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Moussavi supporters rally Sunday (Your View/Reuters)
Iranian authorities granted Hossein Moussavi a permit to host a memorial gathering at a Teheran mosque to honor one the Islamic Revolution’s early martyrs. He turned the memorial into a political protest at which several thousand turned out in black to mourn the martyrs of Teheran Spring. As usual, a peaceful march was turned into a brawl by violent security forces who broke bones and beat elderly women, among other protestors.
It’s premature to say that the protest phase of this campaign is over. I think what is likely is that the movement will become opportunistic. Whenever moments of opening arise, it will exploit them to voice a new protest. And when the regime makes another egregious error as it did in stealing the election, the protest will resume with renewed force and ferocity. Iran has not seen the last of Moussavi nor the last of street protests like this one. And though the streets may go quiet for a time, it is only a matter of time before the battle erupts anew.
Related posts:
- Whither Iran: Dictatorship or Democracy?
- Iran’s Game of Chicken
- Iran: What’s Rafsanjani Up To?
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[...] Olam: Richard Silvertsein writes: “It’s premature to say that the protest phase of this campaign is [...]
There’s no evidence of election fraud in Iran. The list of claims and counter-claims have been compiled at IranAffairs.com and none stand up to scrutiny.
Just think for a moment: was Mousavi really such a big threat to the regime that they had to organize a massive election fraud to keep him out of office — when in fact Mousavi is more of a regime insider than Ahmadinejad?
If usa really wants to help any progressive Iranian movement, may I suggest that we should stay out of the Iranian internal politics. We Americans hate any nation meddling in our internal affairs. Progressive Iranian population, the last thing they would need is the label of being attached to the Uncle Sam. Bush’s meddling in Iran worked against the progressive section of the Iranian society. I have used the term progressive, not moderates. Iranian Traditionalist (religious, very nationalistic, often poor, and under educated) are the majority of the Iranian population. The Progressives are young, better educated and often the middle class segment of the Iranian population. A search in demographics and the statistics of the Iranian population would support my statement.
The Iranian election was about who will control the democratic Iranian society, the Traditionalists or the Progressives. The Progressives, as a minority of the population, lost the election to Ahmadinejad.
We will not advance our American interests, or the the Prgoressive Iranian movement, by listening to the Republicans who advocate a more aggressive policy toward Iran. USA diplomatic approach to Iran will disarm the members of the Traditionalists and advance the progressive movements.
The change in demographics of Iran toward a larger middle class will shift the internal Iranian policy toward the Progressives. Our past political mistakes, and financial burdens we have placed on the Iranian people will not advance our long term American interests. To assist the Progressive movement allow a greater exchange between the two societies, remove the burdens placed on the Iranian people, and don’t punish the people for our disagreements with their government.