Making history in Iran

By MICHAEL HALEY

No matter how things turn out in Iran in the immediate future, a huge statement has been made by the Iranian people that they want more freedom, and my belief is that in the future we will see the manifestation of their courageous actions.

This whole situation is very reminiscent of the events in 1989 in Tiananmen Square in China, where as many as 20,000 people may have been killed in the streets protesting for their freedom.. Because the media was closed down by the Chinese government, we may never know the exact number killed or exactly how the events unfolded. Since that time various witnesses have provided information, and there is no doubt that thousands were killed.

One chilling description was provided by a young American woman who was interning at a college there and had an apartment on Tiananmen Square itself. As she watched through her window, she saw that all through the night protesters lined up and threw themselves at the soldiers, who then gunned them down, in line after line, going on all night literally for hours.

In contrast, in Iran they have been unable to completely shut down the media, and indeed using twitter protesters were able to get thousands, by some reports tens of thousands, of Iranian protesters to go to their roofs last night to shout Alaho Akbar. It was chilling watching the YouTube on line, particularly knowing that that was what happened during the Iranian revolution in 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini was installed as dictator.

This is a story that is largely being carried by new media on line, bloggers and on line video, twitter, while over the weekend CNN and the other news channels were largely absent. This is a huge positive story that is world changing in potential and it is amazing how out of it the major media has been.

I am watching Glenn Beck doing his usual slobbering, at the moment about bond yields, on Fox and most of the media is carrying this as just another segment on their usual broadcasts. The New York Times even ran an embarrassing story that Ahmedinijad has consolidated his power while riots still rage in the streets and the Iranian government was forced today to make concessions to Mousavi that they recount the ballots which were almost certainly fraudulently counted.

Everyone wondered what happened after the Tiananmen riots, and was it all for naught? As time has unfolded, however, it has become apparent that that resolve for freedom by the Chinese people gradually manifested itself in greater and greater freedoms as the government was forced to loosen up control. Those students who came out and spoke out for freedom in China gradually became part of the power structure and their reforms have brought China into the world as a major economic force, as well as granting more and more freedom for individuals there as well.

The same process is starting now in Iran, and Obama is wise not to intervene too directly in this. It is the Iranian people’s process, and they are giving their lives for freedom as I write. It will have huge benefits down the road for all of us.

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009