Send a Freedom Flotilla to Tehran?
With the one-year anniversary of the Iranian elections coming up next week, FP asked an all-star roster of Iranian-American writers to weigh in on what we’ve learned in the last 12 months. The result? "Misreading Tehran," our package of articles on what the media, and U.S. journalists in particular, got wrong about the election and ...
With the one-year anniversary of the Iranian elections coming up next week, FP asked an all-star roster of Iranian-American writers to weigh in on what we've learned in the last 12 months.
With the one-year anniversary of the Iranian elections coming up next week, FP asked an all-star roster of Iranian-American writers to weigh in on what we’ve learned in the last 12 months.
The result? "Misreading Tehran," our package of articles on what the media, and U.S. journalists in particular, got wrong about the election and the Green Movement that arose to protest against it. From Azadeh Moaveni’s recounting of the brutal conditions under which reporters in Iran must operate, to Reza Aslan’s mea culpa for overestimating the immediate impact of the opposition, to Abbas Milani’s revelations about the regime’s hard-line cadres of "cyberjihadists," it’s a must read.
Put together, the authors make a passionate case that the legitimacy of Iran’s Islamic Revolution is now in deep doubt, and that the opposition won’t be stamped out as easily as many observers seem to think.
So, what to do? Can outsiders do anything to help the belaguered Greens? Here’s a thought experiment: Why not send a "freedom flotilla"to Tehran, armed not with building supplies (or metal bars) but with tools to help democratic organizers evade the regime’s blockade?
Yes, yes, there are surely some pesky obstacles to consider. Notably, that the nearest major port, Abadan, lies some 1,000 kilometers to the south. The nearest rivers are the Karaj and the Jajrud, to the west and east of the city, respectively.
And what of the fearsome Revolutionary Guard — those bearded revolutionaries who spent the past year beating demonstrators, arresting leading civil society figures, and amassing billions in state-directed profits? They might not prove quite as solicitous of human rights as the Israeli government, which promptly released the activists from the Mavi Marmara last week. Remember, these are the folks who are still holding hostage three American hikers who foolishly strayed out of Iraqi Kurdistan last year, on the grounds that they might be U.S. spies.
So … on second thought … maybe not such a hot idea. Still, surely there are things the world can do other than retweeting, right?
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