Friday, July 17, 2009

Roots of democratic change

I just found this passage from an AP story on Iran's political turmoil fascinating:

The cleric got tears in his eyes as he spoke of how Islam's Prophet Muhammad "respected the rights" of his people. He said the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, "would always say that if the system is not backed by the people, nothing would stand."

It is significant to me that the cleric, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, invokes the name of Khomeni, a man vilified for years in the United States.

That reminds me yet again, that if there is to be democratic reform in Iran, it needs to be IRAN's version of democracy, a version they struggle to create on their own, rather than one imposed on them by outside forces.

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