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What are the Iranian People asking for?
When the opponents of Mr. Ahmadinejad announced the possibility of fraud, supporters of three other candidates poured into the streets and demonstrated against the “fraud”.
The basic question was “where is my vote”. Many believe the demonstrations were the largest since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Tehran city hall estimated the numbers of demonstrators at around 3 million. One particular and important element in the demonstrations was the nonviolent way Iranian youth showed their opposition to the result of the election. It was amazing to see how intelligent these young people are. 3 million people in the “silence rallies” in the streets of Tehran invited one another to keep quiet. Slogans like “ my silence is stronger than your gun” were not skeptical. They showed growth and maturity in these young people,
The response from the government was unfortunate–especially after the first Friday prayers, during which Ayatollah Khamenei refuted the claims of the opposition: “ there was not any fraud”, “ the idea of fraud is coming from foreigners” “I support Mr. Ahmadinejad” “any demonstration is illegal and if anything happened to demonstrators in the streets the responsibility is on themselves.”
Many believed that this was a green light to authorities to crack down on the demonstrators. The opposition had hoped not to see that kind of reaction from their supreme leader. The supreme leader, who is characterized as the “kind father” of the nation and the “ultimate voice” in disagreements among different groups, shouldn’t take sides. His support of Mr. Ahmadinejad that Friday disappointed many. This time Ayatollah Khameini’s voice couldn’t be “the last and ultimate”. Demonstrations continued and expanded to other cities. I have seen videos from Isfahan, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Rasht and of course Tehran.
The question is still there, what do these people want?
Do they want their vote back? Are they still chanting “where is my vote”?
That was one of the basic and first questions. But there were more questions, after the government’s reaction to the demonstrations became violent, and the killing of some like Neda Agha-Sultan became universally known. Unfortunately some have been killed under severe torture, like Sohrab Arabi and Mohsen Ruh-al-Amini. This bloody response from the government changed the question from “where is my vote?” to “where is my friend?” and later "death to the Dictator"
“Where is my friend?” is not the only reason they are still in the streets. Perhaps a glance at the contemporary history of Iran could give us some idea what these people want.
In 1905 during the reign of Mozafaredin Shah, demonstrations took place in Teheran and soon expanded to other cities. Demonstrators wanted a parliament for the first time in Iranian history (and interestingly for the first time in all of Asia). The Shah eventually gave in and signed the right of Constitution in August 1906.
Mozafaredin Shah died shortly after the first parliament started its work and was automatically replaced by his son Mohammad Ali Shah. The new Shah was opposed to the parliament and constitution. In 1907, with the political and military support of Russia and Britain, he ordered the bombardment of the Parliament. But the people’s desire for freedom and a constitution and their continued opposition made him flee the country and leave the throne to his son Ahmad Shah.
Ahmad took the throne at age 14 and became Shah with a working parliament. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, the newborn Soviet desire for Iran made Britain nervous. Having a weak Shah in an Iran where oil had recently been discovered was a nightmare for Britain. They picked a strong colonel to take the throne instead of a weak Shah. In 1925, Reza Khan took the throne through the direct intervention of the British.
During Reza Shah’s reign, Parliament didn’t have much power. Elections were not fair and free and dictatorship was running the country. During World War II, although Iran didn’t publicly take sides, the Allies used Iranian land facilities. However, Reza Shah secretly wished victory in the Germans camps. So the Allies decided to take the throne from him, as simply as they had handed it to him. In 1941, the Allies, with the leadership of Britain, gave the throne to Mohammad Reza Shah, the late Shah’s son.
Mohammad Reza Shah held the same policies as his father regarding elections and parliament; a null and ineffective parliament, which was just there, like window-dressing.
In 1953 intellectuals and political leaders of Iran had had enough of dictatorship and started a democratic movement. They wanted an effective parliament, a new system with less power in the Shah’s hand. The movement started in the political capital Tehran and immediately spread to all other towns. Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, a promoter of the national oil movement, took leadership. The movement had the common dreams of every Iranian since 1906 of free and fair elections and a society free of dictatorship. The Shah fled the country and the movement was victorious. But the triumph was short-lived; again with foreign intervention, the dictator came back to the country and people took their silence home and just continued to dream. The dictator this time had the support of a new colonial power: the United States.
