The Fate of Dictatorships: Global Lessons and the Case of Kurdistan

Whenever I think about dictatorships, one common mistake comes to mind: their trust in people’s forgetfulness.

Authoritarian powers often believe that time is on their side. They think the pressures of life, poverty, and fear can silence collective memory. History and experience, however, tell a different story.

What we see today in Venezuela, collapsing authority, the exposure of official lies, and the erosion of a government that survived for years through force and fabricated legitimacy, is neither sudden nor unexpected. It is the natural outcome of a regime disconnected from its people. A system that relied on fear instead of consent will eventually crumble.

For years, the Maduro regime assumed that repression, the military, and media control were enough. Yet time is an enemy that no dictatorship knows how to tame. Widespread poverty, mass migration, and the erosion of hope accomplished what no opposition or external pressure could alone: power corroded from within.

Looking at this, the parallels with Iran are hard to ignore: a faltering economy, a weary and frustrated society, a deep divide between government and people, and a generation that neither believes in promises nor fears threats.

Khamenei may still think Iran is different from Venezuela: that repression here is more effective, that fear is more deeply rooted, and that the memory of the people is shorter. Yet historical experience shows that no authoritarian government can permanently override the will of its citizens.

If there is a place in this country where the memory of resistance has been preserved, it is precisely where repression came first: Kurdistan.

Kurdistan is not just a region; it is a living memory, a memory of saying “no”: no to tyranny, no to erasure, no to the humiliation of identity, language, and human dignity.

From Mahabad to Sanandaj, from Saqqez to Bokan, from names that were never recorded in official statistics to women whose courage has redefined bravery, Kurdistan has repeatedly shown that even if dictators remain, they cannot truly govern.

Global developments send a clear message: no power lasts forever, no repression goes unanswered, and no regime can withstand the will of its people indefinitely.

History usually confronts authoritarian leaders with a choice: step aside before collapse, or stay until leaving is no longer optional.

The message is simple: stubbornly clinging to power only makes the end harsher and costlier. Choosing to step down consciously may be the last chance to leave a less dark mark in history.

For the people, the story is different. The people remain. Kurdistan remains. And the memory of freedom, even under pressure, cannot be extinguished.

Powers built on fear eventually fall, and what remains are the people who stand, and the future they will rebuild.

Hanieh Mohammadi

1.5.2026