Green, the color symbolizing life, vibrance and Spring, seemed an appropriate choice for the Iranian opposition movement that sprung into life during the disputed Iranian elections in late Spring. Uniting Iranians from all walks of life, young or old, at home or scattered throughout the world, it crossed lines of gender, religion, and political affiliations to become the symbol of life, hope, freedom, change and political growth.
What started out as a movement of the people, to protest the results of the election and demand more freedom, was quickly branded the “Green Movement” and its self proclaimed leaders, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, urged a calm and collected approach that would yield results from within the “system”. Their non-confrontational approach and repeated calls for peaceful protests finally allowed members of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force to gain control of the situation and the violent street protests slowly turned into herds of defenceless sheep being directed by dogs of a green variety into the slaughter-houses. A situation that could and should have escalated into mass strikes across the country and daily confrontations with tiring and increasingly ambivalent security forces, became a mere nightly cry of help to God from the roof-tops. The Green was a movement alright, but not the kind that Iranians had been hoping for. It was a simple relocation of the people from the streets into their houses.
Perhaps, it was very difficult for many Iranians including myself to see this at the time and the promise of change, talks of a referendum, continuing resistance and great resilience gave us a trickle of hope in these self-proclaimed leaders – so much so that we even chose to overlook their impressive resumes in serving the “system”. Of course, the change never came, not even in the slightest sense. There is less freedom in Iran today than before the so called Green Movement turned a potential revolution into "scattered groups of hooligans supported by Iran's enemies". There were no high-level meetings between the leaders of the Green Movement and labour organizations to arrange mass strikes or even demand their months of unpaid salaries from the authorities. There was no call to the Assembly of Experts to question the Supreme Leader. There is no agenda, no steps, no plan for any change and there never was.
We pinned our hopes in two individuals that are more Yellow than Green, their “movement” as stagnant as a tree whose leaves are turning yellow and succumbing to the winds of Autumn. I can’t help but think that the only thing Green in this whole episode is the color behind my ears. How easily we let two “unknown” individuals turn a people’s movement into their own, stagnate it and even turn it around to the point that we now show-up on the streets to support the Palestinians and contribute to anti US rallies! It may be hard to face the facts, but “tarhe maslehate nezaam” that received much opposition publicly, did have a great reception behind closed doors.
Friends are leaving jail one by one… Mr. Ahmadinejad is the elected president of the Islamic Republic after a historical turnout and a successful election… Mr. Rafsanjani continues to vow the Swiss, Austrians, Arabs and anyone else he can find to supplement his vast fortunes with a few more deals… The Americans and Israelis remain enemies of the system and supporters of the hooligans and terrorist groups, while involved in backdoor diplomacy with the Iranian regime… Mr. Khamenei is stronger than ever and heralding a new era of censorship and Islamic values in universities… And while we were busy gearing up for these rallies on regime sanctioned dates, the IRGC managed to widen its grip on Iran’s financial infrastructure with the money that will be cut from subsidies to the people! But there is some light at the end of the tunnel… The Green light that Mousavi has been given to buy this regime another 4 years after the 2013 elections, if he plays along like a good little boy until then. Yeah Hossein, Mir Hossein, you turned Yellow, long before the autumn.
What started out as a movement of the people, to protest the results of the election and demand more freedom, was quickly branded the “Green Movement” and its self proclaimed leaders, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, urged a calm and collected approach that would yield results from within the “system”. Their non-confrontational approach and repeated calls for peaceful protests finally allowed members of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force to gain control of the situation and the violent street protests slowly turned into herds of defenceless sheep being directed by dogs of a green variety into the slaughter-houses. A situation that could and should have escalated into mass strikes across the country and daily confrontations with tiring and increasingly ambivalent security forces, became a mere nightly cry of help to God from the roof-tops. The Green was a movement alright, but not the kind that Iranians had been hoping for. It was a simple relocation of the people from the streets into their houses.
Perhaps, it was very difficult for many Iranians including myself to see this at the time and the promise of change, talks of a referendum, continuing resistance and great resilience gave us a trickle of hope in these self-proclaimed leaders – so much so that we even chose to overlook their impressive resumes in serving the “system”. Of course, the change never came, not even in the slightest sense. There is less freedom in Iran today than before the so called Green Movement turned a potential revolution into "scattered groups of hooligans supported by Iran's enemies". There were no high-level meetings between the leaders of the Green Movement and labour organizations to arrange mass strikes or even demand their months of unpaid salaries from the authorities. There was no call to the Assembly of Experts to question the Supreme Leader. There is no agenda, no steps, no plan for any change and there never was.
We pinned our hopes in two individuals that are more Yellow than Green, their “movement” as stagnant as a tree whose leaves are turning yellow and succumbing to the winds of Autumn. I can’t help but think that the only thing Green in this whole episode is the color behind my ears. How easily we let two “unknown” individuals turn a people’s movement into their own, stagnate it and even turn it around to the point that we now show-up on the streets to support the Palestinians and contribute to anti US rallies! It may be hard to face the facts, but “tarhe maslehate nezaam” that received much opposition publicly, did have a great reception behind closed doors.
Friends are leaving jail one by one… Mr. Ahmadinejad is the elected president of the Islamic Republic after a historical turnout and a successful election… Mr. Rafsanjani continues to vow the Swiss, Austrians, Arabs and anyone else he can find to supplement his vast fortunes with a few more deals… The Americans and Israelis remain enemies of the system and supporters of the hooligans and terrorist groups, while involved in backdoor diplomacy with the Iranian regime… Mr. Khamenei is stronger than ever and heralding a new era of censorship and Islamic values in universities… And while we were busy gearing up for these rallies on regime sanctioned dates, the IRGC managed to widen its grip on Iran’s financial infrastructure with the money that will be cut from subsidies to the people! But there is some light at the end of the tunnel… The Green light that Mousavi has been given to buy this regime another 4 years after the 2013 elections, if he plays along like a good little boy until then. Yeah Hossein, Mir Hossein, you turned Yellow, long before the autumn.
Last edited:
