There have been a number of protests lately in Iran.
RegimeChangeIran.com and the Washington Post have reports of the outbreaks of violence in Iran after Iran won a World Cup soccer match against Bahrain that guaranteed them a spot at the upcoming 2006 World Cup.
It looks as though the win was yet another excuse used by protesters to gather and launch anti-government protests. Only this time, a group of female protesters have made headlines by demonstrating loudly outside “Freedom” Stadium in Tehran.
The women were protesting against their lack of rights and freedoms.. they were supported by “tens” of males as well. Unfortuantely, they were confronted by Iranian militiamen and many were arrested and/or injured in the scuffle.
This is all happnening before the Presidential elections next Friday, the 17th of June.
We can only hope that these escalations stay relatively peaceful and that they cause a true revolution soon in Iran.
Update
I’ve added Podcasting to the website… you can see the RSS link for the Podcast on the right hand side. I will also try to post a link to each audio file directly in each post that has one.
As you know from my e-mail today, I’m heartened by learning that the Iranians are demonstrating to protest lack of rights. Like you I hope the demonstrations remain peaceful. That no doubt will rest with the Iranina authorities. I’m not sure, of course, how ling it will take for the Iranians to get rid of the mullahs but I do believe it’s coming. And I think that maybe the mullahs know that as well as I do. :).
There’s a familiar voice! Out with the mullahs, yes, but let’s not have a repeat of L. Paul Bremer, Halliburton and the other deadly silliness that’s plagued regime change in Iraq. Let’s also remember that the mullahs are there as a reaction to the Shah, whose presence in power was guaranteed by, let’s see, the CIA backed overthrow of the popularly elected Mossadeq government in 1953. Sounds a little like the Ba’ath party in Iraq, eh? We put ’em there, then we have to deal with the doo doo that results. Nasties? Yes! Worth a war? No! “Free Market” economy? probably on the way. If you’re Canadian, see my latest post at http://outoffog.net about what the SCC hath wrought this day. Women in Iran may soon have the same rights as women in the West–I suspect that they’ll meet us somewhere in the middle where there are the meaningless rights to work outside the home and be equal to poverty-stricken men, but not to be a meaningful part of the decision-making process. Enjoy what you’ve got while you’ve got it.
Ya I don’t think the US is in any position to invade even if they were planning to.
Luckily, this revolution has been bubbling in Iran for a very long time. And it’s now starting to reach the surface. Hopefully the Presidential elections will be the catalyst to send the whole country down the path to real democratic reform.
I’ve been trying to get ahold of my friend in Iran for the past few weeks, but she’s been quite unavailable online. I’d really like to get her opinion on what’s happening there, but she might also not be at liberty to tell me… she has been fairly sensitive about anything relating to the subject in the past.
Dan, soooo pessimistic…this is a GOOD thing. Iran is the model for people on the verge of throwing off their tyranical government, we hope. Let’s not keep looking back. The future is full of promise. Progress is achieved one.step.at.a.time. 🙂
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/2005/06/iranians-feel-americas-presence-in.html
Read about a recent poll of Iranians regarding their attitudes regarding democracy for their country. An interesting insight from the Iranians themselves.