18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JANUARY 22-28, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com Rising Up The overwhelming protests in Iran reflect desperation for change, despite an uncertain future. By Ava Homa FORUM Despite the ongoing internet blackout in Iran that began around Jan. 8, images and reports have leaked that prove the state is even more violent than it used to be, a brutal standard to surpass. An image that haunts me shows a man in a hospital gown shot in the forehead. Reports say security forces raided hospitals to kill injured protesters. In the last uprising, they arrested wounded protesters and blocked blood donations in the Kurdish city of Mahabad. Hospitals were unsafe, but not deadly. The state now openly treats dissent as an existential threat. I remember my family sobbing on the phone during the last major uprising as they heard gunshots all day, wondering each time if their child had been targeted. My cousin was shot. My family hid him in a basement since hospitals were dangerous, and a relative treated him. We lied to his father about his whereabouts, fearing a heart attack. My family is one of many that have bled through every uprising. At the time, I thought it could not get worse. This year, I have not even heard my family’s voices. I do not know if they are alive. Human rights groups struggle to gather and verify information or estimate the number of those killed, including 3-year-old Mina Asadi, single mother Delaram Kazemi, teenager Amirmohammad Arbabpouri, and so many others. One relative who recently returned to the U.S. from Tehran suffers from PTSD after witnessing a boy, no older than 17, shot to death in front of him. He sees the boy in his nightmares, repeatedly trying and failing to save him. His cousin in Mashhad found herself fantasizing about revenge after witnessing 15 young men trapped in a dead-end street and executed. Security forces announced a curfew, forbidding anyone from leaving their homes until firefighters washed the blood away. This is only a glimpse of the suffering Iranians endure. Years of sanctions and state corruption have hollowed out the middle class. Families once considered stable now struggle to feed their children. People across classes, ethnicities and religions are fed up. I do not write to offer solutions but to bear witness to a reality defined by exhaustion and the absence of viable paths forward. Many protesters who once opposed foreign intervention now say civilians are helpless against a heavily armed state that kills indiscriminately. Some expect President Donald Trump to fulfill his promises and save them from the iron grip of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The ask is not out of ideological alignment but political exhaustion. Inside Iran, debates about what comes after the current despot are fierce. Ethnic minorities fear repetition: Persian supremacy rebranded and empowered. When people living under bullets begin to argue about foreign intervention, it is not a call for empire. This is an indictment of a violent world that has reduced survival to impossible choices: foreign intervention, the return of monarchy and the fear of escalated chaos. Ava Homa is the award-winning author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire and a CSUMB faculty member. OPINION I do not write to offer solutions but to bear witness. ’25 ♦ 3 Card Poker ♠ Century 21st No Bust Black Jack ♣ Texas Hold’em ♥ FULL BAR! BLACKJACK BONUS POINTS PAYS UP TO $20,000 SMALL TOWN BIG PAYOUTS! 1-800-Gambler • GEAR-000383, GEAR-000376, GEAR-000375 The Marina Club Casino ensures the safety and security of all guests and team members at all times, while providing exceptional service. 204 Carmel Ave. Marina 831-384-0925 casinomonterey.com ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ Just minutes from Downtown Monterey Where Monterey Comes To Play
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