Ramin Jahanbegloo: Iran's Failing Legitimacy
[Ramin Jahanbegloo, one of Iran’s best-known dissidents, headed the contemporary studies department of the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran until his arrest in April 2006. He was released that August and now lives in exile in Canada, where he teaches at the University of Toronto., one of Iran’s best-known dissidents, headed the contemporary studies department of the Cultural Research Bureau in Tehran until his arrest in April 2006. He was released that August and now lives in exile in Canada, where he teaches at the University of Toronto.]
As necessary as sanctions may be in thwarting Iran’s nuclear program, they are a secondary issue. Challenging the moral and political legitimacy of violence by the Iranian state against its own citizens ought to be the urgent priority of the international community....
The public anger and the ensuing infighting among the founding architects of the Revolution, have presented the most serious challenge to Iran’s clerical regime since it replaced the Shah in 1979. Those among the reformists who believed that the system allowed scope for reform found themselves face-to-face with an authoritarian structure that used extreme violence to ensure its political survival. Others, who dared to speak out for their civic rights risked imprisonment, torture, rape, and execution. The intensified crackdowns on journalists, intellectuals, students, and women activists indicate just how determined the Iranian regime is to secure its political future.
Although it is true that the popular demonstrations did not bring an end to the Iranian regime, they have badly damaged its domestic and international legitimacy. Assuredly, the diminishing number of protestors in the streets of Tehran gives the impression that the protest movement is fading away and Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karoubi are losing steam. These two opposition leaders will have to decide whether to keep going or to accept a humiliating deal with Ahmadinejad’s government that would greatly diminish their moral and political statures. As for the Iranian authorities, the question is still whether the continuous crackdowns have succeeded in putting an end to the popular quest for democracy or, on the contrary, provoked a wider challenge to their rule....
If the international community wishes to support this nonviolent quest for democracy in Iran, it must acknowledge and encourage dissident voices inside and outside Iran. The chances of democracy in Iran depend a great deal at this moment on whether human rights violations, and the accountability of those who commit them, are placed high on the global agenda....
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As necessary as sanctions may be in thwarting Iran’s nuclear program, they are a secondary issue. Challenging the moral and political legitimacy of violence by the Iranian state against its own citizens ought to be the urgent priority of the international community....
The public anger and the ensuing infighting among the founding architects of the Revolution, have presented the most serious challenge to Iran’s clerical regime since it replaced the Shah in 1979. Those among the reformists who believed that the system allowed scope for reform found themselves face-to-face with an authoritarian structure that used extreme violence to ensure its political survival. Others, who dared to speak out for their civic rights risked imprisonment, torture, rape, and execution. The intensified crackdowns on journalists, intellectuals, students, and women activists indicate just how determined the Iranian regime is to secure its political future.
Although it is true that the popular demonstrations did not bring an end to the Iranian regime, they have badly damaged its domestic and international legitimacy. Assuredly, the diminishing number of protestors in the streets of Tehran gives the impression that the protest movement is fading away and Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karoubi are losing steam. These two opposition leaders will have to decide whether to keep going or to accept a humiliating deal with Ahmadinejad’s government that would greatly diminish their moral and political statures. As for the Iranian authorities, the question is still whether the continuous crackdowns have succeeded in putting an end to the popular quest for democracy or, on the contrary, provoked a wider challenge to their rule....
If the international community wishes to support this nonviolent quest for democracy in Iran, it must acknowledge and encourage dissident voices inside and outside Iran. The chances of democracy in Iran depend a great deal at this moment on whether human rights violations, and the accountability of those who commit them, are placed high on the global agenda....