Below is an excerpt from an article by BMCC Executive Director of Public Affairs Barry Rosen titled, “For Iran, No Happy Ending,” appearing on FoxNews.com, comparing the recent uprising in Egypt to Iran’s revolution over 30 years ago:
“It would be wonderful to see the savage regime in Iran go the way of Egypt and its democracy movement. ¿
After viewing the street uprisings in Egypt and former President Hosni Mubarak’s quick departure to Sharm el-Sheikh, Americans also watching Iran’s most recent countrywide demonstrations may be thinking: ‘Now the Iranian people will finally get the upper hand against their autocratic mullahs and street thugs, the Revolutionary Guards’. ¿
¿But sadly for the Iranian people, who are enduring human rights violations, torture and brutality at the hands of the “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, there won’t be a happy ending. Iran, after all, is no Egypt. ¿
¿Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why the Egyptian Revolution and the Iranian Revolution of 1979 are so different, and why the Iranian people will continue to endure the pain of authoritarianism. ¿ ¿
The Egyptian uprising was led by a youthful and cohesive mass of young secularists and others who used social networking to band together against Mubarak’s oppressive police. The Islamic element in Egypt, symbolized by the Muslim Brotherhood, was not even part of this uprising and, in that sense, lagged behind the ‘people’. ¿
¿Conversely, in 1979 Iran, the revolution against the shah was a partnership of discredited secular parties and Iranian theologians or mullahs who believed it was their turn to run the country. These Islamic theologians and their followers were led by a single figure, Ayatollah Khomeini, who was exiled in Paris, and sent orders to his theological lieutenants via audio cassettes.”
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