It is massive demonstration, watch it on BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/tv/2009/01/000000_ptv_live_s.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/tv/2009/01/000000_ptv_live_s.shtml
The government of coup d'etat has stopped the few foreign journalists left in Iran from visual reporting of a very severely restricted demonstration, yet, the eyewitnesses report crowds of millions not only in Tehran but all major cities in Iran.
Zendeh bad people of iran.
Minimum demand should be a new so called election with interbnational as well as domestic observers and disqualification and trial of Coup D'etat instigators from so called rahbar to smallest voting thief, against the interest of people and state.
Zendeh bad people of iran.
Minimum demand should be a new so called election with interbnational as well as domestic observers and disqualification and trial of Coup D'etat instigators from so called rahbar to smallest voting thief, against the interest of people and state.
The official results show Mousavi with more than 13 million votes, winning among other places the vote count in Tehran. The fact that he had millions who voted for him is not in dispute. The real issue is who won the election and got the most votes? There are different ways to find the right answer to that question, but unfortunately neither side seems to be interested in the truth and both are merely waging a public relations battle.
Probably the simplest and most effective way that comes to mind is to commission a genuine scientific poll from an internationally respected polling organization, asking people how they voted in the last election? To minimize any questions about the reliability or accuracy of the poll, I would even recommend 3 such polls be taken simultaneously. The social science methodology for taking such polls are well established and if that methodology is followed, its results would be extremely reliable especially if both sides endorsed this mechanism. Such polls can be used in conjunction with a recount of the ballots by the Guardians Council and if both the recount and the polls tell the same story, there is objectively nothing to discuss except how to teach those who voted for the losing side to accept the will of the majority?
A separate issue to me is how we create a system that respects both the will of the majority and the rights of the minority? The events of the past few days will have been positive only if they create a dynamic that makes the regime realize that even having resounding support from the majority is not sufficient to have a stable government, unless some basic minimum rights are respected for the minority as well. Otherwise, if these events merely convince the regime not to even allow the kind of openness we saw leading up to this election, then certainly nothing good will come out of what we are witnessing.
For me, this basic question of how, on the one hand, to convince a minority which has traditionally enjoyed a privileged position in our society to accept the will of the majority and, on the other hand, for that majority to recognize that some minimum basic rights are not subject to majoritarian whims, is the main issue Iran has faced and continues to face. And nothing about this election and reactions to it by both sides has made me feel we are at all close to where we need to be find the right answers.
Probably the simplest and most effective way that comes to mind is to commission a genuine scientific poll from an internationally respected polling organization, asking people how they voted in the last election? To minimize any questions about the reliability or accuracy of the poll, I would even recommend 3 such polls be taken simultaneously. The social science methodology for taking such polls are well established and if that methodology is followed, its results would be extremely reliable especially if both sides endorsed this mechanism. Such polls can be used in conjunction with a recount of the ballots by the Guardians Council and if both the recount and the polls tell the same story, there is objectively nothing to discuss except how to teach those who voted for the losing side to accept the will of the majority?
A separate issue to me is how we create a system that respects both the will of the majority and the rights of the minority? The events of the past few days will have been positive only if they create a dynamic that makes the regime realize that even having resounding support from the majority is not sufficient to have a stable government, unless some basic minimum rights are respected for the minority as well. Otherwise, if these events merely convince the regime not to even allow the kind of openness we saw leading up to this election, then certainly nothing good will come out of what we are witnessing.
For me, this basic question of how, on the one hand, to convince a minority which has traditionally enjoyed a privileged position in our society to accept the will of the majority and, on the other hand, for that majority to recognize that some minimum basic rights are not subject to majoritarian whims, is the main issue Iran has faced and continues to face. And nothing about this election and reactions to it by both sides has made me feel we are at all close to where we need to be find the right answers.
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