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Abstract
The emergence and rapid but short-lived presence of Students for Freedom and Equality (SFE; in Persian: Daneshjuyan-e Azadikhah va Barabaritalab or DAB) across major Iranian campuses and their fateful 4 December 2007 protest rally on the campus of the University of Tehran speaks of the return of leftist student activism to Iranian campuses after almost two decades of absence or invisibility within the context of post-revolutionary Iran. SFE was an umbrella democratic organization: its activists came from a plurality of social and political backgrounds and adhered to diverse leftist ideas. But in the context of pro-Reform Movement student activism in Iranian post-secondary institutions in the late 1990s and in 2000s, for a short time the SFE tried to hegemonize student activism and challenge the various pro-government tendencies in university campuses. Before state repression forced the SFE out of operation in 2007, Students for Freedom and Equality brought to campuses candid discussions of social justice issues, critique of Iran’s neoliberal economic policies, and challenges to censorship and lack of freedom.
Acknowledgement
The author thanks Sara Naderi for her assistance with the research. Thanks also to Roozbeh Safshekan and Sara Naderi for providing feedback on an earlier version of this paper.
Notes
1 Matin-Asgari, Iranian Student Opposition to the Shah.
2 Mahdi, “The Student Movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” 8.
3 Vahabzadeh, “Farhang-e Enquelabi,” 162.
4 Quoted in Vahabzadeh, “Farhang-e Enquelabi,” 162.
5 Mahdi, “The Student Movement,” 8. See also Safshekan, “An Unfinished Odyssey,” 244–5; Rezamand, “Justice Interrupted,” 135–6.
6 Mashayekhi, “The Revival of the Student Movement,” 292.
7 Mahdi, “The Student Movement,” 14; Mashayekhi, “The Revival of the Student Movement,” 292.
8 Mahdi, “The Student Movement,” 10.
9 Mashayekhi, “The Revival of the Student Movement,” 292–3.
10 Mahdi, “The Student Movement,” 14.
11 Mashayekhi, “The Revival of the Student Movement,” 287.
12 Ibid., 293; Safshekan, “An Unfinished Odyssey,” 248.
13 See Mahdi, “The Student Movement,” 14–15.
14 Afshari and Underwood, “Iran’s Resilient Civil Society,” 81. The voting age was changed to eighteen in 2007 (ibid.).
15 Kelly and Etling, Mapping Iran's Online Public, 2.
16 Afshari and Underwood, “Iran’s Resilient Civil Society,” 91.
17 Mahdi, “The Student Movement,” 17–21; Mashayekhi, “The Revival of the Student Movement,” 284–5.
18 Momeni, “Bar ma cheh gozasht?”
19 Baqeri, interview with author.
20 Tavancheh, “Daneshjuyan-e chapgara.”
21 Safshekan, interview with author.
22 Afshari and Underwood, “Iran’s Resilient Civil Society,” 87–8.
23 Ibid., 87.
24 Ranjbaran, Barresi-ye Jarryan-e Marksism-e Daneshjui dar Iran, 75. This source must be consulted with caution: it appears to be a graduate thesis, and a biased one, whose target audience seems to be the security apparatus of the country. It contains some unfounded claims and distorted and incorrect information.
25 Momeni, “Bar ma cheh gozasht?”
26 “Tarikhcheh-ye mokhtasar-e Daneshgah va Mardom.”
27 Safshekan, interview with author.
28 Baqeri, interview with author.
29 Baqeri, interview with author.
30 Momeni, “Bar ma cheh gozasht?”
31 Baqeri, interview with author.
32 Momeni, “Bar ma cheh gozasht?”
33 Safshekan, “An Unfinished Odyssey,” 249.
34 Baqeri, interview with author.
35 Safshekan, interview with author.
36 Ranjbaran, Barresi-ye Jarryan-e Marksism-e Daneshjui dar Iran, 101–5.
37 Ranjbaran, Barresi-ye Jarryan-e Marksism-e Daneshjui dar Iran, 98.
38 Baqeri, interview with author.
39 Ibid.
40 Safshekan, “An Unfinished Odyssey,” 250.
41 Mohammadi, interview with author.
42 Baqeri, interview with author. In general, since the Reform era, leftist intellectuals have often been invited by union leaders to attend their meetings and deliver lectures to workers and board members. Karimizadeh’s lessons should be seen in this context.
43 Pourabdollah, interview with author.
44 Momeni, “Bar ma cheh gozasht?”
45 Karimizadeh, “Khotut-e omdeh-ye,” 1.
46 Safshekan, “An Unfinished Odyssey,” 250.
47 Baqeri, interview with author.
48 Pourabdollah, interview with author.
49 Safshekan, interview with author.
50 See Mansoor Hekmat website, available at: http://www.m-hekmat.com/ (accessed February 18, 2019) and Hekmat Archives, available at: http://hekmat.public-archive.net/ (accessed February 18, 2019).
51 See Behrooz, Rebels with a Cause, 131–2.
52 Geraylu, “Ritm-e taslim-e dowlat-e popolisti.” This article was originally published in Khak.
53 Baqeri, interview with author.
54 Safshekan, interview with author.
55 Karimizadeh expressly rejects these allegations in a recent interview with Radio Hambastegi in Sweden, available at: http://radiohambastegi.se/sounds/b.karimizade_mostanadsokhte190126.mp3?fbclid=IwAR14dCvfidKvN3QOJGXtPiFz-RQcmFfYNphID-JZLblnYecbidSpk5×0hSg (accessed March 2, 2019).
56 Baqeri, interview with author. According to Baqeri, a WCPI-H member was arrested in this case and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
57 Momeni, “Bar ma cheh gozasht?”
58 Safshekan, interview with author.
59 Baqeri, interview with author.
60 Pourabdollah, interview with author.
61 Baqeri, interview with author.
62 “Gozareshi az raftar-e Vezarat-e Ettela’at.”
63 The forced confessions of Karimizadeh have recently been released by intelligence authorities on the internet. See: shorturl.at/nqORS (accessed October 27, 2020).
64 Pourabdollah, interview with author.
65 Khaki, “Daneshjuyan-e Azadikhah.”
66 Baqeri, interview with author.
67 Ibid.
68 Safshekan, interview with author.
69 Baqeri, interview with author.
70 Matin-Asgari, Iranian Student Opposition to the Shah, 163.
71 See Baqeri’s remarks in “Chap-e daneshjui.”
Additional information
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Peyman Vahabzadeh
Peyman Vahabzadeh is Professor of Sociology at University of Victoria, Canada.