Iran Election 2009

While Iran isn't as bad as Myanmar/Burma, it has many parallels. Both in Myanmar and in Iran, the voices of hope are multiplying, and they're increasingly being heard.

Being prisoners in your own country and being held to ransom in the name of religion and a dictatorship, is exactly what is happening in Myanmar and increasingly in Iran. Myanmar, however, has closed its doors - no internet, no journalists, not much international trade and so on.

Recently and aptly nicknamed, the Islamic Republic of Rape and Torture, Iran has one advantage over Myanmar - emails, news, blogs, photos and videos are getting out far more easily, despite the government crackdowns. And Iran's business owners do trade internationally, and they do travel extensively. The situations of poverty and levels of education in Iran are much better than in Myanmar, and this gives the people a huge advantage.

Intelligent, educated people in Iran know not only what needs to be done to bring down the current regime, but are ready and very able to take over and help push the country towards democracy and freedom.

One advantage over Myanmar is that Iran trades extensively with an international market, making it vulnerable in the economic arena. And although the Rial is not internationally traded, it is currently being propped up by the government through a 24%+ inflation rate. This is costing the government plenty! It may well be the way Iran's current regime will be brought down - by economic ruin... with a little help from its people.

There's a wonderful thread on the Why We Protest forum. Please take a look at the ideas presented.

When asked what was the core quality that would make revolution in her country successful, Aung San Suu Kyi replied, "Courage".

Without a doubt Iranians everywhere, but especially in Iran, have displayed this kind of courage in non-violent protest. And they do so, knowing what might happen to them - beatings, imprisonment, rape, torture and protracted prison sentences. And yet they still protest.

Such is the human desire for fairness and freedom.

A message of hope...

We have faith in the power to change what needs to be changed but we are under no illusion that the transition from dictatorship to liberal democracy will be easy, or that democratic government will mean the end of all our problems. We know that out greatest challenges lie ahead of us and that our struggle to establish a stable, democratic society will continue beyond our life span. But we know that we are not alone. the cause of liberty and justice finds sympathetic responses around the world. Thinking and feeling people everywhere, regardless of color or creed, understand the deeply rooted human need for a meaningful existence that goes beyond the mere gratification of material desires. Those fortunate enough to live in societies where they are entitled to full political rights can reach out to help their less fortunate brethren in other areas of our troubled planet.
-- Aung San Suu Kyi

From Aung San Suu Kyi - The Voice of Hope - Conversations with Alan Clements