An Awakened Nation

On Tuesday, intrepid supporters of Iran’s opposition movement once again demonstrated in the streets of Tehran, this time to commemorate a 1952 nationalist revolt.
Then, the security forces had refused to fire on the crowd.
This time, they adopted their usual tactics, and wielding truncheons, and using tear gas, charged the demonstrators in order to disperse them.
Dozens were arrested and injured.
The thousands who demonstrated did so in many separate groups.
In order to avoid early detection by the Basijis, most were not clad in green this time, the color of the protest movement, but joined the evening throng on the city’s sidewalks, before emerging and shouting opposition slogans such as Death to the Dictator, only to disappear into the crowds once again…
Though demonstrating has become a most dangerous form of protest, thousands were still sufficiently determined to do so, fully aware of what might befall them: Yes, I’m risking my life, one told TIME.
Other, less hazardous forms of protests have emerged, revealing the durability of the movement, and the ingenuity of its leaders.
Opposition supporters were encouraged to turn off all their lights and appliances at 8:55 pm, only to turn them all on again five minutes later, hoping to create a power outage throughout Tehran…The scheme was far from entirely successful…
Once again, however, the authorities shut down all mobile and internet networks in the capital, to thwart opposition efforts to mobilize and organize.
It is more than likely that these demonstrations will continue, as nationalist and religious events of the past provide ample opportunities for commemorations, and thus demonstrations.
Furthermore, the forty-day commemoration of Nada Agha-Soltan’s death next week is certain to mobilize thousands of protestors.
Mir Hossein Mousavi said Monday that the election file will remain open and the legitimacy of the (Ahmadinejad) government will be questioned until the last jailed protestor is released.
The brother of his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is still in custody.
But it will also be questioned until the legitimacy of the election itself is addressed.
Thus, the protests will continue: it is a national necessity to keep the election issue alive, and nobody should forget how this government was formed, Mousavi said yesterday .
He will not stray from the path of legality to exert pressure on the ruling party, and ensure that the votes and the rights of the Iranian people are recognized: we have to use only legal means to bring the damages caused by current para-coup d'etat to a minimum, he said.
Moussavi clearly states here that he believes the election fraud was in fact a coup organized by the ruling faction, dominated by the security apparatus.
To further advance his cause, Mousavi plans to create a political party consisting both of opposition figures and conservatives, so as to lay the groundwork for a large-scale social movement, he said. Power is always inclined to become absolute and only people's movements can put a hold on this inclination. The only way out of the current conditions is to pay attention to people's wills. That, along with the inclination for civil protests, can set the stage for political prosperity in the future.
The aim of the party is to reflect and embody the will of the Iranian people, a clear condemnation of the current ruling faction, and its handling of the last presidential election, for it brazenly ignored the will of the voters, so as to protect its interests and privileges. This faction is led by Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader (one newspaper close to Rafsanjani, Aftab News has now eliminated the term Supreme whenever it refers to him) Ali Khamenei, backed by the powerful, influential and wealthy security apparatus.
In essence, Mousavi has deliberately and publicly ignored the Supreme Leader’s injunctions. On Monday, the latter declared, anybody who drives the society toward insecurity and disorder is a hated person in the view of the Iranian nation, whoever he is. Addressing the elite directly, he added: the elite are undergoing a test, which is a big one. If we fail in this test, we will not only fall behind for one year, it will also lead to downfall. In order not to have that fate, we should use the yardstick of reason, which invites mankind to worship God.
He was demanding the allegiance of the country’s elite, and that it wholeheartedly and unequivocally endorse the nation’s newly elected president.
Mousavi, no less unequivocally, refused.
The regime’s stalwart supporters have attempted to depict the protest movement as one created and manipulated by the West, in order to overthrow the regime.
Mousavi dismissed these accusations. They are not only silly, but also revealing.
The conservative faction clinging to power has indeed lost touch with reality, the realities of a new Iran: you are facing something new: an awakened nation, Mousavi told the ruling clique on Monday, a nation that has been born again and is here to defend its achievements.
Referring to the demonstrators, he added, who believes that they would conspire with foreigners and sell the interests of their own country? Has our country become so mean and degraded that you attribute the huge protest movement of the nation to foreigners? Isn't this an insult to our nation?
In order to resolve the issue of legitimacy, former president Mohammad Khatami made an interesting if audacious suggestion: why not organize a referendum on this question? Surely that will resolve the matter of faith in the government, were Mr. Ahmadinejad to win. If the majority of people accept the situation, we also will accept it, Mr. Khatami declared.
Predictably, the suggestion was rejected!
The hardliners have their own proposal to resolve this issue. One solution to restore the lost confidence is to lay bare the dangerous scenarios designed by anti-regime think tanks led by reformist groups. It is necessary to broadcast the confessions of the detainees for the people so that they would understand who had designed the 'win by any means' strategy, General Yadollah Javani, a leader of the Revolutionary Guards, said.
It is not clear who, apart from the hardliners and their supporters, would believe a word of these confessions, extorted by the usual and vile means employed by the scurrilous servants of oppressive regimes everywhere, abuse and torture.
The security apparatus seems to have gained the upper hand, and is visibly guiding and leading the regime’s response to the crisis.
Its leaders are even promoting their own candidates for prominent cabinet positions.
Our organization intends to become the government's think tank. We want to introduce our elite into the government to serve the country. No obstacle is on our way, even the current climate of mistrust, said Lotfali Bakh-tiari, a leader of a scholars association linked to the Basij militia.
They are quite ready to govern the nation without any popular support whatsoever. Their legitimacy lies elsewhere: they hold the guns!
According to Rasool Nafisi, of the Rand Corporation, a coup did indeed take place election day last month: it is not a theocracy anymore. It is a regular military security government with a facade of a Shiite clerical system.
Yet, the opposition is not devoid of supporters of its own, including within the clerical establishment itself.
Two prominent clerics have openly sided with the protest movement.
Yesterday, Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat Zanjani said: the supreme leader's confirmation of a president born out of a rigged election could not grant him any legitimacy. Both the supreme leader's confirmation and the president's swearing-in are acceptable if and only if the president is elected in a clean vote.
Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Dastgeib Shirazi, for his part, declared: using firearms and crude weapons against people and incarceration of the revolutionaries would never help safeguard Islam and the establishment.
The struggle continues, as the brave people of Iran refuse to be cowed into submission.
The repression should intensify, for the faction in power has a lot at stake, and much to lose.
Yet, the Iranians have been waging this battle for a hundred years. Every day brings them one day closer to claiming what is rightfully theirs: a free and democratic Iran.

(the photograph, taken June 18th, is by AP Photo/Graham News)