- Office for Strengthening Unity
-
The Office for Strengthening Unity (also Office for Consolidating Unity, Persian: دفتر تحکیم وحدت, Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat), is an Iranian student organization created in 1979, and has been described as "the country's most well-known student organization,"[1] and "Iran's leading prodemocracy student group".[2] Founded in 1979 as a conservative Islamist organization to combat leftist, more secular, student groups,[3] the OSU has evolved to support democracy and reform in Iran [4] and thus is now in opposition to the political heirs of its founders.
Contents
History
Origins
Originally known as the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries, (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat-e Hozeh va Daneshgah), according to Iranfocus.com, the OSU was set up by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, at a time when Beheshti was Iranian Supreme Ruler Ruhallah Khomeini’s top confidant and a key figure in the clerical leadership. Beheshti wanted the OSU to organise Islamist students to counter the influence of the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) among university students.[3]
The OSU played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Members of the OSU central council, who included Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as well as Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Kadivar, Mohsen Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi, were regularly received by the Ayatollah Khomeini himself.[3] (One of the first political offices held by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was as representative of students at his university, Elm-o Sanaat, at the OSU in 1979.[3])
During the crackdown on universities in 1980, which Khomeini called the Islamic Cultural Revolution, Ahmadinejad and the OSU played a critical role in purging dissident lecturers and students many of whom were arrested and later executed.[3]
Reformism
Sometime around or before the 1997 election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami the group changed its orientation. The OSU was the most important supporter of reformist President Mohammad Khatami in his first term.[citation needed] However they became critical Khatami as it became clear he was not able to promote democracy in Iran.[citation needed]
In 2001, Ali Afshari, one of the leaders of OSU, was sentenced to five years in jail: four years "for acting against national security by participating in the Berlin Conference, six months for establishing a crisis centre" in the OSU, and "six months for disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran."[5] He and Akbar Atri gave a controversial lecture in a lecture hall in US congress in 2006.
In 2002 the OSU was "divided into two wings" over the question of whether to boycott the presidential election. "The majority 'Allameh' faction" wanted "to withdraw from the political system" and boycott the election, whereas the minority "pro-conservative"[6] 'Shiraz' faction" generally favored participation and "operating within the current political framework." [1] The directors of the office are annually selected democratically from Iranian University students all over the country.
Honours and awards
Notes
- ^ a b Iran: Students Wonder Whether They Should Vote
- ^ Molavi, Afshin, The Soul of Iran, Norton, (2005), p.314
- ^ a b c d e Iran’s new President has a past mired in controversy
- ^ Speaker For Pro-Reform Student Group Detained In Iran
- ^ Ill-treatment / prisoners of conscience / medical concern
- ^ Too late for a reformist momentum? April 19, 2009 by Rasmus Christian Elling
See also
- Ali Afshari (leader of OSU)
- Majid Farahani
- Ali-Akbar Mousavi Khoeini
- Akbar Atri
External links
Iranian Green Movement Events 2009 Iranian election protests · 2009 Iran poll protests trial · 2009 Iranian university dormitory raids · Death of Neda Agha-Soltan · Death of Sohrab Aarabi · Death of Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani · The Green Scroll Campaign · Green Qods Day · Green 13 Aban · Green 16 Azar · Death of Ayatollah Montazeri · 2009 Ashura protests · Death of Seyed Ali Mousavi · Death of Mohammad Mokhtari · 2011 Iranian protests · Death of Sane Jaleh · Death of Mohammad Mokhtari · · Death of Haleh Sahabi · Death of Hoda Saber · Timeline of protestsLeaders Supporters Zahra Rahnavard · Hussein-Ali Montazeri · Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani · Hadi Khamenei · Mohsen Sazegara · Mohammad Reza Khatami · Mohsen Makhmalbaf · Yousef Sane'i · Jalal Al-Din Taheri · Shirin Ebadi · Ezatollah Sahabi · Alireza Nourizadeh · Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri · Hassan Khomeini · Abdolkarim Soroush · Ebrahim Nabavi · Alireza Beheshti · Mohsen Kadivar · Akbar Ganji · Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani · Faezeh Hashemi · Ali Mohammad Dastgheib Shirazi · Mousavi ArdebiliOpponents Ali Khamenei · Mahmoud Ahmadinejad · Ahmad Khatami · Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi · Ahmad Jannati · Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel · Ali Larijani · Abbas-Ali Amid Zanjani · Sadeq LarijaniOrganization The Green Path of HopeSupporter Parties Islamic Iran Participation Front · National Trust Party · Executives of Construction Party · Association of Combatant Clerics · Islamic Association of Women · Nationalist-Religious movement · Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization · Office for Strengthening Unity · Democracy Party · Freedom Movement · Islamic Labour Party · Solidarity PartyCategories:- Student organizations
- Organisations based in Iran
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.