We, the students, while maintaining the distance from both poles, emphasize the common fate of the Iranian masses and all other working class around the world – from Chile to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. We defend their rightful protests and we will continue our struggle to support their interests.

Translation of the statement from Tehran University Students on National Students’ Day, 7th December 2019

Source:  https://libcom.org/library/statement-national-demonstration-students-tehran-7th-december-2019

Here and now, in one of the most important historical moments in which we live, the masses in different parts of the world have risen up against the oppression caused by the capitalist system. In less than two years, the mass upheaval in Iran has raged again. The accumulation of contradictions and the inability of the existing capitalist-theocratic regime has led to numerous uprisings, including the revolt of January 2018. Previous bloody repressions could not extinguish the fire of the wrath of the oppressed and the remnant sparks of the flames in 2018 was blazed again due to the fuel price increase – this time in November 2019. The extent and intensity of the protests grew, and so did the magnitude and intensity of the repression. With the silence of media and internet shutdown,‌ bloody repression took place from the reed-beds of Mahshahr to the alleys of Kurdistan, suburbs of Shiraz, deserts of Sistan and streets of Tehran, leaving numerous deaths in its wake. But we, the students, at this critical moment, wounded by the terrible whips of oppression and exploitation, are not and will not be passive observers.

We have been hearing the sounds of these whips for years as the screams of the masses. But the repetition of these sounds, with their different frequencies in history, has not made us accustomed. Everyone has heard the sound of repression and the roar of the oppressed, even those whose interests were in ignorance. The abortive efforts of reformists, principalists, monarchists, and so forth to confiscate, distort, and deny these voices, only further prove this claim.

Today, the oppression of the masses in various parts of the world is affected by the intensification of the contradictions of the world’s capitalist system. The current government, in all its forms and appearances, has been able to take power within these contradictions. In trying to resolve these contradictions for its own benefit, the state has intervened in d