Many Unhappy Returns
The anniversary of Neda Soltan's death shows why Iran's Green Wave
won't die.
It's tempting to think that protesters may have finally given up on
overturning Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election. At points it has
seemed like the broad base of support they once enjoyed had gone and
that demonstrators were now merely wealthy secularists. At others, it
seemed like the fierce official response—and government attempts to
limit movement and assembly—was thwarting organizers of the
opposition. But a funeral Thursday showed not only that the Green Wave
lives on, but that we can expect regular revivals well into the
future.
Today is the chehelom, the 40-day anniversary, of the death of Neda
Agha Soltan, a young woman who was shot at a post-election protest on
June 21. Her final moments were captured in a shaky, bloody, cell-
phone video that became a rallying point for the opposition. To mark
their grief, thousands of Iranians flocked to the Behesht e Zahra
cemetery south of Tehran today, where they clashed with security
forces (dozens were wounded and many were also arrested) and chanted
"death to dictator." Mir Hussein Mousavi, the presidential candidate
disputing the election results, was turned away from the cemetery by
security forces.
The chehelom has deep symbolic significance in Iran and among Shiites
around the world. The origins of the practice can be traced to the
martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Mohammed. In
Iran, the chehelom has also taken on political significance. During
the Islamic Revolution in 1979, these anniversaries were used as an
excuse to mount protests against the Shah and to keep up the momentum
of street rallies. The same thing is happening today. Except now that
they're in the government, the revolutionaries will have a hard time
telling chehelom participants not to grieve without looking like
hypocrites.
Which is not to say they haven't tried: since post-election violence
broke out last month, security forces have prevented the families of
people killed in protests from holding large funeral ceremonies,
infuriating mourners. Families have also been blocked from burying
their family members in Tehran so protesters wouldn't have a fixed
gathering site.
Today's gathering was a clear sign that the opposition still has the
ability to rally crowds, despite the threat of violence. Farsi news
sites report that hundreds of riot police and plainclothes Basiji
surrounded the cemetery, which is about 10 miles south of the Tehran
city center. Still, protesters began gathering in the early afternoon
and attempted to reach Neda's burial site. Amateur videos posted on
YouTube show large crowds surrounding Mousavi's car and chanting, "Ya
Hussein, Mir Hussein." "People inside Iran know that the world is
watching and listening to them," says Akbar Ganji, a prominent
dissident who attended an Iran rally in New York last week.
Neda's murder 40 days ago drew out today's throng of dissidents. But
she wasn't the only protester to die: in the past week, Tehran has
announced the death of four detainees, including Mohsen Ruholamini,
the son of an adviser to conservative presidential candidate Mohsen
Rezaie. (Authorities claim that there was an outbreak of meningitis in
Evin, a notorious prison where many political prisoners are being
held, but Farsi news sites report that most of these detainees died
after beatings in custody.) Roughly one month from now will mark their
chehelom, and the protests—which were only just beginning to peter out—
will return again to challenge the regime. Every protester killed will
breathe more life into the Green Wave.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/209468
