Coup & Rebellion

Iran is the epicenter of political immediacy at this very moment. The corrupt religious power masters appear to have stolen the election in particularly blatant fashion. Juan Cole lays out the facts, classic features of stolen elections on display. Gary Sick has the timeline:

On the basis of what we know so far, here is the sequence of events starting on the afternoon of election day, Friday, June 12.

• Near closing time of the polls, mobile text messaging was turned off nationwide
• Security forces poured out into the streets in large numbers
• The Ministry of Interior (election headquarters) was surrounded by concrete barriers and armed men
• National television began broadcasting pre-recorded messages calling for everyone to unite behind the winner
• The Mousavi campaign was informed officially that they had won the election, which perhaps served to temporarily lull them into complacency
• But then the Ministry of Interior announced a landslide victory for Ahmadinejad
• Unlike previous elections, there was no breakdown of the vote by province, which would have provided a way of judging its credibility
• The voting patterns announced by the government were identical in all parts of the country, an impossibility (also see the comments of Juan Cole at the title link)
• Less than 24 hours later, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamene`i publicly announced his congratulations to the winner, apparently confirming that the process was complete and irrevocable, contrary to constitutional requirements
• Shortly thereafter, all mobile phones, Facebook, and other social networks were blocked, as well as major foreign news sources.

All of this had the appearance of a well orchestrated strike intended to take its opponents by surprise – the classic definition of a coup. Curiously, this was not a coup of an outside group against the ruling elite; it was a coup of the ruling elite against its own people.

There were riots in Tehran Saturday from people like you and me, fed up not just with the repressive bullshit but with the thwarting of democracy. Riots like were seen back thirty years ago in the revolution.

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Here's citizen video from the middle of a police attack today.

With the government preemptively silencing text messaging and even Facebook (can one even make an ironic crack here anymore?) it is actually Twitter where information is being shared, although possibly silenced late tonight. Following IranRiggedElect, a whole list here of great Web sources to keep up with the rapidly unfolding events.

This is the big test for the ruling class -- can they crack down again -- and the democracy-hungry members of the populace -- can they sustain their energy and efforts in such an environment.

Change or not?