The time is coming
I could not help myself but to remember the time that I was in Tehran University and how the chain of actions lead to the overthrow of Shah's dictatorship

David Etebari
June 13, 2005
iranian.com

Today after I saw the photos of the demonstrations of Iranian women in front of the Tehran University, I started to search for more information as more news were unfolding.

I read how the streets that lead to Tehran University were first blocked by the authorities and then how as the number of people increased, police lost control and how the demonstrators approached the university as planned. I read about how the government buses started to surround and block the demonstration area both as a scare tactic (to use the buses for taking people if they arrest them) and also to block access and view of others.

More people wanted to join but they no longer could even see what was happening. If anyone asked what is going on, the official response was: Nothing, it is a campaign rally for presidential election. But the voice and shouts for women equality were louder than deceitful explanation of the officials. Meanwhile more and more people were heading to that direction but police were forcing them to move on and not to stay .

Eventually the demonstrators were able to break out of the blocked area and started heading towards other streets while others including their male family members, friends and supporters started to join in.

As usual, there were two type of officials on location: those with uniform who were more cautious considering that some foreign reporters were there and then there were the plain clothes ones who were acting more rude and threatening to people. American Actor Sean Penn was also there covering the story for San Francisco Chronicle. His camera was confiscated for a while but to avoid international negative publicity for the Islamic Regime ahead of the s-elections, it was given back to his crew. Penn is intending to stay there with many other foreign media to cover this s-election.

Soon one official car with loudspeaker started following the demonstrators but with slogans in celebration of the Iranian soccer team's win in the world cup qualifying game! Obviously the intent was to distract the public attention to give the image that the demonstration was in celebration of the Iranian soccer win!

On the same day there were two explosions in Tehran and few in other cities on previous days. Although regime is claiming that they are caused by opposition groups, but it is more likely that it is orchestrated by the regime itself to scare people of the consequence of a regime change by attempting to give the impression of potential anarchy. This is despite the fact that the Iranian opposition have been focusing on civil non-obedience and other peaceful means as well as a peaceful but forced power charge.

Reading about these events on different Iranian websites and international media, I could not help myself but to remember the time that I was in Tehran University and how the chain of actions lead to the overthrow of Shah's dictatorship.

Islamic government and the Vali-ye Faghih Khamenei do not really care who may become the future president of Iran. After all he still will maintain the absolute power, but him and his government have been doing everything possible including taking advantage of the soccer fever to encourage people‚s involvement in this election. If there are not enough voters, they may have to resort to another election, not to mention that the whole world is watching on June 17th.

Every single vote is considered as an approval of the Islamic Republic. Many Iranians are using this presidential vote as a referendum against the regime. Already students are being threatened by the government that if they can not provide proof of voting, they may not qualify for the entrance exam to the universities.

Today was another glorious day in the history of the struggles of my Iranian sisters who unilaterally stood up against inequality and for a democratic Iran. This is a concerto that I heard on the web-log of Leyla, an Iranian girl, and I dedicate it to all freedom loving and courageous Iranian women ... The time is coming ...