Iran: Mousavi Meeting with Reformists (30 September)

UPDATED Iran: So What’s This “National Unity Plan”?
The Latest from Iran (30 September): Confusion

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We have been commenting throughout the day on Mir Hossein Mousavi's meeting with the reformist Imam Khomeini faction, including the possible connection with a "National Unity Plan" and Mousavi's abandonment of a political opposition for a "social movement" working inside the system. The Facebook page connected with Mousavi has now translated the Parleman News article on the meeting:

According to Parleman News, in a meeting with the central council members of the minority faction of the Parliament (reformist), Mir Hossein Mousavi stressed that today more than ever the need for national unity is felt by the people and the borders that had divided the people into different groups are no longer valid. He added:

The current condition of the country is an opportunity that, if understood and guided correctly, could maximise the national understanding. The Green movement that has been expanding and growing deeper since the election has created these special situations. Those who seek their survival in the people’s division had created these false borders among the people that had caused some people to turn their back to the establishment and even to the society, but today because of the changes this [Green] Movement has made, even those people are interested in the fate of their county. The fact that people are kinder and more tolerant to each other is one of the outcomes of this movement that if is taken advantage of could reduce the gaps and strengthen the national unity.

Mousavi, regarding the “Green Path of Hope” organisation, said, "In my opinion in the current situation, there are many parties and organisation that their existence is important and appreciated; but forming a new party cannot add to the country's existing capacities, while strengthening the cores of the social movement will create new capacities and improve the people’s social movement.”

Pointing out that they had found this experience very successful from the very beginning of the election campaign under the slogan of “Every Iranian is a staff”; he said, “Today a cyber network has developed that, with the lack of [standard] media, is performing very effectively. The social cores that are active behind this cyber network have less vulnerability, and members of these cores have given the movement a dynamic nature which has made us more hopeful about the effectiveness of this network.”

The candidate supported by the majority of reformists in the tenth Presidential election reminded [the meeting], “For instance although there was no official announcement made for the Qods Day, we witnessed this massive presence in the Qods Day rallies, and this was despite the fact that many families were concerned and had prevented their children from taking to the streets due to the threats and the events that had happened in the past three months. So this was a result of the effectiveness of this network.”

Mousavi, emphasising the fact that people are very sensitive to the words and actions of the public officials and that no word or action will be unnoticed, addressed all who think their words and opinions are effective in society. He advised them to be cautious with their words and actions, to not fuel the violent atmosphere in the society and to be considerate to what people are sensitive. He pointed out that today people’s response to the mistakes made by these officials is very fast, while expressing his concerns over repeated mistakes made in this matter.

He said that some officials, based on their wrong analysis, are preparing conditions that could impose higher costs for the country and added, “Some events such as what happened in the Kahrizak Prison [where prisoners were tortured, raped and some even were killed] and the illegal behaviours with the detainees as well as the harsh confrontations with the students, have made the social environment very intense. It is vital for everyone to prevent more radicalism in the society by patience and especially by avoiding unwanted confrontations from security and military forces.”

The Prime Minister during Imam Khomeini’s era also said:

The opposition movement of the people is much more devoted to the national interests than the public officials are. Foreign countries by relying on the lack of effectiveness of the officials are looking forward to getting points from our country. We should put defending the national interests at the front of our concerns. Therefore, we cannot agree to the sanction of our country and the discard of our nation’s rights by other countries and we should not let the provocative behaviours [of some officials] impose more costs on our people.

Mousavi adde,: “Today, those with clear indications of predisposition toward westerners and foreigners in their past actions accuse us of acting in the benefit of foreigners and try to makeup allegations in order to create an environment of pressure, but these actions will not have any benefits for them and I am hopeful that along these bad deeds and accusations some wisdom may also exists.”

He also pointed out the restricted and biased media’s environment in the country said:

It is possible that a portion of the public under the influence of false and massive propaganda does not have a correct and complete understanding of the goals and demands of the movement. There is also the concern that people show interest in the media outside the country in order to have access to the truth and the correct information. In such circumstance, the actions of all scholars, intellectuals and experts in educating the public and explaining the country’s situation and events are a national duty that can alleviate the wrong, biased and anti-national-interest actions of IRIB [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting].

Mousavi continued:

Today the unified emphasis across the nation for the complete implementation of the constitution is an effective and successful solution. The constitution is the everlasting inheritance of Imam [Khomeini], the Martyrs and our national identity that holds lots of [unutilized] capacities to overcome the current crisis that we should have special emphasis on these capacities and utilizing them as the single solution to resolve the problems in the country.

