CNN interviewed the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Mohammed Hassan Ghadiri, to discuss the recent uprisings against the government he represents. Not too surprisingly, Ghadiri dismisses the protests as a fringe movement. After all, 13 million people voted for Mirhossein Mousavi and only a few hundred thousand are in the street. That makes it a fringe movement, right?
Well, I’d say that those numbers got depressed just a tad by the violence of the Basij and the Revolutionary Guard, who have broken out the axes, knives, and guns to suppress the opposition. The numbers in the first few days went into the millions, although Tehran doesn’t acknowledge that. And note how Ghadiri blames the violence on the protesters without even a mention of the regime’s Basij brownshirts.
However, even if this represents a minority of Iranians now, their treatment will enrage the general population and change the relationship between the regime and the people forever. I’m reminded of Ireland in 1916, when Padraic Pearse led a band of Irish nationalists in seizing the GPO in Dublin, from where he proclaimed the founding of the Republic of Ireland. In the middle of a world war, the Irish people at first failed to rally around Pearse. The British reaction to Pearse — the execution of Pearse and his cohorts — changed that, and rekindled a fire in Ireland that ended with its independence.
Even a hardy few, even a foolhardy few, can change a nation and trigger a movement towards freedom, when the people perceive tyranny from the response they get. If Ghadiri doesn’t recognize the profound nature of the last two weeks, he may wind up in the role of Baghdad Bob, insisting that the regime is perfectly fine as it crumbles around his ears.
Update: Michael Stickings has an interesting guest essay with background on the uprising.
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