Erin Molan: Protests in Iran and China show bravery in all its forms

As we farewelled the last of the Rats of Tobruk this week, the people of Iran and China displayed their own bravery in protesting authoritarian regimes, writes Erin Molan.

What a week it’s been of stories highlighting bravery in all its forms.

The courage and dignity of our greatest generation has been rightly remembered as we sadly farewelled the last remaining NSW veteran of the Rats of Tobruk, Ernie Walker.

Equal parts stubborn, determined and utterly heroic, Ernie and his mates resisted a brutal and unrelenting enemy siege over eight months in 1941, carving their slogan “no surrender” into Australian history.

A world away, and several generations later, another form of courage is on display.

I am not just talking about the Ukrainians, whose battlefield bravery might be somewhat recognisable to the original Rats of Tobruk.

No, these heroes are not wearing uniforms nor engaging a conventional enemy.

I am talking about the people of Iran and China currently protesting their own authoritarian regimes.

It is a unique brand of bravery to take to the streets of your own home country, defying the orders of a government and police force ostensibly there for your protection but with a record of the most horrendous crimes against its own people.

Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman living in Turkey, cuts her ponytail off during a protest outside the Iranian consulate. Picture: AFP

The right to peacefully protest is an incredible thing and is something that we, by and large, enjoy in Australia.

Some will dispute this, pointing to the heavy-handed tactics of some of our police forces during Covid lockdowns.

However, I maintain that we are fortunate to live in a country where, when examples of police overreach do unfortunately occur, they are the exception rather than the rule — and receive swift and thorough media and (sometimes) government scrutiny.

Compare this to China, where an unprecedented display of people power and expression of internal dissatisfaction towards Xi Jinping is occurring. While seeded by Covid lockdowns, this domestic tension has been building for a long time.

After years of arrogantly batting away criticism on the global stage, it will be very interesting to see how the CCP regime deals with unrest in its own house.

Iran supporters wave their national flag bearing the words ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ as their team plays England in the World Cup in Qatar. Picture: AFP

Similarly, scenes emerging out of Iran in recent weeks have been, in a word, mind-blowing. The cry “woman, life, freedom” echoes through city streets.

In a brutal tactic to discourage protesters, reports are now emerging that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard are targeting the children of known dissidents, with many dozens murdered in recent weeks.

It takes unimaginable courage to continue to speak up in these circumstances.

It also raises the question we tend to ask ourselves every time an oppressed people rise up and throw off, or seek to throw off, the shackles of authoritarianism — why now?

In both these countries, alleged human rights atrocities have occurred for decades. Iron-fisted rulers have squashed any prior hint of uprising so quickly and fiercely it barely makes a splash.

I asked myself the same question in the late-1990s as I watched this happen from my bedroom window in Jakarta, Indonesia.

After three decades of corruption, nepotism and autonomous rule, the Indonesian people took to the streets and demanded democracy.

People gather on a street in Shanghai where protests against China’s zero-Covid policy took place the night before. Picture: AFP

With the benefit of hindsight, the origins of that revolution are a little easier to pinpoint.

The Asian financial crisis had started the year before, robbing the populace of its purchasing power, savings and livelihoods. Suharto’s regime had always been heavy-handed, with endemic corruption, but this was the price you paid for an economically stable nation.

When that economic stability disappeared, people’s willingness to look the other way did, too.

I still vividly remember the flashpoint in May 1998, when students at Trisakti University were gunned down in scenes reminiscent of the infamous shootings at Kent State University in 1970.

Straight afterwards, I and other “non-essential” embassy staff and their families were hastily evacuated back home to Australia and to something I’d taken for granted up until that point — safety.

Sitting on the floor of the airport waiting for our emergency flights, with television cameras filming us and the glow of a burning city in the distance, I didn’t understand the enormity of what I was witnessing, but I knew enough to realise it was something special.

And just a few days later, people power forced a dictator’s resignation and Indonesia took its first tentative steps towards true democracy.

I hold out hope that the Iranian and Chinese protesters have similar success in effecting regime change.

However, it would be naive to expect this will happen easily. Ironically, the more brutal a regime is, the longer it tends to last.

So what can we do, if anything?

It’s fantastic to see so many across Australia speaking out in solidarity with the protesters — politicians, journalists, members of the Chinese-Australian and Iranian-Australian communities.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who spent 800 days behind bars in Iran, is calling on the Australian government to do more. We must all continue to use whatever means we have to help.

But, ultimately, it will all come down to the individual courage of those everyday people in China and Iran and their willingness to dig in, stay the distance and continue the fight.

And whatever the outcome, I have no doubt that 80 years from now, we will speak of their bravery in the same revered tones as Ernie Walker and his fighting Rats.