The logo accompanying this article is that of the student opposition movement for freedom from religion in the governing of Iran (they want the separation of church and state and the ending of the power of conservative religious clerics over the governance of Iran)

The BBC published a report stating that after Iran lost another football match 'Iran football violence continues.' According to the report on the BBC site "Thousands of young people, apparently
angered by Iran's 3-1 defeat by Bahrain in
a World Cup football qualifying match on
Sunday night, took to the streets and
clashed with riot police and security forces
on Monday evening.

Their anger may have
been compounded by
reports that the
International Football
Federation (Fifa) had
rejected an Iranian
complaint about
Bahrain fielding
ineligible players."

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1614000/1614696.stm

However according to the call to demo from the website of the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran for the same days that the BBC was reporting 'soccer violence' by students outraged that their soccer team lost the game the Democracy movement was planning mass demonstrations at the public venueof the soccer games. Now what could have happened here is that the BBC got in touch with Mr. Authority figure in 'the Iranian department of justice' who spoon fed the BBC a story about 'fans outraged by losing at soccer' which the BBC then published, the story having coming from 'reliable and official sources in Iran' after all. However the demos were not at all about soccer according to the Student Movement. What actually happened, according to their call to the demo at the games was outlined on their website as follows...

 http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/demo/

All Iranian Cities, Iran (On 10/21/2001)

The Iranian Secular Opposition Movement,
known as the Third Force, is rescheduling the
Popular Protest gatherings, across Iran, which
should have take place on Friday October 19th to
Sunday October 21, 2001, after the minute 90
of the game... The Football [Soccer] Movement is the term
used for the wide-scale popular demonstrations
that occur after the World Cup qualifying
matches.

Since all opposition demonstrations are officially
banned, and brutally suppressed by the regime
when announced ahead of time, the Iranian
people are utilizing the Football matches to
coordinate the timing of their wide-scale
pro-secular and nationalist demonstrations.

The participation of all genders, all age groups,
and all walks of life in these demonstrations, in
addition to the Referendum slogans chanted by
the demonstrators, clearly illustrate that the
Football Movement is not a common post-game
riot, rather, it is a grass-roots movement that
shows the people's defiance to the Islamic
Republic as a whole- that shows the Iranian
people are separate from the Islamic Republic
regime ... to show their
"Civil Disobedience" movement.

The so-called "Iranian Students news Agency"
(ISNA), The "Islamic Republic News Agency"
(IRNA), created by the regime kept their usual
silence which states of the shock and fear which
has sized the Islamic republic and its leaders.

These gatherings of an unprecedented scale
leaded to violent and bloody riots following the
brutal intervention of the Islamic republic
Security forces. Several official buildings were
damaged by an angry crowd retaliating to the
Militiamen brutal attacks.

At least 8 Militia’s trucks and 2 Fire Trucks sent
to break the demonstrations were damaged and
burned by the demonstrators.

Reports from, across Iran, are stating about the
arrests of hundreds of "Hooligans" which are in
reality some of the vangards of the Iranian
Freedom Movement falling in the regime's hands.

Despite this violent repression, Iranians have
learned, after 23 years, to come into the streets
and to support each other in the expression of
their common goals.

Millions of Iranians will seize the opportunity
offered by this coming Sunday's game to come
back into the main Iranian streets and squares and
to practice this "Civil Disobedience Movement"
that will shut down Iran by end this Fall or
beginning Winter.

Hundreds of clandestine local groups have been
formed, across Iran, in order to identify the
regime's agents and to prepare Iran for the next
steps to take for its liberation."


There are two possible explanations for what is taking place in Iran. Now keep in mind that Iran is on the list of 'terrorist states' and supply weapons to the Hezbollah in Lebanon to use in the fight against the Israeli occupation army. The government of Iran insists that it does not 'support terrorists' but rather that the guerillas it is arming are 'freedom fighters'. There is no doubt in my mind that action against Iran is something the American government would like to do, however bombing Iran into ruin, like Iraq, is politically risky. Now keep in mind that during the fifties the CIA funded and fomented just such protests as a pretext for the coming overthrow of the elected socialist goverment of Iran and the installation of the shah of Iran and the Savak secret police force. So one possibility is that we are seeing a 'psy-op' underway as a pretext for 'stabilizing Iran' CIA style, one of the many optional measures to war to be used against 'ending terrorists states' (to use the administrations lingo).

However, while this is certainly possible and would be par for the course if it was true, at the same time we have to be cautious and not wind up bashing and dissing a legitimate internal student uprising against the conservative mullahs who have been defying popular votes in Iran (moderates win elections by landslides in Iran) in order to maintain a conserative religious state in defiance of popular opinion in Iran (as expressed in the popular vote against these clerics in this years election and in former elections). That widespread discontent for the disrespect shown by these conservative clerics to will of the people and the principle of democracy it would be no surprise to see a legitimate and internal widespread movement of civil disobedience develop in Iran (the mullahs control the police which is the source of their power to defy the will of the people in elections and maintain their conservative religious state).

Personally I believe that the student movement is legitimate and internal, but there is also a third possbility that exists and that is that while the movement is internal, given the need to 'end terrorists states' the CIA could see a golden opportunity to exploit the unrest and thus be now circling around the place like a great big hawk. This is not a call to punish the students, since there cause is just, but rather a call for everyone to keep their eyes wide open for the possible scheming of that great big hawk in the days ahead, as that hawk attempts to take advantage of the situation. After all you don't want to hop out of the mullah fire and straight into the Shah's frying pan, now do you...Hands off Iran, I say, and let them sort it out themselves, and idealistic slogan to be sure, and not one likely to be heeded by that hawk, and thus the need for vigilance...

With the current turmoil in Iran the situation does require vigilance and I for one will be watching the situation closely in the days ahead...