The Persian perversion

The scene on the ground was breathtaking.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians representing a broad cross section of society flooded the streets of Tehran, Iran, sporting signature green ribbons to show support for their favored candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The euphoria in the air was palpable; democracy had come to Iran.

Except that it hadn’t.

On the contrary, the mood in Tehran was anything but festive. The June 12 election saw the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defy all odds and secure an impressive 63 percent of the nation’s vote – apparently through the Islamic regime’s long-celebrated tradition of rigging elections.

Nonetheless, the events that have followed since are perhaps more extraordinary than the actual election itself.

Even as the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blessed the election’s results as having been guided by “the miraculous hand of God,” droves of discontented citizens took to the streets in the largest demonstrations of defiance the republic has seen since the 1979 revolution that brought it into being.

Fires were lit, barricades erected, bank and shop windows smashed – all in protest of the shameless sham thrust upon the Iranian people by its deficient government.

In response, the powers that be tried nearly everything to suppress the opposition – lines of communication such as cell phones and text messaging were cut, Web sites such as Facebook and YouTube blocked and universities shuttered.  

Dozens of reformists were arrested, and others were ordered to stay in their homes.
Iran’s voluntary militia reportedly have been ransacking and raiding university dormitories across Tehran and arresting students.  Seven protestors were killed Monday in skirmishes with police.

And yet Iran remains immensely optimistic in light of the innumerable tragedies that have befallen what was just one week ago.

The democratic fervor that brought 85 percent of eligible Iranians to the polls has proven indelible; for one of the first times in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history, its people are emphatically demanding a genuine say in how they are governed and by whom.

The dismissive remarks and brazen displays of repression perpetrated by the Ahmadinejad regime have left the opposition undaunted; indeed they only seem to have been emboldened.

Regardless of how current events play out, the writing is on the wall. Though perhaps able to claim a mandate to govern for now, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad are swimming against the tides of history – in this case perhaps a full-fledged tsunami.

The patience of the Iranian people has been tested severely by the exhibitionism, incompetence and demagoguery of the past four years; their desire for civic freedoms, transparent governance and better relationships with the West are evident in the election’s true results.

In the meantime, as far as America and indeed the rest of the world are concerned, the strategy of conciliation adopted by the Obama administration must continue to run its course, regardless of whoever might be president.

As cooler heads struggle to prevail within Iran, they must continue to prevail outside its borders.