Iran's Growing Culture War / Change Is In The Air

To Ms. Khorasani, the election was not the end but a means to an end ~  “Already, diverse groups of equal-rights activists in Iran have taken appropriate advantage of this opportunity and formed a large alliance called the ‘coalition of women's movements to advocate electoral demands,'“ she wrote last week in the online magazine The Mark. “The election atmosphere provides these movements an opportunity to find a common platform beyond the cliché and repetitious slogans,” she wrote. They are “a golden window of opportunity for civil society activists and social forces in the country to vigilantly and prudently develop solidarity and joint actions.” Indeed, the alliance of women and student groups visible this past week is a manifestation of that tendency, as is the less visible but still strong alliance with parts of the trade union movement... Ms. Khorasani warns that “it is only through the organization of popular forces and formation of groups for change that they can hope to survive the next four years.” http://www.truthout.org/061509B

Or as Allen Woods writes ~ " Iran is an overwhelmingly young country. Its population has a median age of 27. These people cannot remember a time when the mullahs were not in power. Long ago the mullahs were considered to be incorruptible, in contrast to the degenerate pro-western monarchy. But that was long ago. After decades in power the mullahs have been exposed as corrupt and the regime is losing the authority it used to have. Ahmadinejad had to bus in supporters from the villages in order to stage his mass rally. His real base is the Revolutionary Guards, but even they no longer inspire the kind of terror they did in the past. The most significant thing about the riots this weekend was not that they were suppressed, but that so many people were prepared to come onto the streets to defy the state and its repressive forces. This means that the days of the regime are numbered." http://www.marxist.com/18th-brumaire-ahmadinejad.htm

So there you have it ~ A long ignored culture war has been simmering below the surface of Iranian politics for some time and has now boiled to the surface during this election. It will not go away soon ~ not should it ~ for it represents a diverse group of civil rights activists and particularly long repressed women who will not be silent any longer. 

The parallels between the apparently stolen Iranian election of 2009 and the American elections of 2000 and 2004 are obvious. Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman summarize this along with our decades long love/hate relationship with Iran in their fascinating article Facing the Bushes' Iranian whirlwind ~ required reading for fully understanding the present Iran turmoil.  http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2009/3473