Dear AEPS students,
We have recently published an open letter of support to our Iranian students in these challenging times. You can find the content of the letter below. The letter is posted on
change.org and is collecting signatures among faculties and students. Feel free to sign it and share it on your platforms if you feel like doing so.
Kind regards,
Giulio Costantini
LETTER
With this open letter, we express our full solidarity with Iranian students enrolled at the University of Milano-Bicocca and across Italy and Europe.
Since the establishment of international programs in our University, students from Iran have formed a substantial and valued part of our academic community. In recent weeks, many of them have been living in a state of profound anguish. As protests have spread across Iran, the authorities have deliberately shut down internet access and communication channels, isolating families and preventing students abroad from knowing whether their loved ones are safe. This enforced silence has accompanied a violent repression, aimed at crushing a popular movement that calls for dignity, freedom, and democratic rights.
Credible reports indicate that tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, detained, or injured within a very short time. For our students, this is not distant news. It is the fate of their parents, siblings, and friends. They are confronting fear, grief, anger, and helplessness while continuing their studies far from home. At the same time, many of them, as members of the Iranian diaspora, are courageously engaging in peaceful transnational resistance, organizing demonstrations, raising awareness, and standing publicly with those who risk their lives inside Iran.
As an academic community committed to knowledge, freedom, and human dignity, we affirm our responsibility to speak out against repression and violence wherever they occur. We stand with our Iranian students and with all those who demand democracy and justice, and we call upon universities, faculty members, students, and citizens to turn solidarity into action: to offer support and understanding to Iranian students; to listen to their voices; and to stand visibly beside them in this moment of fear and uncertainty. Defending those whose voices are being silenced is not only an act of compassion, it is a responsibility shared by all who believe in freedom and human rights.