The official new Iranian Academic Year started, today, and millions of school students commenced a year placed under increased repressive measures. More than last years, Bassij paramilitary members and plainclothes agents, named "Youth Police", were deployed inside and around most academic facilities in order to make observe the "Islamic moral code" and the newly instated "compulsory prayer times".
Discriminatory backward measures have also been increased, this year, and male teachers have been banned from teaching in all-girls schools.
But despite all the official policy of intimidation, reports from many academic districts, such as, Tehran, Esfahan Shiraz, Rasht, Hamadan or Oroomiah (former Rezai-e), are stating about the astonishing refusal of especially school students to chant the regime's anthem and instead to chant the banned Iranian National Anthem "Oh, Iran...!"
Universities will start, next week, their academic year.
Iran has about 21 millions of students of all ages, including 14 millions in schools, who are eager to reach freedom and modernity; but the lack of a credible opposition is avoiding the general canalization of the existing massive and deep rejection of the Islamic regime. Most factions of the opposition, located abroad, are considered as not being much better than the clerical regime due to their Mafia type behavior and their constant try to block any independent younger oppostion to respond to popular aspirations.
This main problem has reached an unprecedented level, in public eyes, due to the control exerced by some of these groups on some of the abroad based Iranian radio and satellite TV networks which have become a propaganda tools for these closed circles which do not have any real organic link with the masses inside Iran.
Some of these radio and TV commentators have also become, in their own mind, the sole detentor of the complete knowledge and vanguard of freedom, but are in reality undermining costly earned values, such as, Modernism, Secularism, Democracy or Iranism. Facing financial problem, they have become a promoting tool in the hand of low moral or clueless wealthy businessmen seeking to build name or fame on the back of the Iranian people.
This is one of the main reason that groups, such as, SMCCDI or INSP which were the leaders of spreading the notions of Modernity, Secularism and Iranism, by using these media networks till end of this year's spring, have preferred to stop using them.
