It may be time to retreat | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
The Iranian counter-revolution (none / 0)

Yeah, if suppressed people had always given up like that after a week fighting, we had one country all over the world today and one great fascistic overlord, called e.g. Xerxes CXXXIV. But seriously, revolutions require more time, even with today communication technologies. What is way faster or shorter today is the media's and the world's attention span. Only two weeks and the Iranian uprise is old news.

They should (and some will) fight on by striking, exercising civil disobedience and clogging the prisons. For them it is more than a media blaze, it is their future and well-being as a people that is at stake.

But btw: they never had any real choice in their election anyway. I think it is their anger towards the whole skewed system that has discharged during the last weeks. Sadly enough the system has done a good job by porking and empowering the uneducated and unemployed to be their henchmen. With the money they made by selling oil to us, mind you!

The West should immediately boycott all Iranian trade, including and primarily oil (that will be hard for us, too). Any other action or (non-action) is hypocrisy. Everyone in the world should show their solidarity with the Iranian people by reducing their gas consumption to the  absolutely necessary amount to alleviate the shortage.

by eborujion on 06/25/2009 08:29:16 AM EST

A boycott will do no good (none / 0)

When has a boycott or ever helped in these situations? Remember the boycott and oil for food with Sadam, cutting off Cuba, the isolation of North Korea?

Sure the trade funds the dictators, but it also keeps the population healthy and informed so they can rise up on their own when the time is right.

The iranians may need to do a minor fall back to re-group and plan, but I think they can't retreat. I think now is their time, but they are going to have to do it on their own - they have to own it for it to really be successful.

About all the west can do is provide moral support and help keep the information technology alive and well for them. 

by rolodex on 06/25/2009 11:41:05 AM EST

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I see what you mean, (none / 0)
that boycotts don't really work because they are usually not strongly enforced because of course there is money to be made. I think Cuba and NK were much easier to boycott (and the effects less pronounced), because they were poor countries anyway and they had not much to sell (the cigars and the rum still made it to the rest of the world), to put it "slightly" over-simplified. Their people suffered of course because they would have needed to buy food and drugs and stuff.

And the boycott in Iraq has worked very well IMO.

Iran OTOH is a filthy rich country that really would hurt if we stopped buying their oil. And more important: it would hurt mostly the wealthy usurpers (relatively speaking). AFAIK Iran is not importing much goods which means they could probably sustain themselves foodwise. Another thing the West could do is freeze their foreign bank accounts, like the British already did.
And, of course, like you said keep them somehow online and provide them with IT stuff.

by eborujion on 06/25/2009 11:04:14 PM EST

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The biggest damage from boycotts (none / 0)

could actually be the lack of free information flow and human interaction with the outside world. It's the free flow of ideas that help people fight againt oppression, not money (it helps, but not absolutely needed). Maybe it's  kind of a corrolary to the "sunshine is the best disinfectant" saying about politics.

If you have followed Jason Jones reports from Iran for the Daily show, he sort of highlights how plugged in to the west they are. That is why I am pretty encouraged about Iran, they are still informed and connected. The last thing we want is for them to get cut off like North Korea is. I don't think those poor NK folks have any idea how screwed they are.

by rolodex on 06/25/2009 11:27:15 PM EST

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In touch (none / 0)
Yeah, you're totally right about the need to keep oppressed people somehow connected with the rest of the world. I watched some of the segments on the Daily show, they were truly amazing, they interviewed the right guys (well, real reformers, who are now in prison -as opposed to e.g. Mussawi...), got into private homes and talked to the people in the street. You would have never imagined that in this country would be such an obvious election fraud and violent street bashings by the police etc. That coverage (and the fact that they stayed in touch with the rest of the world via youtube and twitter) also gave me hope that the Iranians will be willing to get rid of that ugly system.

by eborujion on 06/25/2009 11:53:58 PM EST

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It may be time to retreat | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)