The big news in Iran at the moment are the images being broadcast on state media which show protesters burning pictures of Ayatollah Khomenei, the father of the Islamic Revolution. Who is behind this? Was it staged? Why were these images broadcast on state TV? My opinion is that there's a schism within the opposition movement. Some have broken with Moussavi, who is merely calling for window dressing changes in the system, and they are now calling for the overthrow of the entire Islamic Republic. They want Khamenei gone. They want separation of religion and state. These protesters have been called 'more radical" but of course they are entirely liberal!
But why were these images broadcast on TV? Was that a smart move by the state? Mightn't the showing of the desecration of Iran's holiest dude spread that kind of thinking throughout the masses. I assume it was broadcast to try to discredit these liberal protesters, but as the syaing goes, "any publicity is good publicity", and perhaps the state has just ignited a spark!
In a recent diary, I posted a video which showed Iranian flags being waved without the Islamic symbol on it. This jibes perfectly with protesters burning imagas of Khomenei, therefore it seems unlikely that this brave act was staged.
Reporting from Tehran - Political turmoil built today over the burning of an image of Iran's revolutionary founder, which was aired, in a controversial move, on state television. Accusations that the incident was carried out by anti-government demonstrators sparked protests as well as threats against reformist leaders.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei today said reformist politicians and anti-government demonstrators had defiled the image of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, during Student Day protests last week. He said the incident showed that the protest movement that sprang out of the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad now sought to overturn the Islamic Republic.
//
Airing the footage could harm the protest movement, painting participants as bent on overthrowing the Islamic Republic. But the move also risks legitimizing radical opponents of the system whose stance rarely gets a public airing.
http://www.latimes.com/...
Again, radical opponents of the system are liberal!
In a broader sense, the protests and clashes have become more radical even as the establishment supporters of the opposition, former government insiders, clerics and contemporaries of Ayatollah Khomeini, have focused on repairing the damaged system, which they say has become corrupt and illegitimate. Like the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, who wanted to fix the Communist system rather than end it, these opposition figures want to preserve the basic tenets of their hybrid religious-civilian state.
But the increasingly radicalized nature of the recent protests, and if true, the burning and trampling of images of Ayatollah Khomeini, suggested that Mr. Moussavi and others from his generation now at the helm of the opposition were out of step with many of those they were ostensibly leading, some Iran experts said.
"The repression has certainly radicalized a part of this potentially majority constituency, which means that not only the regime, but also the anti-regime, is more divided than the demonstrations that followed the elections," said a European diplomat with years of service in Iran who asked not to be identified in accordance with diplomatic protocol
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Power to the People!
moon