People Power 2026: Can an Entire Nation be Put in Jail?

For at least the last five days, the Islamic Republic of Iran has ben rocked by riots and demonstrations. According to some sources, these demonstrations have turned lethal. The Islamic government shut down offices, universities and businesses on December 31 in an effort to calm the nation with little success. The demonstrations are taking place throughout the country as the population suffers from uncontrollable inflation, water shortages, currency collapse and dissatisfaction with the ruthless suppression of women's rights. Previous unrest was violently crushed by the government. Though nominally a "democracy", all government acts must be ratified by the Supreme Leader (Rahbar in Farsi), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been in power since 1989. His word is final and is law. How these current riots end remains to be determined. Will the Islamic government resort to violence? Will it be conciliatory? Will it recognize that it is there to be the servant of its citizens or their master? Will the Islamic authoritarian regime collapse and a normal democracy be established in that sad country? Hard liners, of course are blaming the Great Satan (USA) and the Little Satan (Israel). Iran, despite its precarious economy and worthless currency, spends liberally on nuclear weapon deveopment and financing proxies throughout the Middle East in a failing effort to promote chaos and enhance Iranian influence. The defeat of proxies Hamas and Hezbollah and the destruction of nuclear facilties by the US and Israel have caused further setbacks for the Islamic Republic's aspirations. In response to the currrent disorder, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said "according to God's Quran, if we do not solve people's problems, we will have a place in hell".

The idea of "people power" vanquishing an all powerful dictatorship is not an absurd idea. In modern times, two earth-shaking events come to mind. On August 14, 1980, in response to the Polish Communist government's oppressive program to solve an economic crisis, workers at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk went on strike. The strikers, led by Lech Walesa, formed Solidarity, an independent union and by the end of August, the Communist government agreed to many of Solidarity's demands. By December 1981, the Communist

government sponsored a military coup led by party first secretary Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski.

Thousands of Solidarity and other activists were arrested as a military dictatorship was superimposed over the Communist dictatorship. Until then I believed that an entire country could not be jailed. Now it appeared possible. But I was wrong! Conditions in Poland continued to deteriorate and finally in 1989, round table discussions led to free elections and the end of the Communist dictatorship in Poland. Truly, a country could be placed in jail, but not indefinitely.

A starker example of people power was the overthrow of the twenty year regime of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. The People Power revolution (Feb. 22-25, 1986) led to the downfall of Marcos. Elected to two terms as president, Marcos was constitutionally limited from any further time in office. Rather than cede power democratically, he declared martial law, created a new constitution, established a brutal dictatorship and continued in office. The assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr as he arrived in the Philippines from exile stimulated opposition and the fraudulent presidential election of 1986 against Aquino's widow Corazon led to the People Power or EDSA revolution. Over two million Filipinos demonstrated in Manila and Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii. Noteworthy are the comments of Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu on February 13, 1986. When "a government of itself does not freely correct the evil it has inflicted on the people then it is our serious moral obligation as a people to make it do so". The Filipino people made it do so. These examples indicate that any and every dictatorship and tyrannny is still subject to a social contract, however limited it may be. Even the worst tyranny must, in some manner,

recognize that it must function with the consent of the governed or face the consequences.

Today, both Poland and the Philippines are free democratic nations. The Islamic Republic of Iran is not. Regime change does not and should not require foreign intervention. Ultimately, the citizens of a nation bear that responsibility. Freedom is not free but it is priceless. The Iranian people have the burden and responsibility to establish a free Iran. And the Iranian leadership must decide that the interests of their citizens come first or they can expect to have a place in hell.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, NV

January 1, 2026