Author Joe Hinds updates us on his Iranian friend, Mohammad, whom we last heard from during the Iranian elections.
The fate of my Iranian friend, Mohammad, is still unknown. I have not heard from him since July 13, 2009. I have been cautious about trying to contact him since he is under surveillance or in prison. I do know he was beaten twice by the secret police. His dormitory of Tehran University was set on fire by police, and dozens of students and teachers were injured. The police came on campus wielding axes and long knives. The student count of dead was at 34 on July 11. More students were killed in the street fighting and many more imprisoned. All that is known is that students were taken away in police vans.
What is terribly sad is the short-lived revolution had not much hope to begin with. Iran was never a democratic country as is known in the West. Iran practiced a Phony Democracy that could never work well for the people. The fact that elections were held in the past is meaningless. Idi Amin held elections in Africa; Joseph Stalin won all of his elections, so did Saddam Hussein.In fact, Saddam always won 96% of the vote.
The Iranian people tried to emulate a democracy but never had the education, experience or infrastructure to create the real thing. They live in a world of religious leaders whose word is law. I could never make it clear that a President answered to no higher authority other than the people who elected him. The Iranians never saw the flaw that we in the West saw. They never understood that “Church” and “State” must separate so democracy can work.
The idea that a Supreme Leader and a body of clerics held sway over the elected President is a pathetic image to me. The Iranians did not grasp that the elected President is the “Top Boss.” This concept seems to be beyond their cultural norms. I am afraid that they are in for a frustrating time for years to come. The clerics have a death grip on the people, meaning that any act of resistance is an act against God. The mindset is that God wants the clerics to rule so the clerics are just following his wishes. If you go against God’s wishes then you can be justifiably discounted or killed. The Iranian people have a long hard road to walk and these cultural limitations are their worst enemy.
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Trace Dawson said:
As I read your article, it made me think of just how a country changes its government. Obviously other countries would like to go in and help the people, which would result in a situation similar to Iraq today. But in my opinion, the best solution would be for the Iranian people themselves to unite and change the government themselves. As we’ve already learned, this would be a bloody and costly revolt, but it would also unify and strengthen the people to a common cause. My impression of the Iranian population is that they are generally well educated and could tackle the task of setting up their own democratic government that represents the people. I hope that this recent election was the rock that chipped the windshield of the Iranian religious government and spreads till it has to be replaced.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:52 am