At the end Mousavi stressed that the Parliament and especially the minority fraction (reformist) has a very influential role in today’s situation of the country that can be very effective in solving country’s problems and hoped that Parliament acts appropriate to its important role in these critical conditions.

Text: Mousavi Statement to His Followers (28 September)

The Latest from Iran (29 September): The Forthcoming Test?

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Translation from Khordaad 88:

Without a doubt, the Qods Day demonstrations remain a highlight of the events of the past few months. Promising results are expected out of what occurred during this event, which cannot be attributed to one faction or one view. Rather, [these] achievements belong to all of those who have roots in this land, even if some are not able to feel this blessing and this gift due to their own incorrect judgments.

This gift is the gift of the Imam’s [Khomeini's] foresight. He repeatedly told us to establish the right foundations such that when we are gone, they will not be able to destroy them, even if they so desire. Maybe we have not been able to truly act on this advice, but that is the path he always took. He based the pillars of the Islamic Republic on the trust of the people and created opportunities for them to come out [in public] so that no one would be able to destroy them.

Qods Day is one such day. With such traditions, people cannot be deterred and forced out of the scene. Without addressing and providing justice inside, [the authorities] cannot invite people to such rallies to protest tyranny in faraway lands. To leave behind no doubts, He [the Imam] declared that this day is not only specific to Palestine, but the day of the oppressed and the day of Islam. We now realize the efforts of that caring father who made sure that people always remain present on the scenes in the millions.

Thirty years ago, our Imam asked Muslims across the world to set aside their differences and come together to rise against a common agony that pains them all. This message is so close to our circumstances today. Islam did not say that we must think alike to be united. The unity to which we are invited is the same as accepting differences, and Qods is a day when Muslims should come together while tolerating the vast differences that exist among them. That is why if this event is attached to one particular political faction, it will lose its glory year after year. It will not achieve its promised vision, and it can no longer be the day of Islam and the day of the oppressed.

The vision of this day is to bring together different colors in one scene. This year, our Qods day did not achieve this [ideal], but it strived for it. In fact, this year on Qods day I was among people who greeted me with tight fists (Mousavi was among the state-supporters in the rally) and who wished my death. On the chaotic road we were marching together, I took a good look at them and realized that I love their faces and I realized that our victory is nothing that will bring about defeat for anyone. We must all achieve prosperity, even though some will realize this prosperity later than others.

In fact, those who felt defeated by this year’s Qods, gained the most. They saw in the clearest sense that three months of unprecedented violence did not have the smallest effect on the presence of the people, and in fact, made it stronger. If not for the opportunity on Qods day, it would have been months from now when they would have been met with their own blunders in the celebrations of Bahman (the demonstrations held in celebration of the revolution in February) and they would have come face to face with the high cost of their own mistakes at a time when it would have been much too late.

Violence is not the solution. Meet all with empathy (as opposed to enmity). Violence is like a horse that throws the rider to the ground. People have every right to feel angry about hostile security measures and unrelenting provocative propaganda, even if justifiably their righteousness does not change the consequences of their anger. The amount of fruit we harvest from our endurance depends on the amount of patience thoughtfulness that we are willing to maintain. If we move towards unreasonable extremes, it is possible to, in one day, lose the fruit of a week’s or a month’s hard work. Our people deserve better treatment from the authorities because they are alert and thoughtful. And a thoughtful person is he who can not only distinguish between good and bad, but also between good and better, or between bad and worse.

There are still better conclusions that we can arrive at, than those we arrived at on Quds day. At the same time, worse conditions are possible than the ones we are currently suffering from and are subjected to. On the road ahead of us, and in our historical context, there is no clear image of the consequences of acting against the current structure of government. As mentioned in the letters sent to the Marjas, Afghanistan and Iraq act as two big lessons on each side of our land. We should never ignore them. Of course, these lessons do not stop us from demanding our rights, because we have the patience and wisdom to change our destinies for the better without having to pay so high a price.

What can achieve the goal [of peaceful reform] is a commitment to the golden messages that we have chosen. A message that interferes with the friendship and brotherhood of our people will not help us restructure our national unity or our identity. We see the compassionate Islam as a cure for our pain. We see that what the authorities introduce as the banner of religion is a dress worn inside-out.

We demand the unconditional enactment of the constitution and the return of the Islamic Republic to its original ethical foundations. We demand the Islamic Republic, not a word more, and not a word less. To us, anarchists and people who act against the structure are those who avoid the Islamic laws, either with or without an excuse. They are also those who pull the plug on the constitution for their own personal gain.

