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.”

  • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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    10 hours ago
    1. I don’t.

    2. You’re calling it western propaganda because you either refuse to believe it or you’re actively peddling pro-mullah propaganda. Either way, I’m not wasting any more time on you.

    • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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      19 hours ago

      you do, very much so.

      i’m calling it western propaganda because it’s obviously manufacturing consent for an obvious attack by the us. spelling it out for you cause damn.

      • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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        10 hours ago

        Not even a little bit. You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about. In fact, the Ayatollah, being the dictator of a theocratic regime, is far more right-wing and “conservative” than even the most centrist western neoliberals (which I’m not even that, by the way).

        Have you forgotten about Mahsa Amini, who was murdered in police custody in 2021 for being a woman and not wearing her hijab “properly”?

        By the way, is this the same The Guardian that you’re calling “western imperialist propaganda”?

        • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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          6 hours ago

          you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.

          ayatollah didn’t build a worldwide empire based on genocide and exploitation. you did.

          • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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            5 hours ago

            He would if he could. But that’s neither here nor there, because this post isn’t about the west. It’s about Iranian student protesters, and you’re trying to say we shouldn’t give a fuck about them just because their oppressive government is anti-west.

            Your red herrings are meaningless, because two things can be true at once. The Ayatollah is a violent dictator, but that doesn’t mean the west is faultless. And nobody here claimed that it is.

            The point is that this article isn’t about the west, and you’re only trying to insert them into the conversation to deflect blame for the Ayatollah’s crimes against humanity.

            • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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              5 hours ago

              i must have said this sudden coverage of iran’s protests is manufacturing consent for a us war against iran a few times in this thread already, but you just can’t seem to want to confront it.

              it doesn’t matter what you think about iran, you have no right to kill more iranians, or meddle with their shit, or pretend to care about the instability you keep causing with blockades and sanctions.

              give this a sincere read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change

              in the meantime do the world a favor and stop voicing your excuses for supporting 21st century hitler in their fascist fucking crusade. you are currently on 2 simultaneous genocides atm, trying for a third while thinking yourselves moral and good for it.

              in not wasting anymore time with the fascist libs in this thread, i’ll be out there puking from the fucking disgust.

              • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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                4 hours ago

                The coverage isn’t sudden, it’s been there since the start of the protests. You just haven’t been paying attention to it because it would force you to reevaluate your opinion. The media coverage was there in 2021/2022 during that movement too, but you probably weren’t paying attention then either.

                you have no right to kill more iranians, or meddle with their shit, or pretend to care about the instability you keep causing with blockades and sanctions.*

                1. I’m not doing any of that

                2. The current Iranian regime doesn’t have the right to do those things to its people either

                3. This is an article about the Iranian people rising up against their regime, and you’re bitching about it because why exactly? Cause you hate the west so you lick IRGC boots?

                in the meantime do the world a favor and stop voicing your excuses for supporting 21st century hitler in their fascist fucking crusade

                I don’t support trump or maga. In fact I viscerally hate them. How about you stop projecting and do the world a favor and stop voicing your excuses for supporting a militant right-wing theocratic dictatorship that’s actively massacring its people?

                you are currently on 2 simultaneous genocides atm, trying for a third while thinking yourselves moral and good for it.

                I’m not committing any genocides. Never have and never will.

                not wasting anymore time with the fascist libs in this thread

                “Fascist lib” is an oxymoron. If you ask an actual fascist, they’ll say liberals are the devil. And liberals rightfully hate fascists too.

                Oh by the way, I’m more of a leftist anyway. I know you’re not capable of comprehending this, but some leftists are actually capable of critical thinking and arriving at a well-reasoned opinion based on contextual nuance and complexity instead of simply falling for ideological campism, purity tests, and sports-team-like black-and-white thinking.

                i’ll be out there puking from the fucking disgust

                Good, I hope you rupture your stomach and turn yourself inside out. You’ll be able to think more clearly in a coma.

                • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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                  2 hours ago

                  yadda yadda yadda let’s kill iranians because trump and the mainstream media told me so

                  • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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                    2 hours ago

                    I never fucking said that, but since it’s the Iranian regime that’s killing Iranians and you seem to be supporting the regime, then I guess that comment is just projection…