Socialist Worker issue 507 l 10 June 2009

Iran vote sparks movement

Iran’s tenth post-revolution election has sparked a wave of grassroots political activity, especially among Iranian youth who make up nearly two-thirds of the population.

Mir Hussein Moussavi, the reformist candidate running against current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a former prime minister who is seen to represent a growing desire for change and more freedoms in Iran.

Recent election results in Lebanon do not bode well for Ahmadinejad who needs 50 per cent of the vote in the preliminary vote on June 12 to avoid a run-off on June 19. If he doesn’t win on the first round, opposition votes are likely to rally around Moussavi.

In the weeks ahead of the election, activists have joined vibrant street rallies waving green banners, flags and scarves—the colour of Moussavi’s campaign. Reformers are calling for more social justice and political freedoms, and have criticized Ahmadinejad’s handling of the economy, especially as oil prices have dropped.

Despite repression by the Iranian state, the level of freedom in the country is much higher than in US-backed Arab regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where any show of political opposition is routinely met with violence.