Tyranny interrupted
Protesters in Tehran, June 15. Getty Images.
Night had come to Tehran when this editorial was composed (mid-afternoon on Monday in St. Louis). Darkness descended on a day in which tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians silently marched and jammed the streets, defying official governmental orders prohibiting demonstrations.
They were protesting what many people in Iran and around the world see as a crudely stolen presidential election. It was the third consecutive day of protests characterized by an intensity not seen in Iran since the Islamic revolution that led to the fall of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi’s regime in 1979.
This much already is clear: The Iranian people fearlessly have confronted brutality. They’ve shown ingenuity in the political use of digital technology — using text messages and Twitter feeds to organize and stage demonstrations and reveal to the world conditions on the ground in real time.
They’ve commanded the attention of a corrupt regime, even if only for the moment, earning the admiration of freedom-loving people.
Protests began over the weekend, after announcements that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hard-right incumbent president, claimed to defeat Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reform candidate who had served as Iran’s prime minister in the 1980s.
There had been huge voter turnout. Soon after polls closed, Iran’s election agency announced that a large percentage of the ballots had been counted — a dubious claim given that all ballots had to be counted by hand. Against all expectations, Mr. Ahmadinejad was declared to have won by a landslide — almost two-thirds of the vote.
The outcome lacked any credibility, leading many to conclude that it had been coerced by fraud or was an outright fantasy.
Angry voters took to the streets. They were met by club-swinging security forces marauding Iran’s cities on motorcycles. The military establishment harassed prominent political opponents, including Mr. Mousavi. Internet service, including Twitter feeds, was censured and cell phone text-messaging was interrupted. Foreign journalists were asked to leave the country.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, displayed to his own people the same thuggish persona that has shaped his shabby international reputation. He shrugged off the protests, comparing them to unrest that sometimes follows a soccer match. He joked about the attempt to intimidate his rival, saying that Mr. Mousavi had run “a red light and was given a traffic ticket.”
In Iran, ultimate political power resides in unelected clerics, and primarily with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ayatollah Khamenei at first ratified the power grab, calling the election results “a divine blessing.”
Nevertheless, resistance has continued. Suddenly, the supreme leader appeared to do some back-peddling. On Monday, he said that the complaints of election irregularities should be subjected to a high-level inquiry.
The Iranian people’s political outpouring may be crushed mercilessly, as Soviet forces ruthlessly ended the Prague uprising in 1968 and when Chinese communists rolled over the Tiananmen Square in 1989. We hope that the Iranian people, acting with courage and persistence under the watchful admiration of democratic societies, can persuade a repressive regime finally to respect basic political rights.
Are we seeing budding neoconservative tendencies from the Editorial Board. You know, finally some support for freedom-seeking peoples… WOW!
After years and years of looking the other way as statists quashed budding democracies, maybe a change in thinking. Or is this just a let’s-jump-on-the-bandwagon-so-we-can-credit-President-Obama moment?
Will we hear anything from you on Chavez‘s strangling of Venezuelan democracy? Or the crypto-tyrants in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina? Is it too much to expect even a mild condemnation of Castro?
http://www.asne.org/venezuela2008
This could be a picture of the Washington Mall in another year. Although the future increased taxes tied to cell-phones will likely be so high that the option of texting our way through protests won’t be viable. Good luck to the Iranians!
Is this the Iranian government the US is supposed to negotiate with? Maybe the Obama Administration will realize there really is an “axis of evil” in the world.
Note to the passive-aggressive neocons on this list: the fact that Obama is willing to talk with the Iranians doesn’t mean he thinks they’re good guys. These are not Canadians we’re talking to; we get that, but bully diplomacy doesn’t work. We’ve tried it, and like the war on drugs, it failed, miserably. So we’re offering to talk with them; NOT giving up on anti-nuclear proliferation, NOT giving up on anti-terrorism efforts. Just talk, to see where it leads.
You however, see the world in absolutist shades of black and white, which conveniently ignores reality.
As for what’s happening with the Iranian election, it’s clear the supreme council of clerics miscalculated badly. I’ve seen several documentaries on modern Iran, where local Iranians are interviewed, and the vast majority aren’t looking to become us, they just want a little more freedom and a whole lot more economic opportunity. Had the clerics gotten the message, and acted appropriately, they still would’ve had an islamic country, just one with more jobs and more speech. Instead, they have a mess of their own making.
And isn’t it interesting: instead of wading in and alienating both sides, Obama is taking a measured, responsible approach. Wait a minute: what happened to the supposed ‘New World Order?’
Oh yeah, now I remember: THERE ISN’T ONE.
The Iranian people deserve better than the ugly, barbaric mullahocracy they’ve suffered under the last 30 years. I applaud their courage and hope this leads to a real revolution. It would be nice if instead of mumbling incoherently, the dilettante in the Whitehouse offered them a little moral support.
Why Reality Check, were you not listening when the editor of Newsweek called Obama “God”? I would say that “New World Order” is developing with your messiah as the Supreme Being. He is already controlling the airwaves at ABC with the announcement that ABC will be setting up its station at the White House on the 24th while Obama has his town hall meeting there. We know NBC is in the tank for him. It’s just a matter of time before Obama is controlling all “public” airwaves.
Funny, when I saw the title “Tyranny Interrupted”, I thought this was a story on the White House reporters questioning Obama on his firing of Walpin…alas.
Dozens of former Chicago pols must be wondering what all the ruckus is about over a little voter fraud.
Too bad they will get no support from our timid leader.
Obambi votes present on this one.
God help those oppressed people get their freedom even while we lose our own!
What the Iranian people is doing is exactly what Americans should have done when the election was handed over to the Supreme Court to appoint a President where they appointed George Bush.