IRAN: An Analysis Of Iran’s Student Union Council Segregation; General Strategy Of Repression

[An Analysis Of The State-Of-The-Art University These Days]

Published On The Channel Of The Student Union Council Of The Country

Zhaleh Sahand

Woman- Life- Freedom

The Symbolic Withdrawal Of The Security Department

In last week, and after the students of Art University sat down in protest against the university's decision and the intensification of repressions, several statements were published in solidarity with art students. As a result of this nationwide alliance, it seems that we have witnessed a relative retreat of the university security department from its positions. But this withdrawal does not mean to be a desist from their positions or the reduction of the scope of their repression.

Repression In Another Way

The development of the wave of protests led the security to use another less costly method of repression. Arrests and the widespread entry banning of students, are the forms of repressions that are more visible and become more costly.

According to the students’ new reports, the security new way of suppression is to separately take away students and deal with them in an individual confrontation. Based on this, the security has told some students that they are not allowed to enter without a headdress. The security has claimed that it has a list of students who can enter the university only if they wear a headdress. In the implementation of this method, female security forces are often used.

In the meantime, the students’ solution for entering the university is to support these people and form a "collective" of students against the security and in front of the entrance doors. Their solution to the separation and isolation of students, is the solidarity and unification of all the forces and not leaving students alone. In this case, the repression will be aimed at a coherent whole, which certainly has a greater external manifestation.

Segregation As A Means of Repression

This method of repression is not unique to these days and to the art university. It is also not a new discovery of the system. This is exactly the same behavior that we have seen in the past few months with the activation of disciplinary committees. Instead of the widespread arrests and entry bans (which are a harsher way of repression and cost more to students), we are facing oppression by the separation and isolation of students through the committee rulings (academic suspension, removal of welfare services, etc.) or conditional suspensions and targeting "Individuals".

In this way, only a part of the costs we pay are revealed. It is clear that despite the multiplicity of the news reports about the rulings of the committees, many of these rulings are not reported in the media, because in a personal encounter, a person can get overhang for their affiliated concerns. For example, threatening students with the intensification of their sentence in case their cases are going to be exposed to media. Also, the news revelation of these reports is much less important than the other protest news because the suppression is apparently milder and take place in a longer period of time, which varies from person to person.

It is very important to understand that "segregation" is not only peculiar to people but also it includes spaces. Parallel to the segregation of people, the segregation of spaces (both gender and non-gender segregation) also takes place, and in segregated spaces, repression takes place more easily. In this broader sense, segregation is the most common way of suppressing student resistance these days."