DOWN WITH RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP - CONTRADICTION OR VISION???

I'm anonymous - because that's safer for me.

Ayatollah Montazeri died last Sunday. I wrote this piece in Farsi and it has been translated into English by a friend - thanks to that friend for his kindness.

********************

Why do I see a paradox between the chants we hear and the way people act? Why do they chant "Down with the Islamic Republic", while at the same time they gather in such large numbers on the day of the funeral for a clergyman? The man who was frowned upon by this Regime. The death and funeral of whom made news headlines all over the world?

The slogan of "Down with the Principle of Supreme Religious Leadership" on the day of the funeral of the founder of the principle of "Supreme Religious Leadership" is this a contradiction or a vision?

The clergyman who died was the founder of the "Supreme Religious Leadership" principle, whose views coincided with a nod towards this principle. He was the same person who are "heir-apparent" to the then Supreme Leader, mass executions took place - and he did not object and never condemned them.

A revolution means change and people's feelings have definitely changed. At times it seems like people make decisions and act based on their emotions, including during the funeral of Ayatollah Montazeri!

But let's open up this discussion and look deeper inside the society. There are several groups of people:

1. People who are tired of Ahmadinejad's government and don't want him as the president. They want another person like Khatami to be the president (when discussing things with them you realize that they don't really want a system change). All they want is for things to get better, the corruptions reduced and eliminated, Islam to be respected and, at the very least, for people to have freedom of choice when it comes to religion. Compared with seven months ago, I believe this group has been greatly reduced in size. Usually they are not young and are poorly educated. They are usually above 35-40 years old. In other words, this group of people are still stuck in the beginning of the Revolution. They are usually "simple-minded" people whose voices are never heard. They get the short-end of the stick from both sides. The regime does not consider them insiders but they are not complete outsiders either. They are the people who used to come to the street to support the Revolution Day and the Palestine Day and the regime used to call them the "Ever Present People". In the last six months their numbers have dwindled greatly. They constitute about 6% of the society.
2. The second group of people do not think like the first group I mentioned. In fact they are in disagreement. They think that this system has passed it's trial period and it's now time for it to go. Primarily because it has not even been able to keep it's most loyal supporters! This is how they think: This system is a despotic and dictatorial system and all dictatorships are doomed. They believe in a democratic and secular system and think that the Parliament should consist of true representatives of the people. They are not against Islam but they despise religious governments. This group comprises young university students. Many of them think that Mousavi was only a choice between bad and worse but they do not think about the election anymore. Many people outside the universities are also in the same camp and they think that this group of people are the true winners of the current struggle. They think that this group will eventually down this regime and will install a non-religious government in it's place. These people usually live in mid-sized and large cities and attend all demonstrations. They constitute the middle-class of society (about 77%).
3. There is yet another group who believe that until people reach political maturity and know how to distinguish good from bad, there is no hope of improvement to the current situation. This group of people usually do not nothing to improve the situation. They hardly follow the news, the slogans, the dates of demonstrations and the direction of the movement. They do not believe in the role of religion and they do not think that Islam is in contrast with democracy. They say: "if people are aware, they can have a democratic system that coexists with a religious system". They are usually elitists and come from a well-to-do classes of the society. The big bourgeois! (5% of society).
4. A fourth group is the one that vehemently believes in the current system, even though they live in poor cultural and economic situations. They do not think much and are very passive in accepting words from above. The seem very dogmatic and when one talks to them regarding economics and financial events, they seem to be the most discontented group. But, at the same time, when it comes to elections or government-sanctioned demonstrations, they are always first in line. (I personally feel sorry for them because they are the most impoverished people in the society.) They are adamant that this regime is an ideal masonic regime founded on the principles of the 12th Imam. They are the true representatives of brain-washed people and constitute about 5% of the society.
5. There is a small group of people who usually live in small cities and villages. They usually belong to lower-classes of society and are culturally and financially impoverished. They fiercely oppose this regime (and they probably also opposed the Shah's regime in 1979). They think that this system has not been a just one and has brought about poverty. They oppose all symbols of religion - including the Mullahs. But this opposition is due to their poor economic conditions rather than any wisdom. In a way, they are considered supporters of the Green Movement but are too afraid to participate in the demonstrations or to start anything in their own provinces. Their need is to feed their families and they cannot afford, in either sense of the word, to involve themselves in the demonstrations or the revolutionary movement. They are usually people who despise fashionable boys and girls. When they see young girls who do not believe in veils and Hijab, they say things like: "Only the Basij knows how to handle these people." They constitute about 7% of the society.
   

Well, I think people who have participated in the demonstrations in the past six months and still continue to do so belong to the second group of people. They are the ones who have shown their opposition using any means possible. They are the first people who after the election came out and announced to the world: "where is my vote?!". They are the same people who after Khamenei's speech on that famous Saturday came out to the streets and showed how determined they were - and still are today! And on the Black Monday they came out in millions to show their resolve. On Palestine day they chanted "No to Gaza, No to Lebanon...I die only for Iran". On November 4th (13 Aban) they showed their direct opposition by chanting "Death to Khamenei". On December 7th (16 Azar) they were beaten more than any other group and still continued to protest. And they are the same people who showed up again on Montazeri's funeral.

But we need to get a birds-eye view in order to see more clearly:

• In the past six months the protesters have tried to make this regime pay by showing their opposition. Their silent protests and the subsequent killing of innocent people by the regime was the beginning of the end for the regime's officials. By firing on innocent people, whatever was left of the regime's dignity was gone - and it added to their terrible reputation. When people chanted: "Khatami, Mousavi, Karroubi, Saneii, Montazeri..." in effect people were creating enemies for the regime and they were making it harder for the regime to arrest or harm them. Thus making the Green side stronger. By naming the clergy and chanting slogans in their favor, people were pulling them to their side and this worked out perfectly. When they were chanting "No to East, No to West...Only an Iranian Republic", they were pulling people from the third group to their side. And this worked out perfectly too. Therefore, gathering under the cover of "Ayatollah Montazeri's Funeral" does not mean that everyone believes in his religious thoughts.

There are two messages here:

1. People know the value of those who are with them.
2. This was a chance to show who is opposing the current regime and, by supporting Montazeri, they made Khamenei the common enemy.

There are many people who belong to this group who think of former president Khatami was guilty of treason. Not because Khatami did commit treason against Islam but because he was able to make many changes during his presidency but chose not to do anything. But he is still known as a leader of the so-called reformists. But his role and influence has been greatly reduced.

I personally insist on saying that I have never gone out to demonstrate because Mousavi, Karroubi or Khatami said so. I went because I had to go to get rid of this despotic system. These "nominal leaders" are only there as symbolic figures of this struggle. And I assure my friends outside the country that in the future system of government in Iran, there will be no room for these people or their ways of religious and Islamic thinking. The people of Iran "owed" this historical opportunity to the clergy. But we have been paying this back in ten-fold over the past 30-years! And all these killings, crimes, rapes, tortures and arrests are the pain that comes about because Iran is giving birth to a democracy.

Your comments are very valuable to me so please do not deprive me of them.

With the hope of a free Iran.