The leaders of the failed “Green Revolution” in Iran who tried to ride on the back of Iranian youth’s frustration, are now attempting desperate measures to resurrect themselves! Despite all the help, hype, and propaganda that the western media offered them, the leaders of the “Green Movement” were not able to call for a single general strike. That failure is a reflection of the fact that the majority of working class, industrial workers, peasants, and bazaris in Iran were part of the 24 million strong Ahmadinejad supporters who had no interest to see their own votes be overturned by a Facebook and Twitter propaganda.
Iranians who were charged up by a sense of security ushered by friendly gestures of the new US president Obama, and a seemingly open environment of freedom of expression reflected by the pre-election debates, participated en masse in a monumental election with an 85% turnout. Forty million Iranians including 24 million Ahmadinejad supporters and 13 million Mousavi supporters defied the calls for boycott of election by reactionary elements, and passionately participated in one of Iran’s most impressive elections.
In the aftermath of a highly emotional election, millions of Iranian youth poured into the streets releasing their pent up frustration. The natural frustration of the youth because of decades of restrictive and humiliating dress codes imposed on women, and the limitation on the youth freedom in general, were added to the anger of many who were told by the Green leaders that the election was rigged. The situation became dangerous in the city of Tehran where the 2.2 million Mousavi supporters in fact outnumbered the 1.8 Ahmadinejad supporters, and the ensuing riots led to bloodshed in the streets and a brutal suppression by the police when the riots were getting out of control. The continuous propaganda of the digital media to propagate the claims of the “Green Leaders” added log to the fire of the Iranian youth, many of whom naturally believed that their votes were robbed as they saw the huge number of pro-Mousavi supporters in affluent Northern Tehran and parts of some other university towns. Yet, soon the pro-Ahmadinejad groups who saw their own rights being challenged, in turn poured in the streets and their sheer number fizzled out the Green movement greatly. However, unlike the Green protest, the pro-Ahmadinejad demonstrations was not showcased in CNN and Face book repeatedly, neither was it as angry as the Green protest since they had actually won, and did not need to protest the results. But, the most important factor that killed the “Green Revolution” was the inability of its leaders to call for a general strike which showed their lack of widespread support among different strata of the society. Finally, the efforts of Iranian monarchist expats and the mujahedin who tried to hijack the casue of Iranian youth; and speeches like that of Makhmalbaf in the EU parliament on behalf of the Green Movement, a speech in which he tried to scare Europrans of Iran’s nuclear advancements and shamelessly asked the Europeans for more sanctions against Iran, proved the anti-Iranian nature of the Green Movements and its leaders. Naturally, many Iranians who originally had sympathy with the movement, distanced themselves from it and its leaders.
Now that Mohsen Makhmalbaf has managed to successfully put a last nail in the coffin of the so called “Green Revolution” by his anti_Iranian speech in the EU parliament, his daughter Hanna Makhmalbaf, has tried to continue the path of her father by appealing to Europeans through her movie, buying a few moments of personal fame for herself at the expense of selling the Quds Day and betraying the Iranians who are passionate about its cause.
The Green leaders who failed to gather a large group of Iranians for a sustained and effective duration of time, now are trying to convert the gathering of millions of Iranians on the historic Quds Day, and abuse the Iranian people’s passion one more time in a pathetic effort to resurrect themselves from ashes. Clearly, this effort will fail again. It will only reveal the moral bankruptcy of the Green leaders further.
Ironically, the Green movement’s effort to hijack the Quds Day message is near the time that Ahmadinejad is preparing for his yearly address in the UN. Ahmadinejad has bravely spoken about Israeli crimes in the international podium in the past, and his success in breaking the taboo of criticizing Israeli crimes openly has helped the international community with the type of current UN inquiry which for the first time in the history of the UN is finding Israel guilty of war crimes in Gaza.
