Northwestern State University - Potpourri Yearbook (Natchitoches, LA)

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Iranian Students Support Embassy Action (Reprinted From The Natchitoches Times, Sunday, November 18, 1979) When news accounts began trickling in two weeks ago that a mob of angry college students had strong-armed their way into the American Embassy in Tehran and taken its officials hostage. 38 per- sons in Natchitoches watched and waited with special interest They were colleagues of the young militants, from the same generation of Iranians they now saw on television shouting death to the Shah. burning the Ameri- can flag along with effigies of Pres- ident Carter, and demanding the return of Mohammad Reza Pahlevi to stand trial And. though on opposite sides of the issue from most Americans, they too. this week were bracing for heightened tensions in the wake of American counterdemons- tration. as well as the official US reaction a cutoff of Iranian oil imports, a freeze of Iranian assets, and one which struck closer to home for NSU ' s 38 Iranian stu- dents, registration with immigration officials and deportation for those with visa violations Reaction in Natchitoches has been thankfully mild compared to that of American urban centers, tho ugh some Iranian students here have reported slashed tires, threat- ening phone calls and hate mail But as the situation drags on. students are reporting what one called bad looks all the time They are fighting me with their eyes Another said American students were happy about Iran ' s earth- quake Wednesday in which 500 persons were killed and were hold- ing parties to celebrate In class they have discussions directed at me. ' said Abbassah Asghare. a junior majoring in politi- cal science at NSU One even said, Let ' s take them (Iranian stu- dents) hostage ' I think people are more rational on this campus than on other cam- puses. ' ' said still another Iranian student, several of whom asked that their identities not be revealed We ' re quite confident that nothing more than this will happen Asghan. a transfer student from the University of Southwestern Louisiana who just received an extended visa, says he doesn ' t think it is legitimate Iranian stu- dents who will be found illegally liv- ing in the US. but rather former spies for the Shah, who they say were planted in American universi- ties by the Shah, to monitor Irani- ans abroad before the revolution deposed him They expressed concern over the column Radical Rag, ' ' which appeared this week in the NSU stu- dent newspaper. Current Sauce . The column called on NSU stu- dents to take action in the form of a peaceful protest of the Ira- nian situation The students don ' t fear deporta- tion, saying they would probably transfer to Japanese or European universities Nor. they say. do they fear military intervention from the U.S., should diplomatic negotia- tions fail to secure the release of the hostages That will never happen. I assure you. ' said one of them The Shah had the most sophisticated weap- ons in the Middle East and we took over in less than a year We fought with our hands . We believe if we ' re killed for the cause of the people, we are mar- tyrs and we go straight to heaven. he continued. So if we get our country back, we win If we get killed, we win Needless to say. they support the action back home They are still bitter about U S support of Pahlevi. even into his last days as Shah, and the military aid he was given — aide which, they say was used by the Shah to purge their people Everything that they suffered. said one. the CIA brought about and engineered I left the country when the Shah was in power. said another Ira- nian who has established perma- nent residency here I couldn ' t stand it any longer. Calling him a murderer, a butcher who used tremendously medieval tortures. they compared Iran under the Shah to Nicaragua and Uganda under Amin, and blame him for everything that was evil — from political persecution to drug trafficking and prostitution And the United States they say. fur- thered the Shah ' s existence there, through military and economic aid. Even the people who disagree with us. agree that the Shah is a murderer. said one They accused Carter of trying to betray the hostages to save the Shah One point in the confrontation which they feel is important, is dis- tinguishing between the American government and the American people We know that the people here are not directly involved with the policies o.f the government. said one of them We are their broth- ers and sisters and we believe in •

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TWENTY-FIVE

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God, also. We just want what is ours. They take issue to the accusa- tion that holding the hostages is an act of terrorism, saying they are well fed, housed and treated. They reiterated official Iranian claims that the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was turned into a spying nest. The Iranians, they say, see the freezing of some $6 billion in Ira- nian assets in the U.S. as salt on the wound, claiming the Shah made off with a fortune in Iranian wealth, including the crown jewels, and discount reports that the Shah is suffering with cancer. He was playing tennis just weeks before, in Mexico, said one. He could have been treated just as well in Mexico. They have the best facilities. We feel sorry for the American people because they don ' t have a trustful mass media, said Asghari. Students said American broad- casts are all distorted compared to the reports they monitor on Ira- nian radio and reports from friends and relatives back home. They said on T.V., American reporters have translated mob chants as death to the American people, when what they are actually saying is down with imperialism. The students also play down the possibility of Iran looking to Russia for support. It ' s not true that if the U.S. will leave us alone that we will go to the lap of the Soviet Union, said one. Asgheri said one reason is the incompatibility of the atheistic Communist ideology with what he calls a religious revolution in Iran. My people in the streets say ' down with Russia, down with America, ' he said. Asgheri said Iran would fall to Communism never-never ever. There is no chance of that just of being inde- pendent. He was critical of the Soviets for their support of anti-Khomeni skir- mishes in the Iranian state of Kir- distan. While the Iranian students insist they are not close to the Tehran sit- uation to predict the outcome, given what-if scenarios, they do believe they have a cause, and they ' re willing to go the limit. I know what our people want, said one of them, and they ' re not going to compromise. They ' re not going to take any orders from any- body. And what of the American hos- tages? Unless it is proven that they ' re innocent, they ' re going to stay there, said one. If American peo- ple are good, and they want to prove that, they better do some- thing about it. It ' s better for the American government to take the rational approach — take the mur- derer and send him back to my people. TWENTY-SEVEN