This uprising could fail like others did - but something feels different

In Hong Kong in 2019-20, millions took to the streets to oppose the repressive actions of an authoritarian regime. But ultimately their voices were silenced, their leaders jailed and China stripped away their democratic rights as hand-wringing western leaders looked on.

- Simon Tisdall

In Belarus, nationwide protests erupted when a cruel dictator stole the 2020 election. The UN said hundreds of people were abused, tortured, raped. But the dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, propped up by his loathsome buddy in Moscow, remains in power.

In Myanmar, the army launched a coup last year, replacing elected politicians with a military junta. Its boss, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, stands accused of overseeing genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority but has got off scot-free so far.

It’s a pattern that repeats with dismaying frequency around the world. Just look at the Arab spring revolutions” in Syria and Egypt. The people rise up, the people are crushed and the western democracies, crying foul, eventually accept the new-old reality.

Is this the fate awaiting the young women of Iran who have bravely taken the lead in challenging the latest lethal excesses of Tehran’s morally bankrupt regime? Like other countries, Iran’s 1979 revolution vanquished a tyrant, only to have another take his place. Yet today’s ongoing nationwide protests, defying brutal crackdowns, are unusual in several respects. While most seem to be led by young women and schoolgirls, backed by young men, a wide range of ages, ethnic groups and social classes is represented.