Iran's Reform Movement Growing

[Itsthetruth]

CounterPunch
June 15, 2005

A Threat to Iran's Theocrats and US Neocons
Iran's Growing Reform Movement
By NORMAN SOLOMON


For their own reasons, the rulers in both countries refuse to acknowledge the vital significance of support for presidential candidate Mostafa Moin, now the most prominent voice for democracy and human rights in Iranian politics. The Moin campaign drew 10,000 people to a rally at a Tehran stadium Tuesday night. A number of speakers emphasized that the campaign is aiming to lay groundwork for a movement -- and this election is just the beginning.

"You are supporters of democracy," a coordinator of the Moin campaign said at the rally. Mostly, he was speaking to young people. In fact, the average age in the stadium was probably somewhere in the mid-20s. In a country where more than two-thirds of the population is under 30 and the voting age is 15, the sands of repression could slip away beneath the aging feet of Koran-thumping autocrats.

A gathering of 10,000 Iranian people openly backing extensive democratization as part of an established electoral process would surprise anyone who accepts overall U.S. media depictions of Iran. And I was struck by the energetic determination and clarity of democratic purpose that infused the rally. But the democracy movement in Iran is not on a roll. Campaign rallies for Iran's incumbent reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, were much larger four years ago. The drop-off reflects deep disappointment that clerical establishment rulers have been able to largely thwart Khatami's efforts.

Moin, an educator and medical doctor, has taken the baton from a supportive Khatami. Nearing the end of a steeply uphill race for Iran's presidency, Moin has been speaking around the country. On the day of the rally, the Tehran Times reported Wednesday, the outspoken Moin "referred to the upcoming establishment of a Democracy and Human Rights Front in Iran to defend the rights of all Iran's religious and ethnic groups, the youth, academicians, women, and political opposition groups whose rights are often neglected."

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