The world of 2010 frequently fails to remember how the Iranian revolution of 1979 which drove from power a shah whose regime was noted for suppression of individual rights was viewed by Western liberals. Opposition leader in Iran, MIr Hossein Mousavi, who played a leading role in overthrowing the Shah, said what they had set out to achieve has failed and been replaced by a “tyranny and dictatorship.” Even as he wrote, still another protestor has been condemned to death for expressing freedom of speech, a goal of the revolutionaries. “Dictatorship in the name of religion,” said Mousavi, “is the worst kind.. The most evident manifestation of a continued tyrannical attitude is the abuse of parliament and judiciary. We have completely lost hope in the judiciary.” He no longer believed the revolution ended the tyranny of brutality and oppression since it lives on in the current government.
Since the flawed election of Ahmadinejad in June of last year, there has been ongoing protests, killings of demonstrators, and executions carried out by the judiciary system. In the immortal words of the comic strip character, Pogo, “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
