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From: ERC
Date: 19 Jul 1999
Time: 14:47:48
REFLECTIONS ON THE CURRENT SITUATION IN IRAN
By Alan Fogelquist Thursday, July 15, 1999
A few days ago, paramilitary thugs armed and organized by hard-liners in Iran's political and security structures, in repeated waves, attacked ransacked and looted the dormitories of students who had begun a peaceful demonstration against the unjustified closing of the reform oriented newspaper Salam and the introduction of reactionary law which will destroy any vestiges of intellectual and press freedom that have emerged in the last two years of timid political reforms. In the initial acts of violence by hard-line forces many students were injured, maimed, and by some accounts there were between five and thirty deaths. The full dimensions of this regime-instigated violence are still unknown. The brutal action of the paramilitary Hezbollahis set off a wave of student protests throughout Iran during which there were acts of apparently spontaneous violence and destruction such as the burning of a police car and other vehicles.
It is unfortunate the hard-liners in Iran have been able to exploit a few incidents of spontaneous destruction to orchestrate a crackdown on the Iranian student movement. Some of the destruction of property or violent acts attributed to the students such as torching a police car or bus, could have been initiated by agents provocateurs belonging to the regimes security forces, by frustrated non-students angry over the harshness of the regime, or by a few students who were carried away by anger and frustration. In times of extreme political and social tension acts of violence and destruction are bound to occur as some people reach their emotional breaking point. The acts of destruction or violence that can be attributed to the students pale in comparison to the continuous acts of violence by the regime's security forces and the vigilantes it has armed and instigated against every effort at independent thought, publication, or public activity by reformers and democratizers. The hard-liners have now mobilized the propaganda and repressive resources at their disposal to try to discredit the student democratizers and their allies among intellectuals, the independent media, and ordinary Iranians angry and tired and over years of repression, brutality, and crude totalitarian propaganda.
Yesterday's pro-hard-line demonstration and the military takeover of much of Tehran by the security forces and armed vigilantes is an indication of the resources the regime still has at its disposal. However impressive these forces of repression may be today, a politically, economically and morally bankrupt regime cannot sustain itself forever through crude propaganda and repression. The unjust and violent treatment of the student protesters are being noted by millions of Iranians who expressed their dissatisfaction for the hard-line policies of cultural repression, brutality, and authoritarian ideological dictatorship by their vote for Khatami's promised reform program in the 1997 presidential elections and in this year's town and village council elections. In both of these elections, candidates promising major political reforms in the direction of meaningful democratization and respect for basic human rights overwhelmingly defeated hard-line candidates defending the existing repressive system. The dishonest, brutal, and insidious behavior of the regime in its reaction to the students' reasonable and just demands for press freedom and an end to vigilante rule will add to the people's resentment and will be noted by the informed public throughout the world. The regime's last-ditch efforts to save itself through crude propaganda and savage violence, and crassly partisan judicial abuse, are in the long run likely to fail. The acts of recent days are likely to permanently alienate Iran's youth from clerical rule and the egregious abuse of religion as an instrument of mass manipulation and political domination by a self-appointed clique.
The weak response of Khatami and his closest political collaborators in the reformist wing of the government is a disappointment. If Khatami doesn't stand up openly for the students and others who have taken his campaign promises seriously, he will prove himself to be a person without moral courage and a political opportunist rather than a true statesman. He will go down in Iranian history as another Rafsanjani. Many of those who voted for Khatami will abandon him just as he will have abandoned his principles and the people to whom he owes his position. He will disappoint all those who placed their hopes on him to introduce significant political reforms in the direction of giving the Iranian people a real voice in the affairs of government and creating a climate of openness and personal security. Khatami must no longer remain silent and make vague general statements when editors and journalists are hauled in before the reactionary ideological courts. He must openly demand disbanding of the Hezbollahi gangs, pursue a genuine and thorough investigation of political murders, a complete overhaul of the Intelligence Ministry, and the prosecution of all hard-liners who have engaged in criminal acts of violence. He must stand up and support courageous intellectuals and journalists. He must stop pretending he agrees with the charade of justice being carried out by the reactionary ideological courts. He must straightforwardly demand the release form jail of the unjustly imprisoned like Mohsen Kadivar and Amir Entezam.
I believe that at present it is very important for all those inside Iran who strive for human rights, and genuine political change need to stay mobilized. They need to react immediately to counter the hard-line propaganda mobilization and the campaign of repression. If Khatami and his cronies fail to stand up for their own professed principles and abandon the fight for real reform at the first sign of strong opposition from the reactionaries, they will lose the trust and support of those they have abandoned. Courageous intellectuals, students, journalists, workers, and civil servants will carry on the struggle for real change and those who fail the test of political courage and moral judgment will be swept away by history and forgotten.
Those of us outside Iran who sympathize with the courageous suffering people inside Iran must do our part in mobilizing public opinion throughout the world and presenting accurate information, well-reasoned analysis, and good moral judgment to counter the evil propaganda of the oppressors of the Iranian people who in oppressing human beings in one country are also oppressing humanity and blocking progress for humankind in general.
Wherever it exists, the ugly head of cruelty and injustice should be exposed and opposed.
Alan Fogelquist
Eurasia Research Center