If the motive for rigging the June 12 Iranian presidential elections in favour of Ahmadinejad was to prevent reformists from taking power of the presidency, perhaps in this the government headed by Mrs. Khamenei and Ahmadinejad has been successful. Perhaps.
And if in the ensuing days since this fraud was foisted on the Iranian people the motive has been to crush the reformist movement, again maybe there has been some success in this regard. This is evidenced by the fact that the recent nation-wide protests in Iran, commemorating the 18th of Tir protests of ten years ago were not organized by the reform movement and were instead partly organized online but mostly spearheaded by the Iranian people inside Iran, at the grassroots level. As far as we know at this time, Mousavi, Khatami, and Karoubi did not call for July 9, 2009, protests, nor did they participate in them. So it can be argued that the protests have gone into a phase that is no longer in their control.
Granted, it is quite possible that if these reformist leaders do get involved they can help the movement that arose out of fraudulent election by being stalwart supporters of the movement on the inside of the regime, but it is not clear at this time whether they will do this, or even want to, since now it seems the protesters are no longer just asking where their vote went. They are demanding that the regime itself go away.
And the irony of it all, the part that seems to be lost on Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, Yazdi and the rest of the militant and fascistic elements of the regime, is that they brought this on themselves. They are wholly responsible for creating this new movement against them, and for empowering this movement to the point that it has utterly discredited them. And for uniting Iranians of all stipes and persuasions into a singular force.
The Iranian people, and indeed, the world have seen right through the facade of republicanism and even religion that this regime uses to legitimize itself. Mousavi, Khatami, Karoubi and the others within the system that were actually working very hard to legitimize the system have been completely betrayed by those in power.
The magnitude of this irony is so big that one cannot help but wonder if the fascists in the regime realize what they have done. That they have killed the proverbial ‘goose that lays the golden egg’ by labeling the reformists and all of the people in Iran that supported them and voted for them as enemies of the state, to the point where they even unleashed the brainwashed and ignorant goon squads (combination of Basij, Revolutionary Guards, Police, Plain-clothed mercenaries of unknown origin, and possibly even paid foreign mercenaries) on the very people that gave them their modicum of legitimacy: those who partook in the elections, both the reformist leaders and the people of Iran who turned out en masse to vote.
Khamenei and company (let’s call them KhamCo) thought that just getting people to go out and vote was enough to give legitimacy to the regime. An 85% turnout meant that the people must love the status quo (despite the annoying, but unimportant fact that Mousavi won). Therefore, since Khamenei speaks for God on earth, it was okay to just lie (based on a conveniently misinterpreted version of the the concept of Taghiyeh) and declare Ahmadinejad as the winner. Afterall, he’s been doing a great job of denying the holocaust, and threatening to destroy Israel. Those pesky reformists would bring another eight years of allowing people to think and speak for themselves (a little) like during the Khatami years. They would probably even try to focus on issues more important to the hearts of Iranians, like the economy, which would mean less money for financing Hamas and Hezbullah activities abroad. Can’t have that now.
Of course, when the people didn’t act like sheep and just accept this, something had to be done. So they decided to put Khamenei’s son in charge of crushing the protests. It didn’t matter that all they wanted was for their votes to count. They should shut up and listen to big Pappa, Mr. Khamenei.
And when they didn’t do this, they were punished. Accused of wanting to foment a velvet revolution. Declared to be enemies of the state. Beaten. Arrested. Humiliated. Killed. In the name of Allah.
KhamCo’s biggest fear has always been that the revolution that began in 1979, that was halted by the formation of the Islamic Republic, would eventually continue to completion via a velvet revolution. Their fear has always been that a secular republic would supersede the precious Islamic Republic.
So they committed a huge mistake. They used the enormous power and wealth of the Iranian nation and instead of focusing on improving the lives of its citizens thereby proving that it was possible to have the word “Islamic” next to “Republic” in the name they had bestowed upon Iran, they focused this immense energy at their disposal on crushing the concept of Islamic Republic. They obliterated it.
How? By not compromising with Mousavi, and the reformist movement. By killing and imprisoning people solely for wanting to have their voices respected. By not even respecting their own sham election process in which they themselves vetted and selected the candidates which were allowed to run. All of whom were stalwart supporters of the regime from its founding. By disrespecting the very clergy on which they rely upon for their legitimacy. By sending their brainwashed minions out to kill and thereby betraying even them!
By naming the people of Iran as the enemy!
We should be thankful that at least in this one point, they have been honest, and revealed what they think of their own people. For now, even those who had some doubt about this can know for certain that they are not loved by their government, and they can get rid of this thirty year farce with a guilt-free conscience.
They made the same mistake that George Bush made when he declared, “You are either with us or against us.” This is because they left no middle ground. By calling the people the enemy they have said the same thing as Mr. Bush.
We all know what happened to Mr. Bush. He was lucky he was the president of a country that peacefully changes its leadership every 4 years.
One thing the current government in Iran has accomplished we know for certain: the fact that KhamCo will lose its power sooner rather than later. It has already lost its power to govern, at least insofar as governing without having to point a gun in someone’s face.
By making what was at first a dispute of the results of a farcical presidential election into a titanic struggle where even the slightest opposition to the regime makes one an enemy of it, the only question that remains is how the government will collapse.
That is all that remains to be seen.
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