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Opinion
Iran�s Democracy
by William R. Stimson
 We
don�t have to look far to find who�s behind the stolen election in Iran.
One man alone has the authority to pull it off. State thugs gun down an
innocent young woman in plain daylight on the streets of Tehran? It�s
his doing. The killing is blamed on the protesters themselves? Him
again. The family is denied permission to hold a funeral in the mosque?
Him. The body is nabbed and spirited out of sight. Him. Black mourning
cloth out front of the family�s home is ripped down? Him. The family is
ousted from their home and every trace of them is eliminated? That bears
his signature as well � the way he micromanages every tiny detail. What
we�ve seen writ large all across Iran � college computers smashed by
government thugs, a whole people muffled and denied expression, each
telling detail of the whole big canvas � is a picture of the heart of
the spiritual leader of Iran.
It reminds me of an ancient Islamic tale. The great Ayatollahs in a city
of old found out that at exactly 12 noon on a given day God would make
his appearance in a certain square of the marketplace. On that day they
had all the vendors driven from that square, had it swept clean and
covered in priceless rugs, and then crowded in all around the edge of
the square, every one of them in their turbans and official garb, and
waited. The moment the clock struck 12 noon, some common person stumbled
in from the street. The moment his dusty boots soiled the expensive
carpet, the grand Ayatollah stood up and lashed out in anger, �How dare
you desecrate the spot where God himself is to appear!�
The simple man looked up at the Ayatollah in surprise. �I am greater
than God,� he replied.
�NOBODY is greater than God!� thundered the furious Ayatollah. "Who do
you think you are?" he demanded.
�I am nobody,� the man replied. He turned and retreated back from whence
he came. In an instant he was lost in the crowd on the street.
The Iranian Islamic Revolution is based on a truth � the authority of
God can reside in one person � but represents a flawed understanding of
that truth; because it is not for man to choose who that person is. This
can only be done by God.
We have all, by the mere fact of being here, been chosen by God in a
sense. But there may be, at any given moment in the whole world, only
one person who speaks and acts with the true authority of God. The hitch
is that nobody can really know who that person is � for this instant
it�s one individual; the next it�s another. The democratic component of
Iran�s system is not just a cosmetic covering. It�s the essence of the
Islamic Revolution.
The only sin committed by the protesters in Iran who have been beaten,
shot at, and now effectively driven from the streets � is that they have
a higher and truer concept of God than the Ayatollah, a concept that
includes freedom, justice, fairness, and truth.
It�s a failure of Iran�s system of government that a lying, cheating,
and small-minded leader presumes to speak for a God that is truthful,
broadminded, and honest. The true word of God is left no outlet except
through the people�s voice. The protests we see aren�t against God and
they aren�t against Islam. They aren�t against Iran and they aren�t
against the government. They�re against a small-hearted impostor who has
too puny an idea of religion and God and has attempted by brute force to
impose this on an ancient, pious, and great people.
If the other Ayatollahs let him get away with this, the Iranian Islamic
Revolution will have failed.
August 2,
2009
William R. Stimson is an
American writer living in Taiwan. More of his writing can be found at
www.billstimson.com
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