Opposition in Iran Meets a Crossroads on Strategy -Robert F. Worth
Many of Iran’s opposition supporters expected last Thursday to be a moment of climactic triumph, with calls for a vast street protest on the 31st anniversary of the country’s Islamic Revolution.
Instead, the protest was disappointingly small — constrained by arrests, intimidation and simple crowd control — and overshadowed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s boasts about Iran’s nuclear program.
Many in the opposition have concluded that their lack of clear leadership, and their reliance on exiles who work through the Internet — factors that provided crucial resilience in the waves of brutal government crackdowns last summer and fall — may now be holding them back.
“A protest movement without a proper relationship with its own leaders is not a movement,” wrote an anonymous blogger. “It is no more than a blind rebellion in the streets which will vanish sooner than you can imagine.”
[New York Times]
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Many of Iran’s opposition supporters expected last Thursday to be a moment of climactic triumph, with calls for a vast street protest on the 31st anniversary of the country’s Islamic Revolution.
Instead, the protest was disappointingly small — constrained by arrests, intimidation and simple crowd control — and overshadowed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s boasts about Iran’s nuclear program.
Many in the opposition have concluded that their lack of clear leadership, and their reliance on exiles who work through the Internet — factors that provided crucial resilience in the waves of brutal government crackdowns last summer and fall — may now be holding them back.
“A protest movement without a proper relationship with its own leaders is not a movement,” wrote an anonymous blogger. “It is no more than a blind rebellion in the streets which will vanish sooner than you can imagine.”
[New York Times]
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2 comments:
Subdued now, but that does not mean it will vanish. They ayatollah Khomeini was an exile waiting for his chance to bring about the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The opposition may have its day. Some bloggers may say things are bad, but the internet will help them stay organized and connected in ways the Ayatollah never could. An underwhelming rally does not the end of a movement make!
I hope that you're right!
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