Today’s political environment is not what Iranians wished for 30 years ago. Now, people are asking themselves: What has stopped us from achieving our ideals and has instead got us here? This is a fundamental question that we should ask of our struggle today and in future. What should we do so as not to face the same question thirty years from now?

We can only be certain [of the right answer] when we base our sociopolitical achievements on our everyday life. In the past century our people have had more than a few of such achievements. However, their achievements have been a result of a [direct] struggle. As long as the environment of struggle and endeavor lasted, these achievements were sustainable. But as soon as people were exhausted or thought they had to return to their homes the fruit of their struggle was lost. To fight [for a cause] is holy, but it is not long-lasting. What lasts is life.

This is a lesson we have learned from those of us who fought in eight years holy defense [against Saddam Hussein]. During those years two groups of people would leave for the war fronts. The first group fought during the war and then thought to themselves the time has come to live a life, to pile money and accumulate wealth or to build high-rise buildings one after another. The second group left [to war] for the more exuberant spirituality. They did not go just to make a sacrifice; they went to take part in that spiritual atmosphere.

Digesting these words may not be easy for people who have not experienced that atmosphere, but it is real. Not that they did not make sacrifices, in fact they were our most renowned heroes. But in the light of gems they gained they did not believe they were making any sacrifices. They lived the years of the war and then [after the war] started their own struggle, a peaceful struggle to protect that living experience or at least the memory of it. Without them, we could not have lasted [the war] empty-handed for eight years.

During the election campaign I was proud when a group of them honored me and formed the Isargaran [those who sacrifice for others] committee as one of the most active committees of my campaign. They said we have gathered together hoping to revive the spirituality of our days with Imam [Khomeini] and thus we believe our responsibilities are more burdensome. I doubt there is anyone in our nation who would not be proud of them. They are exactly on the common green intersection that connects us all to one another.

In following them, we should also live The Green Path of Hope, it is only in that case that the miracle they created will also awaits us. The importance of this year’s Qods day was that it revealed that the new life people have chosen is not something temporary and ephemeral. If we had all remained home [during the rally] but this message was [somehow] communicated with this clarity, we would have achieved nothing less.

Living the green path means that every day, while we are busy with our chores at home, at the workplace, in every street or alley, we repeat this message with an authoritative voice (in the same way that we continue to be Muslim, to be Iranian, to be of this age).

Soon after we spoke about strengthening social networks or living the green path, people asked: ‘How?’ The answer is: ‘Merely by being’. We don’t talk about creating a social network that doesn’t exist and strengthening it; we say that the people’s power is embedded in those social networks which exist naturally, based on innate guidance. We should recognize their importance.

This year, Qods day showed that this network is like a toddler who is growing incredibly quickly. This toddler is going to start talking in no time; it will be mature soon, and will compel everybody to admire and respect it. Our task is to nurse this blessed phenomenon by repeatedly expressing the thoughts which come to existence around it and to repeatedly reiterate their importance.

Likewise, when we are talking about living the green path, we don’t mean something complicated, innovative, or new. Rather, it is pointing to something that is currently being experienced. It is also pointing to the fact that our people’s movement nowadays, unlike in the past, is the beginning of a certain type of life. There is great pleasure in being smart and lively; in homophony and communication; in closing an eye to others’ faults, which makes life bountiful.

In addition, there is a power in the awareness of our nation that saves our nation from bearing many miseries. Our people are not afraid to pay the cost to revive their rights because ‘a place in heaven is earned with a price, not based on a desire.’ At the same time, if we want the results of our social movement to last, we better use a mixture of bravery and wisdom.

Now because of the wrong and adventurous foreign policy of a government that people have to bear, the country is on the verge of crises that will hurt the poor the most. If we had a confrontational approach, maybe in our simple minds we would have thought that this is a point for our green movement, but when we want to live through our green path, this [approach] cannot be our approach.

This is our country and these are our lives. It is we who should be concerned about and sensitive to these problems. Based on official reports of this very same government reports, economists announced that tens of billions of dollars of this country’s foreign income has disappeared. Meanwhile, [Judicial] institutions that ought to respond to these absent figures – which can even equip several armies – are ignorant and trapped in political games.

Which of these [institutions] can we expect to attend to the grief they have inflicted on the people? If we do not react to the things that disrupt life in our beloved country, nobody will. Our economists are alone in their objections because they fear the same fate as those who protested the shameful conduct that took place during confinements in detention centers. There was a time when missing twenty thousand dollars in the treasury was enough for a government [of this country] to fall. Now, warning cries for the loss of such a high figure are not even grounds for the slightest reaction.