Iranian people dreamed for many years and much blood was spilled for their dream of democracy. It took them years to be successful and get the opportunity of having authority on their own country, without a domestic dictator or foreign colonialism. The 1979 revolution was a triumph of the people’s movement and their desire for democracy since 1906.
The revolution of 1979 succeeded through the efforts of all Iranians of different groups and various ideologies. Islamists, Marxists, Islamist-Marxist, and atheist alike used the same three-part slogan: Isteghlal- Azadi- Jomhurie Islami, - Independent- Freedom- Islamic Republic (there is a whole argument in the last part of the slogan which needs to be discussed in a different article) . Any political group, large or small, who shared the dream of having a country free of Despotism and Colonialism was part of this movement. They all shared a dream which had had its beginning in 1906, and which had been destroyed –literally- by the Russians and the British. A dream that bloomed in 1953 and was destroyed again, this time by the US and Britain. A dream, which finally came true as a beautiful flower and could give the freedom that Iranians had sought for decades.
The success of the Revolution was immediately followed by Saddam Husain’s invasion of Khoramshahr, a city in the south of Iran. Saddam enjoyed covert international support from the United States and Europe. The destructive war continued for 8 years. Iranian solders were busy taking care of borders and defending the country, families in the cities were learning how to use shelters and how to defend themselves in case of a chemical bomb attack, - bombs that were sold to Saddam by the US. At the same time in Tehran, politicians were choking the different voices, shouting off any opposition, anyone who was questioning the new government. Shortly after the revolution the dream was gone again.
This time people had learned their lesson; they didn’t want to change everything from bottom to the top and vice-versa. They wanted to fix what they had, they didn’t want to destroy it, they wanted an evolution, change from within. They knew they didn’t have much time; they didn’t want to lag behind in the world. The Iranians didn’t want a western democracy, they didn’t want foreigners making decisions for them. They wanted to take their future in their own hands. So, based on the Iranian constitution (with all its far and less) they started a reform from within.
In 1997 the reformist movement with the leadership of someone from within the system, someone who knew the history and the pain of Iranians, officially began its existence.
In an amazing election in 1997 Mr. Khatami took the office of presidency in Iran. In 2001 he won a second term as well. Although he had the support of 80% of Iranians, mostly youth and women, whose rights had been abused in the past, he couldn’t do as much as he promised. The conservative wing of the government who controlled the vital branches of the Iranian government and enjoyed non-election (and sometimes, life long) appointments were against many of Mr. Khatami’s policies and made many difficulties for him during his presidency.
Many observers say that Iranian society became open during Khatami and never went back to old ways, pointing to the relaxed rules about women’s Islamic cover as an example. But the Iranian desire for freedom and democracy is not bound in a woman’s Hijab. Since the Revolution of 1979, Iranians have asked for a free media, free political parties, free parliament and free elections. They have asked for an open and modern economy, for foreign and private investment. They have asked for equality between men and women, freedom of religion, freedom of pen, speech and work based on the Human Rights constitution of the United Nations which Iran is a signatory. At the same time, they have asked for the independence and sovereignty of Iran.
During the 8 years of Mr. Khatami, Iran was not successful in reaching its goal. But during the presidency of Mr. Ahmadinejad, although he stayed firmly in front of pressure from US, EU and Israel, but many of Iranian people's desires and dreams -domestically- have been lost totally,
In June 2009 Iranians participated in an election to rekindle the dreams of the revolution of 1979: to have independence, freedom and Republic. And they voted to fix the problems from within and in a non-violent way.
