Students Protest, Nothing Changes

In another sign of the ever-just-out-of-reach Iranian democratic revolution:

TEHRAN, Iran – Hundreds of Iranian students angry over a crackdown on activists protested Sunday at Tehran University, the second such demonstration in less than a week, witnesses and state radio said.

One witness, Mehdi Arabshahi, said the campus protest lasted more than two hours as dozens of students chanted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hardline administration.

“Students chanted against policies by Ahmadinejad’s administration, which is imposing pressures on the universities and detaining activists,” Arabshahi said.

Another witness, Abbas Kazemi, said the protesters also chanted anti-war slogans aimed at the United States and Israel.

Good for them! It is interesting that similar protests by university students occurred in Venezuela. Authoritarian regimes that are riding perpetual “revolutions” don’t seem to be very popular among the younger generations.

Police stand behind their shields during a students’ protest against constitutional reform in Caracas October 23, 2007.

Iran’s hardline government may not be popular, but Saddam wasn’t popular either. Regimes that maintain high-end internal security forces, wide informer networks, and secret/religious police don’t need to be popular to stay in power. I doubt the ability of these student protestors to do anything other than give Ahmedinejad another excuse to say that his regime is under constant attack from the West.

…and the anti-US/Israel stuff: thrown in for street cred. I think that actually may be in the Roberts Rules of Order for Middle East Protests.

“call to order… Read the minutes of the last meeting… death to America.. death to Israel… Mr. Chairman I move that we carry around large signs and chant loudly in the middle of the street…”