February 11^th 1979, known as 22 Bahman 1357 on the Persian calendar, is marked in history as the day of the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. The ’79 revolution which was a result of consistent protests since the summer of 1978 is however rooted in a struggle for democracy for as long as a century now, beginning with the Iranian constitutional revolution of 1906. By February 11^th, 1979, Iran had witnessed decades of American and British involvement, monarchic repression, bloodshed, and resistance. This was the day on which the Iranian military declared itself neutral, the provisional government installed by the Shah collapsed, and the revolutionaries took over government buildings; the day on which Iranians recorded their victory against despotism and realized the possibility for a free democratic society.

Thirty years later, a new generation of Iranians with a demographic of 70 percent under the age of 30, began the widespread questioning of the legitimacy of a government far from the ideals of the revolution. The June 12^th elections in Iran were massively protested as rigged while millions poured to the streets to ask: “where is my vote?”. Faced with brutal repression for over seven months now, the demands of the Iranian people have grown with each protest as they fight not only for their democratic rights, but also their civil and human rights including right to justice. During the 274 days of what has come to be known as the green movement, over 90 persons have lost their lives in protests, in dormitory attacks, and under torture. On Thursday January 28^th, two persons were executed for their alleged participation in the movement. Thousands have been arrested, and beaten in the streets and in prison, while reports of rape are uncounted.

In this terrorizing political atmosphere, the endurance and strength of a nation in its path to democracy remains unchallenged. In the year 2010, on February 11^th, the world will once again watch the people of Iran retake the streets in memory of a day that thirty one years before, promised them freedom. On this day, the Students for Iranian Green Movement Association (SIGMA) of Victoria, voices its solidarity with the people of Iran, and purposes the following solutions as the primary steps through which the government of Iran should respond to the people.

The initial five articles are extracts of opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi’s 17^th statement, with which SIGMA finds itself in congruence:

1. The administration should be held liable in front of the people, the parliament and the judiciary system so that there would be no unusual supports for the administration in response to its incompetence and ineffectiveness, and the administration be held accountable for all the problems it created for the country.
2. The legislation of new and clear election laws in a way that it would regain people’s trust in the free and fair elections without meddling and interference. This law should ensure the participation of all the people despite their differences in opinions and views and should prohibit the biased and partisan interference of the authorities in all levels.
3. The release of all political prisoners and restoring their dignity and honour.
4. The release of the banned press and media, an end to satellite signal jamming and internet censorship, and freedom of press including for the national television and radio.
5. Recognizing people’s rights for having legal demonstrations and forming parties and groups and abiding to the 27th principle of the constitution.

To this list SIGMA adds:

1. Establishing an independent judiciary to prosecute the perpetrators of the post-elections crimes, and ensuring that the Guardian Council is politically independent of the government; that the judiciary and the Council are not simply instruments of the government where its powers are weak otherwise is essential.
2. Opening universities to academic and non-ideological education, respecting students’ rights to education regardless of their political and religious beliefs, and putting an end to the harassment and arbitrary arrests of politically active students.
3. Establishing a legal framework for gender equality, adhering to the rights of women’s groups such as the Mourning Mothers, and respecting minority rights in general.

In condemnation of the lack of the above listed basic necessities of a democratic society, and in condemnation of the brutal state violence perpetrated in the post-elections months, SIGMA warns the Iranian government that:

First, the demands of the people of Iran were much more preliminary on June 12^th. With the authorities’ incompetent response, in their violent suppression, their inadequate address of elections fraud, and their prevarications in a dismal hope that the people will forget, the people’s demands have increased at each stage of the protests. Should the authorities continue on this path of non-decision-making and suppression, our demands and expectations will continue to rise and we will not simply relinquish.

Second, the abuse and harassment of rural and economically poorer populations in order to promulgate non-existing support for the government is not only disheartening and unethical, but a strategy bound to fail. Following the Ashura protests, the government’s offering of simple meals such as cookies and juice to hungry groups of people in exchange for their participation in pro-government rallies, is only signs of last breaths. SIGMA hereby urges the government to simply respond to the demands of the people and perhaps utilize its resources for a sound economic policy, rather than the exploitation of the poor in its pretence to legitimacy; the latter is only a weak band-aid to a deeply structural wound.

Finally, the green movement has foundationally been formulated on peaceful and non-violent basis. While SIGMA calls for remaining true to such ideals, it warns the Iranian authorities that faces soaked in blood and police patrols running over live bodies, are what cause a people to engage in violence. Setting police bikes on fire and stone throwing are the only means of an unarmed people to protect themselves against gunshots, batons, and tear gas. We hereby call on the Iranian authorities both in high levels of government, and the police, security, basij, and military forces on the ground to prevent the escalation of violence.

In the hope of freedom and democracy, a hope that 31 years ago today, we believed that we had realized.