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Cure for the SISSY Iranian Mullahs
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Swing them all from the end of ropes.
Long Live the Iranian Student Movement
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_16946.shtml
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THE FRACTURING IRANIAN THEOCRACY:
EXPLORING THE SECULAR STUDENT MOVEMENT IN IRAN
Jun 11, 2005
A new trend appears to be developing; a growing majority of young, secular
students are rejecting 'Islamic democracy' in favor of Western-influenced
liberal democracy. Dissatisfied with the current theocratic regime, these
students are at the forefront of fundamental shifts now underway in Iranian
society. Today a pro-Western, media-savvy, anti-'fundamentalist reformist,'
and explicitly secular student movement is afoot to dismantle Iranian
theocracy. Largely ignored by the international media, recent polls show
that an overwhelming majority favor a new referendum asking one question:
theocracy or democracy? Student activists who have been exiled to America
and Britain and in Iran are disseminating calls for secular democracy
through street demonstrations, Web sites, and radio and satellite-TV
programs that broadcast in Iran.
"The Next Secular Revolution," a special section in the June/July 2005 issue
of Free Inquiry magazine -- on newsstands now -- investigates this student
movement. Contributing authors include Roya Hakakian, a writer, producer,
and documentary film-maker who has worked with 60 Minutes, and the Discovery
and Learning Channels; Soroush Danesh, a student in Tehran; and an interview
by noted scholar Ibn Warraq, research fellow at the Center for Inquiry, with
Michael Ledeen, foreign policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute.
In "Portrait of the Activist as a Young Man," Hakakian charts the rise and
fall of student activism in Iran. Hakakian documents its development from
its origins as a pro-theocracy movement -- one that was largely an
oppressive arm of the state -- to the recent emergence of a new pro-secular
movement, centered around Iran's many new universities.
In 'A Secular Student in Tehran,' Danesh, a student activist inside on the
ground, tells us that "secular organizations cannot operate openly and
freely under the current regime. For this reason, students are attempting to
establish chapters, and plan activities at their campuses across the
country." Danesh points out that while many Islamic students were once
supportive of religion, many are now being attracted to secularism.
In his eye-opening interview with Ibn Warraq, "Islam and Terrorism," Michael
Ledeen expresses dismay at the worldwide media establishment's lack of
coverage and blatant disregard for the current secular student uprising.
Ledeen considers this "scandalous" and believes that an anti-American,
anti-Bush sentiment along with a professional fear of being expelled or even
killed for reporting the truth may be contributing to the media's reluctance
to acknowledge the increasing rage of the Iranian people towards theocracy.
Just what remains to be seen from the burgeoning student movement, no one
knows for sure, yet Ledeen doesn't believe that a move toward democratic
revolution in Iran will be a student revolution; rather, it will be a
popular uprising that will include most of Iranian society; "I've always
believed that, if we were serious, the Iranian people ought to be able to
win their freedom within a year or two. With a bit of luck, even faster."
http://www.iranian.ws/cgi-bin/iran_news/exec/view.cgi/3/7483
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