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Iran's Riveting Political Drama
Perhaps the biggest surprise of these elections is the role the Internet is playing in the campaigns. Taking a page from the Obama playbook, all four candidates are on Facebook and Twitter (Mousavi’s Facebook page boasts more than 30,000 supporters). Huge, spontaneous rallies have been coordinate by text message.
It seems that, as with the previous elections, large urban centers, including conservative cities like Isfahan and Mashad, will go to Mousavi (it is difficult to find an Ahmadinejad supporter in Tehran!), while poorer and more rural voters are overwhelmingly supporting Ahmadinejad.
With the help of Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian, The Daily Beast asked a sampling of young Iranians across the country whom they were planning on voting for and why. Their answers demonstrate the wide range of political and religious views that have made Iran one of the most dynamic political cultures in the whole of the Muslim world.
“I haven’t decided yet, but I will most likely vote for Mousavi. I really don’t want to, but if Ahmadinejad wins again, it will be very bad. Many of us made a big mistake last time by not voting, and we’re paying for it now. In these four years we went backward. It will take another four just to get us back to where we were.”
-Abbas, 28, Tehran. Works in family home interior shop.
“My vote is for Mr. Mousavi because he supports freedom and a free economy. These are the best reasons for me to support any candidate.”
-Reza, 23, Rasht. Civil engineering student.
“We all remember when Ahmadinejad was mayor and all the help he gave those of us who were struggling. He made bureaucratic work faster and cheaper for us. We will never forget that.”
-Parvaneh, 28, Tehran. Schoolteacher.
“I’ve been with the reformists since I was a kid. Karroubi is the only candidate who has been with that group all these years, and he’s the only one I have any faith in.”
-Parsia, 26, Tehran. Photographer.
“As a feminist, I don’t think I could vote for anyone besides Mousavi. His wife (Zahra Rahnavard) will play a big role in his administration, and that’s why you see all of us young women wearing green.”
-Azadeh, 24, Mashhad. Graduate student.
“I voted in both of the last two elections and really wasn’t happy with the results, even though both times the candidate I voted for won. I’m sorry, but I can’t see the point in doing it again.”
-Asal, 25, Tehran. Web designer.
“I’ll vote for no one. I don’t accept any of them. Mousavi can’t even talk. Maybe I’ll vote for myself.”
-Niloofar, 22, Isfahan. History student.
“I think voting is a gimmick, but I’m going to vote for Mousavi. I can’t really comment about our domestic situation, whether it would have been better under someone else. I know, however, that our international image has suffered tremendously under Ahmadinejad, and that’s a big concern for me.”
-Mohammad Reza, 22, Mashhad. Electrical engineering student.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
Stiffing the Revolutionaries
Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
Naive Obama Gets Iran Results
Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
Obama's Last Iran Option
Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.
The quotes from people who are refusing to vote disturb me. I hear the same complaints from people who refuse to vote here in America.
Is it rigged? Is it flawed? Does it matter, when there's no easier way of influencing your country's politics?
America is not Iran.
There they are not voting for the most powerful person (that would be the supreme leader) they are voting for a candidate that was approved by the current government in the form of the Guardian Council. Your comparison to American voter apathy is not an appropriate one.
Reza,
I just watched you on Hardball. Please tell me that Chris Matthews is not that misinformed about the Iran/nuclear bomb issue. Please.
Please tell me that Chris Matthews is not so grossly misinformed that he doesn't know the difference between enrichment levels for nuclear power (3-5%) and that required for nuclear weapons (92-100%)....and that it took years for Iran to get to 3-5%. Please tell me the guy isn't that stupid, or his producers are that misinformed. Please.
I was mindblown to hear him say that Israel has never threatened pre-emptive war with Iran. I can't reach him. Send him some reading material. Help save his show; right now he's a blockhead who doesn't do his homework.
"What to do with Iran?" by Brigadier General (Res.) Oded Tira -- Dec 30, 2006
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3346275,00.html
We must clandestinely cooperate with Saudi Arabia so that it also persuades the US to strike Iran. For our part, we must prepare an independent military strike by coordinating flights in Iraqi airspace with the US. ... In addition, we must immediately start preparing for an Iranian response to an attack. The Americans must act. Yet if they don't, we'll do it ourselves
"Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran" -- Sept 25, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/iran.israelandthepalestinia ns1
"Officials: Iran does not have key nuclear material" -- March 10, 2009
http://www.kansascity.com/449/story/1077002.html
Iran does not yet have any highly enriched uranium, the fuel needed to make a nuclear warhead, two top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday, disputing a claim by an Israeli official.
"Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites" -- April 18, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6115903. ece
Have him read the real IAEA June 5, 2009 report on Iran's nuclear capablity, not the BS the NYT tried to slip past us a week ago, stating that Iran now has the "centrifuge capacity for nuclear arms--see below. Tell him to read every page. There are only five of them.
http://isis-online.org/publications/iran/IAEA_Iran_Report_5June2009.pdf
Ari Fleischer during a WH Press Gaggle:
"The more uranium you have, the fewer centrifuges you need to produce a nuclear weapon."
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/07/200307 12-11.html
Reza, I've seen you on TV several times and think you do a great job. Watching you yesterday on Chris Mathews show, however, was extraordinary. You provided some real teaching moments to Mathews who sat back in stunned disbelief of your comments or utter respect for your speaking with authority about Iran-Israeli relations. I'm hoping he's hoping to engaging with you more on the air.
Thank you.
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