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.”
The protests are good and justified, all power to the Iranian people. Iran deserves a second revolution, after the first one was taken over by the Mullahs for their own goals.
But it’s genuinely disheartening how readily nominally progressive spaces are jumping abord the manufactured consent for an imperialist military intervention by Israel and the US.
How, exactly, will bombing Iranian cities help their liberation? Or even if they succeed with deposing the Mullah regime, is anyone really expecting self determination by the Iranian people afterwards? We’re seen how the Shar’s son is pushed as the next US puppet government by US- and Israeli media (and their European allies).
The Iranian people, not just the current regime, are supportive of Palestine, and Israel and the US absolutely cannot accept that. Don’t cheer for imperialist intervention.
But it’s genuinely disheartening how readily nominally progressive spaces are jumping abord the manufactured consent for an imperialist military intervention by Israel and the US.
Please provide evidence where this generally left-of-centre british reporting is “manufacturing consent”. Which text lines do you think are trying to make us readers agree to that kind of action by these two states?
at this point I’m don’t understand it but I can see it as a possible future for a lot of Latin America
we are watching in real time how Venezuela is transforming into a US colony
right now Fidel’s grandson is allegedly making deals with the US gov (while the US asks Mexico to stop any deals involving gas with Cuba)
and here in Mexico the state is so corrupt and the US propaganda is running strong for an intervention like the one in Venezuela (and what happened yesterday just made it worse)
I think most people are hoping for an attack on military targets like last year. No-one is calling for “bombing cities”. That’s a tankie fantasy. A fantankasy
Fuck the Mullah dictatorship!!!
It is a terrible situation for everyone.
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So Iran’s inflation, food and water costs, blackouts and other problems weren’t casual whatsoever?
It all happened coz a bunch of university lecturer’s told their students to go uprise?
Why do these idiots in authoritarian dictatorships always think that protesting the government will remove it? No, they’ll kill you. Learn your lesson. And by that I don’t mean giving up.
Eventually, they will succeed. If you understand Iran’s demographics and the history behind those demographics, this is the logical conclusion. The mullahs’ days are numbered.
… All the more reason an invasion is all the more stupid. Iran is a problem that will deal with itself.
That’s literally how eastern Germany got rid of their government. And yes, people got killed. But in the end they succeed. There was absolutely no chance for a violent coup if this is what you’re implying. The government and the Soviet Union would have crushed that immediately.
weapons of mass destruction ass consent manufacturing excuse. they meaning to tell me more people died in iran rn than gaza.
i don’t believe a word from murderous us media or their nazi leadership.
The Guardian is british.
and manufacturing consent for a us invasion of iran, yes.
That’s a claim you’d need to provide evidence for. Really, really good evidence.
no, you are the one who has to stop inventing shit to invade countries in your fascist crusade.
I am doing nothing. You are claiming bullshit and don’t even know jackshit about the news outlets you’re making up shit about.
Also, I’m not even from the US.
you are literally inventing shit to justify another genocide. burden of proof rests on you.
we are very aware of the guardian’s propaganda AND us terror campaigns (that begin with exactly this sort of lie).
What did I invent, exactly?
we are very aware of the guardian’s propaganda
Evidence or GTFO.
What? You don’t believe “Hossein, 21”, they named him and everything! You want to see actual evidence! You can’t believe that I’m 2026 not a single person recorded a video of said massacres on their phone?
It’s insane. Gaza is over two years of bombing turning it into a parking lot. Like, many people have been killed in Iran during the recent months. It’s just gross to report numbers that are not physically possible.
I saw one report that MORE than 80,000 in 2 days. The last time that many people died in such a short amount of time was when we dropped two nuclear weapons on Japan. Did Iran nuke itself? Like, how can anyone print that number?
Not to mention, the solution to this is apparently for the US and Israel to do exactly what Israel did to Gaza to Iran.
Where did you get that report? Most I saw was 30k over 3 weeks
To be clear. I wasn’t saying it was credible.
https://x.com/i/status/2014484450315293173
This was the one going around at the time I was talking about. I know there were articles at the time citing this as evidence as well. But, it looks like that’s been purged from most articles.
I know that number was spoken on Fox News as well at some point. But I’d have to dig for the clip. Just the usual, “some reports saying as high as 80,000” vague propaganda from a guest interview.
Ok but you said you saw a report and now you’re linking me a tweet
Can you link us the actual report?
I’m not sure why you are acting like I’m the one that said there was a valid verifiable report of this. My initial comment was literally talking about how people were lying about the numbers and saying it was “reported as 80,000”
This was the propaganda going around Twitter. A “report” can literally just be someone from inside Iran reporting on it. Which is exactly what that tweet was.
Maybe I worded my comment poorly? I was pointing to the absurdity of a number like 80,000 being taken seriously. And now for some reason you want a verified report of that? I’m so confused.
