Iran: Students Protest Dictatorship and Gender Apartheid


Photo is from yaarinews.com

A group of students held a protest rally against the Iranian government and president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the University of Tehran on Sunday to commemorate Student Day, the anniversary of the murdering of three students of University of Tehran on December 6, 1953.

Daftare Tahkim Vahdat (means the Office of Consolidation of Unity), an important student association, had organised this demonstration to protest against censorship, gender apartheid and pressure on students. They chanted slogans such as “Down with the dictatorship” and clashed with security forces. You can see a collection of photos here.

Here is a video on the demonstration:

Salam Demokrat says that students who had been in jail or deprived of studying delivered speeches at the university. The blogger adds:

در ادامه سخنرانی ها دانشجوی منع تحصیل و زندانی آزاد شده، مهدیه گلرو، از دانشگاه علامه
در مورد جنبش زنان و خاطرات زندان خود سخن گفت و مورد تشویق و پشتیبانی فراوانی از دانشجویان قرار گرفت. بعد از خانم گلرو، دانشجویان کرد، بیانیه ی خود را خواندند. و دانشجویان سوسیالیست دانشگاه های ایران و دانشجویان سوسیالیست پلی تکنیک بیانیه های خود را توزیع کردند

Mahdieh Golro talked about the women's movement and her experience in prison. Students encourgaed her very warmly. After Golro, Kurdish students read their statement and socialist students distributed their tracks.

The blogger adds that the number of students was between 3000 to 4000.

See more photos here.

4 comments

  • Ali Isfahani

    What kind of “dictatorship” is Iran, where students have no fear in shouting such slogans freely? What kind of “dictatorship” is Iran, where student freely speaks to the President of country like this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3vOaBejRs

    Anybody who has been to Iran can tell you that people speak freely in taxi’s, at newspaper stands, universities, etc. (of course there is red line and that is Khamenei, but everyone else is green light). The point is Iran is like no other Muslim country in terms of political freedom and such freedom to speak and challenge political officials has never existed in Iran’s history before the revolution.

    Iran is not what people think it is. It has many problems and freedom of speech should be expanded. But if anyone reads Iran’s newspapers today they see they are very highly critical.

  • Snoop

    Get real. this is nothing more than a protest sponsored and paid for by the CIA..
    Nothing more than propaganda trying to drum up support for an Iran invasion.

    Do not fall for this bs………..

  • Hedayat

    One of students in 16 Azar said: You made university Prison; we will make prison university. This is the most beautiful poetry that I have ever heard and also a great reality that is cited so beautifully.

    There is a long time that our universities are Prisons. Our country is prison. Also in the age of Shah and Reza Shah was the same. But could we arrive ever to make prisons university?

    There is long time that I am thinking If Ayatollah Khomeini had the same education as Mossadegh and Gandhi ( For example at a Ph D level in Law) he could be like them, to be like a father of nation?

    If the answer is positive we can see how education could be important and how lake of education could create disasters for a nation.

    Who is responsible? Yes I know the dictatorship is responsible. Because it is in the dictatorship conditions, that, society can not provide good education for all.

    But for all people who want to change the society I have tendency to say that all we are responsible.

    If some one like Ahmadi Nejad non educated come out from our schools and our universities we are all responsible. We are responsible because we were his teachers or we are responsible for that we were not his teacher because we did not participate in his education.

    I guess our society understood now how education is important. So that every body become teacher: taxi drivers, barbers, students in universities and…. It seems our country is a big university. A big university in a big prison.

    I think every body in our society should fill responsible to participate in this university.
    Yes we will learn every day; we will let every day others to learn. When all people learned there will not be any more guards for prison. If they bring guards from Lebanon Philistine, Iraq we will teach them also. We will teach them freedom and how make their land free.

    And for our teachers who are under so much pressure: please do some how that nobody like Ahmadi Nejad come out of our schools again. Please study why he became like this? Is he was under pressure? In fact all people who practice torture are come out from our schools.

    We are all responsible…

  • Hasan

    elections spoke the truth about the nature of the iranian society… conservartive!! not even near going against the Islamic revolution… hehe i mean elections brought ahmadi najad as a president!! couple thousands of protesters can do shit! i mean musical concerts have a bigger audience…

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