As details of the death toll for January’s protests continue to emerge, three students explain why they are resisting a return to normality

As details of the death toll for January’s protests continue to emerge, three students explain why they are resisting a return to normality

More than 45 days after a brutal January crackdown that left thousands of Iranian protesters dead, students across several universities are protesting again. As Iran’s new academic term began on Saturday, students in Tehran gathered on campus, chanting anti-government slogans, despite a heavy security presence and plainclothes officers stationed outside university gates.

The Guardian spoke to protesting students about why they were rallying despite the fact that thousands had been killed and tens of thousands arrested in the January demonstrations.

“Our classrooms are empty because the graveyards are full,” said Hossein*, 21, a student at the University of Tehran. “It’s for them – our friends, classmates and compatriots, who were gunned down in front of our eyes, that we decided to boycott the classes.”

  • perestroika@slrpnk.netEnglish
    11·
    1 month ago

    Please don’t lump Afghanistan and Iraq together.

    Afghanistan had no oil. The US invaded because it was attacked by a group based in Afghanistan. The end was a mess, but the invasion was justified. This has been the only time NATO article 5 has been activated, by the way.

    Iraq has oil. The US has invaded twice. Once because the UN authorized restoring the independence of Kuwait, after Iraq had invaded Kuwait. The second time because emperor Bush II lied to everyone about weapons of mass destruction. The end was a mess, of course.

    Does this have any predictive value for Iran?

    I can only tell this:

    • I see no preparations for a land war
    • regimes may sometimes fall after suffering a military defeat
    • only one regime has fallen recently because of an air intervention (Gaddafi in Libya, but the Libyan civil war had already started at this time)

    As a result, I am not convinced of any outcome, I do not support and do not oppose, I observe and try to understand.

      • perestroika@slrpnk.netEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        bankrolled by the US to further their nefarious interests in the region.

        A long time ago. In response to the USSR couping and occupying Afghanistan. Which was, of course, also not justified.

        If Afghanistan had been left alone, things would very likely be better in several countries…