January 19, 2020

‘Geniuses replaced with Akhunds’ in Iran

topic:	Human Rights
located:	Iran
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

As the proud cradle and custodian of the Persian civilization, the present-day Iran with its dominant theoretical regime in Tehran presents a rather bitter paradox of its glorious past.

As the young students in varsities across the country rise against the way things are shaping up inside, regionally and globally for Iran, the world needs to listen and support them.

Already suffering under the punitive economic sanctions in connection with the nuclear ambitions, the Iranian youth, in particular, is frustrated with their leadership that seems bent upon crud use of force to resolve anxieties and suppress descent.

As mainly student-led agitation against the regime’s socio-economic and international policies was underway in various parts of Iran amid the precarious culture of fear, further protests were triggered by events surrounding shooting down of a passenger plane in Tehran by the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. This came on the heels of the U.S. drone strike killing the country’s top military general, Qasim Solaimani.

As evident from their slogans, the youth is clearly fed-up with the punitively authoritarian theocratic regime’s disregard for more moderate and liberal voices in the country. Among the 176 victims of the Ukrainian passenger jet shot down by the IRGC, were dozens of students and academics who were on their way to Canada via Ukraine.

“Our geniuses are killed, and replaced with ‘Akhunds (religious leaders)’”, was among many slogans chanted during these demos by the charged youth. “We don’t want the regimes of the Guards (IRGC)”, was another common slogan heard in the viral social media videos of the demonstrations.

“The events of the past two months have been a clear testimony to the complete incompetence of the regime ruling over Iran, a regime whose only answer to every crisis is to resort to force. It is our duty today to direct all our efforts at the totality of the system of suppression, whether in the form of an oppressive government or an imperialist power”, said a statement issued by the students demonstrating in Amir Kabir University that clearly exhibits the Iranian people’s frustration with the power quarters both in Tehran and Washington.

Restrictions on the internet have already been confirmed by, NetBlocks, the internet advocacy group. The shared values of humanity regardless of the ideological divide are enough to compel the Iranian authorities not to silence their people’s voice by imposing the curbs they have placed on the media. These values also grant the people a legitimate right to protest and call for change.