Monday, September 20, 2010

Claiming A Netroots/Grassroots Leadership Role With Iran Democracy Movement


I am doing that. I am claiming a leadership role.

There is no election for this leadership role. I have no plans to launch an organization, or a NGO. It is just me and my digital tools. But what I do requires more than internet access, way more. I am the only digital ninja/commando of my kind on the planet. I have a track record. I have done this once before.

I have come up with a set of principles, a suggested road map. It worked in Nepal, it will work in Iran. It will work everywhere where there is no democracy. That road map is no secret sauce. All my methods thrive on openness and transparency. I want to clone myself many, many times and get those clones busy for the cause of democracy everywhere. That is the idea. What I have done is special, but it is no secret. It can be done again and again and again. Others can do it. That is the idea.

Total Transparency With My Iran Work
The First Time I Heard The Obama Name

My methods are like in the Matrix movies. You use the Internet to transport yourself to the many theaters of action. When I was doing the democracy work for Nepal it felt to me like I sat on the central committees of all political parties in Nepal. Members of all political parties were on my mailing list. I had penetrated all the media houses, and the human rights NGOs, and the diaspora organizations. And to top it all, I had a very public blog. You did not have to be on a mailing list to access that.

There can be no compromise on non violence. We have to stay non violent. And there can be no compromise on the goal of regime change to put in place an interim government with the mandate to hold elections to a constituent assembly. But other than that we have to seek allies everywhere. We have to reach out to governments and media houses and any and all. People anywhere regardless of who they are can support the cause of democracy in Iran.

My claim to leadership is the principles and the road map I have to offer. It is that I have my super political instincts and kinetics to offer. All I really have is my ability to persuade people to do what needs to get done, in very public conversations where they always have the option to talk back. I have my ability to ride the waves of human action when people on their own are already doing what needs to get done. I have my ability to stay around like a watchdog, just in case. And I have the ability to step aside once the work is done.

Iran






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Democracy Success In Iran Could Be A 1989 Repeat

Soviet Union administrative divisions, 1989Image via WikipediaWhen the Soviet Union was around it felt like it was going to stick around forever. Compared to what the Soviet Union was, Iran is nothing, Saudi Arabia is nothing. When the Soviet Union finally collapsed, it collapsed like a house of cards. It felt so easy and inevitable.

At some level it feels to me like if the democracy movement is done right in Iran, we could see a 1989 repeat. The War On Terror does not have to stick around for half a century. We can conclude this one fast. But the democracy movement has to be done right.

So far it has been crowds of people hooting and hollering in a soccer stadium to make a cup of coffee. The people of Iran have done what they were asked to do. But they have been failed by the leaders and the organizations and the diaspora and the global netroots/grassroots.

We have to remobilize. We have to do it all over again. We have to do it right.

I envision a resource rich movement. We have to raise money. Lots of it. There are enormous logistics involved in a democracy movement done right.

Iraq and Afghanistan have been progressive failures. The progressives in America did not think the cause of democracy in far away countries like Iraq and Afghanistan were their business. So the neocons stepped in and waged war and spent trillions of dollars. The progressives still don't have billion dollar ideas to take democracy to the other Arab countries. I say let's start with Iran.

The global netroots/grassroots has to mobilize, it has to raise money. It has to help the Iranian diaspora organize and coordinate.

Mousavi's leadership role is not certain. He could see personal growth and agree to a change of goal for the movement, or he has to step aside. For now I am for sticking with Mousavi as the mascot of the movement and trying our best to get him to see that the goal has to be changed. Mousavi as mascot allows us to take advantage of the fissures in the Iranian state structure. We have to exploit those to the max.

But the goal no longer is holding elections all over again. The goal is regime change. The goal is ending the theocracy. The goal is a new democratic constitution.

A democratic Iran is going to be a proud Iran. A democratic Iran is going to speak vociferously for its interests in the global arena, as it should. A democratic Iran is going to talk in terms of nuclear energy. A democratic Iran is going to talk for justice for Palestine. Sure. Why not?

But the bet is that democracies don't go to war with each other. And so a democratic Iran and Israel will be able to live in peace. That part is science. Turn the Arab neighborhood into one of democracies, and the war clouds depart.

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