This is not a political post, just my worries!
First let me apologize for this very long post but it was inevitable if it was to be a thorough and complete one, I'll try to write less and less from now on :D Oh and the Paypal link on top is a donation account for an Iranian widow who has had a heart surgery recently and is in need of urgent help now that she has been instructed by the doctors not to work at all and has orphaned children to feed, your help is truely appreciated, thanks :)
People email and ask about the election, how it went, whether I voted and whether it has affected my freedom to write in this blog. Well first of all I was one of those people who believed that we should all vote although our choices had been limited by subjective elimination of competition. Democracy, I think, has to be practised, otherwise, it rather not exist. But then again we are living in a country where there is no organized movement among people who have the same beliefs.
The parties acted extremely poorly during this election, they did not give out any kind of practical suggestion for the crisis; they just froze in their protesting mood which I believe was rather selfish. Just because their own candidates were crossed out they asked everybody to sit at home and do nothing. In my opinion, this was not the right way to approach the issue.
As far as I know there is no revolution going on in my country and as far as the people are concerned that one revolution is still haunting them after 25 years, they are still suffering due to the repercussions and just want to be left alone. In the present condition what would it mean for me not to take part in an election that determines the future of my country's law-making for the next couple of years?! The only outcome would be the absolute and powerful victory of those I believe not to be fit for the position at all. Well I cannot complain about it now, can I? I cannot refute the laws they make or say they are not my representative 'cause I simply lost my chance to make a difference or have say in the matter.
I was trying my best to persuade people to go and vote for the independent candidates at least. I mean let's be realistic here, no change of regime is going to happen any time soon and our only way towards freedom and democracy is through moderate and gradual change. We are the majority who are dissatisfied with the way things are but at the same time we are the silent and passive majority. On the other hand, the minority is a very organized and loud one; one that is ready to kill and be killed, hit and be hit for the cause. As for us, the majority? No way in hell you're going to get any of these people who are consistently nagging about the ruling power to leave their cozy homes and come to the streets, I repeat, NO WAY! And why should they anyways?! Experience has shown us a worse choice with emptier pockets are just waiting to get to the top on our shoulders.
And one other thing that my friend so cleverly mentioned in his blog (written in Persian unfortunately) we should not judge Iranians' reactions and actions upon the data we receive from the internet. I mean what percentage of people all around Iran has access to the online world? The participation in small towns and cities was fairly high and even in big cities people took part in spite of all the propaganda against voting.
One thing there were saying as a reason for not voting was that by this we legitimize this regime, well excuse me, correct me if I'm wrong but all those years that nobody was voting and therefore nobody was legitimizing anybody what happened? Ok let us presume for one instance that if we don’t vote the regime is not approved by people and so it's illegitimate, now what?! The international pressure, you say? Who has been suffering and is going to suffer because of that kind of pressure and sanctions in reality? The government? The leaders? Those who disqualified all those candidates? Those candidates which were disqualified? The president? The MPs? Of course not, you know it and I know it that it's the PEOPLE who are going to suffer the most, just like Iraqis who suffered all that time while Saddam was having a ball!
Do you really think our people are the kind who would want some foreign force to come and bring them freedom overnight? Let's take a step back and ask this first: do you think freedom and change can be achieved by interference of a foreign power that has no idea who we really are, overnight?
I sincerely believe in gradual and moderate change; I am annoyed by the present status as much as any other Iranian with the dream of a free and developed Iran, but I also think that this is not the right path we are on, I suffer due to all the absurd and inhuman attitude of my leaders but by not participating in civil actions that lead to the selection of the members of the most important legislative power of my country just because one or more parties did not have representatives in it, is not the solution.
I did not vote, but I should have. I did not vote because I knew my vote was not going to make a difference because in an emotional, radical and irrational decision my fellow countrymen chose to be passive. Now this passivity is going to have consequences for all of us and I just hope that now that the reformist movement disappointed us so horribly we can see some positive changes and reforms from within in the party that took hold of the parliament this round.
I am hopeful that they just might have realized how and where they have lost our trust and faith and try to earn it with useful and logical lawmaking. Let us pray that my optimism is not so far off :)
