These days one hears some accuse political and media activists of becoming timid and no longer airing costly protests against government pressure. The accusations are valid. Many of us have become timid and conservative and no longer exercise our pen against the autocrats. But our timidness is not because of fear or paying the costs of criticism. The fact is that the domestic and international conditions of Iran have become so complex that it is not possible to present an accurate picture or analysis of the situation. Situations that are not easy to analyze and where predictions are not easy to make, normally lead to conservatism. In other words when the elements that go into an event or situation are so numerous and contradictory, commentary or analysis too even if accurate, will no longer be simple thus making it difficult for the general reader to understand.

Complex analyses on the other hand are not usually welcomed by people. This is true even in science, i.e. simple solutions, pictures or models are more attractive, superior and accepting than complex depictions. On the other hand, a complex situation cannot be presented in a simple presentation, unless one only presents a few selected elements that constitute it while ignoring others. To cover the complete picture would require numerous analysis, which may not necessarily complement – if not actually contradict - each other. And numerous conflicting analyses are useless for a joint action because each is based on something that the others deny, or disregard.

One must remember that in Iran individuals have no patience to listen to views that are divergent from theirs or to respect the views of other or to recognize and acknowledge common views with others.

This is the situation with our political and social activists and which we know will not change until further notice! So it is only natural for individual activists and political groups to act conservatively and timidly with the goal of not radically separating their actions from those of others, i.e. appearing too dissentful or disagreeing.

And this is what our friends in Advar Tahkim student organization have done. From the moment the group initiated changes to its structure and new older faces, including myself, joined its leadership and policy making groups, we have tried to work within the narrow confines of the law of the Islamic Republic which are also very strenuous, staying away from noisy and dangerous measures.

But even under these circumstances the security agencies of the country have been suspicious of the behavior of Advar and apparently associate some of them to the activities of the former Daftare Tahkim Vahdat student organization leaders who traveled to the US, until the leader of the groups Ali Akbar Moousavi Khoeini was arrested last year during his participation in the women’s protests in 7 Tir square in Tehran. Following his arrest, security agents confiscated the documents and computers of Advar, thus learning much about the activities of the organization.

Soon after they realized that Advar is not engaged in activities that go beyond any normal official political parties in Iran, they released Khoeini on bail and even returned the confiscated property of Advar.

But despite all this, on July 9, 2007 a large group of armed men whose government affiliated we are now aware of invaded the Advar offices, arrested 10 of its members and took them away through violent measures and sealed off the offices of the student organization.

During former president Khatami’s administration when there was a parallel intelligence and security structure operating in the country, there were times when it was not clear which government group was responsible for the detention of activists or where they were holding them. In fact the reason why I, among others, turned my back to the existence or promotion of a dual-faction rule in the government of the country was and preferred a single ruling faction because of the existence of this dual security apparatus and the secrecy of its nature.

I was under the impression that when a single faction runs the country, intelligence affairs would be centralized in the ministry of intelligence. And this is how things have been over the past two years. But the arrest of Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat members and then the attack on Advar speak of other agencies active in security issues. These groups appear to either not have accurate and deep knowledge of those they have detained or are purposely trying to create a violent political atmosphere in the country and thus inciting students to react.

So today we are here and our innocent colleagues are behind bars. Advar members will undoubtedly engage in the normal verbal and written protests against the detention of their colleagues. But those agencies that these days relentlessly detain innocent individuals should consider that cruelty and oppression always results in the opposite and God has instilled an instinct in the human being to fight injustice and cruelty.