“When I think that today we Iranians have to be represented by these people, warmongering, terrorist-sponsoring, Holocaust denying – can I possibly sit here and say nothing?”
In exile since his father was deposed in 1979, the Prince, 49, remains the figurehead for the three or four million strong Iranian diaspora. Since the elections he has stepped up calls for civil disobedience by Iranians, and for external support for that. His many conduits of information from Iran tell him the regime is fragmenting, and he eagerly awaits a tipping point.
“The end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, of military juntas in South America, of the former Soviet Union – all of it came at the hands of the people of those nations themselves,” he says. “None of this could have happened without foreign support – but that is not the same as an occupying army that comes in and changes a regime – I don’t see how that can ever be legitimate.”
The unhappy experience of foreign intervention in Iraq has further convinced him of the importance of avoiding it in Iran.
“Change must come to Iran by civil disobedience and non-violence. I stress that. We can’t have change at any cost. It is ultimately a question of the sovereignty of that nation, and what happens must be the will of the people. But how do we determine that? There is an absence of public debate. There is an absence of the ballot box.”
Yet while he wants no armed intervention, he wants the Western powers, notably America, which has sought dialogue with the regime in Tehran, to be more directly supportive of the resurgent Iranian people and the opposition they are showing to Ahmadinejad.
“Today on the streets of Iran you hear cries of ‘Obama, Obama, you’re either with them or with us’. That is the people’s message to the outside world. We are saying to Obama and other leaders ‘We need your help’.”
History of Iran
Even if you are well-read on the subject, take a few minutes to watch this; it may offer up some new insight.
I don’t quite get what the sanctions crowd is after. We have no diplomatic relations with Iran. Trade is embargoed and imports are prohibited. (Except for Persian rugs!) We sanction foreign companies who do business with Iran. Investment in Iran is prohibited. The Treasury Departments forbids banks from processing even indirect financial transactions with Iran. There’s a little more we could do, but not much.
“The Iranian women’s movement is not simply demanding equal rights alone. It is demanding a larger universal reality, which is democracy.”
I asked Dr. Ebadi how the world generally, and Americans in particular, could support the democracy movement in Iran without appearing to appropriate it. She replied, “We are all passengers on the same boat. Our fates our intertwined. What we ask is that you cover news from Iran correctly, and say exactly what it is that women in Iran are opposing and fighting. When the world hears our voice, we know that they will reach out to us. We need the support of world public opinion. Because we are - at the end of the day - dealing with people, not governments.”
Even while Iran’s security and plainclothes Basij forces dispersed opposition rallies on Wednesday with tear gas and batons, Iran’s state-run media were complaining that foreign coverage of the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover was not, to use an American phrase, fair and balanced. The Islamic Republic News Agency wrote that global news television stations such as al-Jazeera, CNN and France 24 were “seeking to create widespread unrest … by broadcasting phony stories and images.” Instead of reporting on the “epic public turnout” for pro-government rallies outside of the former U.S. embassy, foreign news reports “referred to a small group of agitators as ‘the people of Tehran.’ “
For the record, thousands of individuals did take part in the official pro-government protests outside of the former U.S. embassy. On neighboring streets, TIME observed hundreds of parked buses that had brought in many of the attendants, including schoolchildren, from outside of Tehran. Young Iranians, separated into groups of boys and girls carrying Iranian flags, marched between the buses and chanted slogans against American power. Yet many of them seemed less interested in vehement denunciation of the U.S. than in taking a rare opportunity to glance furtively at the opposite sex. Nor was the annual political ritual’s turnout any more “epic” than attendance at most state functions.
There are too many spontaneous and re-routed gatherings to say that the Green movement has been suppressed. And the footage that is coming from outside Tehran, more than in previous rallies, indicates that there is a spread of the opposition.
While the quantity of protesters may be less than expected, the strength of the sentiment is not to be underestimated. Despite all the regime’s intimidation and threats, demonstrators are openly calling the Supreme Leader a “murderer” and stomping on his picture. Security forces may able to use tear gas and bullets in the air to keep them from the largest squares but they cannot remove them from the streets.
Nov. 4th, Tehran
The Basij