I've been glued to the net for the past few days, watching the videos and reading the tweets from the people protesting for liberty in Iran.
I was heartened by the huge, peaceful marches the first few days. It seemed the momentum was truly on the peoples' side.
Today was another story, and it reminded me of other tragic conflicts between despotic regimes and people standing up for their rights.
I worry about the Iranians, though. There just aren't that many historical examples of totalitarian regimes backing down when faced with non-violent protest.
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Gandhi and the Indian people faced the UK, which was a democracy.
MLK and others who worked for civil rights faced the USA - another democracy.
Solidarity succeeded against a communist regime. So did the Estonians. And the Ukrainians did, too.
But it seems to me that for a dictator - such as Stalin, or Mao, or Khatami - the decision to use force to crush non-violent rebels would be an easy one.
I'm not certain non-violence can work in such a setting.