Street Politics: Poor People’s Movements in Iran

In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, an active political movement emerged on the streets of Iran’s largest cities. Poor people began to construct their own communities on unused urban lands, creating an infrastructure––roads, electricity, running water, garbage collection, and shelters––all their own. As the Iranian government attempted to evict these illegal settlers, they resisted––fiercely and ultimately successfully. This is the story of their economic and political strategies.