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Other Voices TV - Uprising in Iran: Exploring the Deeper Meanings
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Date:
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Time:
7:00 PM
-
8:00 PM
Event Type:
Panel Discussion
Organizer/Author:
Peninsula Peace & Justice Center
Location Details:
Community Media Center
900 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto
Free and open to all || Wheelchair accessible
900 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto
Free and open to all || Wheelchair accessible
Dr. Ali Ferdowsi
Chair, History and Political Science Dept., Notre Dame de Namur University
A native of Iran, Dr. Ferdowsi was in Iran from the first week of June through the first week of July, watching and participating in the election and the protests that followed it. We will discuss, among other things, why an election that was poised to be a routine exercise in a limited democracy turned into a mass protest against a fraudulent election which met with a bloody response by the security and paramilitary forces. What do the protesters want? What does this mean for the future of the Islamic Republic? And what can we do as Americans to side with the Iranian people in their century old yearning for democracy and human rights?
Chair, History and Political Science Dept., Notre Dame de Namur University
A native of Iran, Dr. Ferdowsi was in Iran from the first week of June through the first week of July, watching and participating in the election and the protests that followed it. We will discuss, among other things, why an election that was poised to be a routine exercise in a limited democracy turned into a mass protest against a fraudulent election which met with a bloody response by the security and paramilitary forces. What do the protesters want? What does this mean for the future of the Islamic Republic? And what can we do as Americans to side with the Iranian people in their century old yearning for democracy and human rights?
For more information:
http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?sto...
Added to the calendar on Wed, Jul 29, 2009 1:10PM
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Nobody demonstrates against the results of an election unless they support the losing side. Thus, we can presume that most of the demonstrators support the neoliberal counter-reformer Musavi and the real power behind him, the corrupt billionaire mullah Rafsanjani, against the populist reformer Ahmadinejad, the first president in over 30 years who is not a mullah!
Ahmadinejad won the 2009 election by the same percentage that he won by against Rafsanjani in the 2005 runoff, although Rafsanjani had held the Presidency or other high office from 1980 to 1997, while Ahmadinejad had only been Mayor of Tehran.
Of course, the Iranian election system is no more "fair" than the U.S. or Mexican electoral system, although the ways in which the elites control the results are different. But, within the limited democracy of the Iranian system, it is likely that Ahmadinejad actually won by a large margin.
However, what's more important than the "fairness" of the result is that, in the absence of a mass anti-imperialist left outside the electoral system, a victory by Musavi+Rafsanjani would have been a victory for the more privileged sectors of the Iranian population over the poor majority, and a victory for U.S.-led global capital over the obstacles to its total domination.
Ahmadinejad won the 2009 election by the same percentage that he won by against Rafsanjani in the 2005 runoff, although Rafsanjani had held the Presidency or other high office from 1980 to 1997, while Ahmadinejad had only been Mayor of Tehran.
Of course, the Iranian election system is no more "fair" than the U.S. or Mexican electoral system, although the ways in which the elites control the results are different. But, within the limited democracy of the Iranian system, it is likely that Ahmadinejad actually won by a large margin.
However, what's more important than the "fairness" of the result is that, in the absence of a mass anti-imperialist left outside the electoral system, a victory by Musavi+Rafsanjani would have been a victory for the more privileged sectors of the Iranian population over the poor majority, and a victory for U.S.-led global capital over the obstacles to its total domination.
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