Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 5:29AM | in Governance What's happening in Iran?
The past couple of days have witnessed the mobilization of many young people in favour of an alternative to the current government in Iran, which has featured a paranoid politics of sustained and violent repression. It's clearly too early to tell what the events unfolding in Iran will mean for the country's future. But I think that there are some good reasons to be optimistic about the consequences of this social upwelling in the medium-term, and cautious about the short-term.
The current protests are the broad-based expression of extreme frustration at the results of a revolution that promised justice and dignity, and has failed to deliver on either. In Iran, the apparatus of power has been consolidated in the hands of a few people through three decades of power struggles, divisions, disunity, and deception. To maintain an autocratic system with the semblance of democracy, Iran's leaders have used the clergy, courts and security forces to shrink the democratic space for public debate on vital issues of civil rights and religious expression. The last several years have witnessed an intensified crack-down on even the most peaceful public claims for rights by women, ethnic minorities, and religious minorities. To marginalize voices that would chart a path for a more open and free Iran, such people have been labeled as spies, conspirators, and enemies of Islam.
The audacity and unity of the recent protests and marches is an important expression of solidarity against an increasingly violent and closed state. Those who have spoken out or challenged the orthodoxy in the past have often landed in jail. Many others have simply avoided challenging the status quo in public. I think that what is remarkable about the last several days is the real democratic space that has been carved out by a diverse cross-section of society. There has been real social mobilization behind a vision of Iran that is free and tolerant and open to change. It is a broad-based rejection of a society infected with suspicion and prejudice. And it could change Iran for the better.
Yet, there is not guarantee that in the short-run these protests will produce sustainable political change. The radical intentions of (some of) the protestors are not necessarily reflected in the politicians that they support. The alternative presidential candidates were all vetted by the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader, and the most prominent one is a former Prime Minister and close confidant of Ayatollah Khomeini. They are not radical leaders of reform. It is likely that the energy of the protestors will be leveraged in a political struggle, where the basic structure of the regime goes unchallenged. The clerical elite and a small ruling clique will still hold the reigns of power, with some appropriate adjustments.
It is, of course, impossible to foretell the future. But we are seeing evidence that when a government engages in a sustained assault on its own people – young students, bright women, and Bahá'í youth, among others – the society will not tolerate injustice forever. Iran’s future will not be defined by nuclear weapons, but by its struggle to create a progressive country that is proud of its history but welcomes change. For too long, Iran has sacrificed civil rights to maintain an ‘Islamic order’, and it has antagonized other countries to prop up national unity.
This isn’t the first time that Iran has tried to resolve the tension between modernity and tradition, between the twin calls of religion and civilization. In the late 19th century, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed the people of Persia in a masterful treatise (initially authored anonymously) called “The Secret of Divine Civilization”. In it, he set forth a vision of a country where religion provides the moral and ethical bedrock of good government, and openness to new ideas and technology helps to propel economic growth and development. One particular passage is especially salient today:
O People of Persia! Open your eyes! Pay heed! Release yourselves from this blind following of the bigots, this senseless imitation which is the principal reason why men fall away into paths of ignorance and degradation. See the true state of things. Rise up; seize hold of such means as will bring you life and happiness and greatness and glory among all the nations of the world.
**For those looking to keep abreast of developments in Iran, I'd highly recommend Andrew Sullivan's blog. It's featuring regular, up-to-date twitter feeds, blog posts, and reader submissions from Iran.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 5:29AM | in Governance 
Reader Comments (4)
Thank you so much for this very well written and thoughtful piece. May I have your permission to link to it on my Sacramento Baha'i Examiner page?
Thanks for your kind words, Angela. I'm happy for anything on this blog to be re-posted, provided that there is attribution.
[...] http://www.jeunestreet.com/2009/06/17/whats-happening-in-iran/ [...]
Thank you, Geoff. A balanced and yet pointed view, as we have come to expect from your blog.
There are so many lenses through which to view what is happening in Iran. In one way, it is merely the increasingly visible evidence of the repeated slide down the slippery slope that eventually traps all dictatorial regimes. How are we to understand and come to grips with the seemingly endless parade of leaders who give the appearance of seeking legitimate change, and then, almost inevitably, show us their true colours of power-seeking, greed and corruption?
Tyranny is the flip-side of Justice, as Baha'u'llah has pointed out:
"O ignorant one that hath been shut out as by a veil from God. Thou hast clung to tyranny and cast away justice; whereupon all created things have lamented, and still thou art among the wayward. Thou hast put to death the aged, and plundered the young."
At another level, we are witness to the generational conflict raging across the planet as frustrated young people, disappointed with the behaviour of their elders and undoubtedly frightened for their own prospects in the current global economic crisis, take to the streets and to cyperspace demanding fundamental changes in our world. Why are confrontation and opposition seemingly written into the DNA of human change processes, even when change is so obviously needed?
Theories about complex adaptive systems suggest that to be alive is to journey between equilibrium and chaos, and that change occurs at the outer boundary of chaos rather than at the stable centre. This is important because it allows us to accept change as part of the natural order of things, the opposite being eventual stagnation and even death.
The problem with such theories, as with so much of modern attempts to explain human behaviour, is that they fail to provide adequate insight into the question of "why" we behave as we do, prefering to concentrate on the mechanics of how, when and where change occurs. It has been suggested that to truly understand our continual quest for change and our strange resistance to it, one must go the very roots of human motivation.
Geoff quotes from Abdu'l-Baha's masterful treatise on how and why societies develop and stagnate, published under the title "The Secret of Divine Civilzation". In it, Abdu'l-Baha offers the following insight into the roots of human motivation:
"It is clear from what has already been said that man's glory and greatness do not consist in his being avid for blood and sharp of claw, in tearing down cities and spreading havoc, in butchering armed forces and civilians. What would mean a bright future for him would be his reputation for justice, his kindness to the entire population whether high or low, his building up countries and cities, villages and districts, his making life easy, peaceful and happy for his fellow beings, his laying down fundamental principles for progress, his raising the standards and increasing the wealth of the entire population."
Perhaps it would be most appropriate to see what is happening in Iran as the natural outcome of inner moral struggle, inspired by the soul's yearning to unite with its Creator and reflect those divine qualities that define our essential humanity.
History has not been kind to tyrants. It is far more likely to embrace as lasting and progressive the efforts of leaders everywhere to advance civilization through high-mindedness and equity:
"True civilization will unfurl its banner in the midmost heart of the world whenever a certain number of its distinguished and high-minded sovereigns... shall, for the good and happiness of all mankind, arise, with firm resolve and clear vision, to establish the Cause of Universal Peace... A few, unaware of the power latent in human endeavor, consider this matter as highly impracticable, nay even beyond the scope of man's utmost efforts. Such is not the case, however. On the contrary, thanks to the unfailing grace of God, the loving-kindness of His favored ones, the unrivaled endeavors of wise and capable souls, and the thoughts and ideas of the peerless leaders of this age, nothing whatsoever can be regarded as unattainable."