Posted on 10/26/2001 11:10:20 PM PDT by kattracks
Tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets of Iran in the past week, causing some of the worst violence in the history of the 22-year-old Islamic revolution.
The youths – both boys and girls – used two World Cup football qualifying fixtures as an excuse to reclaim the streets and assert their hunger for Western culture and freedoms.
In Tehran, the young people braved tear gas and blows from the security forces to cavort to the sound of the Western pop star Sonique, blaring from radios. Girls blew hooters at Islamic vigilantes armed with staves while their boyfriends fought riot police with stones and homemade explosives.
Shock at a 3-1 loss against Bahrain on Sunday sparked two nights of nationwide protests and the crowds returned to the streets on Wednesday following a 1-0 victory against the Emirates.
"What we're witnessing are the sort of demonstrations which preceded the last months of the Shah,'' said a senior Iranian analyst who wanted his name withheld.
Dozens of banks have been burned and cars overturned as the authorities set up special courts to try more than a thousand detainees officially denounced as football hooligans.
But the chanting of the crowds has been overtly political. Youths taunted groups of brutal Islamic vigilantes known as Bassiji, Persian for holy warriors, and chanted zindibad azadi [long live freedom].
The 11 September attacks have boosted pro-Western voices. Iran has emerged as one of the few Muslim states where people have taken to the streets in sympathy with the US.
Conservatives remain suspicious that expressions of sympathy hide a broader agenda of counter-revolution. Earlier this month in Mohseni Square – a part of Tehran so Westernised that Iranians call it the 51st state of America – police used clubs to disperse a crowd of mourners, including elderly women, holding a vigil for the New York attacks.
Hard-liners say that the war in Afghanistan marks the final stage in the military encirclement of Iran. In addition to the US arsenal in the Persian Gulf, Washington now has thousands of troops close to Iran's eastern border with Pakistan and to the north in Tajikistan.
Western efforts to bring back the exiled shah of Afghanistan are arousing fears of a similar plot to restore a shah to Iran. In silent protests on Sunday, demonstrators in Mohseni Square claimed Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted late shah, as their spiritual leader.
Opposition satellite TV channels beamed from Los Angeles have stoked a growing nostalgia for the monarchy. In a belated effort to muzzle the royalists, the Islamic vigilantes have swooped on the rooftops of northern Tehran confiscating hundreds of satellite dishes.
But popular pressure has already extracted concessions from the ayatollahs. While women are still barred from attending football games, they now occupy the front desks in Iranian hotels and strut the streets holding hands with their boyfriends.
Opposition to the great Satan of the US has given way to tacit support for the attack on the Taliban and an official policy of "active neutrality'' in the American bombing. Iran has also undertaken to rescue any US airmen downed in Afghanistan.
Newspaper editorials have openly appealed to the clerics not to waste the opportunity to mend relations with the US and have called on President Khatami to join the alliance.
I've known two basic types of Iranians, some aren't particularly religious, they'll dress in a conservative western style and they don't seem to hate Jews or anyone, the ultra religious types are strange people but if anyone hates Iraqis and Arabs, they do, it seemed to me they disliked Arabs about as much as they disliked Jews, and they were pretty intense about the Iran-Iraq war. I can't really imagine that Persians want to see Saudi or Iraqi domination.
Maybe this loses something in translation...
Congrats on one of the most interesting posts I've read in a good long time.
We do need to be careful, though. Just because Iran is pro-West doesn't mean they're pro-USA. They are pro-Iran and want to control the tremendous wealth of oil in that part of the world again as they did under Shah Reza Pahlavi.
Essentially, what I'm saying is that we need to watch our backs -- once the terrorist and extreme factions are neutralized -- or at least put on the run -- Iran will make it's move.
Turkey has similar strategies for the long term. Right now, there is much that appears "Pro-Western" in Turkey. Again, caution. Delve into the Turkish prison system, the way it treats minorities, it's ongoing battle with Greece. Don't forget -- Turkey invaded Cyprus just under 30 years ago -- 50,000 Greek Cypriots disappeared.
Iran is our mortal enemy, and if you're too GD dumb to have realized that in the last twenty years, you're too GD dumb to fight in ANY war on our side. Please stay home and hide under your bed. America doesn't need you.
The reason for that is that they are part of a different branch of Islam. It split with mainline Islam over a thousand years ago. The split is not unlike the split in Christianity (Catholic vs. Protestant) but far more extreme.
patent
At the end of the Cold War, many believed that every Soviet citizen held deep resentment towards the west and that they could never be our allies. The fact was that their totalitarian leaders in order to maintain power and control had indoctrinated their people with an ideology of hatred toward the west and they had some success polarizing their people against us. But the average person, didn't understand westerners and deep down they actually were curious about our ways. They, like all people, wanted to have freedom. For an oppressed people, Democracy sells itself... The iranians seem to fit this model. Consider their support of President Khatami, a great leader, who has struggled to reduce the influence of the clerics in the government. These people protesting are the bright light in the region.
A Russian poet said in the 60s that if the entire world was paved in concrete, flowers would come up through the cracks.
People want freedom. Always will, in the end.
This time, unlike under the previous Shah's reign, if a new government decides to take all the ill gotten land and riches that the clerics have and give them back to the people..that government had better take care of those nasty militant, selfish, money and power hungry, clerics and not let any of them escape.
All good, true clerics shouldn't have to fear anything and should be taken care of and protected by the people. The above paragraph only applies to bad, money and power hungry clerics who twist the word of Allah to suit their own ends and gain. Balli? ;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.