A Tribute to the Courageous Iranian Students

In the winter of 1953, a few months after Mohammad Mossadeq, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran was removed from power by coup d'état, the Shah's security forces attacked University of Tehran, killing three students. Since then, December 6th of each year - commemorated by both religious and secular movements - has been known as or "Rooz-e-Daneshjoo," or "Students' Day." Iranian students have a history of political activism, playing roles in the revolution that overthrew the Shah in the late 1970s and again, in 1997, in bringing Mohammad Khatami to power. An especially violent attack on Tehran University dormitories in July 1999 has, however, served to restrain Iranian students. Since then, pro-government forces -- including the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militias -- have repeatedly cracked down in brutal attacks, in order to discourage students from creating what they term "unrest." Since the fraudulent election earlier this year that secured the continued reign of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranians from all varieties of religious and ideological backgrounds both at home and abroad have joined the students in actively demanding freedom, equality, and justice in their country. Despite government's repressive policies, the student movement has continuously grown to become the people's movement now known as the "Green Movement," belonging not only to Iranians but to all who support human rights and freedom around the world.

In the past few months, the Iranian people have shown the world just how determinedly they embrace resistance to this illegitimate regime and how their persistence has shaken this dictatorship to its foundation. Many students, journalists, bloggers, civilian activists from all walks of life have been arrested, illegally detained, tortured, killed or have simply been disappeared into Iran's notorious prisons and detention centers. It is important that their names not be forgotten. The cruelty of government officials is astonishing, preventing the families of the dead from holding funeral ceremonies to prevent protesters from coming together at the burial site. The government has tried to pass this movement as an insignificant protest, the work of malcontents. Instead the Green Wave has traveled beyond Iran's borders to became the symbol of perseverance and resistance all around the world. The names of its martyrs, commemorations for whom I've listed below, offer the movement their life, their honor and their vitality. In September of 2009, a list of 72 of those who've died was offered by a committee set up by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have taken it upon themselves to investigate the governments abuse of power in the wake of the election.

What this government witnesses is this: an Iranian generation born and raised without liberty to write, speak, debate, and communicate freely with the world have not been prevented from becoming thinking, feeling adults who are intellectually sophisticated and wise. Under the shadow of a regime in which intellectuals often face death, imprisonment or exile, the long-term efforts of student activists in defense of freedom and in opposition to one of the world's most violently repressive regimes is worth remembering on December 6th, which might become known as International Students' Day. I too was once a student in Iran. I too have endured the Islamic Republic's cruel efforts to fight freedom and sovereignty of the Iranian people. Thousands of miles away from my hometown I have become one of those voices raised to say the names of those who have been silenced by this regime, and so some of the students who were killed during the election urest here in the hope that their deaths will inspire a new generation of freedom lovers everywhere.