Click on photo to enlarge it.
(Tehran, July 9, 2009)
(Tehran, July 9, 2009)
No to U.S. sabotage in Iran:
Demands for home-grown democracy continue on the streets of Iran.
by Mozhgan Savabieasfahani
July 11, 2009
Published in TLAXCALA, at:
http://www.tlaxcala.es/pp.asp?reference=8147&lg=en
We have to say no to U.S. sabotage in Iran. We have to respect the demands for home-grown democracy on the streets of Iran.
Thousands of protesters risked everything, again, in many locations in Tehran, and in the other cities of Iran, on Thursday July 9th , to continue demanding freedom of expression and human rights on the 10th anniversary of major student resistance in Iran.
Protesters were carrying fewer signs this time, to more easily escape the police. Some of the signs said:
* "We are the children of Cyrus the Great, the world’s ambassador of human rights",
* "Iranian women want equality, justice, and freedom in peace and solidarity",
* "Free education for all and employment for all",
* "Injustice against women is injustice against society and humanity",
* "Death to Islamic dictatorship",
* "Free all political prisoners", and
* "We are standing to the end."
Iranian students have traditionally been the engine behind anti-government resistance and protest as far back as the 1950’s, throughout the Shah Regime (installed by a CIA coup d'état in 1953). On December 7th 1953 (the 16th of Azar), Iranian students came out in large numbers, like they did this week, to demonstrate against the visit of the American vice-president Richard Nixon to Iran after the CIA-supported military coup of August 1953. Three students were shot dead by the Shah's U.S.-installed regime and that day became known as “Students’ Day” ever since.
[Photo: The three students who were shot dead while protesting Richard Nixon's visit to Iran, following the U.S. installation of the Shah.]
After the success of the 1979 revolution, the U.S. and its allies pushed a genocidal war on Iran. Over a million Iranians and Iraqis were killed, which dramatically strengthened the Islamic regime. The regime used the excuse of war to “cleanse” the universities of every rebellious student, and made it very difficult for student organizations to function. As the Islamic regime weakened, and student organizations became more popular, the government cultivated goon squads called "Basij", together with plain-clothes vigilantes, to suppress student activism on all campuses across Iran.
On July 9th 1999, under the cover of darkness, several government-supported vigilante groups (led by the Basij) broke into a Tehran University dormitory. These vigilantes beat the students, trashed their belongings, and called them immoral enemies of Islam. Drunk with hate, shouting Allah hu Akbar, two by two, Basijis hoisted struggling and pleading students to the high windows of the dorm. The vigilantes actually threw the students out of the windows of the tall building, killing them. Many students were killed and wounded on that summer night. Since that day, Iranian students have been coming out every year, to remember their fallen friends and to stand against oppression and harassment by the government's Basij thugs.
The mass mobilization for this July’s protest was carried out despite seemingly impossible restrictions on communication. The government severely restricted text messaging, cell phone service, and the Internet. Virtually all journalists have been cleared off the streets of Iran, leaving the reporting to those who participate in the protests. Carrying cameras and mobile phones is prohibited. Such items, if found, are confiscated and severe punishments ensue.
Despite all such threats by the authorities, participants in recent rallies have managed to document their actions and send their message for the rest of the world to hear. “We don’t want war,” said one 27-year-old man, “We just want freedoms.”
This is a world where international solidarity is scarce, where many can be fooled into believing democracy can be installed by illegal occupations. The U.S. tells us that an imposed “democracy” ought to be endured by the occupied. Today, dignity is denied to millions of occupied Palestinians, Iraqis, and Afghans. The occupied populations' inability to establish self-rule has severe consequences. Iranians know this well, and they are fighting for democracy come hell or high water.
Iranians can only be harmed by foreign interference, by foreign sabotage, and by Israeli bombardment, which Vice President Biden is practically endorsing.
Iranians' unbreakable resolution, to win their own democracy, is apparent in their chant: “We are standing to the end”.
Real democracy, people’s participation in decision making on all aspects of social life, is what Iran wants and needs. An Iranian physician recently said: “Everything has a price. Many bad things are happening but the trend is toward the light.” Light is a commonly used metaphor for Iranians, whose roots are in Zoroastrianism (the religion of fire and light).
As Iran protests and resists dictatorship, as we join our Arab neighbors in opposing occupations and U.S. puppet rulers, the American and Israeli leadership is contemplating an attack on Iran. Such an attack, by the U.S. and Israel, on the only country in the Middle East where people have forced an opening for democracy, would mean total devastation for any democratic change in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the U.S. and Israel see democracy as a direct threat to their continued occupations across the Middle East. It is.
There is a reason why Iranians believe that war is a way of life for Israel. Israel has always been a violent settler state, with endlessly expandable borders.
While struggling to resist U.S.-imposed sanctions, which have tightened their grip on all aspects of Iranian life, for 30 years, Iranians have nevertheless found the strength to march in the streets. They are telling the U.S. and Israel, the main war-mongers of our times, that Iranians do NOT want wars and that they WILL stand for democracy “...to the end”.
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