Samar goes with her short white hair in the air. She carries a large handbag. After looking at several showcases, she chooses to enter a bookstore on Enqelab (Revolution) Street in Tehran, where on Thursday afternoons dozens of young people like her walk, without a veil, in short shirts, big earrings, and away from the canons of behavior That is, smiling a lot and talking intensely. The world belongs to them. Or so it seems.
“As a woman entrepreneur, I cannot choose freely or easily, the limitations that exist”, she explains minutes later when she agrees to have a coffee. It is from Meixad, the second largest city in Iran and much more traditional. He has traveled to the capital to buy products for his small gallery, where he exhibits designs by several Iranian artists and creators. “My dream is to have the most important store in Meixad. A beautiful place where you can find the best”, she explains passionately for, and then she stops abruptly, gets serious and says that, if she succeeds, if it is fulfilled, it will take more than a decade.
Samar explains that every day something happens that takes her away from her dream. Or investors don’t bet on a woman, especially if she’s young like her. Or inflation rises. Or the rial, the local currency, is devalued, as has happened in recent weeks. “Now is the time for those who have more money and for me, who just started from nothing, it might take me up to 20 years, then it will be too late”, laments Samar, who studied industrial design. He is part of the immense number of young people who see how their dreams are increasingly unattainable.
The economic sanctions that have been affecting Iran for years as a result of its nuclear program have systematically affected the economy, but the real impact has been felt by the population. At least the one that is not connected to the system, which, as a counterpart, gets richer and richer. His children, known as aghazadeh, are the ones who have led the opening of new shops and service companies in the country.
Ironically, they are the ones who have led the change of image of some sectors of the cities and the conquest of public spaces, something forbidden until a few years ago.
“What has happened to the people of Iran – explains Samar – is that they live like a sparrow, in other words: their goal is to survive the day. Iranians eat, sleep, pay the rent and that’s enough… This keeps us from moving forward. How much money do we have to earn to pay our daily expenses and save?”.
Samar describes that being young in Iran means living under total pressure: economic, social, state and mental. Thousands complete their university degree every year, but they face a world where job opportunities are minimal. Unemployment figures among those under 30, who make up 60% of the population, reach 50% for women and 25% for men.
When a young person finds a job, the salary is not enough to become independent. “Tehran’s Grand Bazaar is full of illiterate billionaires who have young people with master’s degrees and doctorates working as menial employees for them,” explained 26-year-old Mustafa, who had to drop out of school when he was very young to family financial problems. He has had dozens of jobs, but currently he dreams of being able to open a small warehouse where he can expand his business of mobile phone cases, which he currently sells in the streets near the bazaar.
He describes his life as being on an electric treadmill that never gets him anywhere no matter how hard he tries. “I work all year to save money to get a shop, to have a good job, to have a better face than that of a street vendor. But, if I save the 100 million I need, at the end of the year, due to inflation, what I need then is 200 million”, says Mustafa, who thinks that the rulers never worry about young people like him.
“Young people are the ones who suffer the most”, says the economist and political analyst Said Leilaz, who points out that it is not a reality endemic to Iran, but that it extends to many countries. “Everyone wants to have a future. They want to have money, they want to have a life, but here too they feel that the light is off in the social sphere. Freedom is sometimes closed,” explains Leilaz, who has been asserting for years that the increase in poverty is one of Iran’s biggest problems.
This lack of opportunities, added to the absence of freedoms and the intrusion of the system into private lives, especially of young people, deepens frustration, disconnection with the system and anger, as seen in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was arrested by the morality police, suffered an attack while in custody and later died.
“I’ve been called to answer questions many times over the past year because of the work I do,” says 23-year-old Edissa. His trade is none other than painting and selling his works in one of the central streets of Tehran. She doesn’t want to be locked in a gallery, she wants to be able to talk to people, but she breaks the rules because she works as a young woman on the street. “This has made me decide that I have to emigrate, but I can’t, because it’s impossible to get the money”, he explains.
The desire to leave the country is echoed by many young people, like her, who see their future frustrated. Not surprisingly, Iran is one of the countries with the most brain drain. This trend became larger since the 2022 protests.
“The future will not be better than the present. And, if I’m honest, I’ve never seen the elections and the people we elect change the situation”, Nassim, a 27-year-old economist who was shopping at the bazaar, explained yesterday. She also dreams of creating her own cosmetics business, but over time she loses hope. Like many
