Michele Roohani

9 Responses to “1979 all over again? First flickers of Resistance in Iran”

1. hadi Says:
   June 14th, 2009 at 3:52 am

   میشل جان روزی بهار به خانه ما هم خواهد آمد .این مردم لیاقت زندگی خوب را دارند .خدا حافظ سرزمین مادری مان باشد

2. Marguerite Papineau Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 12:02 am

   So sorry for the people…again! Keeping all in my prayers. Hard to believe in this day and age that the government would have the audacity to forge the elections. Oh well–I cannot convince myself that this is not to be blamed on Allah but on POWER, greed for power. May the people ultimately be heard. May their sacrifices not be in vain. Love, Ma Soeur

3. simin afshar Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 8:07 am

   dear Michelle,
   I placed your article on FB in order for all my friends to read your article.
   best,
   Simin

4. Alfred J. Garrotto Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 10:10 am

   I always profit from your perspective, Michele. These must be hard days for you, observing from afar.

5. Clarence F. Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pm

   Dear Michelle:

   I personally find your reference to 1979 ironic. I currently feel very sorry for the Iranian people and to democracies around the world in general. President Carter was in office in 1979. Barack Obama is the president in 2009.

   My Iranian-American friends, esp. the ones in California, were ecstatic with the election of Barack Obama as U.S. President. I am waiting to see how this has helped any of the young voters in Iran. I have yet to hear our president even make a public comment about the violence in post-election Iran.

   Clarence

   P.S. your thoughts ?

6. Shahab Says:
   June 16th, 2009 at 4:06 am

   Dear Michelle,
   I do not think that 1979 repeats itself. Describing current situation is very difficult. The cities of Iran are full of hatred and violence. Religious leader - over a night - found himself in front of a moral question and confronting with Islamic constitution.

   We should never forget religious background amongst our people - shit’e doctrine. During Mashrooteh Babism spred rapidly throughout Iran, this is a key point. Read the history carefully; why Amirkabir ordered to kill Bab followers? Because government found itself in a big danger -shifting from Shit’e to Babism!! Now this new fascist government is repeating the same story, they are trying to put down clergies and only focus on Imam Zaman and expressing that they have a direct connection with him!! This doctorine is still very popular among poor, illiterate and even literate people. I do not believe in conspiracy theory, but I do believe that some high ranked persons in the government follow this idea. The policy that used in old days by British and Russian empire.

   With or without Mousavi we have to participate in these demonstrations, we no other option. Thanks

7. Mehran Says:
   June 16th, 2009 at 5:59 am

   Rigged elections is not a fact, it’s all based on speculation and disputable statistical analysis. I cannot give it more than 50% probability:

   1) Greens (supporters of Moosavi) claim they’re the real winners of the election, simply because they have few or no Ahmadinejad fan in their circle of friends and family. In other words, they use their local social network observations to make a holistic judgement about the whole of the nation. Completely wrong, not reliable.

   2) Preferential attachment: Even if there were 500 websites supporting Ahmadinejad’s election with videos and pictures and news, greens would still read pro-Moosavi websites, they will knowingly ignore the Ahmadinejadsphere because they can’t be bothered with it. Their perception of the number of Moosavi supports vs. Ahmadinejad supporters originates from a very self-centred view of things.

   3) The fact that greens were louder in demonstrating in the northern parts of Tehran doesn’t mean Ahmadinejad has less supporters than Moosavi. Neither it implies that Ahmadinejad’s supporters are limited to poor working class or rural areas.

   I will not be surprised if they do a recount of the ballot boxes and find out that A.N. has actually made a landslide victory.

   I’m not the only person who thinks A.N. actually might actually be the real winner. Check this Washington Post article:

   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061401757.html

   Finally, the only thing that makes me wonder is that fact that the interior ministry released “final” vote counts relatively quickly without going through the usual bureaucracy.

8. micheleroohani Says:
   June 16th, 2009 at 5:56 pm

   These are startling moments in recent Iranian history. “Breathtaking” is a word that comes to mind with every new image out of Iran’s protests. I do understand that the difference between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad is one of degree and not of kind but we have to admit that the islamic republic has been constrained to deny its own convictions—if Rafsnanjani is not the regime’s legitimate overlord, who is?

   It’s hard to make any deeply intelligent prediction about Iran’s political future right now but I would like to hope that better days will come—though not yet…

9. ali Says:
   January 3rd, 2010 at 1:52 am

   michel ..idont like to say mousavi is a bad man but iam sure he never can change this country
   it is better for him to leave our country
   because most of irani people like the leader
   seyed ali khamenei

   قصد من بد گویی از موسوی نیست اما او پس از حادثه عاشورا اکثر طرفدارانش را از دست داده و قادر به تغییر نیست
   تا کی مردم خود را در راه او به کشتن دهند و او آزادانه مبارزه را ادامه دهد