The Rightful Demands of the Students

33/M/116

11 July 1999

The Rightful Demands of the Students and the People of Iran

Association of Iranian Researchers would like to give its full support to the democratic and rightful demands and protest by the university students of Iran. ACI also regrets the futile loss of lives in this incident. ACI is confident that the general protest, which without a doubt has stemmed from a national desire, will not stop even in the face of more violence.

Since the agents of oppression and violence will stop at nothing in their evil aims, in agreement with our fellow colleagues in Iran, we feel it necessary to stress the following points:

• Similar to all popular movements of the past decades in Iran and the rest of the world, we too recognise the university as an inviolable boundary. We should not allow division and conflict to infiltrate our lines. We must be aware that the nation’s hopes are pinned on us and so we must promise not to stop until all our lost rights are restored back to us.
• We must meet the issues with logic and clear thinking. Our clear decisions, free from emotion and excitement, must find the solutions to the rightful demands of the nation.
• We must be aware that our positive decisions will only be realised when it is backed by perseverance free from despair or despondency.
• We must insist on our right to truthful information from those running our country. The responsible officials must inform the nation of the true nature of their policies and stop the cover-ups and deceits that we have witnessed to date.

Ultimately, we must not forget that it is the use of intelligence and logic and keeping away from decisions based on emotions and excitement that will place our young and educated generation in its highest possible position. Today, the people of Iran rely on this generation and have pinned their hopes and demands of the last one hundred years on them.

ACI – Association des Chercheurs Iraniens (Association of Iranian Researchers)