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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Two Days that Shook the Islamic Regime - Article﻿</title>﻿
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﻿<b﻿>﻿Two Days that Shook the Islamic Regime
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by Hassal Varash﻿<br﻿>﻿
﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, September - October 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
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On July 8, around one hundred students, took to the streets of Teheran, Iran, to demonstrate against the new press law passed by the Islamic parliament and the shutting down of the paper Salam. After the demonstration, about 100 thugs wielding clubs, called Ansar-e-Hezbollah (the Helpers of the Party of God) raided the student dormitories, beat students and destroyed their personal belongings. Five students were killed and tens wounded.
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The slogans of the first student demonstration were extremely Islamic and pro-President Khatami. (Salam was perceived as major propaganda tool in his 1997 election victory.) The demonstration was directed against only one wing of the regime, that is Ali Khameneii, the supreme religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was organized by the United Islamic Group, which consists of a number of wealthy merchants and Islamic organizations, and has a base among students. Ansar's brutal random raid on the dormitories upset the students, causing them to demonstrate more angrily and more massively. On July 9, the demonstration spread to the streets of Teheran, ending with one person killed, 20 injured and 1200 arrested. Both factions of the regime reacted against the raiders, professing sympathy with the student demands, including removing the ban on Salam. Nevertheless, the students again took to the streets on Saturday, July10, not only in Teheran, but also in at least 18 major cities. Among other things, they demanded the resignation and trial of Lotfian, the head of the police force in charge of the raid. The government arrested two people in charge of the police. One minister resigned in opposition to the raid. Again, the students took to the streets. On the following Monday, both Khatami and Khamenii warned people not to demonstrate, calling it illegal and unIslamic. Again, a demonstration of 100,000 people, with non-students outnumbering the students, took to the streets. In the first action, one part of the regime opposed another. Such conflicts have been going on for years, within the legal requirements of the regime. In the second phase, control shifted from pro-Khatami forces into the hands of nationalists, although it was still directed against Khamenii. The third part, however, was spontaneous and revolutionary in its slogans and temper. In these last days, people smashed banks, government buildings and governmental press centres. Slogans in these days included: The People live in misery! The clerics are acting like gods, the revolution has started, the end to 20 years of tyranny is heralded. Freedom of Though is not possible with beard fleece. The Incapable leader, responsible for all crimes, supporter of criminals. Khameni, shame on you, vacate the throne. Tanks, canons, machine guns, all are useless. Down with the Ansar, down with the Basij (Vigilante).
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The dynamic called the whole regime into question. Khatami, the moderate, said: "We shall stand in their way. We take the security of our country and our citizens very seriously. These demonstrators attacked the foundations of the regime and want to foment tensions and disorder." The regime felt that helicopters, tear gas and machine guns alone could not extinguish the fire. It unleashed its thugs on the streets on July 14. Later, the regime brought some of the students leaders to show trials, to prove that foreign hands were spreading corruption and trying to destroy the regime.
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It appears that the regime has been able to repress the protest, arresting 1500, killing and wounding unknown numbers. But the regime itself faces an impasse. It is unable to rule by consent or force. Once more, it was demonstrated that, insofar as the people and their wants are concerned, the regime has to go and people are willing to risk their lives to do away with it. The urgent question now for socialists is not whether the people will rise up, but what comes next. Without a clear socialist horizon and strategy, the fundamentals of the society remained intact, as in the case of Indonesia. What changes is only the replacement one person by the other. People in Iran might be able to change the surface of the system, but the fundamental change comes only when the working class occupies a leading position with a leading socialist strategy. Nowadays, there will not be a revolution unless it is a socialist one.
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