Iran’s Green Movement Issues Manifesto

Via InsideIran, Iran’s opposition Green Movement has issued a manifesto outlining their goals. Key among these is "the complete subordination of all government and state posts to direct popular sovereignty," and "an end to the abuse of religion by political opportunists and the supporters of despotism and authoritarianism to achieve and protect their political and economic interests." This is effectively represents a call for the disestablishment of the velayet-faqih ("rule of the clerics," the system established by Ayatollah Khomeni). While the manifesto rejects the idea that the current system is reformable, it does not appear to call for the disestablishment of the Islamic Republic.

The Green Movement, the authors write, "consists of a myriad of peoples who, together, represent the cultural, ethnic, religious, and social fabric of our diverse society, and they are deeply concerned about the fate of their beloved country and religion."

The principles that unite all Greens are the goals of rule of law, respect for human rights, and the supremacy of popular sovereignty over all state and government institutions, including the post of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution. Thus, we reject the suggestion of the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, that we Greens and the supporters of Khamenei (in other words, the supporters of despotism) apologize to each other and go forward from there. Such a suggestion is irresponsible and ignores not only the coup d’etat of 2009, but also the massive violence used against our society by Khamenei and his system that resulted in, among other things, the murder and rape of our youth. We believe that Khatami’s suggestions in this regard are dangerous and threaten splits in the Green Movement and, if accepted, will result in a loss of our social capital. Khatami’s discourse of reform is over, since Khamenei and those behind him have shown that they are unwilling to take this course and will resort to murder and mass suppression in order to ensure their political and economic interests.

In an accompanying piece, one Green Movement activist, writing anonymously, observes how the movement has been inspired by the events of the Arab Spring:

The unfolding drama in the Arab world that has already brought down despots in Tunisia and Egypt has been watched closely here in Iran—and with a degree of amazement and envy on our part. We Green activists, along with the daily growing number of ‘regular’ people disgusted with the religious despotism of Ayatollah Khamenei and with the daily deteriorating economic situation, are asking: ‘How do I differ from these Arabs? Why has our own Green Movement, which back in 2009 shook the authoritarian and corrupt pillars of Khamenei’s Islamic government, failed to achieve the popular goals of democracy and seemingly fizzled out?’

The author calls upon Green Movement activists outside Iran "to put aside its endless discussions, personality issues, perhaps egos, and certainly fears and begin to address in a serious manner (and quickly) the issues we Greens inside the country have included in this manifesto."

Notably, the author also "reject[s] inclusion on any level of the MKO [Mujahideen-e Khalq] and the National Council of Resistance of Iran [NCRI] in our genuinely popular and indigenous movement which enjoys a large social base, unlike this group."

The MKO and its umbrella group, the NCRI, spend enormous amounts of money to present themselves here in Washington and other Western capitals as "Iran’s democratic government-in-exile," and they’ve unfortunately managed to fool quite a few American politicians into treating them as such. But as this and past statements from Green Movement activists have made clear, any perceived support for the MKO would be disastrous for the cause of Iranian democracy.