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CounterPunch
November
23, 2002
The Children
of Iran Protest for Rights
The Rebirt of Student Dissent
by BEHZAD YAGHMAIAN
In November 2002, once again, Tehran University
became the site of anti-government protest by the students and
the youths. The protests that began with less than a few hundred
students reached a peak of more than 5000 in three days. Similar
acts of defiance were held in other cities across the country.
The student protests began as a response
to a court decision that sentenced to death Hashem Aghajari,
a pro-reform faculty of history, and a member of an influential
political organization in Iran. In a public speech in the city
of Hamedan, Aghajari had questioned the clergy's monopoly in
interpreting Islam and the Koran. Aghajari was sentenced to death
in a closed court without the presence of a jury.
Though a known figure to political circles
in Iran, many of the protesting students were faintly familiar
with Aghajari and his politics. Some, perhaps, had heard of his
name after the hype created by the court ruling. But, nonetheless,
the verdict against Aghajari was used as a pretext to challenge
the Islamic Republic, to demand the freedom of all political
prisoners, to press for freedom of expression, and to exhibit
to the Islamic state the hatred of the youth.
The recent protests are a reminder of
the nationwide student uprising in July 1999 in 22 cities of
Iran. Similar to the current demonstrations, the 1999 protests
began in Tehran University and soon spread to the campuses of
other universities across the nation. They began with students'
rejection of the closure of Salam, a pro-reform newspaper
published by an influential member of the state. But, similar
to the recent events, many of the students that joined the nation-wide
protest in 1999 had never read Salam and had no affinity
towards the paper and its publisher. The closure of Salam
and its consequent developments were events that unleashed the
fury of the youths, and gave them the opportunity, for the first
time in the history of the Islamic Republic, to publicly demand
the ouster of Iran's Supreme Religious Leader-Ayatollah khamenei.
Both events demonstrated the vulnerability
of the state, its lack of support among the children of the Islamic
Republic, and the complete loss of legitimacy it enjoyed immediately
after coming to power in 1979. Then and now, the protests were
unorganized acts of collective defiance-street actions against
the state and all that it represented: the imposition of the
Islamic hijab, gender separation in universities, outlawing
contacts between men and women, banning music and all instruments
of joy and worldly desires, political repression, and the denial
of people's most basic human rights.
I was in Tehran during the July 1999
student uprising. A new reality was created in the week of July
8-14, 1999. All that was forbidden and scorned were committed
by the defiant youth. Defiant and determined, marching shoulder
to shoulder, young men and women announced the death of the old
order. All taboos were broken. The unquestionable was questioned.
The fearful were fearless. The youth in Tehran and 22 cities
created scenes that were reminiscent of the days of street protests
that led to the demise of the Shah's government and the coming
to power of the Islamic Republic. But, this time, the protesters
were the children of the Islamic Republic, and the protests were
against the Islamic state.
The Islamic Republic defeated the 1999
student uprising by the use of its police, and assault gangs-the
bearded men in slippers-who attacked the students with guns,
chain, and machete. Nearly 2000 students were arrested and imprisoned.
Many still remain in jail. But, despite the defeat, a new Iran
emerged after the week of July 8-14, 1999.
In July 1999, the children of the Islamic
Republic walked on sacred grounds. The Supreme Leader was publicly
ridiculed, compared to Pinochle-the hated and deposed dictator
of Chile-and demanded to step down from power. The Islamic Republic
faced an unimaginable legitimacy crisis. The recovery from the
crisis was only possible through the use of force.
Those who battled the state on the streets
of Tehran were not the old ideologues of leftist parties. They
were young men and women with no political history, ideology,
or affiliation. Dressed in modern western outfits, reading Pablo
Neruda and Milan Kundera, drinking homemade alcohol, escaping
the pressures of the state with the music of The Pink Floyd,
and Guns and Roses-they are the children of MTV, satellite dishes,
Hollywood movies, the Internet and email. They are the fearless
children of the Islamic Republic. Born after the victory of the
Islamic Republic, their protest proved the non-viability, in
the long run, of the Islamicization of politics and the society
in the age of global communications. The student protest announced
to the world the failure of building an "Islamic utopia"
in a relatively modernized society like Iran.
The recent protests at Tehran University
echo the same feelings and sentiments. Though peaceful and non-confrontational
in form, the protests have been marked by the same demands and
political character of the collective actions in July 1999. In
some sense, the recent protests, though smaller in scale, are
more radical in content. Many have called for the resignation
of President Mohammad Khatami and the pro-reform members of the
Parliament. Some challenged the foundation of the Islamic Republic
by demanding the separation of the mosque-religion-from the state.
By the third day of student protests, it was clear to all that
freedom of Aghajari was but, one small component of the young
people's long list of political grievances and demand. The open
warfare between the youths and the state reached a new height.
The future of this phase of the student
movement cannot be predicted. Like before, the continuation or
the success of the movement depends on the balance of power between
the youth and their supporters, the old guard of the Islamic
republic, and the reformists within the government and the Parliament.
A bolder and more persistent approach to reform by the Parliament
and Khatami and his administration will indeed accelerate the
process of change. But, whatever the results of this stage of
the student protest, one fact remains unchanged: the Islamic
state in Iran is most seriously challenged by its own creation-the
children of the Islamic Republic.
Behzad Yaghmaian
is the author of Social Change in Iran: An Eyewitness Account
of Dissent, Defiance, and New Movements for Rights (SUNY Press,
2002). He is currently in the Middle East researching for his
upcoming book, Embracing the Infidel: The Secret World of the
Moslem Migrant (Verso Books). He can be reached at behzad_yaghmaian@hotmail.com.
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