Posted on 02/03/2008 9:36:29 AM PST by nuconvert
Tehran University Demonstrations
Michael Ledeen
Here is an account of the anti-regime demonstrations in Tehran last week, written by a democracy activist on the ground. I don't know if they have entirely stopped yet. Please note the last lines, the plea that the rest of the world report these events and pay attention to the cause of Iranian people, workers, students, and women. I so wish I had a government that did that, or a candidate who spoke out on their behalf.
Here you go:
Sunday, Jan. 27, was marked by the third day of protest by Tehran University students at the Kouy-e Daneshgah - or the students dormitory. The protest began by 250 students with a basic demand for improvement of the food quality at the KOUY, but it rapidly turned into a full-fledged political protest against the government as the protest progressed. The protesting students broke the door between the KOUY and the main campus and entered the area inside the School of Technology. By this time the crowd had grown to 1,000. Clashes broke out and a number of students suffered broken arms and heads. The State Security Force and the Special Guard, in full armed gears, threw stones and the students answered. By 9.30 p.m., the students lit a big fire in the area of the School of Technology (FANNI) and chanted, "Death to the Dictator" and "Death to Tyranny". They used molotov cocktails to defend themselves against guards' attack. Some 60 students were injured and 40 were arrested. The guards covered the arrested students with sacks so that they could not be identified. The protest lasted until midnight.
The state-run press were compelled to report the three-day unrest, of course to minimize its importance. For example, the official news agency, IRNA, reported that there were no clashes between the students and the security forces and the protest was simply over food quality. Some of the press said the President has advised university officials to attend to the needs of students regarding food and other accommodations of the dorms.
Participating students in Sunday's protest said the scene resembles the scene of protests by student in July 1999, when six days of student protests were joined by ordinary people and spread to the streets of central Tehran, seriously scaring the regime.
On Friday, 1,500 TU students marched out of the KOUY over low quality food and staged an angry demonstration on Amir Abad Ave. with anti-government slogans. They clashed with the special guards and were badly beaten up. A number of students were arrested. The protest resumed in the cold afternoon of Saturday at 4.30 p.m. The crowd gradually swelled to 1,500 by 7.30 p.m. The students hurled stones at the State Security Force who had surrounded the university and blocked all streets leading to TU.
They chanted, "We want no rule of force, we want no mercenary police" - "People, why are you sitting down? Iran has become another Palestine" - "Students die but will not succumb" - "Children of Kaveh and Siavosh will not relent until the Islamic Republic regime is overthrown." The SSF clubed the students, breaking the noses, arms and legs of some 20 students. The SSF also brought Fire Engines and flushed water on the students who staged their protest under heavy snow until 10 p.m.
On Saturday, Jan. 26, workers of Kiyan Tire staged a protest at 9 a.m. They started by a sit-in in the factory while all the factory departments were shut down. Kiyan Tire workers have not received their wages of seven months and have terrible living conditions. Finally, they blocked Saveh Road and set fire to tires. Smoke filled all the area of Char Dangeh where the factory is located. All 2500 workers of the factory are on strike. The protest on Saturday lasted until noon. Workers said they would continue their protests until their demands are met. I also learned of another major protest by workers of Alborz Tire Factory on Saturday. 2000 workers work at Alborz Tire Factory. They have not received their salaries for three months and this protest has been going on at least for a week. Angry workers chanted: "So much injustice (under an Islamic regime claiming justice of Imam Ali)" — "Death to Tyranny" — "Jobs, Salaries, Justice are our inalienable right" (This contradicts the official motto of Nuclear Energy is our inalienable right) — "A decent living is our inalienable right" — etc. So much for a busy weekend.
*Remember that the people of Iran, the students and workers and women wish to be heard by the world and they need your kind and sympathetic attention to their cause and naturally a decent reporting of their anti-government protests.
Onward to freedom.
God bless these brave freedom fighters.
There is great courage here folks. This is not the United States where being arrested means being carried off gently to be released later with no charges. They are risking their lives and futures fighting against these monsters. Hey, code pink, go speak truth to power in Iran, you d@mn useless cowards.
Another dozen or so, soon to be dead, students.
This isn’t going to work, but it is an interesting look at the dynamics.
Bump
May God protect them. Otherwise I’m sure they’ll get greased for this.
Take it out of the dorm and occupy the oilfields. Maybe somebody will actually notice.
With this as their motto they with either fail or end up with communism. How about a plea for freedom?
Pong
“How about a plea for freedom?”
well, they’re tire factory workers who haven’t been paid in 7 months.
read
They would say that Freedom comes with “Justice.” Hard to imagine why you’d pick such a nit with people facing the Iranian version of the Gestapo.
I can only hope we are assisting these patriots against a brutal subhuman regime!
Before backing a revolution we better be sure what is behind it. Revolutions based on “social justice” and wages usually result in communism. I would not wish that outcome for these people.
They will be no better off with a Hugo Chavez style regime than they are now. And neither will the West.
Now Shi'a Islam is the oppressor far worse than the Shah as there is no hope of a response to Earthly demands for a real republic and freedom.
“They would say that Freedom comes with “Justice.””
Thank you
If I my suggest
Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East
by Jared Cohen
Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East
http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4039015&page=1
(snip)
ABC NEWS: What impressed you most about those young people that you ran into in Iran?
COHEN: I think what impressed me most about young people in Iran is just their resilience. No matter what’s thrown at them, no matter how difficult things are, they just find a way to coexist and they find a way to be young people. The Iranian young people that I met refused to have their identities hijacked by either political entities or religious entities. I think the Iranian young people have really emerged as the de facto opposition in that country in the sense that they brought about a number of social and recreational changes by virtue of what they’ve been able to do by mass action in the pursuit of comfort in that country.
ABC NEWS: You say that they embrace their youth. What exactly do they do? How do they behave? What are the parallels?
COHEN: Well, there’s a chapter in “Children of Jihad” called Democracy after Dark, which takes place in Iran, where I talk about how as soon as I went out with young Iranians for the first time after the sun went down. It’s no different than the United States. Once the sun goes down and the parents are nowhere in sight, the girls wear very garish makeup and very fancy clothes, and the hijabs are pushed all the way back, and the kids drink, and they make alcohol in their bathtubs and in their sinks and there’s rampant drug use, and the parties feel more like a fraternity party than they do a party that you’d expect in the Islamic Republic. And they do drag racing down the streets, they use Bluetooth to arrange for illicit trysts. They crumple up pieces of paper with their phone numbers on it and throw it in each other’s windows, and it’s really a remarkable scene. It’s them expressing themselves. It’s not that they’re rambunctious and out of control, it’s that every drop of alcohol they drink, every beat of Western music they listen to, everything they do that they’re not supposed to do, whether they realize it or not, they’re doing it, in part, in defiance of the regime.
(snip)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.