Why did the Green Movement fail?

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omeedvar
by omeedvar
11-Jan-2012
 

After the last presidential election in Iran, two of the candidates who lost the election, started a green movement to protest the result of the election. Many of the young Iranians, who did not like the Islamic Regime, supported the green movement in the hope of change. However, the green movement has failed for the following reasons:

1.Choice of Green color for their movement. As a child learning various colors for the first time, green represented the color of grass or leaves in spring/summer. Blue represented the color of sky, and red represented red roses. My favorite color was Rainbow (ghoso-ghazah or rangarang); a shade of all colors in an arch, I could see sometimes in the sky, in a sunny day after a  thundershower.

Several years later, when we got to see Tazieh (a theatrical religious ceremony); we noticed that Imam Hussein and family always wore green robe or turban, but Shemr and Yazid dressed in red. We also noticed in history books and maps, that era of Islamic dominance like the Safavid era, were colored in Green.

 In 1979, the Islamic Revolution happened in a few short months. Starting with the  transfer of A. Khomeini from Iraq to Neuf Le Chateau in France. Majority of the Iranians got to know him through his speeches and interviews, broadcasted by the foreign media. Later, a fire in the Rex Theatre in Abadan, some religious ceremonies during Tassua Ashura on the streets of Tehran, breaking shop windows and putting banks on fire, clash with the police, street demonstrations, martial law, civil disobediance, departure of Shah, arrival of A. Khomeini and his entourage to Iran by the Air France, a referendom for Jomhoori-e Islami, not a word less or a word more, in a couple of months.

While majority of the Iranians, were still confused and puzzled by the speed of the revolution, I remember that a few elderly men would tell the people, this revolution is part of a Green Islamic Movement in the region. However, nobody believed them. The events of the last three decades proved that they were right. Therefore, most Iranians are now allergic to the color Green!                                            

2. The leaders of the Green Movement have been part of the Islamic Revolution, and have held high positions for a long time, moussavi as the first prime minister and Karroubi as the speaker of the parliament, in the Islamic Regime of Iran. In their own words after the recent election, they still support the Islamic Regime and Velayat-e Faghih, but oppose Ahmadi Nejad as the president.

3. Some of the young supporters and sympathizers of the green movement were identified, arrested, jailed, tortured or killed, while the green leaders were, at most, under the house arrest, waiting for their term to return to power. Of course, people can change, but if this is the case with the green leaders, they have to join the other opposition groups and the silent majority of Iranians, and announce their commitment to a secular democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran.

A Rainbow Movement for Secular Democracy in Iran, can unite and reflect Iranians of all ethnic, language, and religious groups. Using the new technologies, Iranians within the country and those in Diaspora should start communication with each other and the world, promoting their great culture and history, and their goal and desire to have a secular democratic regime in Iran. Show the world that they are against the war, and want a free and fair election, under the supervision of Trusted International Representatives, to choose their leaders, and to join the civilized nations once again.  

    

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Cost-of-Progress

Why?

by Cost-of-Progress on

Because as soon as the so called "leaders" of the green realized that people's intent was regime change, they cricled the wagons and gave up on themselves. Afterall, moosavi said that he is all for the survival of the islamic regime!

Because without regime change, you're looking at the "same donkey with a different paaloon (saddle)"! These are criminal murderous elements occupying my ancestral land (yours too). They are cancerous and if left alone will consume like locust before they disppear into the pages of history leaving a huge pile of crap in their wake, which, by the way, is happening right now.

Zat ziyaad.

____________

IRAN FIRST

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radius-of-the-persian-cat

Hope your dream will become true one day

by radius-of-the-persian-cat on

The concept of a Rainbow Movement for Secular Democracy in Iran sounds very tempting. I hope there is sufficient support for this not only among intellectuals, students and modern people, but also among the ordinary man on the street with its daily battle for a better living conditions. It is probably this silent majority, which is accessible to Ahmadenijads propaganda and the Mullahs fear-mongering, but disregards a modern, free, democratic and pluralistic society as an electable alternative. As much as I learned about the recent 40 years political and social movements in Iran I would say that the chances for a gradual change of the society towards a secular democracy were much higher under the last Shah. I don't think that in the long term Reza Pahlevi would have had any objections against a secular democracy in the framework of a constitutionally monarchy. No doubt, how he got into power after the coup d'etat against Mossadegh and how he rule the country till 1979 did not really expose him as a dyed-in-the-wool democrat. For too long time, unfortunately, he remained a product (at the end became a victim) of the cold war, and his country more than any other in the ME remained merely an important sphere of strategic influence for the US and Russia, with the Shah being seen by the US just as the safeguard against any political experiments (like in India, Indochina or Africa ). If Reza Pahlevi would have stayed in power (how, I don't know) I could imagine that Iran with its traditional values of culture, education, civil standards might be today a country comparable with  the Netherlands, UK or Denmark, having a respected monarchy but besides this all democratic rights and freedom.

I am afraid the prospect for a secular democracy as you proposed it became bleaker and bleaker with every year of the Mullahs regime. If the people in Iran believe it or not, they are kept as hostages by the regime, perhaps not physically (as the people behind the iron curtain in eastern europe were) but mentally.

You argued that the Green Movement of 2009 failed because it still proposed a democratic change under islamic constitution, and that a candidate that clearly proposes a secular democracy would have had broader and longer-lasting support from the people. I am not sure if you are right. Again, for the ordinary majority to be electible, a candidate would have to come up with some convincing short-term plans to improve the daily life. And which honest person could do this ???? 

It is like a catch-22 at the moment. Only the mullahs and islamic technocrats with their face-slapping hypocrazy and ignorance of human rights promise the voters heaven on earth right after the election. An honest political figure (and political honesty and personal integrity would be essential for a secular democratic development) would have to tell the people that their daily life wont get better soon. The normal economy is ruined and all oil-profit is spend for the hypotrophic military/gouvernmental/police sector, which does not provide any income for the country, only consumes. A candidate proposing a secular democracy would have to have a plan what all the parasites in the security and administration should do in the future, when their activities are not required any more. Whatever "clever" plan might be developed to transform the regime into a secular democracy, it will be seen with doubt or fear by many people. They will again turn to the current regime, which proposes if nothing else than stability and national integrity. And they finally will get enough support, either by real or by faked votes, as long as the people decide to tolerate the regime for another 4 years, live in political agony or cynism. But I would not dare to judge the people for this. The current Iran is a dangerous place for political heroes, perhaps the most dangerous in the world.