Siavash Soltani is a political science researcher, political activist, poet, writer, and general secretary of Iran National Front and the Republican Convergence Council. He obtained his master's degree in political science from Tehran University.
Childhood
Siavash Soltani was born in Karaj on the 4th of May. Since childhood, he was in love with science and literature, so he learned to read and write at the age of four. During his education, he consistently excelled as one of the top students in his class, achieving an A+ grade point average throughout his 5 years in elementary school and maintaining his status as one of the best students in high school. Siavash had read many famous novels in his early years. He has been interested in politics since childhood, so he always followed the news from the age of 9. Such enthusiasm and the general political atmosphere of his family caused him to become a supporter of Mohammad Khatami when he was a teenager. In the 2001 presidential elections, despite his younger age, Siavash was able to persuade a group of relatives to vote for Khatami. He was also very interested in studying history, which led him to read extensively about the history of Persia. However, despite praising the history of Iranian civilization, he was saddened by the decline of the country in recent centuries.
Student life
Siavash Soltani considers populism one of the most significant challenges in today's politics, with Ahmadinejad as its main symbol in Iran. He always criticized Ahmadinejad and other leaders of the regime for their lack of expertise in politics, and in this regard, he studied political science in order for a politician to have political knowledge. Since 2011, he studied political science at the Central Tehran branch of Azad University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2015. In 2016, Soltani was admitted to the political science program at the University of Tehran by obtaining a double-digit rank among hundreds of thousands of participants in the master's entrance exam. [1] During his senior years, he studied political philosophy more deeply and graduated in 2019 by presenting a thesis about the populism phenomenon with the title, "Populism the Offspring of the Vacuums of Democracy".[2]
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Activity in the Reformist Movement
Ahmadinejad became president when he was 14 years old. Ahmadinejad's extreme and reactionary policies led Siavash to take his political activities more seriously in opposition. He became a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist party in the country. He actively took part in party meetings and familiarized himself with the organization's work processes. In the 2006 city council elections, he supported the reformist movement candidates in Karaj and even organized a rally in front of the Karaj governorate to protest against the fraud committed by the regime in favor of fundamentalist candidates. Siavash Soltani was one of the main members of Mousavi's headquarters in Karaj in the 2009 elections and represented him in one of the polling stations.
During the elections and the rise of the Green Movement, he participated in most of the protests against the government, including June 15, Quds Day, November 03, December 06, Ashura Day, and February 12. Soltani was arrested during the Ashura Day protests on December 26. He spent several days in the detention center of the revolutionary guard but was released after making a promise. Recently, he published his memories of the large rally on June 15, 2009, which was featured in some of the most popular Iranian media, including Keyhan of London.
The period of activity in the Iran National Front.
During the Green Movement and at the same time as its developments, he rejected the possibility of reforms in the Islamic Republic and left the activity in the context of the Islamic Republic. Since the end of 2009, he has supported the National Front of Iran, which was the main advocate of democracy in Iran. In 2013, following a meeting with Kourosh Zaim, a senior member of the party, Soltani joined the National Front of Iran. Since then, he has continuously participated in the meetings of the Graduates Organization of Iran's National Front,
which were held at the Zaim's house. Since 2018, Siavash Soltani has increased his online activities and launched a page on the Instagram platform to showcase the civilization and culture of Persia. This page has attracted approximately 50 thousand followers due to its significant impact. Along with years of activity on this page, in addition to introducing Iran's civilization, culture, and celebrities to the audience, Soltani has widely pursued propaganda activities against separatist movements and succeeded in neutralizing many of their activities by using the national discourse. [3] Regarding that, he took a video to protest against Ashraf Ghani's speech about the roots of the Persian language. [4] A live internet show with Houshang Tale, a Former Iranian parliament member, about separating Bahrain from Iran and criticizing the Shah's government based on that, was one of its activities in that era, which acquired a lot of viewers. [5] After the formation of the 6th council of the National Front of Iran, Soltani continued his activities in that faction of the National Front, and in 2020 he founded the Committee of Historical, Cultural, and Environmental Heritage in Iran National Front and assumed the chairmanship of it. Among his successful works During this period, Soltani wrote letters to the Iraqi government, the UNESCO organization, Iran's Minister of Cultural Heritage, and the Secretary General of the United Nations to prevent the collapse of the Taq Kasra, a Persian ancient building.
[6] In 2021, Soltani founded the Iran National Front Youth and Students Organization due to the lack of renewal of human resources in the national front and the belief in the need to attract more young people.[7] In addition, in the same year, the Central Council of Iran National Front elected him as a member of that council. In 2020, Soltani was engaged in activities against the regime's false elections. He participated in discussions on platforms like the newly established Club House and was involved in publishing statements condemning the elections.
