Iran: An Update

I wrote a few days ago that the protests over Iran's allegedly stolen election were a major victory regardless of the actual outcome of the election or the first protests.  The demonstrated outrage that the Iranian people have shown has now indicated that the likelihood of foul play in this election is no longer a possibility so much as a probability.  Furthermore, the situation on the streets or Iran has gone from bad to worse in only a few days, and has set the world's eyes on what is happening.  As usual, foreign press has been cut off, internet time restricted, etc, but that has not stopped what is now a raging river of amateur video feeds and reporting that have found their ways through the filters.

What we are seeing in Tehran is no longer a 2000 U.S. Presidential kind of stolen election, but a genuine human rights violation and a deliberate oppression of peaceful, dissenting voices.  It is unknown how many protestors have been killed or injured since no reporting has been allowed, with the most common estimates hovering around 19 confirmed, but others indicating a much higher death toll.  Video footage found on CNN or youtube depicts a scene of total chaos, with random gunfire and clouds of tear gas  found everywhere.  One dark video on CNN depicted the pro-government militia breaking into houses to take people away.  Although you could see very little, subtitled screams of "they're coming! they're coming from the terrace! get out!" were audible.  It was certainly tough to stomach, especialy after recently spending 6 days in Berlin learning about the oppression that had occurred there over the last 80 years via the SS, Gestapo, and Stasi.  Not to be one of those people that compares every injustice to the Nazis, but it was particularly reminiscent of the case of Munich's White Rose movement in 1942.

I have been quickly and deeply engaged in what has been going on over the last few days, as I cannot remember the last time there was such a major human rights case that was also so important for the fate of the collective world as well.  I wrote earlier about how groundbreaking a Mousavi presidency would be for Iran, with similar rhetoric leading many officials (in the U.S. and Britain in particular) to call for an intervention by Western forces.  Unfortunately, as the more historically educated have recalled, both of these countries have a long history of interference in Iranian affairs, from their CIA supported reinstalling of a violent regime in 1953 to their backing of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War.  Ahmadinejad supporters have already blamed the unrest on interference from foreign influences, although so far this appears to be entirely a domestic issue; one can only imagine how this rhetoric would be stepped up if there was actual involvement of Western governments, even in a peacekeeping capacity.

Under fire from many across the aisle, Obama has steadfastly refuesd to be involved in the Iranian conflict any more than condemning the government's human rights abuses from afar.  This does not show any signs of changing for now, so protestors will have to rely on their continued solidarity and the foreign diplomatic pressure that has arisen from their constant stream of video and text to outside news sources.  Stay tuned on this issue, it looks like it is far from over.