Winds of Change blowing in Iran

Fire of Liberty

It seems that Akbar Ganji's brave stand for freedom in Evin prison has reverberated throughout the democratic movement in Iran. As most readers of Fire of Liberty are aware, 60% of Iran's population is under the age of thirty and are overwhelmingly pro-American and pro-democracy. While the mullahs might think they can continue their tyrannous way and ignore Ganji's calls for democracy and freedom, they are in for a rude awakening. Just look at what Eli Lake reported in The New York Sun yesterday:

In an interview yesterday, a spokesman for Tahkim Vahdat, Akbar Atri, told The New York Sun that starting in September, university chapters of his organization will hold a series of seminars on the prospects of a referendum on Iran's constitution, which enshrines the near-absolute power of the unelected supreme leader.

The prediction from the student group's spokesman is significant in light of Mr. Ahmadinejad's election last month.

The incoming president is widely considered a representative of Iran's fundamentalist militia known as the Basij, thugs often deployed to violently disperse student demonstrations.

"We still held a demonstration in front of Tehran University for Ganji even without proper papers and the police attacked us," Mr. Atri said, noting that the universities were on a summer schedule. "As soon as the universities open you will see more and more intense activities in support of democracy and Akbar Ganji."

I've got to hand it to Ganji and the student democratic movement for taking such a brave stand in Iran. After some 24 years of the horrific mullah takeover, I think that the folks of Iran want to be freed once and for all from the mullahs. They just need a little moral, political and economic help hand from the US much like the Poles had in their fight against their communist masters. Let's hope the US gets started soon.