Watching the news following Friday’s Iranian election, its quite stunning to see the number of people out in the streets, risking beatings and arrest to demand that their voices be heard.  As I write this, it’s still too soon to tell what the real vote was but the pictures, videos like the one at left, and tons of tweets coming out of Iran certainly show that a large number of Iranians are not convinced the outcome is legitimate.

We will of course now see many statements from American politicians suggesting this all means the time is right to meddle again in Iran’s internal affairs and we can only hope that the Obama administration will pay attention to the advice offered by the National Iranian American Council:

American policy makers will feel the need to react. But they need to remember this isn’t about us. This is about Iran and Iranians seeking the right to determine their own future. The United States can help little and harm much by interjecting itself into the process. The Obama administration’s approach to the election — keeping its comments low-key and not signaling support for any candidate — was exactly the right approach. While tempting, empty and self-serving rhetorical support for Iranians struggling for more freedoms serves only to aid their opponents. History has made Iran wary of foreign meddling, and American policymakers in particular must be sensitive to giving hardliners any pretense to call reform-minded Iranians foreign agents. That’s why Iran’s most prominent reformers, including Nobel-laureate Shirin Ebadi, have said the best thing the U.S. can do is step back and let Iran’s indigenous human rights movement progress on its own, without overt involvement from the U.S–however well intentioned.

Even so, we are likely now to hear a great deal about honoring democracy and the will of the people and the like over the next few days – yet our own government is far from respecting voters’ choices, not just in 2000 and 2004 but also right now.

Consider the resistance to the the Iraqi Parliament’s allocation of funds for the referendum on continuing the US occupation which is due – by law – to be held by July 30. While this referendum was a condition imposed by the Iraqi Parliament on pasage of the SOFA, it now seems that for Iraq, the will of the people is not as worthy of respect as that of the Iranians. According to the New York Times “American diplomats are quietly lobbying the government not to hold the referendum."

So much for supporting democracy.

And not only are we seeing a lack of respect for Iraqis’ rights to vote on their own future we’re also seeing a direct assault against the will of the people here at home.

As Jane has been reporting over the past week, Rahm, the White House and congressional leadership are pulling out all the stops to get progressive members of the House to break their pledges to vote no on any war supplemental that does not include a timeline and exit strategy. This pressure on progressive representatives to break this covenant is a violation of the heart of democracy.

Unlike the people of Iran who face beatings in the streets or the people of Iraq who will need to overcome the power of the occupation to get their chance to vote freely on SOFA, all we need to do is pick up the phone and let the progressive members of Congress know that we will only support those who keep their word.  Take a moment to watch those Iranian students out in the streets of Tehran – then pick up your phone and make those calls. This video featuring Jane has all the details.

Here’s a list with the members of Congress and phone numbers who need your calls.


Related posts:

  1. Obama Condemns Crackdown in Iran, Praises “Courageous” Dissenters
  2. House Voting on Iran Resolution; Human Rights Activist Not Against It, But…
  3. Let’s Get Ready to Rumble – Supplemental Take Down!
  4. Iran: Don’t Lead, Don’t Follow, and Instead Get Out of the Way
  5. Supplemental: Why Must Progressive Members of Congress Grovel For the Blue Dogs?