Why would you say
how can anyone print that number?
when no one printed it?
You’re using it to back up someone saying we can’t “trust the murderous media” but it’s just lies
“People” are genuinely trying to argue the US is just as bad or even worse.
The US killed 500k children in Iraq and when asked about it our political leadership said they would do it again because it was worth it
As tragic as that is, I’m referring to US treatment of its own citizens.
The US has done more global damage to the world than any other nation in history, except maybe Israel because they are working together.
Why are you referring to the US’s treatment of its own citizens when its entire history has been the history of limiting its definition of “in-group” so that it can commit mass murder of everyone else? Why not refer to the US treatment of the country’s inhabitants, like the indigenous populations, the migrant workers, the asylum seekers?
By limiting your frame to only the predominantly white, predominantly “middle class”, you are playing into the narrative that allows the US to go around killing millions. Because you think the US is not as bad as Iran, you create the political conditions for the US to be considered a legitimate nation with real interests and intentions that matter. The truth is that the US is built on genocide and slavery, has always been built on genocide and slavery, and continues to engage in genocide and slavery. The US is far and away worse than Iran.
Ignored.
I want the privilege to ignore the US imperialism
You should stop ignoring your English teachers.
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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.
How do we improve things for the people of Iran?
by keeping your grubby arrogant hands off of it and stop lying about it. huge improvement already.
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.
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?
I [am] mainly arguing about opposing any intervention
Did your conversation also cover the fact that the CIA/MI5/the Mossad intentionally put those Islamic radicals in power?
On Aug. 19, 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time its involvement in the 1953 coup against Iran’s elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.
The documents provided details of the CIA’s plan at the time, which was led by senior officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr., the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Over the course of four days in August 1953, Roosevelt would orchestrate not one, but two attempts to destabilize the government of Iran, forever changing the relationship between the country and the U.S.
Mohammad Mossadegh was a beloved figure in Iran. During his tenure, he introduced a range of social and economic policies, the most significant being the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. Great Britain had controlled Iran’s oil for decades through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. After months of talks the prime minister broke off negotiations and denied the British any further involvement in Iran’s oil industry. Britain then appealed to the United States for help, which eventually led the CIA to orchestrate the overthrow of Mossadegh and restore power to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-democracy-in-four-days
Well, your copypaste doesn’t really say what you say it does but, yeah, even if that was the case how does it help the people of Iran?
Now that’s A+ gaslighting. It ABSOLUTELY says what I say it says.
We shoot a hole in a bucket then decades later engage in handwringing with gullible libs that would believe ANYTHING about why we need to intervene to shore up the leaks we caused in the first place.
It ABSOLUTELY says what I say it says.
There aren’t too many sentences there. You can do this.
I get where you’re clumsily aiming at but the current situation is what it is. The Iranian people don’t gain shit when we limit ourselves to reciting history to eachother
At least I’m not clumsily implying that for some odd reason, we suddenly need to go act as world police as a response to what amounts to our own outrage-farming bullshit. Hilarious that you (or whoever you’re an unwitting or paid dupe for) think anyone would fall for this at all.
As an American I’ve long supported assisting rebels, but going to war is just as likely to backfire as it is to succeed.
Well you can give the small arms but then they’re up against an advanced military. They basically don’t stand a chance without at least air support
If you let them get nukes it’s basically game over
The US does that when it wants to create a civil war where previously there was no civil war. Civil wars are great for neocolonial intervention. You pump arms into the weaker side. They start killing. The whole defense complex now has to manage its existing counter-intelligence program against the US but now they also have an active hot conflict domestically. Lots of military-capable people die. Then the neocolonial empire comes in once the chaos has weakened everyone and they save the day!
There’s no civil war because the Iranian regime kills everyone that poses a threat. People are taking to the streets to demand basic rights and they get shot in the head by the thousands.
How do you suggest the Iranian people get out of this situation?
Again, I ask, why does the responsibility always default to the US? Why?
Responsibility?
By coming together with their government to defeat the imperialists?
Start shooting protestors and hanging gays?
Find and expose the foreign spies operating in Iran, continue to advocate on the world stage for the end to the crimes against humanity that are the collective punishment of sanctions, and engage in mutual aid to reduce the suffering caused by the crimes against humanity that are the collective punishment of sanctions.
What they shouldn’t do is align their interests with the US and Israel for the violent overthrow of the anti-imperialist Iranian government.
Disgusting sentiment
After 40 days, as expected. Trump now has his public excuse to attack. I don’t know what to think of all this.
William Spaniel, Lines on Maps on YouTube, tried to break it down in a couple of videos.
Very real protests, everyone. Protesters can be seen with signs in perfect English that read, “please save us, oh righteous Israeli Mossad.”
The AI generated protest images are pretty spot on as well
