The movement is well and alive

SO much has happened since my last post.

Two weeks or so ago, after the bloody crack down of "Black Saturday" and the subsequent wave of arrests, it looked as if the movement had died down and that the regime had been able to suppress the protesters. In fact, there was a feeling of pessimism and almost despair amongst many, who felt that perhaps the regime had gained the upper hand.

However, the events of the past 2-3 weeks have indeed proved that this time around, the regime will not be able to silence our demands through killings and oppression. Here's why I think the green movement is well and alive:

1) Street protests:

The protests have continued despite massive crackdown. July 9th was the 10 year anniversary of the student protests in response to the closure of a reformist newspaper who had published an article on the "serial killing" of opposition activists and writers by the regime's security forces. At that time, in 1999, the so called "lebas shakhsi" (plain clothes thugs who presumably are not officially part of the security apparatus, yet act with complete impunity and even have guns and orders to kill) attacked the student dormitories and violently killed and injured many students at Tehran University (no one knows the true number of people killed, but there were reports of these thugs throwing students out the second floor windows).

On Thursday July 9, people managed to get on the streets again and protest. This is despite regime's efforts to try to "empty out" Tehran of residents (They declared a 3 day holiday-presumably because of a sand storm that had sweeped Tehran- and encouraged people to actually leave the city and go to the country side to get some "fresh air"!!).

Just 3 days ago, we again saw tens of thousands of people marching in the streets. They used the weekly Friday prayers (the same venue where the Supreme Leader Khamanei had threatened people 4 weeks ago) to come out in large numbers. For the past 30 years, the regime had tried to promote the Friday prayers as a weekly confirmation of its legitimacy. They had been encouraging the masses to attend, and had to bring in army soldiers to fill up the venue in order to make it look like people actually went to this event. This time, the green supporters asnwered the regime's invitation, and showed up in massive numbers to show their green banners and shout slogans against the government and the regime! What the regime has been trying to promote finally came back to bite them in the ass!!

2) civil disobedience:

The Iranian people have shown an enormous degree of intelligence in organizing various civil disobedience acts. They are writing slogans in support of the green movement on paper money. There has been campaigns to cut electricity to he city by using (simultaneously) electrical appliances, in order to shut down the power grid (this was done on the night when Ahmadinejad was to give an address to the nation on the national state TV, and reports indicate it was partly successful). Another such event is planned for tomorrow, and the government minister has already come out saying it won't work. Many have taken his remarks as an acknowledgement that the government is scared, and clearly it shows that the word of this event has spread widely amongst the population.

And amazingly, the nightly ritual of shouting "allah-o-akbar" from the rooftops has continued after FIVE weeks, and shows no sign of waning.

3) pressure from political parties and personalities:

Amazingly, many high ranking political personalities have continued to insist on the illegitimacy of the vote and Ahmadinejad as the "chosen" president. There have been very clear statements made by high ranking clerics, openly calling the government illegitimate, and last Friday's sermon by Rafsanjani at Friday prayers has been the clearest (and boldest) public statement on the situation. Interestingly, only yesterday, Khatami (former reformist president) was quoted to have proposed a "national referendum" to put the question of the government's legitimacy to the people. This is a very bold step, and has raised the demands a multitude of degrees.

4) Martyrs and their families:

Another source of immense pressure on the authorities has been the families of those killed or imprisoned. We are now getting more and More names of the people who were killed in the protests. Their families are holding vigils and public ceremonies (something Neda's family were not allowed to do), and one person in particular has been very vocal. The mother of Sohran Arabi (a 19 year old who was killed under suspicious circumstances, either in Evin prison under torture, or on Black Saturday) has given interviews to the BBC Persian TV and has said openly that she will not let her son to have died in vain. Her courage in coming out and demanding justice has been truly inspiring.

The people of Iran will continue to protest, and will continue to use every opportunity to demand justice. No one could have imagined that Friday prayers (which has traditionally been used by the regime to trumpet its policies, and to attack "foreign imperialists" or to shove various forms of lies and untruths down people's throats) would one day be turned into a massive protest rally. From now on, every Friday, the regime will be in fear of another massive showing by the Green movement.

The regime is only digging its own grave. Even now, after so many people being killed and many more facing torture in prisons, the people of Iran continue to be peaceful and to demand their rights within the confines of the current political system. They still want their votes back. But as the regime continues to insult people's intelligence by supporting Ahamdinejad and his gangs of thugs and murderers, they will only radicalize the masses. Already, some are asking for a complete throw down of the regime. The longer this continues, the less likely that the supporters of the green movement will settle for anything other than a complete change of system, and that will mean the end of the Islamic Republic and its underlying philosophy of "velayat faghih".