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.”
Why is it the responsibility of the US? I’m old enough to remember being (rightfully) shunned for doing the same fucking shit in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why did the US invade Afghanistan? Why did they invade Iraq?
Do you believe the US is considering a ground invasion of Iran?
(ps I don’t advocate it’s their responsibility, mainly arguing about opposing any intervention)
because of lies and oil as always. there wasnt any us intervention in the middle east in history that left the country better. evil fucking empire.
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:
As a result, I am not convinced of any outcome, I do not support and do not oppose, I observe and try to understand.
bankrolled by the US to further their nefarious interests in the region. when they turned against the empire by attacking the wtc, the us responded by… genociding it’s people.
none of this was justified at all.
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…
the us funded terrorists in the region to destabilize it so socialism didn’t succeed. it had nothing to do with the now-obvious “protecting democracy” excuse, as always with us imperialism worldwide, tbh. i mean it’s no wonder the us is so hated in the global south.
not a long time. the us funded al qaeda until the early 90s. their retribution came barely a decade later. an entire country then suffered for it.
the us wouldn’t have as much influence in the region (and so much free reign for genocide) if they had left afghans alone.
How do we improve things for the people of Iran?
By not subjecting them to criminal economics mic sanctions, which are known to murder more than half a million people yearly?
Why not use sanctions? What universal law is there that we cannot, under any circumstances, block economic interaction? Governments unable to block trade might be the ultimate capitalist dream but there’s no reason sane people should be forced into it.
What part of “US sanctions murder half a million people yearly” do you not understand or care about?
For starters: the absolute vagueness of it
Say that I’m doing some genocides and you decide you don’t want to trade with me anymore because of it. If that means I run out of money and my baby starves, would you have remorse?
(This is a simplified allegory of the situation, but I hope you care enough about the world to understand the comparison)
Fuck off, Zionist fascist scum
by keeping your grubby arrogant hands off of it and stop lying about it. huge improvement already.
By respecting their agency.
We don’t. Stop being a chauvinist. The Iranian people, together, improve things for themselves. Our responsibility is to dismantle the Western imperialist machine that has killed almost 40 million people in the last 50 years through sanctions alone
Why would I need to dismantle the Western machine and not the Iranian one?
Because you don’t live in Iran and it’s not your responsibility. Your responsibility, depending on where you live, is to dismantle the closest link to you in the chains that hold the world in imperial bondage, which is the Western machine helmed by the USA.
Why would these be exclusive?
Because toppling the Iranian government is aligned with empire’s goals and creates positive reinforcing outcomes for the empire. So either you fight the empire and frustrate its goals in Iran, or you support the empir by bringing about its goals in Iran even if your heart is pure.
So you’re arguing that some interventions by the US that led to hundreds of thousands or millions of civilian deaths, long-term cancer and birth defects, total destruction of civilian infrastructure, and decades of neocolonial extraction are somehow justifiable?
Am I?