Rebellion in Iran
Category: International
June 15, 2009 | BY Kasey Ruedas Yanna
Over the weekend, the world was captivated by reports about the tens of thousands of Iranians pouring into the streets of Tehran in protest of the presidential election that seems to have re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran’s Interior Ministry declared Ahmadinejad the winner with 62.6 percent of the vote. The main opposition leader, Mir Hussein Mousavi, apparently garnered fewer than 34 percent. The results shocked Mousavi and his supporters, who cited polls in his favor in the final days of the campaign.
The unrest continues today, as demonstrators continue to rally in the country’s capital in defiance of a government ban against protesting the election results. Mousavi, who earlier declared himself the true winner of the presidential race, has told supporters he would run again should a new election be called.
The possibility isn’t so fantastical, as Iran’s supreme religious and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, backtracked on his earlier edict for opposition leaders to support Ahmadinejad as the election outcome was a “divine assessment.” Now, he is ordering officials to look into the fraud allegations.
But Ahmadinejad is not without his supporters, as tens of thousands of them took part in a victory rally on Sunday, where they heard the president dismiss the complaints, saying elections in Iran had never been healthier.
It seems this election has unleashed anger in many Iranians, particularly the younger ones. Almost 60 percent of Iran’s 70 million citizens are younger than 28. With unemployment topping 30 percent by some accounts, the youth are unhappy with Ahmadinejad’s response to the economy. They believe that Mousavi represents a real departure from the current regime in addressing the economy as well as other issues. While the president calls the Holocaust a myth, Mousavi has condemned the killing of Jews. While Ahmadinejad forces women to cover their hair in public, Mousavi has pledged his support for women’s rights.
In response to the current unrest, authorities have jammed text messages, blocked pro-Mousavi Web sites and Facebook, and cut off mobile phones in Tehran. Thankfully there’s Twitter. The social networking site has been instrumental in helping voices on the ground reach the outside world. An aggregator for real-time updates on Iranian-related tweets can be found here.
Amid the chaos and turmoil, President Obama has taken a “wait and see” approach. On Sunday, Vice President Biden told NBC News that there were “real doubts” about the announced results, but said the administration would “withhold comment until we have a thorough review of the whole process and how they react in the aftermath.”
Tags: Iran
About the Author
Kasey Ruedas Yanna: Kasey recently graduated from The University of Texas at Austin. Her writing focuses on shedding light on current political issues from an independent point of view. While she tends to vote with the Democratic ticket, Kasey has conservative views as well. She thinks that what’s most important is that people are knowledgeable about all sides of an issue before forming an educated opinion. Kasey and her husband, Jason, reside in Arlington, Texas.
