Live Blog: Inside Iran: What’s Next?

ON STUDENT MOVEMENTS/ VOTING IN IRAN:

(from L to R, Profesor Lonnie Isabel, Journalists Laura Secor and Roozbeh Mirebrahmi)

Laura Secor said she saw a poll that cited the fact that about 70 % of Iranians want democracy. On the student movement in Iran, according to Secor, in some cases they got more radical than the reformists.

Roozbeh Mirebrahmi said that the student movement has a long history in Iran, but that it has some flaws. “We have too many student activists who believe in communism…” He also said that women’s activists are becoming more and more important in Iran.

A question from a graduate student, Shuka Kalantari asks: “In relation to what you just said Roozbeh, one of the main qualms about these activists groups is that they are too segmented. I’ve heard people say that if the women’s groups and the student groups could unite it could be more effective for change. Do you think that’s possible?

The question was answered by Laura Secor. “Women’s activists are staying that they have more support from young men. The women’s activists that I talk to, all of them came out of the student movement. There is a relationship between these groups.”