Memo from the Streets of Tehran, Part III

Farhad Rajabali / Reuters Arash Aryan has not been silent or quiet. He has been on the streets and with a power and poignancy that is now becoming familiar. Parvez Sharma presents his latest report from Tehran, today on the day everything might have changed.

Plus, read more insight on Iran's election from other Daily Beast writers.

1- A European friend of mine asked me once: Why do you Iranians feel compelled to explain to every foreigner you meet that you are different from what you seem to be?

I found she has found the answer to this question as many other people around the world with a similar question. I remember foreigners telling me that if you feel unhappy about your system, why don't you just change it? I hope they might have also been able to guess why.

The wide gap between the ruling system in Iran and the Iranian people could never be more evident than during the past few days. The image that the government has been trying to portray for 30 years is not only different, but in many cases quite the opposite of the real picture. The indoor life and the outdoor life of people are controversial to a degree which seems shocking or ridiculous to a foreigner. The ruling system has worked hard to enforce and showcase a special lifestyle marked by hijabs and adherence to religious principles. This has led to a dual life for many: an indoor life and an outdoor life. This hypocrisy has become a major component of life under the Islamic republic of Iran both for the government and for the people.

2- Yesterday, Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian leader openly threatened any protester who might dare to attend a street demonstration. On the other hand, people had agreed before on another day of peaceful protest from Enghelab Square to Azadi Square. Everybody expected today to be a special day. The message was clear: Go to street and expect anything. Will anybody dare attend a protest today?

To answer this question, one should know a little about Iranian collective psychology. We know ourselves as a proud nation. We praise bravery and courage even if it might look stupid. Death is a very familiar scene to us and we are not afraid of death. There are many things that we consider worth dying for. We can easily die for our dignity or in defense of our reputation; especially the reputation of the female members of our families. This might seem irrational, but who said we ever were rational people?

3- At 1 p.m. today, a friend informed me that the riot police is ordering people around Enghelab Square to close their shops and their offices and to leave their works and go home. He said that they have closed all streets leading to Enghelab Square and Azadi Avenue. According to him, the barrier of riot police forces was so dense that any infiltration seemed impossible. However, like many other people, I made my way toward Yadegar Imam Exp'way. I turned into one of the side streets of Azadi Avenue and parked in a small alley. Like many others I was equipped with sunglasses and a face mask (to avoid cameras), a shawl (to use as a wound dressing in case of gunshot), a pack of cigarette and a lighter (to neutralize the effect of teargas). Mobile phones were disconnected but we carried them along to use as cameras. All streets were full of military forces of five distinct groups: Ordinary policemen with batons and shields; members of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps with batons and shields; members of Basiji in uniforms with batons and shields; riot police with heavy equipments including shotguns and motorcycles; some semi-uniformed people with batons or large thick power cables either on foot or on motorcycles. It seemed that the ayatollah has brought all his force onto the battlefield.