Rick Raw: Iranian Uprising–Will of the People will Eventually Reign Supreme

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

The present unrest in Iran is no longer a protest against the election results. The protests have mushroomed into an uprising against the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenie. He has absolute power and is the commander and chief of the Iranian military, militia, and Revolutionary Guard. Shockingly, the people are chanting "Death to the dictator."

This is an unprecedented breaking of a long standing taboo to question the supreme leader’s wisdom. If the people are dedicated to forcing change and willing to risk their life for a new style of government, then the will of the people will eventually reign supreme.

In America, in the mid-1700s, the Colonists were willing to take up arms against Britain. More seriously, the Colonists were willing to shed blood to become an independent nation. The die was cast. If the passion for change is strong enough, the will of the people will always prevail. They have to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Live free or die!

The breaking of the taboo against the supreme leader expresses the deep seeded level of the people’s discontent with the government. Since two-thirds of the population is under thirty and well educated, the youthful proletariat want more freedom and a bigger voice in the domestic decisions handed down by the president. Ahmadinejad has bungled the economy of the country. The people are furious, knowing the election was rigged.

Indeed, much of this discontent is being driven by young women who are tired of the strict Islamic moral rules of female behavior. They are smart, resourceful, and they want equal rights with men. A well known female Iranian author said that to find out what the modern Iranian wants, follow the activism of Iranian women.

The present Iranian system of government was set up after the 1979 Iranian Islamic extremist revolution which voted in the new constitution. This document gave the supreme leader absolute power to govern as he saw fit.

The new 1979 government constitution also installed the Guardian Council who vote in the presidential candidate every four years for a maximum of two terms. Essentially, the president is subservient to the supreme leader. The president does have leeway in his decisions regarding the economy and domestic issues. If the president does something of which the Guardian Council doesn’t approve, he could be forced out.

Elections in Iran have long been suspected of being fixed and just a sham. Ahmadinejad was declared winner only two hours after the polls closed. How could they count all those ballots in that short a time. Of course, it was fixed!

In other words, the Guardian Council protects the fundamentalist Islamic law which is highly restrictive of people’s civil rights and freedom. When the 1979 revolution ousted the Shah of Iran, it was like the country was sent back to the dark ages. These fanatical old men are religious zealots and frame all human behavior in the rules as set forth in the Qur’an. Of course, their interpretation is extremely bias to their viewpoints.

It would be like the Pope was the supreme leader of the United States and the president would have to do his bidding. Sin would be in, and confessing sin would get everyone off the hook. We have separation of church and state for very logical reasons.

Could the people of Iran pull off a full blown revolution? Not without the support of the military and or the Revolutionary Guard, who are fiercely loyal to the supreme leader and the concept of Islamic fundamentalism. In the end, Khamenei has the power to crush the uprising.

As long as Khamenei has the support of the military, then, unless the people had help from a foreign army, they are doomed to eventually comply. They could strike and shutdown the infrastructure of the country. That would be effective and could cause dissension in the Guardian Council forcing change. But the hard liners are definitely in charge.

Nonetheless, something important has happened to the Iranian Zeitgeist. There has been a shift in the power paradigm. In the hearts and minds of the people, the uprising has fomented the idea of a democratic revolution.

The people now have demonstrated they will not lay down to comply with the supreme leader or put up with fixed elections. This seed of revolution will grow into a people’s power base working behind the scenes to bring in visionary leaders.

Still, the heart beat of the Islamic fundamentalist revolution is strong and powerful. Ultimately, the will of the people is stronger than a fundamentalist religion. The question is: How dedicated are the democratic revolutionaries? Time will tell.