Thread by @SoloGen

If you're a professor or a student in STEM in a Western country, you probably know someone from the Sharif University of Technology in Iran. They might have be your students, peers, or friends.

That university is now under attack by the Islamic Republic.

🧵(1/16)
#MahsaAmini

The news and videos are just coming out. I will post a few here.

We see students being trapped in a parking lot at the university, escaping from those who appear to be paramilitary.


(2/16)
#IranProtests #SharifUniversity

We also hear something that sounds like gunshots.


(3/16)
#MahsaAmini #Sharif

We see the police shooting paintball at a passerby who is trying to record the police taking away a detained student.


(4/16)
#MahsaAmini
#Sharif

This all started about two weeks ago when the "morality" police of the Islamic Republic murdered a young woman named #MahsaAmini.

I've written about it before to provide some context.

https://twitter.com/SoloGen/status/1571560705970798594

By now, you can find about the issue on mainstream media too.
(5/16)

Since the murder of #MahsaAmini, Iran has permanently changed. Not that it was the first time such a crime has happened. But this time is just different.

(6/16)

Mahsa's death has a Butterfly effect. Iranians have since protested in Iran and all over the world almost everyday. There was a demonstration of 50K in #Toronto on October 1st. And it wasn't just in Toronto. 150 other cities around the world joined as well!

(7/16)
#MahsaAmini

This is not the first time that the IR has violently suppressed Iranians. Its foundation is based on suppression of people and their liberty. It has happened too many times for me to report.
(8/16)

Within a university, my memory goes back to July 1999, when they attacked the University of Tehran, killed several students and arrested 1000+.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_stud…

(9/16)
#SharifUniversity

The 1999 invasion of the university started a new era of resistance, and unfortunately also a consequent depression for a generation of students.

(10/16)

Those students started hopeful of then President Khatami (1997-2005) and the Reformists movement, but got disappointed a few years later when much of their hopes and wishes didn't come to a fruition.

The realization for many was simple: IR is not reformable.

(11/16)
#MahsaAmini

Going back to today: Raiding a university will probably not be limited to #SharifUniversity. This will happen at other universities too, if not already. They are afraid of anyone who thinks and rebels against their indoctrination.

(12/16)

If you have read the novel 1984 by George Orwell, that should give you an idea of how such a government works.

Sometimes I wonder whether they have actually used that novel as the blueprint of how to govern. Or maybe all authoritarian governments tend to be alike?

(13/16)

I don't know what will happen to Iran in the near future. The IR might start a bloodbath as a temporarily Band-aid to save themselves.

I am convinced that the top officials will not hesitate to do so. Think of extremist psychopaths with political and military power.

(14/16)

The mid-rank government officials or military might be another story. They may evaluate what they are doing and decide to do otherwise, either due to their awakened conscience or a reevaluation of their own utility.
(15/16)
#IranProtests2022

What I am sure about is that Iran and the mental model of most Iranians have permanently changed. There is no going back.

(16/16)
#MahsaAmini