic hardship. Protesters adopted green, the campaign color of reformist candidate and Movement leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, as a unifying symbol during mass demonstrations demanding electoral accountability. The movement’s central slogan, “Where is my vote?”, framed dissent as a demand for accountability rather than regime overthrow. However, a clear divide existed between its leaders and the protesters: while the leadership sought reform within the Islamic Republic, many demonstrators pushed for fundamental change.
By the time the Green Movement took shape, Iran’s public sphere was already tightly constrained. Activists adapted by building and maintaining informal networks, especially within student communities, which enabled political engagement despite repression. Protesters also relied on citizen journalism and digital platforms to record and circulate events independently, signaling a deep mistrust of state-controlled media and positioning the Green Movement as one of the earliest globally “socially broadcasted” protest movements.
Women played a crucial role in the Green Movement, drawing on a long tradition of political activism and well-established grassroots networks developed through decades of organising for legal and social rights. Those networks enabled women to mobilize effectively during the 2009 election protests.
The movement stemmed from Iran’s long history of resistance to unaccountable rule and demands for governance in accordance with the law. Although it did not succeed in overturning the 2009 election or dismantling the state, it did succeed in discursively undermining the regime’s ideological foundations. At the same time, many Iranians involved in the Green Movement emphasized that Iran’s future must be determined by Iranians inside the country, arguing that foreign involvement would compromise the movement’s autonomy and legitimacy. Therefore, rather than seeking external support, Green Movement activists framed their struggle as an internally-driven process.
The Green Movement demonstrates how Iranians organize protests through informal networks and symbolic legitimacy, while its failure helps explain the shift from reformist demands to calls for regime change in later uprisings.
