Like many of you, I intensely watched the Iranian protests in June, and cheered on the demonstrators, was shocked to see the photos of Neda and the others who were killed, and hoped-apparently in vain-that we were witnessing the last days of the Khamenei government and its oppression of the Iranian people. And, I watched as the government crushed the intail protests, and with them, seemingly, the hope that true Democracy would prevail in Iran. But, I've been checking news from Iran lately, and I thought it was time to try to raise a little awareness. There have been ongoing protests, the last major one occurring a little over two weeks ago (Nov. 4th). More below the fold.
Gathering news about Iran has become harder and harder these days. Many formerly good sources, such as Nico Pitney at Huffington Post and Professor Juan Cole have largely dried up or moved on to other things like Afghanistan. However, two blogs, Windows on Iran and NIAC's news blog are still publishing new information, and the Wikipedia article has been kept reasonably updated. To note the two major events: on September 18th, the Iranian government traditionally holds a pro-Palestinian rally in Tehran (the Qods [Jerusalem] Day). This year, though, it was hijacked by the opposition, who chanted slogans against the government and distributed flyers condemning it ("No to Lebanon and Gaza" said one [referring to the Iranian government's support for Hezbollah and Hamas], "I will only die for Iran"). On November 4th, protestors managed to hijack yet another official rally, commemorating the seizure of the US embassy in 1979. Again, thousands of protesters showed up wearing green and chanted anti-government slogans. This post discusses smaller scale protests that have taken place at universities, and clever opposition strategies such as writing anti-government slogans on paper money and then spending it (so the bills circulate around, delivering their message to whoever they get handed to). Meanwhile, government show trials of reformist activists have resulted in several being sentenced to death for treason. While I haven't been able to find too many sources of information, I wanted to let people know that stuff is still going on, this didn't end back in June, and that this should be on everyone's mind and not be allowed to simply fall off the face of the earth.
To put this in historical context, it is a little known fact that the Iranian Revolution of 1979 actually started in October 1977. That, as late as August 1978 (six months before the Shah fled) the situation still seemed under control, and a CIA analyst could write, in all seriousness, a report stating that "Iran is not in a revolutionary or even a pre-revolutionary situation". The Shah's repressive politics and bad economic policy had been angering the nation since the early 1970's, and major protests had been crushed by the government in early 1978, but gathered steam throughout the year (culminating in "Black Friday", September 8th 1978, in which 84 people were killed when troops fired into a crowd of unarmed protesters). By January of 1979, the Shah was forced to leave the country, and his oppressive government fell.
In other words, just because its not June 2009 anymore doesn't meant this is over. It takes time. Remember, this government has faked an election and then murdered, tortured, and rapedits own citizens for protesting. It can no longer claim to be a democracy-the mask has been torn. If the government doesn't make concessions to the opposition (and it most likely won't), then some day-not today, not tomorrow, not next month, but sometime in the next few years, the current slow boil of protests will build and build until it explodes and brings the whole rotten system crashing down. The conditions for a revolution have been laid down, and when it comes, it will almost certainly be as sudden and unexpected as the 1979 Revolution was. Until that time, lets keep the wondeful country and the wonderful people of Iran (several of whom I am lucky enough to count as friends) in our hearts and our thoughts, and not forget.
The awakening of Iran is coming.