As details of the death toll for January’s protests continue to emerge, three students explain why they are resisting a return to normality

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.”

    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      11·
      1 month ago

      1. Because I’m not a conservative, dumbass. I do care about civilian casualties.

      2. The guardian crowdsources their funding from mostly small donations to maintain their independence from corporate interests.

        • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          11·
          1 month ago

          1. I don’t.

          2. You’re calling it western propaganda because you either refuse to believe it or you’re actively peddling pro-mullah propaganda. Either way, I’m not wasting any more time on you.

            • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              11·
              1 month ago

              Not even a little bit. You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about. In fact, the Ayatollah, being the dictator of a theocratic regime, is far more right-wing and “conservative” than even the most centrist western neoliberals (which I’m not even that, by the way).

              Have you forgotten about Mahsa Amini, who was murdered in police custody in 2021 for being a woman and not wearing her hijab “properly”?

              By the way, is this the same The Guardian that you’re calling “western imperialist propaganda”?

                • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyzEnglish
                  11·
                  1 month ago

                  He would if he could. But that’s neither here nor there, because this post isn’t about the west. It’s about Iranian student protesters, and you’re trying to say we shouldn’t give a fuck about them just because their oppressive government is anti-west.

                  Your red herrings are meaningless, because two things can be true at once. The Ayatollah is a violent dictator, but that doesn’t mean the west is faultless. And nobody here claimed that it is.

                  The point is that this article isn’t about the west, and you’re only trying to insert them into the conversation to deflect blame for the Ayatollah’s crimes against humanity.