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Ceausescu, your velayat-ness
It is no longer if the IRI gets the message, rather when and how

November 14, 2002
The Iranian

When the news of Timisoara disturbances reached the "Enlightened Leader" of Romania, he was finishing his Asian trip in Tehran. Ceausescu had just two days, December 17th and the 18th of 1989, to enjoy the hospitality of his hosts, Rafsanjani and Khamenei, before having to hurry back to try to control the mounting crisis back home.

On his arrival, finding the situation critical enough to warrant the backing of the masses, he ordered a mass meeting at the Piata Republica (Republican Square). On that blustery December 22, people came as ordered, 80,000 strong, as obedient as ever, standing erect and shivering in the cold.

Ceausescu had his usual courtiers by his side, including his wife the "Genius of the Danube". They had all lined up on the balcony of the Central Committee building high above the throng of cowed masses.

Precisely eight minutes into his usual harangue about the futility of "foreign inspired" disturbances by the "very few" who would be "crushed by the Great Romanian masses", a faint sound of a chant started to be heard coming from the attending crowd.

Those who have seen the newsreel of that historical moment do not need any time piece to pinpoint the exact moment. The look on the face of the "Enlightened Leader" was unmistakable. The "great masses" had turned on their nemesis forthwith.

Historians have argued that it was a fatal error of Ceausescu to stay in the Central Committee building for the next 24 hours before fleeing in a helicopter. His subsequent capture and Christmas Eve execution was the price he and his wife paid for their folly.

It is too early to predict the immediate outcome of the nationwide student demonstrations in Iran. But one thing is clearly evident in these early stages of the unfolding events. After having risen up on number of occasions to be quickly and brutally suppressed by the regime's dwindling forces, the students seem to have learned their lessons.

Unlike previous occasions when the piecemeal nature of the university demonstrations allowed the regime to concentrate its suppression forces on them, the very nature of the simultaneous demonstrations has rendered that tactic moot. There are simply too many theaters for the few roving, well known gangs of civilian clothed thugs to spearhead the suppression operations.

It is further evident that the clear majority of Iranian masses, as evidenced by the composition of the student body, which is comprised of differing social strata and coming from every corner of the land; do not want this oxymoronic "religious democracy".

It is no longer if, rather, when and how least costly, the ruling ayatollahs and their retinue of PhD packing apparatchiks get the message. The nation does not want you, save yourselves, your loved ones and what you have managed to siphon off, which should comfortably last your future lineage till kingdom come.

As for the exalted Ayatollah Kahmenei's blunt threat of "bringing the masses in to the arena" to suppress the unruly? Ceausescu, your Velayat-ness, Ceausescu.



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