ScreenShot. Video source. YouTube. Woman trucker calls on fellow truckers to remain united.As the truckers’ strike in Iran enters its tenth consecutive day, despite concerted efforts by authorities to break and suppress it, and the many sacrifices that strikers and protesters are making, there is a sense of change and people power in the air.
The ongoing protests since the tail end of 2017, of which the strikes are a continuation, have led the Iranian people to again believe in their own power to confront a highly oppressive regime on their own terms.
The strike is unprecedented in its scope and strength of unity. Though this is not the first trucker strike in recent years – the largest was limited to just four cities in March of 2016 – none have reached the extensive and broad reach of this one. The current strike has spread to over 249 cities in all of Iran’s 31 provinces. Footage of striking truckers resisting security forces, encouraging unity, admonishing strikebreakers, parading empty loads on the nation’s highways, has spiked on social media networks such as Twitter, Telegram, and other platforms.
