Since a couple of years into the Islamic revolution (lets say 1983 or so), majority of Iranians have been pretty unhappy with the state of things in their country. Granted us Iranians are never entirely happy about anything, but unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the Islamic regime has and still runs very deep.
Looking back, what have we, as a nation learned from all of this? We did our best to oust a semi dictator (I’m sure an arguable point) who wore western suits by Yves Saint Laurent and Bill Blass and spoke English & French, was educated in Switzerland with an absolute dictator who spoke Arabic and wore Abaa and Ammameh and was educated in Qom and Najaf.
During the time of the Shah, about 5% of the population had it very good, another 10-15% had it good and the other 80% struggled to make ends meet. Its pretty much the same now. Wouldn’t you say so?
The Islamic Revolution happened just like any other; masses of people taking actions mostly based on emotions without really thinking about consequence of their actions. Are Iranians doing the same thing again? Is Mousavi the saviour? What do we mean when we say democracy? A political and governance system similar to that of U.S. or U.K., or something else? If so, what? What will be the role of Islam in all of this? Can Islam remain in the back ground? Do we know of any country in which Islam is not part of the politics?
Where are the people who are going to run this democratic government? In the past 30 years, the Islamic regime has not allowed anyone other than their own candidates become known to the general public. When I talk to family and friends in Iran they really don’t have anyone in mind to head a democratically elected government.
As I think more and more about this situation, I become more convinced that maybe the first step for Iran and Iranians is to identify the future leaders before the old ones are removed. Otherwise, the vacuum thats generated will suck in all kinds of garbage and Iranians have another 30 years of misery.
