Most of us hear about the Ayatollah Khamenei, the most powerful cleric in Iran, but a long-forgotten and only recently remembered Ayatollah died in his sleep yesterday. The funeral for the 87 year old, rebellious cleric - Hossein Ali Montazeri - was held in the streets of Tehran today, and there is speculation that "he may turn out to be more influential in death than he was in life" (Worth & Fathi, New York Times).
Montazeri was Iran's most senior cleric. He broke with Ayatollah Khomeini sometime in the 1980s, thereby sidelining himself from politics, although criticizing the goverment over the years. Since Iran's election, he has sided with the protesters against Ahmadinejad's government. Three weeks ago he issued criticism against the Basij, the militia that has been cracking down on protesters and jailing them.
Michael Slackman reports in his November 22 New York Times article that Montazeri asserted that, “Independence is being free of foreign intervention, and freedom is giving people the freedom to express their opinions. Not being put in prison for every protest one utters.” This statement in protest of all the jailings of protesters that has happened since Iran's June 12, 2009 much-disputed election.
It seems to me that unlikely and unadvised that the U.S. should involve itself in Iran right now. We are busy enough pulling out of Iraq and committed to trying to achieve some kind of success in Afghanistan.
Most people in Iran want reform or revolution, but how does the populace make this come about? The people are a giant body without a head. The government of Iran is too fearsome (and effective) right now for any individual to step into a leadership position - a position of revolutionary - and tell the people what to do. From the news, it looks like this is what the people of Iran want most right now. They are showing this by taking to the streets at almost every opportunity, and by showing their willingness to be beaten and arrested, in spite of their knowledge that horrible things can happen to them in their government's prisons.
December 21, 2009
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