Well, I never thought I'd actually be writing anything in support of the people of Iran. But look at what just happened... an obviously rigged election has awarded their notorious president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term, and massive rioting and protesting - by the younger supporters of his opponent - broke out almost immediately. And as these brave souls cover themselves in green and take to the streets demanding that the election be voided and true democracy established in their country, people from all over America and the rest of the world are rallying behind them in an amazing show of solidarity.
For as long as I could remember, Iran was one of the enemies. I was in second grade when the first 1979 revolution drove out the Shah and swept the Ayatollah Khomeini into power. And that guy was easy to caricaturize (basically an older Sean Connery with thicker eyebrows in a black robe and turban), making him a godsend for political cartoonists. I remember a photocopied Khomeini bullseye target hanging in my dad's garage... I wish I could remember what it said, something along the lines of "Wanted for making bad (some famous person at the time whose name I can't recall) impersonations."
I then kept hearing about the Iran-Iraq War throughout the eighties until the truce in 1989. Then Iran was basically a non-issue for a while after that, save for the election of Mohammed Khatami, who tried to instigate some reforms without getting cock-blocked by the Guardian Council.
After that came The Ahmadinejad Show... and there was plenty for the pundits to write about this guy. From his denial that the extermination of millions of Jews by the Nazis really happened, to his attempts to bring nuclear energy (or nuclear weapons, depending upon who you believe) to his country, to his saber-rattling directed at Israel, to his Q&A session at University where he flat-out proclaimed that there are no homosexuals in Iran at all (probably because they're executed once they're outed), this Yakov Smirnoff lookalike has been a dubious publicity machine for Iran... until now.
The overwhelming extent of the protests has been heartening - obviously the election was supposed to go the other way and that Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate, should have trounced Ahmadinejad in the election. But the Guardian Council has announced they will uphold the results, and they'll recount a portion of the ballots in response to the protests... while in the meantime, brutally cracking down on the protesters. Reports have been rampant about people getting beaten or killed by Iranian paramilitaries or the Revolutionary Guard, and Mousavi is predicting more of the same and is asking the pro-reform masses to remain vigilant in their opposition, either by rallies or general strikes or more subtle forms of undermining the government (such as hacking their websites).
I'm still holding out hope that Iran's people will overcome this tyranny and drive the ruling faction out of power, for several reasons:
1) The original 1979 revolution didn't happen overnight... that uprising took several months to reach its goal of toppling the Shah.
2) Despite the fervent efforts of the government to control the media and the Internet, the Iranian people are still managing to update the world on the rampant brutality and mistreatment that the rulers and their thugs are inflicting. And it's all in full-color video too, ready to roll on YouTube, Facebook and the other social-networking sites.
3) The pro-democracy movement now has some figureheads associated with it: Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who was supposed to win the election and is now heavily guarded while he calls for new elections and a myriad of reforms; and a martyr for the movement in Neda Agha Soltan, a young Iranian woman that, while on her way to a protest rally, was shot dead by paramilitary forces.
4) Iranians are people too. It was hard to imagine that during the Reagan years and the early part of Ahmadinejad's reign- uh, TERM... but a new generation is emerging that want to be a part of the rest of the modern world, and won't stand for Communist-style censoring and controlling of their media. There's a good chance you may know someone of Persian/Iranian heritage... if you live in Dallas, some of you hear one on the radio (Jasmine Sadry, part of the Jagger Show team on KRLD-FM 105.3, whose parents defected from Iran a few decades ago).
And most importantly: 5) There are rumors that the government is losing control of its army. If that's true, then there is a good chance that the will of the people will prevail, since history has proved more often than not that those who have the guns ultimately end up with the power.
It's unfortunate that it may take a civil war for democracy to spread in Iran, but if that's what it takes, I won't shed any tears for the despots. At any rate, I'm praying that somehow Iran will change for the better soon and that there's as little bloodshed as possible.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
