Notes of an Iranian girl is, rather unsurprisingly, a blog by a young Iranian high-school student who is just finishing her exams.
I’ve just blogrolled her after reading her humane accounts of the events taking place in Tehran now. I fervently wish that the prayers are answered for the university students who have been protesting, for the past five nights, against the theocracy which prevails there.
An interesting account by ‘Iranian girl’ is the reports of the police not involving themselves in the actual suppressions. Indeed, it appears that in some instances they are actually encouraging the protesters. I remember a history teacher of mine, talking about the Russian Revolution, telling us that revolutions can never succeed without the active support and participation of the police and army. The original Iranian Revolution, which deposed Shah Pahlavi in 1979, itself only succeeded because the army were involved in it on the side of the Islamic revolutionaries.
I wonder whether what we’re seeing is the continued evolution of that original revolution and not merely a counter-revolution. Well, in my humble opinion, it can only be a good thing for the people of Iran if their protests succeed. I think it was clear to me that something needed to happen when I began to read reports of women being harrassed for wearing the wrong colour hijab! (This link is to a slightly irreverent Guardian article but the ‘Iranian girl’ blog about it is unavailable – blame Blogspot archives!)
The irony is that Mohammad Khatemi, Iran’s reformist President, is in the minds of many of these protesters, being lumped togethor with Ali Khamenei, the ultimately powerful Ayatollah in Chief! Which is a bit unfair as he has been trying to bring about change but that change has been thwarted to a greater extent by the hard-liners and now, one hopes, they’ll all be swept away on the tide of a genuine democratic expression of the will of the Iranian people.
Any real reading of the history of Islamic peoples will show that Iran, (Persia), has always had a powerful influence on the direction of Islamic civilisation.
[UPDATE: As usual, I’ve only just jumped onto an already crowded bandwagon – Editor: Myself is another Persian weblogger who links to yet others including his friend, the once arrested but recently released blogger, Sina Motallebi. He also has an excellent Persian blogging resources section]