“Iran Arrives on U.S. Campuses“ with Roya Hakakian

The current protests on US campuses uncannily resemble the rallies and demonstrations that marked the revolutionary era of Iran. In 1978, Iranian universities, long sites of political ferment, became staging grounds for anti government activities and operations. Students demonstrated in Teheran, chanting ‘Marg Bar Shah’ - death to the Shah. It was Iranian students who invaded the US Embassy in Teheran in 1979, taking 63 Americans hostage. Ayatollah Khomeini promised to export the Islamic Revolution around the world. Forty-five years later, has he finally succeeded in realizing his ambition? Roya Hakakian is an author, journalist, and a fellow at Yale University’s Davenport College. She is a founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and serves on the board of Refugees International. Her memoir, Journey from the Land of No : A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran,  appeared in 2005 (Crown). She is a graduate of Brooklyn College in New York.