The night before the elections, there was an extraordinary photo on the homepage of a beautiful woman leaning out of a car window and waving with the most radiant smile imaginable.
It was part of a photo essay on the celebrations in the streets of Tehran of the green wave. They were so confident that at least there’d be a run-off, which in itself would be such a triumph. Jahanshah had just written a blog predicting that scenario with Moussavi emerging the winner. The majority of the participants on this website held that woman’s radiant smile in their hearts and it is an image that is emblazoned on my mind.
Jahanshah had supertitled the photo essay “Fateful Night”.
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I have to say that on that euphoric night I felt as excited as I did on the day before Obama won. And that the shell shock I felt when the results were announced was the closest I’ve ever felt to September 11 in my own New York City. And for days I walked around in a daze and my American friends could not understand it. And that was understandable.
Since that night I have followed the news from Iran very carefully and have contributed every day. I felt, as it approached, that Rafsanjani’s Friday prayer sermon would be the end of what I started to think of as Phase 1. And politically I believe it’s true. But symbolically perhaps this weekend with its global green celebration should mark its end, and the new beginning of what will be a far more gradual and laborious process than many had hoped (though knowing in their heart of hearts that this was unrealistic). But still a process which will hold the radiance of that gitl’s smile.
So I thought tonight was a good time for me to post an excellent documentary I’d found about three weeks ago in my travels through the news. It’s a two-part one by Aljazeera called ‘Moussavi and the Masses’. The second part captures so beautifully the exuberance of all that green growth preceding the elections, and the subsequent turmoil. But the first part is more moving in a certain way because it documents Moussavi’s rise from his early Revolutionary days and contains some extraordinary footage from that time. And for this particular community, the two parts cannot but go hand in hand.
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Many of the hardcore bloggers here,the old timers I mean, like Jahanshah participated in the Revolution. Some on the other end. Two years ago when the blogging began and throughout ,there was a kind of quiet, lingering despair on the part of those who had supported it over what they wrought, a deep regret and a pervasive sense of guilt. And a caustic bitterness on the part of those who’d opposed it. And on both sides a yearning, a deltangi’ and a hopeless convicton that they could never reclaim their country. That nothing could. And always a kind of numbness. But I always knew in my soul that the day would come, I’d felt its energy since I began my Iranian studies six years ago. In fact I’m sure it’s that energy that called me to Iran, because I never found Iran. Iran found me.
I firmly believe that your generation, our generation, will see a free Iran in our lifetime. And so do many of you. So it is no longer painful or numbing to watch a documentary like Part 1 of Moussavi and the Masses. Now you can reclaim some of that young woman’s radiant smile, which was also yours in your youth. The transition to democracy won’t happen overnight. And perhaps not the way you envision it even when it first really starts to bloom. But you’ll have to embrace it as it is and be patient.
Many of you believe that you know why that woman in the photo wears green. You believe you know her green means youth and spring and hope for freedom. And so it does. But only she knows everything that the green she wears means to her. Whether it is ‘only’ the green leaves of a tree which dance in the sun and air of democracy. Or also the green of an Islam that dances. I do believe that Iran is inevitably headed towards secularism, but only the youth who danced on the streets of Tehran that fateful night know what that green means to them. And no one but they have the right to say.
I believe, for numerous reasons, that it is the historical imperative of Irani to lead the way in the green growth of all peoples toward both freedom, and responsibility, for a planet that is fair and equitable for all. You will reclaim your country. And in so doing, you will help lead humanity to reclaim itself. I believe you already are. So I wanted you to see this documentary this weekend. I’m very proud to have shared Phase 1 with you.
Fardaa roshanast.
Rosie
Moussavi and the Masses Part 1
Moussavi and the Masses Part 2
