Totalitarian Iran

The Middle East and North Africa have been embroiled in protests, demonstrations, and an imminent civil war in Libya.  Yet the one country we hear about only briefly through all of this is Iran.  Have they had some protests?  Yes, but they have not lasted more than a day and then the news snippets about them go away.  Is the problem still there?  Absolutely.  Iran has an entrenched President, suppossedly democratically elected back in 2009, yet he shows no signs of leading a democratic country.   Those who ran against the current president claim the election was rigged and that is the only reason that he was able to get re-elected.   It seems that unfortunately, the police and security forces are doing an excellent job of killing any protests soon after they begin.  They inject themselves into the protests, blending into the mob, and as soon as someone begins protesting, they are dragged into a van, beaten, and taken to a prison.  There is no freedom so to speak in that country unless you voice your opinion in concert with the president and the powerful religious leaders there.  If you are looking to run a totalitarian state, Iran is the example to follow.

Part of the problem stems from the utter lack of outside information available to the people of Iran.  All that they receive is created and distributed by the government, an explicitly anti-western establishment.  They call the protests western influenced sedition movements and plots against their country.  Similar to the fact that Iranian citizens have limited or no accesibilty to outside media, the rest of the world also has very little knowledge of what is actually going on in the country.  Do we get news from there, yes, but it is limited in its scope and most of it is recieved through individuals and the internet as foreign journalists are explicitly prohibited from even entering the country.  

The biggest issues behind the protests at this point seem to be the imprisonment of the opposition leaders, those that ran against the current president in 2009.  Without access to their leaders (who some in the government are calling for their execution), the protests are feared to be lanquishing.  However, the protesters return, only to get beaten and imprisoned again.  Part of the issue that the protesters have is congregating in one place.  The security forces sometimes are larger than the number of protesters and essentially lock down cities, preventing people from accessing central points and from forming a cohesive group.  They also attempt to keep everyone in check, consistently downplaying the effectiveness of the protests, the size, or the effect it is having on the government. 

So how do we approach Iran.  Unfortunately, outside of offering our support for the protesters, it is very hard to do much.  The U.S. already intervened back in the 70's, and look where that got us, not very far.  To try and even inject a modicum of humanitarian assistance is futile with the veritable lockdown of the country against any foreigners.  What we can offer is ideas and suggestions in hopes that they receive them and can unify a movement against the government.  First, as much as they support their opposition leaders who have been imprisoned, their leaders are not effective without the ability to communicate from behind bars with their supporters.  It is necessary to find a new leader, one who can embody their ideals and unify them in secret.  A force of protesters must be built up that exceeds the number of security forces in place if they are to succeed.   This must obviously be done "under the radar" or else the government will get the upper hand and put security forces in place before any protest begins.  Granted, these are ideas are not easy ones to actually fulfill or carry out especially with big brother watching over everyone's shoulder.  There is also such a divide in the different levels of society that to breach those would be another major undertaking.  The protests must move beyond support of the arrested opposition leaders and move to support freedom of speach, and other freedoms that people enjoy in a democratic nation.  These are the ideas that can galvanize a resistance movement. 

They do have the internet there and they do have some access to outside information as someone from Iran has actually read a post on my blog.  Lets offer them support, give them ideas to run with, and help them anyway we can to oust their current government lead by President Amagonnapoop.   Someone, who as a leader of a country, can deny that the Holocaust even occurred, should have no right to lead that country.  His whole way of governing is based on mis-information and fear.  Those can only last so long before more and more people realize what they are missing out on by living in a free, democratic society.  Lets put our collective voices together and help them make a difference.  If you are reading this, then don't just read it, post a comment and start some discussion amongst your peers.  Unless discussion is started, whatever is said here will fall silently into the depths of the internet, unable to inspire or affect anyone.