It has been almost three weeks since the disputed presidential election in Iran.

It’s been almost three weeks since the disputed presidential election in Iran. On Thursday, the government announced that seven more people had been arrested for provoking violence during the protests that followed.

While the demonstrations have ended, the voices of protest have not been silenced. In a statement, opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi said again that he considers the government illegitimate.

Sanaz Arjomand is an Iranian-American college student who has spent the summer in Iran with family. In the recent election, she voted for Mousavi. Some of her family members, though, are ardent Ahmadinejad supporters — leading to heated debates in this Iranian home.

What the other side sees

My cousin and my mom warned me before I came to this house. “They’re very religious…their father is very much a part of the regime…are you sure you’ll be comfortable?” With my American bravado, I promised to grin and bear it. They’re family, after all.

When asked who I voted for, I answered honestly that I voted for Moussavi, and did my best not to answer when asked why I didn’t (and don’t) like Ahmadinejad. Things started heating up when, in response to my hesitation, the oldest daughter answered for me that I didn’t like him because others told me not to. I listened to her mother tell me that there was no cheating in the election, that because Ahmadinejad really reached out to the poorer areas (i.e. handed out chickens and potatoes, I thought) he had legitimately won. I didn’t bring up the findings of the Guardian Council, that in their partial review 50 cities had more than 100 percent of the population vote.

The real blow came after a little discussion of my disapproval of Ahmadinejad’s foreign actions. I was absolutely floored when the lady of the house started badmouthing President Obama. I value his idealistic and innovative leadership, and I told her so. Although I could understand her suspiscion towards politicians, I tried to tell her that corruption here doesn’t necessarily mean that every politician in the world is corrupt. I was annoyed by her warnings that after 10 years word would come out about all of Obama’s shady dealings. What sent me over the edge, and unfortunatly and embarassingly made me raise my voice, was her accusation that Zionist lobbyists brought Obama to power!

I was furious. What made her think that? Did she read it somewhere? Was there a study published? No. She got her information from none other than the Iranian state media. This is where my volume went up. The state controls your media, I told her. They’re creating a common enemy so that you’re too scared to confront their dictatorial control.

I shouldn’t have said it. She knew to let matters cool down after that, saying that my view was one way to look at it, sure. I listened politely as her older daughter then calmly told me of Moussavi’s frailities, of his political spin and his revolution-era Islamic zeal. That’s fine, and I don’t doubt for a moment that Moussavi and even his wife got caught up as was explained. What I cared about when I voted was a new face for Iran, the hope that brought young people out into the streets because they thought their vote could make a difference, could change their country into something livable, something at least a tiny bit better than it is now.

- Sanaz Arjomand

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Poseyal Knight of the DESPOSYNI under a Creative Commons license.

Arang Keshavarzian, an associate professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University and an editor of the Middle East Report Journal, joins Martin Savidge to discuss news coverage of Iran and what other forms of protests might emerge.

At a news conference, the president said what has happened in Iran is “profound,” and he was more critical than he has been of the election and the violence against demonstrators that followed.

Iran’s security forces have been intensifying their crackdown in recent days, sometimes brutally.

Richard Bulliet, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Columbia University, joins Martin Savidge to discuss what the future holds for Iran’s protesters and what role the U.S. will play.

Former two-term president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who currently heads the Assembly of Experts — which has the authority to oversee the supreme leader — and Ayatollah Khamenei are thought to have a strained relationship.

Throughout the campaign, Rafsanjani was very critical of President Ahmedinejad. Recently, his daughter, Faezed Hashemi, was arrested while speaking to a crowd of hundreds at a rally in support of Ahmedinejad’s main rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Geneive Abdo of The Century Foundation joins Martin Savidge to discus the power structure in the Islamic Republic and how important the clerical struggle really is.

Iran’s supreme leader also blamed Americans, the British and Zionists for the turmoil in his country, and once again criticized the United States for its support of Israel. Israel considers Iran its greatest existential threat.

Ronen Bergman, one of Israel’s leading investigative journalists and author of “The Secret War With Iran,” joins Martin Savidge to discuss the Israeli government’s take on the current showdown in Iran and how it may come to an end.

Mir-Hossein Mousavi — the challenging reformist candidate who many claim to be the true winner — will meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Guardian Council on Saturday, along with two other losing candidates.

Numerous demonstrators have reportedly been physically abused by the Revolutionary Guard since the start of the street protests.

Ervand Abrahamian, a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York, joins Martin Savidge to discuss what the future may hold for this post-election tumult.

