Some 4000 miles away from Tehran, Iranian Captain Ali Karimi walked onto a football pitch this week in Seoul wearing a green wristband -- and it made international headlines. While I was even further away from him, basking in the Libyan sun, I think it was at that point I caught a case of Iran fever.
I am not sure if you have it, but its symptoms include feverishly checking your Facebook and Twitter accounts (the latter if you are into that type of thing) for your friends' news regarding Iran. You may also be prone to asking 'Where is their vote' and having a newfound affinity to the color green. And somehow you are intrigued by statements from people whose names you cannot even pronounce properly. In fact there is a sustained transmission of the condition in a number of areas around the world and most likely it will be declared a pandemic in the near future.
What is the significance of this global outbreak of intrigue in the Iranian elections? As inconsequential as posting a YouTube link on a Facebook page may seem, these small declarations of support collectively have a greater significance than the recent 405-1 vote in the House of Representatives on the situation. Compared to the hollow and exploitative exhortations voiced by government representatives, the cacophony of mostly online outrage has shown an authentic face to the calls for democratic and human rights in Iran. It has become incredibly outlandish for the Supreme Leader to peddle accusations as he did Friday, that it is the 'evil' British and American regimes who are trying to meddle destructively in Iran's affairs. In fact, in the United States, the Obama administration has come across as far less buoyant about the prospects for a sea change in Iran than its many constituents.
In 1999 and 2003 street protests caught fleetingly the attention of the world, but it is the exuberant and vibrant demonstrations today that have captured our imagination. It is important that we are not distracted, and do not, once again, leave the Iranian people alone to fend off the many institutions undemocratically dedicated to resisting a transformation of the Islamic Republic. It is a century-old dance that the Iranian people have engaged in with their rulers to demand greater freedom and rights.
Newspaper editor Mirza Jahangir Khan and others led a constitutionalist revolution in 1906, eventually establishing an independent parliament, only to see it eventually shelled by Russian forces. Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq forced the Shah to devolve power to legislative institutions, only to be ousted in a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1953. And yes even intellectual Ali Shariati inspired a revolutionary spirit in Iranian youth for a democratic and Islamic Iran, only to have it contorted to support a myopic attempt to repress all attempts for an open society.
The reverberating desire for a modern democracy continues to beat through the hearts of Tehran and in the chants of citizens around the country. Yet, what turn will the nuanced tug-of-war take inside the country? How will a regime treat an opposition that includes a former President Mohammed Khatami, a former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and even the prominent granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini, Zahra Eshraghi? Can the unadulterated call by youth from around the world be sustained and unexploited or will governments slowly occupy the public space to obfuscate the message with political lingo and antiquated notions of rivalry?
There is a sense that my 'Iran fever' will not be cured until there is finally the change that Iranians so deserve in that land of great poets, great leaders, and great faiths. The fight is not for the West and against Islam nor vice versa, but is rather a struggle for freedom pure and simple. With all the glimpses of hope from the past, perhaps today is a seminal moment and that makes the continued expression of genuine support from around the world that much more important. So continue to update your Facebook status, wear the color green, and spread the photos coming out of Iran and hopefully this time around, it will help bring about an evolution of the revolution - inshallah.