The Fierce Urgency of Now

There is a group of “veteran” Iranian politicians with a track record mostly characterized by longevity than accomplishments whose idea of nonviolent activism can be better described as some toothless pacifism. Ezatollah Sahabi is an excellent example of such veterans. The sad irony is that someone who published a circulation titled “Iran-e-farda” (Iran-of-tomorrow) is so incapable of understanding that the “tomorrow” has actually arrived and if not seized on today will be wasted as the past thirty one years have. How many opportunities did we miss in the past 31 years? At the time when the end of cold war era was about to bring renewed hope for prosperity and freedom to many nations, we began a backward search in the dungeons of the dark past. The collapse of the former Soviet created historic opportunities for Iran to form strong alliances, cultural or otherwise, with the former Soviet republics in the south and near the Caspian Sea. Instead the incompetence of the regime; its repulsive ideology and the way of life it promotes; its dumb fascination with nuclear program; and obsessive hostility towards US and Israel not only deprived us from seizing on this historic opportunity but even led to Iran’s diminished role in the Caspian Sea area as the Mullahs were desperate for Russian support. And where are we now? We have a population of 70 million, 75% of whom are under 30 years of age, many of them well-educated. The regime does not even remotely understand the desires and aspirations of this population. On the other hand the regime is facing unseen pressure by the international community on its nuclear program. It is reacting by ending subsidies, which will lead to higher prices of basic products and services, creating grounds for an effective large scale civil disobedience campaign. If we cannot seize on these opportunities and the potential offered by this vibrant populace to make political transformation and rebuild our nation now, we will be missing another historic opportunity, this time with far more catastrophic consequences than anything we have seen in the past. “Tomorrow” will be simply too late. Is there anyone who understands “the fierce urgency of now”?