university student protest in Iran

university student protest in Iran

uk.news.yahoo.com

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Hundreds of Iranian students expressed their anger over a government crackdown on activists in a protest Sunday at Tehran University, the second such demonstration in less than a week, witnesses and state radio said.

One witness, Mehdi Arabshahi, said the protest lasted more than two hours as students rallied against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hardline administration ...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
news.yahoo.com
www.gulfnews.com
tabnak.ir

As an Iranian who recently joined ATS, I have searched several topics on Iran in ATS. I have seen variety of issues discussed, mainly Iran threats to the US, the West, and the region security, but not too many talked about the situation inside Iran and the threats and pressures this Ahmadinejad ruling system imposing to their own people.
So, for the purpose of beginning a series of related issues, I have attached some links regarding Dec 9, 2007 university student protest in Iran.


uk.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by free_ir


So, what is the sentiment among the average Iranian? I would imagine that you are essentially on the opposite swing of the pendulum from the US. Feeling as if you are pushed into a war that you don't want by a government that you don't feel you can trust?

I just feel that it is almost impossible for me to understand what is really going on over there. Even in a post such as yours, I can't help but think that the US could be meddling over there trying to stir up some unrest in an attempt to destabilize the country. It's not the first time we have done it and it would be beneficial to this administration.

reply to post by Karlhungis


As an American I dare say, and I am sure our Iranian friend can agree that these protests are nothing new and although I am sure our administration has been watching intently, people of Iran are just like people anywhere. They want to have freedoms with in their government, that in itself far surpasses the US meddling in everything.
Another thing that the US people do not understand when talking about giving democracy to a Muslim Country is the people do not want a separtaion of church and politics. Islam contains the Shira (The LAW) and the people do not wish to depart from it, in this case there is a Hardline Faction that can be opressive about how they view Islam and how it is to be administered to the people, obviously these are some of the issues involved with in these protests. We as Americans have little to do with it and in fact I dare say that with the advent of electronic intelligence the Foreign Intelligence Agencies had moved away from Human Intelligence, which as a whole was a huge mistake and trying to get people in a place like Iran is not an easy task to implement.
Now I know of certain groups that are willing to support these protests as a means to undermine the Mullahs hardline faction but it is nothing the US has instrumented. People have problems in their country just because it is a Country we have been having issues with does not mean everything that happens there is the CIA.
I think overall the people there in Iran do not want help from Americans, they want to solve their own problems. I think the Iranian Students who are protesting issues there would still tell the US to mind our business while they handle theirs.
I would be interested to know if our Iranian Friend here thinks I am on the mark or not and I would love to hear feedback.

reply to post by Karlhungis

I think you`ve got the wrong idea from my post. I did not mean that US should intervene or directly support freedom movements in Iran. The point is that major Iranians are very peaceful, calm progressive individuals and Iran is the most educated community within the Middle East. Over one million and half now live in the US and are among the successful part of the nation.
But I personally think if the West and particularly US would have had a better approach toward Iran when people showed their definite will for democracy and healthy international relation in 1998 (Khatami) election, despite the very tough watchdog system for qualifying the candidates, we had not have these extremist ruling over Iran now. Unfortunately, in Khatami administration period, despite his positive gestures toward US, they put iran in the axis of evil; and the minor hardliner opposition took the most advantage out of it.
Ahmadinejad elected president in 2003 was one of these adverse effects. How democratic the elections in Iran are, is another big matter to be covered in this post.
Now, to deal with Iran issue they should intelligently target the key hardliner government interests rather than normal citizens. Putting pressure to some specific extent may work, while severe sanctions and military action are very unintelligent options and would work adversely. I know it is rather difficult and complicated; there must be some possible ways though.
The elites in the world should find a proper formula for this problem.

reply to post by free_ir


so are most americans, peacefull people and so on
just like a small majority who are morons and just crave wars,

did the Iranians bring out the Tazers?

reply to post by birchtree

"...Another thing that the US people do not understand when talking about giving democracy to a Muslim Country is the people do not want a separtaion of church and politics...."

Maybe this is a late response. I hope you are still following this thread.

I would like to tell you that most of the points in your post make sense to me as an Iranian. however, there is some misunderstanding of iranian attitudes in your post, I am sorry to say.
It is only the state cleric ruling system that insist on adherence of religion and politics.
The average Iranians are religous, but now they know it pretty well that polititions who justify their own decisions in the name of religion are the most dangerous people on the earth.
Maybe you mixed up Iranians with Arab nations in the region.

reply to post by free_ir


Well, I would like to say "welcome" to you, free_ir. It will be good to hear from the perspective of an Iranian in this forum. I'm looking forward to your posts.

Free IR I appreciate your reply, In fact even though I know Arabs and may I say Persians are very diff, I was in fact basing my opinion on being in Arab Countries and the way the people as a whole view Islam. I have met several people from Iran, but due to my nature in the Middle East it is best as you know to have good conversation about things in common.
I found despite some of the attitudes placed by people who have never even studied the Mid East and South East Asia Regions, that people there appreciate it when they come across an American that will sit down and talk with them about Politics. Which is contrary to what we are told in America. (Disclaimer. They will ask you, dont go searching for a converstaion) Now do not get me wrong I am not a person that tries to understand why someone seeks my extermination, but for the most part I never found that attitude at all. There are obviously people that hate Americans, but they are still kind and curious. I feel I should be kind and curious too. This is how people get along.
Anyway I am always trying to broaden my understanding and will continue to be that way.

Originally posted by birchtree
Another thing that the US people do not understand when talking about giving democracy to a Muslim Country is the people do not want a separtaion of church and politics.

I found this interesting too, as I speak to a few people around the world, and see that idea from some of them too.

A friend I speak to in Egypt expressed a similar idea when we were talking about homosexuality in his country. He felt that the majority of people in his country were fine with the idea that homosexuals should be sent to prison, because the main religion essentially says that it is a crime/sin, therefore people should receive some punishment for it. At first I thought that this was the kind of thing that simply wouldn't happen in a democratic country, then I remembered that it did used to happen in my country (England), and even after people were no longer sent to prison there was some discrimination in the law (for example the age of consent for homosexuals). It seemed the view he felt was prevalent was that some ideas of democracy were fine, but not when they interfered with the religious writings. Something else my Egyptian friend told me of that was interesting was that he got arrested by a group he called "national security" for having his beard too long, which struck me as very odd, the way he explained it was that long beards are seen as a sign of fundamentalism, and they are more a 'moderate' country. I think one of his main points that interested me was that a lot of the things 'the west' complains about are barely even debated about, as the majority of people do not even consider them an issue.

You know Free IR and Boba Fett I have really enjoyed the discussion and comments of this post, it is unfortunate that more people from ATS that are so overwhelmed with slamming the US and speaking about what may come if a war happens have not explored this post to see a diff view of how people can talk and exchange ideas or utilize ATS as a site to learn about each other and see views from anothers perspective.

I would think that all the people that are so enthralled with proving points about conflict, would at least use this Thread as a way to ask Free IR about his/her feelings on the subject of... I know that is not what this post was about but it just seems to me that more people would have shown an interest in this discussion. To me it shows that people are very un-sincere.
Free IR I hope you are still monitoring your thread. Some of us appreciate you bringing these things to our attention and enjoy discussing it with you.

[edit on 14-12-2007 by birchtree]