Mansour Saberi
The recent unrest at the Tehran University's dormitories was an excuse to speak to Farid Hashemi, the former spokesperson of the Pro-Democracy Society at the university. Below is an excerpt of this interview.
Rooz (R): How do you analyze the recent unrest at Tehran University, which turned violent after police intervened?
Farid Hashemi (FH): On the surface, students were demanding things like better food service in dormitories, better living conditions, better service, the release of all student detainees and an end to the summoning of students to disciplinary committees. However, as time goes by and protests get louder, more serious demands are brought up, and this happened during the latest unrest at the university. The initial gathering was to protests low food quality but rapidly turned into a radical political protests, when students began chanting for observation of human rights, ethnic and minority rights, and called for a code of student rights.
(R): Reports pointed to violent clashes between students and police officers. How did that take place?
(FH): What was interesting was that university directors implicitly recognized the legitimacy of student demands if they are limited to demands for better food service, etc. They spoke in a way which shows that they meant to say something like this: only legitimate protest is class protest, and that will be tolerated as long as it is not too serious, but it will not be tolerated if it turns into a political protest.
(R): How do you interpret the decision to attack students and injure some?
(FH): With such actions they reduce the number of activists and scare the rest of the student body away from the remaining few activists. Protests that took place last spring led to the summoning of at least 80 students to disciplinary committees, 30 of which received heavy sentences. Eight students were barred from the university for two semesters and some are on the verge of being kicked out. I was one. I was never afraid to pay the price of my actions but I now believe that the price must be productive. In essence, as a segment of the student movement in Iran, we want to move in a positive direction that has benefits not in a direction that only has cost and reduces the number of activists every day.
(R): What is, in your opinion, the student movement's first priority right now?
(FH): Perhaps it is not right for anyone to prescribe a solution right now. I think that students and all activists in social movements must immediately form discussion and research groups. They can share with one another the results of their research, perhaps in a conference, out of which can finally a committee emerge than can provide some useful solutions to problems we are dealing with. One of our duties right now is perhaps to establish goals. I think that we are losing time. Students must start as soon as possible. Their start can become a starting point for all social movements.
