Afshari: Duty of Student Movement is to Create an Opposition Movement

Rooz Online:

Until two months ago, Ali Afshari was a member of the ruling council of the Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat (DTV) student organization. This is the largest student body in Iran with thousands of members and the most powerful student body that takes position on different issues. Afshari left Iran for higher education and now lives in Europe. Here are the excerpts of an interview Rooz had with him. READ MORE

Q – How will the new strategy of DTV of monitoring civil society impact the student movement?

A – This is not a new strategy and we had been doing this since 1997. We have tried to help resolve the issues facing Iran’s civil society. The issue is now more prominent because of the very special circumstances the country is going through. Today, civil society is under greater pressure than ever before from official circles. But there are also new opportunities today. We are not postponing political activism or new political actions.

Q – But there seems to be a movement away from taking radical positions that the organization used to take in the past.

A – This is a wrong interpretation and is not true. DTV is a student organization and a political movement in Iran. Because of the peculiar conditions in Iran, the burden of opposition activities falls on students and universities. Our job is to create political atmospheres for things to happen. DTV cannot forego this.

Q – If your goal is to create a new political atmosphere, what have you accomplished in this regard?

A – What we have done during the last three years is in its infancy. The results of our work will come later. I think the current situation is better suited for making structural changes in the country. The whole atmosphere is now polarized: on one hand you have the conservatists who wish to preserve the status quo, while on the other is the movement to democratize the structure.

Q – Observers have said that the new DTV strategy is reflective of the split inside the organization.

A – I do not see a contradiction if DTV continues its both strategies of radicalism and monitoring of civil society. Its radical actions will certainly emerge one day. They must so that they can be evaluated. Monitoring civil society is the moral responsibility of the student movement in Iran under the current conditions. DTV must activate its work in this regard, based on its influence. In this regard, it must establish a resistance movement in civil society and stand up to the assaults of the establishment, along with other civil society organizations.

Q – So you believe that the student movement should assist in the creation of this opposition?

A – Yes, it must help lay the foundations. There is a misconception on the DTV. The student movement is not the leader of the social movement. It was never after this role in the past as well. It strives to create the structural foundations for the creation of elite and their organization. Before the election of president Khatami (in Iranian circles referred to as 2nd Khordad movement) DTV played the role of his organization. That is because reformers in those days had no social basis. The other side had the Friday prayer organization, the mosques, Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps, etc. Khatami and his government only had the universities. So we provided them with our organization. We envision the same role in the future.

Q – But in those days, DTV seemed to be of one voice, not so today?

A – In the past too, DTV was not of one voice. In those days, the organization was not under the scrutiny of public opinion and civil society the way it is today. Specifically, the number of people who then had heard of DTV is in no way comparable to today’s figures. So their political position and status then was very different than its position today. Even during the presidential elections at that time there was a group inside the DTV leadership that supported Khatami while another group supported Reyshahri for president. Still another group favored Behzad Nabavi. Even Hadi Khamenei had a supportive faction. But when decision time came, we all agreed on one person. So DTV has always had different factions, each at some time dominating events and decisions. These days there is a faction in the organization that is very small but with the help from the power elite outside is making the claims that you hear outside, and even gets air time on national television, the judiciary does not reprimand it for its actions, etc. I think during the last few of its elections, it has been becoming more mature and so now it must now move from the position of power and politics into the sphere of civil society institutions and end its duality in its legitimacy. Only then shall we not see the type of differences that have existed. This is visible in the last elections when despite the hue and cries, the governing council of DTV managed to elect 10 members for the first time, completing its Central Committee.

Q- Have there been generation differences in the choice of the new strategy?

A – Today’s student generation is completely different from the previous ones. One key difference is that in the past we never accepted a personal life, values, position. A successful student, normatively, was the one who accepted the public posture of the organization, negating any personal life or view. In fact it was unacceptable for a student to have a personal position. Today, the organization respects the personal choice, life etc. . This is also true internationally among other student movements around the world. Student organizations in France and Germany today accept students who have a personal life that is different from revolutionary organizational goals. So students find it easier to engage in issues that have fewer costs for them. The second change relates to information revolution. We now have media outlets such as the Internet that have tremendously impacted students’ political lives. Political activism is no longer confined to the physical world. Another issue is culture. Cultural issues, such as the type of clothes that students wear are now more important than it was a generation ago. In the past a student’s political views determined everything, whereas today, cultural issues are as important. So DTV too must take these issues into account when dealing with its issues, supporters, etc.

Q - Do you think this new attitude of activism with less costs will hurt the student movement?

A – No. Because student’s attitudes have changed. A student movement is not a permanent movement. The fact that we have a student movement is a sign of our under-development. In developed societies there is no need for a student movement. Such a movement is necessary when civil society institutions are weak or non-existent. With a democratic structure over society, there is no need for a student movement. Unless new issues are involved. In any case, student movements and activism has its ups and downs, and is never the same.