The protests in Iran have subsided somewhat in the last two weeks, but unrest and unresolved issues surrounding the June 12th election remain. Mir Hussein Mousavi and the emerging Reformist movement has yet to acknowledge defeat, and they remain, quite likely, far away from such an admission. CNN has recently posted a fairly comprehensive section for Iranian political coverage. You can check it out here: CNN--Iran Elections. It provides a pretty comprehensive collection of recent statements by Iranian leaders and some political analysis. They do, however, seem to still be missing the political fault line related to class in Iranian politics.
While there remains little doubt that the controversy is not over, the direction and agenda of a Reformist movement has yet to develop a clear shape. In this article on the CNN page Opposition Not Over, many analysts weigh in on the potential meaning and direction of the movement:
"This movement isn't going away anytime soon, but it may not manifest itself as we've seen as of late," said Trita Parsi, president of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council.
"This is a movement that has swept across all dividing lines in Iranian society -- both rich and poor, the merchants and the intellectuals, the young and old," said Reza Aslan, author of the book "No God But God," an analysis of Islam in politics and culture.
"They're not united because they want certain civil rights; they are united in what they don't want," he added. "They don't want the present course that is leading to the militarization of the state -- other than that, they have nothing else in common."
"This is a civil rights movement -- this is not a revolution," said Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University in New York. "Comparatively, we have to have a frame of reference -- in this case, the civil rights movement of the United States."
These quotes certainly reflect valid points of view, however, they and the article that contains them are missing the Class element. In addition, these are all analysts here in the US. I realize that it may hard to get opinions directly from opposition leaders in Iran, I'm not faulting CNN for this--I'm just pointing out this fact. Reza Aslan seems to hint at the class issue, but in reality while his statement might be true I have seen nothing to make me think that Ahmadinejad does not still maintain the devotion of the lower classes by fairly large margins.
The CLASS issue is also missing of some of the other articles on CNN. In a piece on Rafsanjani, they write of him as a former President and an influential cleric, but they neglect to mention that not only is he quite possibly the richest man in Iran, he is also one of the most hated and to the poor he is the poster image of government corruption. Ahmadinejad beat him like a drum in the runoff election of 2005 largely because of massive support from the lower classes and dislike for Rafsanjani.
On the whole, the CNN page is informative, and provides a great deal of useful information. Keep in mind, however, that it generally reflects an American perspective and is missing significant elements of the whole picture of which Class issues are one. I have found The Guardian's coverage to be better, and Robert Fisk provides useful insight as well. Just as a heads up, I have been working on a larger more comprehensive (long) piece to post on the weekend. Its always great to go on vacation, but its often great to come home too.