A journalist with Tehran Bureau who wishes to remain anonymous sends a description of recent happenings to Worldfocus:

On Wednesday, another huge throng (several tens of thousands of protesters) marched peacefully from Haft-e-Tir Square to Enqelab Square in central Tehran — in silence (no slogan-chanting), dressed in black (for mourning) and green (for Mousavi), carrying flowers and the following types of placards:

- blown-up photos of the dead & wounded in past days (from photos circulating on the Internet)

- the text of a constitutional article that states “all peaceful demonstrations are allowed” under the law

- caricatures of Ahmadinejad with a Hitler-like moustache

- sympathy messages for the families of the fallen

- slogans printed on banners, such as: (phrases rhyme in Farsi)

• “Election, not selection”
• “Coup d’etat state, step down!”
• “Liar! Where’s your 63 percent?” (i.e., of votes)
• “Cheating — 1 or 2 percent, not 53 percent!”
• “Wretched Mahmoud — you still call it football?” (in reference to his answer to Christiane Amanpour, comparing protesters to dissapointed soccer fans)

Today’s march is slated for Toopkhaneh Square to the Grand Bazaar (South Tehran). It appears that a different route & different district is chosen everyday, so to increase visibility among Tehran’s 15 million residents. Of course, all routes chosen so far are large and busy thoroughfares, which is causing heavy traffic.

A protest in front of the U.N. mission is also planned for earlier in the day.

Energy for protests seems to be gaining momentum, because every day more people learn about the peaceful nature of the marches and their massive attendance and join in for the next day’s. More importantly, fear of police intervention in these marches has subsided, as police simply stand by and watch.

Interestingly, info is now spreading by word-of-mouth on the street. Strangers literally tell each other about the next day’s march location, from car to car and passerby to passerby. Some are printing & distributing infosheets on the streets as well (the type of info found on chain e-mails, to give to those who may not have Internet access).

There are increasing reports of raids on private homes to take away satellite dishes. People are increasingly turning to radio as a source of news.

The demonstrations by supporters of pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi were described as the largest since the results were announced, and they were largely peaceful. The election dispute gained another dimension after Iran’s supreme leader ordered an investigation of Mousavi’s claims that the election had been stolen.

Ervand Abrahamian, a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the election results, allegations of fraud and how this complicates U.S. President Barack Obama’s desire to start a dialogue with Iran.

Iranian police have cracked down on foreign media covering the protests,and some protesters even shooed away secret police from foreign reporters. But as governments try to curtail the flow of information, citizen journalists have used new Internet technology to bypass restrictions.

Blogger Sanaz Arjomand observes the situation from northern Iran:

The rest of my family lament the “democracy” in Iran and get angry about the obvious taqqalob, or cheating. What I’ve heard most often is that the Rahbar (Supreme Leader) hand-picked Ahmadinejad anyway, that it was obvious that they would cheat and that they themselves would have to suffer for four more years.

In the teeny little town of Maragheh, in northeastern Iran, Ahmadinejad supporters are out in the street. But in Tehran and other bigger towns, it’s chaos. BBC Persia was showing beatings in the street and huge protests (like a river, my cousin said, they kept flowing). What I found interesting is that unlike the campaigning I wanted to post about earlier, these protests are taking place on foot. People are not hiding behind their steering wheels or zooming around on motorcycles. Instead of the “Ahmadi bye-bye!” chants (and many, many more clever ones that I’ll remember to post soon), the young crowd was shouting: Moussavi, Moussavi, ray-e ma ra pass bedee! (Moussavi, Moussavi, return our votes!)

Mousavi postponed rally plans, and the government continues its crackdown. A young Iranian student reports:

A friend of mine emailed me these lines from the University of Tehran campus where there have been wide protests: “We are in the campus my friend, tear gas is being thrown at us like a heavy snow fall, the entire building I am in right now is filled with gas. Two of my friends were wounded thirty minutes ago. There is fire everywhere. I thought I came here to study but there is nothing here but war. I can only tell you this so you’d share it on Facebook. I tried using a proxy to access Facebook but its still not possible. Thanks so much. And by the way, please don’t mention my name because there have been wide arrests everywhere.

[...] I have been numb, speechless and in tears for the past few days. These kids are Iran’s brightest students. I went to school with them. We ate lunch together and shared our sandwiches. What is happening to them?

Gary Sick, a former member of the National Security Council, writes on his Tumblr blog:

If the reports coming out of Tehran about an electoral coup are sustained, then Iran has entered an entirely new phase of its post-revolution history. One characteristic that has always distinguished Iran from the crude dictators in much of the rest of the Middle East was its respect for the voice of the people, even when that voice was saying things that much of the leadership did not want to hear…The current election appears to repudiate both of those rules. The authorities were faced with a credible challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who had the potential to challenge the existing power structure on certain key issues. He ran a surprisingly effective campaign, and his “green wave” began to be seen as more than a wave. In fact, many began calling it a Green Revolution. For a regime that has been terrified about the possibility of a “velvet revolution,” this may have been too much.

