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Via Dana Goldstein, Ali Gharib makes the stellar point that what’s going on in Iran is reaffirmation of the Islamic Revolution, not a repudiation of it. Kate Klonick finds that problematic. But why, really? If Gharib is right, then what’s unfolding is a measure of reconciling the revolution with greater openness. There isn’t sufficient evidence to support the proposition that the people out in the streets in Iran are liberals. But that doesn’t diminish from the fact that what they’re fighting is deeply illiberal, and what they’re fighting for as baseline propositions — the principles of sound, trustworthy elections; the right to be free from violence and harassment — are eminently supportable. If they can harmonize the Islamic Revolution with those concepts, they’ll have done themselves and the world a great service. It’s not the case that, as Mark Krikorian writes, "We’ll know it’s a revolution when Iranian women start throwing off their headscarves en masse." The fact that they’re demonstrating in their headscarves is proof enough. Let Iranian opposition sort out the balance between their religiosity and their politics for themselves.
Update: This is a very good point from Michael Totten. I apologize for my part in the vapor-catching.
Crossposted to The Streak.
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The Persians are a smart and enduring people. They will rid themselves of the dudes in the weird hats now that the people are willing to vote and die to protect their rights. It may take a while, but my bet is they are the first to throw the religion under the bus for human rights.
Um, the dudes in the weird hats are all smart and enduring Persians.
I disagree that “the fact that they’re demonstrating in their headscarves is proof enough” that they’re not liberals. Perhaps they’re only trying to keep up appearances, and keep their eyes on the prize. Remember, protesters had to be told to shout “Allahu Akbar” and to carry pictures of Khomeini, so as to avoid being attacked and to appear supportive of the Islamic Revolution. They weren’t religiously fervent enough to do it themselves. Maybe some of them were, but many or most of them were not. These are the liberals. And you can tell by looking at these kids, the way they dress, the way their dorm rooms are decorated in some of the pictures of dorm destruction, the way they express themselves in art, the things they say on Twitter, that many of them are indeed liberals. I hope their numbers are great enough to be of great influence in the future.
I should add, regarding headscarves, that many Iranian women wear them so far back that they may as well not be wearing them at all, and undoubtedly would pull it off completely if they could.