Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
As university students prepare to return to classes in Iran, recent statements by the country's supreme leader are feeding fears that a new cultural revolution could be in the offing.
Some recognize echoes of the mass purges and curriculum revisions that took place just after the founding of the Islamic Republic 30 years ago.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has suggested that the study of social sciences leads to creeping doubts and uncertainty over religious principles. This week, he called on the government and the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to take a serious look at the issue.
It's a move that could signal a new campaign against the country's universities and cultural institutions, and comes just three weeks before most of the Iran's institutions of higher learning reopen their doors for the new academic year.
"These comments in the current conditions and with regard to this massive 'green movement' that has deep roots in the society -- it's possible that since they haven't been able to repress the movement completely...with the start of the classes there might be more protests," Ghasem Sholeh Saadi, a former legislator and current professor of international relations at Tehran University, says.
Sholeh Saadi goes on to warn that authorities fear "the movement could enter a new phase therefore we can interpret these stances as the start of another cultural revolution." (Read more...)
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