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USADI
Commentary
Iran’s
1999 Six Days of Uprising
On July 9, 1999, six days of student-led
uprising shook the foundations of Iran’s ruling
tyrannical regime. The uprising marked a
milestone in the history of Iranians’ struggle
to overthrow the mullah’s reign of terror and
establish a democratic and secular government in
its place.
With the blessing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
and then-President Mohammad Khatami, uniformed
and plain-clothes security forces, assisted by a
multitude of intelligence agencies, brutally
cracked down on students and thousands of other
Iranians who had joined them.
Participants in the uprising resisted fiercely
with their bare feasts, burning tires and
throwing rocks. They were, however, no match for
the savagery of the security forces who were
armed to the teeth. Thanks to advanced anti-riot
gear and other equipment bought from abroad,
several thousands of protestors were arrested
and hundreds killed or wounded.
Nevertheless, if not it were not brutally
crushed, the uprising, which had quickly spread
to nearly two dozen other cities, had the
potential of sweeping the theocracy from power.
In a cover-page story, the Economist
magazine billed the uprising as “Iran’s Second
Revolution” and a commentary in the CBS News
said that “a sense of revolution has returned to
Iran.”
For many years, the denial of existence,
undermining, and even blacklisting of Iran’s
indigenous national movement against the tyranny
of mullahs has been the cornerstone of
Trans-Atlantic policy of placating the clerical
regime and efforts to preserve the status quo in
Iran.
On July 9, 1999, however, the movement for
democratic change surged out of university
campuses and burst out in the open for the world
to see. The student movement, always a vanguard
against despotism, linked up with the rest of
Iranians in demanding the overthrow of the
clerical state in its totality. The students,
chanting "Death to despotism, Death to
dictators," exploded out of campuses and into
various neighborhoods where they were joined by
thousands.
The July 9 uprising gave Iranians
self-confidence and a sense of power and
legitimacy in their struggle for democracy and
justice. It also tore the façade of the bogus
champions of human rights and reform, such as
Khatami. More importantly, it put in full
display the improbability and impracticality of
a colored revolution in Iran under a regime with
no holds barred to ensure its survival.
Seven year on, the continued imprisonments,
torture, and executions, public stoning,
amputations and floggings, have failed to
undermine the resolve of the democracy movement
against ruling religious fascism. Iran Focus
reported on June 10 that “A large number of
students from several universities in the
Iranian capital staged anti-government protests
on Sunday which marked the seventh anniversary
of a nationwide student uprising that rattled
the ruling theocracy… The largest of the
protests took place in the vicinity of the
University of Tehran, where there was heavy
police presence. Agents of the paramilitary
State Security Forces (SSF) sealed off streets
next to the campus. There were several
hit-and-run clashes between students and
security forces which were assisted by a
hard-line Islamist mob.”
As Tehran is turning the heat on dissent inside
the country and acting increasingly belligerent
abroad by continuing its nuclear weapons
program, spreading its fundamentalist network in
Iraq and recruiting suicide bombers, the free
world has arrived at a historic cross road: To
continue to appease the mullahs ruling Iran or
to side with Iranian people and recognize their
legitimate right to resist this regime of
tyranny and terror. The latter is the only
viable option for breaking free out of the
current disastrous policy paralysis. (USADI)
USADI
Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance
for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events
which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward
Iran |