Iranian
Student Movement:
What's in the Cards?
By
Mozghan Bahar
Znet
06 July, 2003
The forth anniversary
of the midnight attacks on Tehran University student dorms is approaching
fast (July 9th). The eyewitness accounts of Islamists "student
sacrifice" is chilling and still remains in people's mind as vivid
as the night it happened. The dreadful sequence of events is rehashed
in the daily newspapers day after day. Eyewitnesses say that at about
mid night on July 9th 2000, Islamists broke into the dorms barging into
student rooms, bashing everything on their way (computers, desks, beds
and bookshelves), and writing Islamic graffiti on the walls. Then they
went on to grab a number of young student residents of the halls by
their arms and legs swinging them in the air mercilessly and finally
throwing them out of the windows of these tall buildings. All the while
shouting violently "accept this sacrifice our mighty Imam".
The police had done nothing to stop the intruders and the incident left
a number of students dead and many more wounded. Before this attack
on the students, for many years December 7th was coined to honor student
struggle against imperialist forces in Iran. On December 7th 1954 three
university students were shoot dead by the then Shah of Iran's army
commandos. At the time, student protests had flared up as a result of
Nixon' unpopular visit to Iran.
Since 1954, much has changed
in Iran and the country has gone through many social and political upheavals.
Nevertheless, university students still play a major role in shaping
the public's social and political opinion. In today's Iran the students
start almost every protests and are amongst the leaders of the struggles
for freedom and democracy in Iran. The student movement in Iran is respected
for its strong commitment to liberation and its numerous sacrifices
throughout modern Iranian history. Amongst the most recent and brutal
Islamists attacks on students were the July 9th attacks.
During the latest wave of
public protests that swept across Iran in June 03, four thousand protestors
have been arrested. The Islamic government claims that a great majority
of the protestors are "undesirable", "anti revolutionary"
elements that are being supported by foreign powers specially the United
States. However, it is abundantly clear to the people I have spoken
to that the reason for dissatisfaction with the Islamic regime is simply
their record of governance during the past 25 years. And the undemocratic
ways that unwanted, and in many cases publicly know frauds, are placed
in charge of critical government posts. Many Iranian courts are currently
attending to numerous such cases, which are often finally abandoned
because of the political influence of high-ranking government officials
who themselves have benefited from the circumstances.
At present, hunger strikes
and student sit-ins continue across many universities in Iran (University
of Isfahan, University of Mashhsd, Shiraz University, and Alameh-Tabatabaee
University in Tehran). Student protestors demand the release of their
fellow student detainees. The Islamic government continues to deny that
the great majority of those who were arrested are in fact university
students. The regime has gone a step further and announced that no permits
will be issued for demonstrations or peaceful public protest to commemorate
July 9th (the National Day of Protest and Solidarity with University
students and their demands). Everyone I have spoken to is appalled at
this shameless gesture of the Islamic regime, which has triggered terrible
additional anger in the public.
At a time like this, the
opposition groups (Student organizations, Women's groups, and the nationalist
religious groups) are trying to form a coalition, plan a strategy, in
an attempt to direct people's boiling anger towards constructive and
useful political ends. However, it is unfortunate to say that after
at least two months of continuous struggle to articulate demands nothing
has transpired yet. Four days is left to the national day of protest
and the various opposition groups continue their silence on a collective
course of action to be taken by the frustrated public. A contemporary
Iranian writer and columnist had a modest suggestion. He said, "why
not call for a public referendum asking the people whether or not they
sill stand behind the old Islamic Constitution?" Practically everyone
in Iran knows that the answer will be "No" to the Islamic
constitution and "Yes" to immediate elections of representatives
to start writing the new constitution.