Activism in the Mahsa Revolution
In 2022, after the start of the Mahsa movement, Soltani engaged in extensive activities to support the movement. He physically participated in several rallies and even during one of the rallies in Golshahr Karaj due to the attack of the special guard of the police force, his hand was severely injured. Also, he was actively involved in virtual activities to support the Movement, which included writing supportive texts and tweets and then publishing them on his Telegram channel and news websites. Because of these activities, the intelligence office summoned him twice and threatened him with death. In this regard, Soltani was forced to leave the country and pursue his activities in Europe. During his stay in Europe, he gave several television interviews, including with the Voice of America and Iran Farda, and published dozens of articles against the regime on prominent websites.
[8][9][10]]In addition, he conducted a petition in regard to criticizing Iranian diaspora media's non-justified function and acting in the Royalist's favor, which more than 250 Iranian political activists participated on.[11] Also, he founded the Republican Convergence Council to bring together Republicans as much as possible and in line with supporting his good, and now he holds the position of the temporary secretary general of this council.[12]
Founding of Iran National Front-International branch
In October 2023, Siavash Soltani founded the Iran-International National Front with the backing of numerous National Front veterans, such as Kavus Arjamand, Farzin Bostajani, and Mehdi Zolfaqari. The aim was to promote unity among domestic and foreign National Front activists and to combat the propagation of exclusivity among Mossadegh followers. He was then elected to the position of general secretary by the central council of this institution.[13]
Interviews
Siavash Soltani has had numerous interviews with top Iranian media, including Voice of America TV, Iran Farda TV, and the Republic of Iran TV.[14][15]
Articles
Siavash Soltani has published many articles. In 2016, in an article, he predicted the possibility of the fall of Masoud Barzani's government in Iraqi Kurdistan. In an article in 2019, Soltani, while evaluating the currents involved in the 2020 US presidential election, took into account the all-round support of the factions in the Democratic Party, especially the young people who support Sanders, for Biden, in contrast to the candidate's lack of support for Hillary Clinton in the year 2016, predicted the possible victory of Biden.[16] Also, in an article entitled "Why we are Azeri Turks, not Turks", he criticized the transformation of Azeri Turkish culture and language into other dialects of the Turkish language and demanded to preserve the independence of Azerbaijan. [17]
During the Mehsa Revolution, Soltani criticized the act of granting power of attorney to Reza Pahlavi in an article, considering it the basis of individual tyranny. [1]
Poems
There are several poems by Soltani that glorify nature, honor the martyrs of the green movement, and praise prominent political figures. One of the most famous poems of Soltani is in Rasa Margh Tofan, which is written in praise of Shapour Bakhtiar, the last prime minister of Iran.[18]
External links:
Siavash Soltani's Website[19]
References
- ^ https://www.modaresanesharif.ac.ir/%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%A8%D9%87-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D9%86%DA%A9%D9%88%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B4%D8%AF-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84-95/
- ^ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/siavash-soltani-9ba716205_irandoc-institution-has-approved-my-thesis-activity-7011019794606895107-bz-8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
- ^ https://ejiga.com/siavash.soltani91
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8diCXYytDg
- ^ https://www.namavid.com/video/486207/discussion-on-the-secession-of-bahrain-from-iran-with-the-presence-of-houshang-t
- ^ https://www.akhbaremahramaneh.ir/fa/video/8438/%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%82-%DA%A9%D8%B3%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D9%86%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AF%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AF
- ^ http://www.jebhemelli.info/?p=13912
- ^ https://ir.voanews.com/a/6965376.html
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j780LHffzdQ
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tSrUSEBcNA
- ^ https://www.akhbar-rooz.com/190681/1401/11/06/
- ^ https://persiarepublicancouncil.website/?page_id=34
- ^ https://jebheyemelli.com/%d8%a8%db%8c%d8%a7%d9%86%db%8c%d9%87-%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85-%d9%85%d9%88%d8%ac%d9%88%d8%af%db%8c%d8%aa-%d8%ac%d8%a8%d9%87%d9%87-%d9%85%d9%84%db%8c-%d8%a7%db%8c%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%db%8c/
- ^ https://ir.voanews.com/a/6965376.html
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j780LHffzdQ
- ^ https://www.jahannews.com/news/725558/%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%ab%db%8c%d8%b1-%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%a7%db%8c%d8%aa-%d8%b3%d9%86%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%b2-%d8%a8%d8%a7%db%8c%d8%af%d9%86-%da%86%db%8c%d8%b3%d8%aa
- ^ http://www.jebhemelli.info/?p=14042
- ^ http://www.jebhemelli.info/?p=15250
- ^ www.siavashsoltani.website