They began their silence demonstrations with “where is my vote”, a single slogan with 103 years of history behind it. Now they are in the streets, they know what they want as much as what they dont want. They are aware of their history, they are mature and intelligent. Now they don’t want just their “vote” but rather all the rights they lost or that were taken away from them either by despotism or colonialism. Now they are asking only for what they deserve and what they have been asking for 103 years
The basic question was “where is my vote”. Many believe the demonstrations were the largest since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Tehran city hall estimated the numbers of demonstrators at around 3 million. One particular and important element in the demonstrations was the nonviolent way Iranian youth showed their opposition to the result of the election. It was amazing to see how intelligent these young people are. 3 million people in the “silence rallies” in the streets of Tehran invited one another to keep quiet. Slogans like “ my silence is stronger than your gun” were not skeptical. They showed growth and maturity in these young people,
The response from the government was unfortunate–especially after the first Friday prayers, during which Ayatollah Khamenei refuted the claims of the opposition: “ there was not any fraud”, “ the idea of fraud is coming from foreigners” “I support Mr. Ahmadinejad” “any demonstration is illegal and if anything happened to demonstrators in the streets the responsibility is on themselves.”
Many believed that this was a green light to authorities to crack down on the demonstrators. The opposition had hoped not to see that kind of reaction from their supreme leader. The supreme leader, who is characterized as the “kind father” of the nation and the “ultimate voice” in disagreements among different groups, shouldn’t take sides. His support of Mr. Ahmadinejad that Friday disappointed many. This time Ayatollah Khameini’s voice couldn’t be “the last and ultimate”. Demonstrations continued and expanded to other cities. I have seen videos from Isfahan, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Rasht and of course Tehran.
The question is still there, what do these people want?
Do they want their vote back? Are they still chanting “where is my vote”?
That was one of the basic and first questions. But there were more questions, after the government’s reaction to the demonstrations became violent, and the killing of some like Neda Agha-Sultan became universally known. Unfortunately some have been killed under severe torture, like Sohrab Arabi and Mohsen Ruh-al-Amini. This bloody response from the government changed the question from “where is my vote?” to “where is my friend?” and later "death to the Dictator"
“Where is my friend?” is not the only reason they are still in the streets. Perhaps a glance at the contemporary history of Iran could give us some idea what these people want.
In 1905 during the reign of Mozafaredin Shah, demonstrations took place in Teheran and soon expanded to other cities. Demonstrators wanted a parliament for the first time in Iranian history (and interestingly for the first time in all of Asia). The Shah eventually gave in and signed the right of Constitution in August 1906.
Mozafaredin Shah died shortly after the first parliament started its work and was automatically replaced by his son Mohammad Ali Shah. The new Shah was opposed to the parliament and constitution. In 1907, with the political and military support of Russia and Britain, he ordered the bombardment of the Parliament. But the people’s desire for freedom and a constitution and their continued opposition made him flee the country and leave the throne to his son Ahmad Shah.
Ahmad took the throne at age 14 and became Shah with a working parliament. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, the newborn Soviet desire for Iran made Britain nervous. Having a weak Shah in an Iran where oil had recently been discovered was a nightmare for Britain. They picked a strong colonel to take the throne instead of a weak Shah. In 1925, Reza Khan took the throne through the direct intervention of the British.
During Reza Shah’s reign, Parliament didn’t have much power. Elections were not fair and free and dictatorship was running the country. During World War II, although Iran didn’t publicly take sides, the Allies used Iranian land facilities. However, Reza Shah secretly wished victory in the Germans camps. So the Allies decided to take the throne from him, as simply as they had handed it to him. In 1941, the Allies, with the leadership of Britain, gave the throne to Mohammad Reza Shah, the late Shah’s son.
Mohammad Reza Shah held the same policies as his father regarding elections and parliament; a null and ineffective parliament, which was just there, like window-dressing.
In 1953 intellectuals and political leaders of Iran had had enough of dictatorship and started a democratic movement. They wanted an effective parliament, a new system with less power in the Shah’s hand. The movement started in the political capital Tehran and immediately spread to all other towns. Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, a promoter of the national oil movement, took leadership. The movement had the common dreams of every Iranian since 1906 of free and fair elections and a society free of dictatorship. The Shah fled the country and the movement was victorious. But the triumph was short-lived; again with foreign intervention, the dictator came back to the country and people took their silence home and just continued to dream. The dictator this time had the support of a new colonial power: the United States.
