Different This Time
As many commentators have pointed out, this is not the first time the Iranian students have protested the repressive regime.
The Iranian government tolerated student-led uprisings in 1999 and 2003 for only a few days before unleashing fearsome crackdowns, sending Basij vigilantes onto campuses, where they flung a few students from the windows; bloodied as many heads as they could with bricks, chains or truncheons; and jailed scores.
Three things seem different this time.
- From 2005 to 2008, mobile phone subscriptions in Iran grew by more than 375 percent. By 2008, six of every 10 Iranians were mobile subscribers. Most of these phones have Internet access. This creates an alternative media channel that the government cannot control
- In 2003 the middle and professional class would give the students tacit support by honking their horns near demonstrations. Now they are joining the demonstrations. This morning there was a mass resignation of the faculty at Tehran University to protest the beating of the students in their dorms last night.
- In 2003 it was a "leaderless" rebellion and so after ten days it petered out. Now there is a leader and Moussavi's earliest political hero was Che Guevara. He is a street fighter and I don't think he's going to slink away without a major confrontation.
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While it's great to see citizens stand up for their rights by putting themselves in harms way (we in the US wouldn't be as bothered by a stolen election), remember that Mousavi is just as conservative as Ahmadinejad, just not so visibly bat shit crazy. The difference being, Ahmadinejad is Ayatollah Khamenei boy and Mousavi not so much. Khamenei is now more concerned by losing face and regardless of the outcome, conservatives will still rule with an iron fist, the enrichment program will continue and the US will not see a substantive change in US/Iran relations, at least in the short term.
June 17, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Edit: "we in the US wouldn't be as bothered by a stolen election"
Should be: "we in the US weren't bothered by two stolen elections"
I wonder what it would actually take for people here to react like this to anything. Bush and Cheney knew they could get away with practically anything, and We the People would just yawn and go about our business...
-- ARG
June 17, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry, but I just can't go along with characterizing the election situation in Iran with our situation in 2004 and maybe 2004. It's just not the same thing. To think it is is, well, narcissistic.
June 17, 2009 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I mean characterizing them as the same as.
June 17, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
agreed
June 19, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Most Americans can't even name our own state representatives. What makes people think we can successfully meddle in other countries' internal affairs?
Our bipartisan track record of successfully choosing the right friends and helping them, without getting played for suckers and/or having the whole thing blow up in our face, is really poor.
June 18, 2009 6:23 AM | Reply | Permalink