Allahpundit wonders if Obama’s administration might just “accept” the Iranian election results:

What if Obama did walk away, though? There’s actually another possibility here: Western leaders protest the result by ending negotiations and refusing to recognize Ahmadinejad as president, which in turn encourages protesters to keep up their agitation for several more months. Paralyzed and afraid of being overthrown, the regime becomes so desperate that it agrees to give up the nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of all sanctions and renewed diplomatic ties with the U.S. in hopes that the economic turnaround produced by the influx of foreign capital will placate the people. The dilemma for The One here is that he campaigned on the moronic assumption that Iran might conceivably be willing to make a deal on nukes if we just talked nice to them or sweetened our offer a bit. Now comes the moment of truth: Does he really believe that? Does he honestly believe, after years of stonewalling, with the country maybe a year away from being able to build a bomb, that they’re going to throw in the towel now? If not, then walk away. There’s no downside and potentially a tremendous upside if the regime falls or a grateful Mousavi ends up being installed as president. And needless to say, from a moral standpoint, he’d be on the side of the angels. Conflict with the regime is inevitable; if the Iranian public’s willing to fight our battle for us, let’s support them with all we’ve got.

Bloggers around the world are expressing surprise at the vitality of the Iranian public. For weeks, the campaign has featured painted activists and heated debates. The pivotal issues in this election include diplomacy with the U.S. and economic reforms. Due to heavy turnout, voting has been extended, and the tallies will begin coming in throughout the night.

Sanaz Arjomand writes from Maragheh in northern Iran:

The general trend seems to be that Mousavi is the best of the bad choices (which reminds me of Bush vs. Kerry), especially in large cities. Because Ahmadinejad has been handing out chickens and potatoes in the rural areas, though, his backing is still fairly strong. The outcome depends mostly on whether the population of youth (about 70%) or the population of poorer Iranians makes a stronger showing at the polls. The thing that I’ve noticed the most, however, is that nobody has any hope that the election will turn out the way they hope (i.e. Mousavi supporters are sure Ahmadinejad will cheat and win, and Ahmadinejad supporters are dismayed by the fanfare surrounding Mousavi’s campaign), nor any hope that this election will really change anything.

Either way, my Iranian birth certificate is in my purse and I’m ready to cast my vote. As they were singing on the streets of Tehran, “Ahmadi bye-bye!”

The media buzz suggests that women and young people are largely casting votes against Ahmadinejad. Mousavi’s wife has attracted huge crowds at campaign rallies. Marzieh Ghiasi, an Iranian in Canada, enthusiastically comments on a historic vote:

While cynicism remains strong and every candidate can be criticized and rightfully so, I can’t help but admire those who go to the polls to make a sincere effort towards a better tomorrow. They go with optimism and the hope that promises that have been made will be delivered. Whatever the outcome of this election, with a vote-turnout that is expected to reach into 80% (pretty incredible!), I am most glad that Iranians are so passionate about the opportunity to vote and take their fate into their own hands. I hope the same kind of fervor and call to responsibility is carried on in the post-election era because as it goes… any day without apathy is a good day.

A Turkish blogger, Sinan Kolat, describes the symbolism of this election from his vantage point in Istanbul.

It seems as the tables have turned as the color green, the symbol of Islam, is now the color of reform. Mousavi’s campaign uses it well and the youth in the streets of Tehran have been demonstrating fiercely under their new symbol. The photos coming from the country shows the change and hope, with women['s] hair clearly visible. Just like wearing a turban is a political, rather than religious, symbol in Turkey; not wearing a turban is a political symbol in Iran.

Hamid Taqvaee, the current leader of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, is seen as one of the most vocal and radical figures opposed to the Islamic Republic:

Only the factions closest to the state and only those given the go ahead by Khamenei, the supreme spiritual leader, can participate. The rest are excluded. Only the closest insiders can run and that is why the final few candidates are always pillars of the regime…Look at this election – from Ahmadinejad, Karoubi, Mousavi to Rezai – all have been instrumental in the repression and executions that have taken place.

Even many in their own ‘second Khordad’ or ‘reformist’ faction are not allowed to participate in the election. If in Turkey or Pakistan a Council of Guardians decided on who could run, the election would be canceled! In other elections, if a candidate gets less television airtime than another, complaints are made to rectify the situation. Now if you compare the situation in Iran with that of Sweden or Denmark or France, you will see that even in the first instance what happens in Iran is anything but an election!

Campaigners and voters have shown tremendous passion for the political process and debates. Mahaan, an Iranian-American blogger, suggests:

It has been an unbelievable 2 weeks in Iran. Hot series of TV debates and constant party mode on the streets which was the best sample of tolerance and respect among the citizens, gave all of us a surprising image of our society. Independent of it, this election has given a new shape to the Iranian political and civil discourse.

The sucky part was the low key coverage that the western media gave to these events. Until last Wednesday, the coverage was minimal and even after that, it never reached the level that many smaller Iranian events (small student protest, or Roxana Saberi’s court) were covered. Maybe this relates to a higher level western policy of silence and respect that exist these days with respect to this election.

Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discusses the election and what it may mean for the United States.