Hassan Dai, 7.6.2011

The Iranian regime’s coming parliamentary elections are nourishing factional animosities inside the regime and causing divide between the so-called leaders of the green movement and what remains of its popular base.

Eager to reconcile with the Supreme Leader and participate in the show, these leaders are criticized and rejected by the vast majority of green networks active inside and outside Iran.

While the Iranians in general and the greens in particular are disillusioned with the regime and the so-called reform movement, these leaders have mostly tried to “contain” the social uprising in the boundaries of the system and prevent the domination of “regime change” discourse.

The former President Mohammad Khatami’s repeated overtures toward the Supreme Leader have been followed by others who publicly preach reconciliation with the Iranian dictator. These declarations are seen as a major reason for the absence of popular demonstrations in the country.

In fact, the two last calls by the green leaders for demonstrations in Iran on June 15 and 16, received an astonishing no-response from the Iranians. You cannot publicly declare that the moment has come to reconcile with the Supreme Leader,  and at the same time, ask the people to confront the repressive police and expect prison, torture and even execution.

The reformist leaders are rejected by the system and are incapable and unwilling to join the popular demand for a regime change. The prospect for their integration into the power structure seems unreal and the regime’s social, economic and political impasse will certainly radicalize the Iranian democratic movement that marginalize the so-called reformist leaders.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

http://iraniansforum.com/index.php/washington-insight/116-the-green-disillusion