Iranian people dreamed for many years and much blood was spilled for their dream of democracy. It took them years to be successful and get the opportunity of having authority on their own country, without a domestic dictator or foreign colonialism. The 1979 revolution was a triumph of the people’s movement and their desire for democracy since 1906.
The revolution of 1979 succeeded through the efforts of all Iranians of different groups and various ideologies. Islamists, Marxists, Islamist-Marxist, and atheist alike used the same three-part slogan: Isteghlal- Azadi- Jomhurie Islami, - Independent- Freedom- Islamic Republic (there is a whole argument in the last part of the slogan which needs to be discussed in a different article) . Any political group, large or small, who shared the dream of having a country free of Despotism and Colonialism was part of this movement. They all shared a dream which had had its beginning in 1906, and which had been destroyed –literally- by the Russians and the British. A dream that bloomed in 1953 and was destroyed again, this time by the US and Britain. A dream, which finally came true as a beautiful flower and could give the freedom that Iranians had sought for decades.
The success of the Revolution was immediately followed by Saddam Husain’s invasion of Khoramshahr, a city in the south of Iran. Saddam enjoyed covert international support from the United States and Europe. The destructive war continued for 8 years. Iranian solders were busy taking care of borders and defending the country, families in the cities were learning how to use shelters and how to defend themselves in case of a chemical bomb attack, - bombs that were sold to Saddam by the US. At the same time in Tehran, politicians were choking the different voices, shouting off any opposition, anyone who was questioning the new government. Shortly after the revolution the dream was gone again.
This time people had learned their lesson; they didn’t want to change everything from bottom to the top and vice-versa. They wanted to fix what they had, they didn’t want to destroy it, they wanted an evolution, change from within. They knew they didn’t have much time; they didn’t want to lag behind in the world. The Iranians didn’t want a western democracy, they didn’t want foreigners making decisions for them. They wanted to take their future in their own hands. So, based on the Iranian constitution (with all its far and less) they started a reform from within.
In 1997 the reformist movement with the leadership of someone from within the system, someone who knew the history and the pain of Iranians, officially began its existence.
In an amazing election in 1997 Mr. Khatami took the office of presidency in Iran. In 2001 he won a second term as well. Although he had the support of 80% of Iranians, mostly youth and women, whose rights had been abused in the past, he couldn’t do as much as he promised. The conservative wing of the government who controlled the vital branches of the Iranian government and enjoyed non-election (and sometimes, life long) appointments were against many of Mr. Khatami’s policies and made many difficulties for him during his presidency.
Many observers say that Iranian society became open during Khatami and never went back to old ways, pointing to the relaxed rules about women’s Islamic cover as an example. But the Iranian desire for freedom and democracy is not bound in a woman’s Hijab. Since the Revolution of 1979, Iranians have asked for a free media, free political parties, free parliament and free elections. They have asked for an open and modern economy, for foreign and private investment. They have asked for equality between men and women, freedom of religion, freedom of pen, speech and work based on the Human Rights constitution of the United Nations which Iran is a signatory. At the same time, they have asked for the independence and sovereignty of Iran.
During the 8 years of Mr. Khatami, Iran was not successful in reaching its goal. But during the presidency of Mr. Ahmadinejad, although he stayed firmly in front of pressure from US, EU and Israel, but many of Iranian people's desires and dreams -domestically- have been lost totally,
In June 2009 Iranians participated in an election to rekindle the dreams of the revolution of 1979: to have independence, freedom and Republic. And they voted to fix the problems from within and in a non-violent way.
They began their silence demonstrations with “where is my vote”, a single slogan with 103 years of history behind it. Now they are in the streets, they know what they want as much as what they dont want. They are aware of their history, they are mature and intelligent. Now they don’t want just their “vote” but rather all the rights they lost or that were taken away from them either by despotism or colonialism. Now they are asking only for what they deserve and what they have been asking for 103 years
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