We've gotten a ton of comment/exasperation at Mohammad of Vancouver's post yesterday, blaming Rafsanjani for stirring the pot in Tehran. Mohammad has promised a defense/elaboration of his analysis. Meantime, here is Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics at the Korbel School at the University of Denver, who says Mohammad is ill-informed:
The totality of Iran's pro-democracy movement is saying this
election is a sham; from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi to
political dissident Akbar Ganji and from the popular reformist
theologian and human rights activist Mohsen Kadivar to the dissident
Grand Ayatullah Ali Montazeri. There are no dissenting voices here.
None. Zero. Zilch. To quote from Montazeri's recent public statement:
“no one in their right mind” could believe last week’s election results.
I'm
not going to get into a back and forth as whether Ahmadinejad "might"
have won. This assumes neutrality on behalf of the Guardian Council and
the Interior Ministry that ran this election. Both institutions
are bastions of control of the extreme Right inside Iran and are deeply
invested in preventing a reformist comeback.
Look at the crackdown that is under way in Iran as I write; the
beating of peaceful protesters; the mass arrest of reformist
leaders,the brutal assault by the right wing Baseej militias on
university students at Tehran U (and other universities) which Robert
Fisk called a "massacre". 120 professors immediately resigned as a result.
The latest news is that the 76 year old Ebrahim Yazdi, head of the
Freedom Movement of Iran and a long pro-democracy leader was "pulled
from his hospital bed" and thrown in jail today. Is this the way a regime that has conducted a free and fair election behaves?
The "roots of this crisis" have nothing to do with the antics of
Hashemi Rafsanjani. This is borderline conspiracy theory which
subtracts from our knowledge of recent events. Below are a few
links to share with your readers that give a more balanced view
on developments inside Iran.
http://elections.7rooz.com/link/487/
http://www.agenceglobal.com/Article.asp?Id=2034
http://www.rferl.org/content/The_End_Of_Irans_Moral_Government/1756610.html
http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/most-elegant-scene-mass-protest-in.html
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/16/iran/print.html
www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/444147
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/iran-s-election-democracy-or-coup
http://elections.7rooz.com/link/595/