Recently, a group of Iranian professors abroad provided their analysis and interpretation of the Green Path of Hope. They confirmed that the goals of this movement will indeed protect the interests of the nation. As a result, they have suggested that while sending our gratitude to other nations for their support in the last few months, we should ask them not to impose any sanctions against Iran. I liked their idea and I support it. Sanctions would not actually act against the government – rather, they would only inflict grave distress against a people who have experienced enough disaster in their own melancholic statesmen. We are opposed to any types of sanctions against our nation. This is what living the Green Path means.

However, this is just an example. No one has informed those who have offered this suggestion about the necessity of living the Green Path. Whether the rest of us are aware of this necessity or not, we are all naturally guided towards it. As a result, it is not necessary to indoctrinate each other with these values. It is enough just to be aware of them and to attend them.

Life goes on, and individuals are [living] in the interim. Any crowd or community that bases its very existence on one individual will be disappointed – at least when that individual is lost. Whenever people have afforded unnecessary advantages to their ordinary companions, they melancholic inevitably relinquish their intellectual opinions for the desire of a few and give a chance to the opportunists who have coveted them.

People who want to be independent and experience a congenial life should prevent the very first steps that lead them to failure. My birthday is not the 7th of Mehr (September 28th), it is the day that I got to know you. Even if I was born the 7th of Mehr, it would not have been appropriate for your movement to deteriorate with personalities. I hope you see that these words stem from my sincere concern and not from false modesty.

Your Brother,
Mir Hossein Mousavi

The Latest from Iran (10 September): Who Fits Where?

NEW Iran Analysis: Retrenching Before Friday’s Prayers
EA Exclusive: Iran and Venezuela are Going to Kill Us All
The Latest from Iran (9 September): The Stakes Are Raised


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1955 GMT: The Youth and Student Section of Mehdi Karroubi's reformist Etemade Melli party have condemned the acts of the judiciary and security forces with the arrest of Mousavi’s and Karoubi’s advisors. The section declared that these actions in the run-up to Qods Day (18 Sept.) not only will fail to cause fear in people but will encourage them to attend the epic demonstration on that day.

1815 GMT: There is a bit of a buzz about a letter from the noted political philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush to the Supreme Leader, proclaiming that Iranians will celebrate the "decline of religious despotism".

1740 GMT: The reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front has expressed support for Mir Hossein Mousavi’s “Green Path of Hope” as a manifesto for the liberation of Iranians from the "defective cycle of tyranny".

1735 GMT: Still don't believe there is a foreign-directed effort at "velvet revolution" in Iran? Well here, courtesy of Raja News, is the super-duper, multi-colour chart (with arrows) to prove it.

1730 GMT: Norooz, which was down earlier today because of an "Internal Server Error", is back online.

1440 GMT: An EA correspondent clarifies our 1415 GMT entry on newssites linked to Mehdi Karroubi: "Saham News is back to posting new items, while tagheer.ir is a site that was set up some 7-8 months ago during Khatami's President candidacy."

1425 GMT: Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, has said that if Mehdi Karroubi cannot establish his claims of detainee abuse, he should be tried on criminal charges. The source is significant because Bahonar had been a vocal foe of the President during the debate over the Cabinet.

1415 GMT: There are reports that staff of Mehdi Karroubi have set up an alternative website to replace the suspended Saham News/Etemade Melli party site. The alternative, tagheer.ir, has similar content and approach to that of Saham News.

At the same time, it appears that the Norooz site, a key source for recent news is down because of "Internal Server Error". Before it went down, the site was disputing the Government's denial of its list of 72 people killed in post-election conflict and reporting that the memorial for the late Ayatollah Taleghani, which the Government had tried to block, had been held at the family home.

1345 GMT: Amnesty International says it has reports that Caspian Makan, the fiancé of Neda Agha Soltan, who was shot and killed by Basiji militia on 20 June, has been released from detention.

1330 GMT: Report that Zohreh Ashtiani, a reporter with Saham News, the Etemade Melli party's website, was arrested and her house searched. A later report says she was released after 12 hours of questioning.

0940 GMT: Just back from an interview with BBC World Service Radio on President Obama's speech on health care (the audio is now up for the next 24 hours). Not much breaking in Iran.

And, confirming our  0800 GMT post, it appears that Iran, apart from The Bomb, will stay off the agenda for most international media. A CNN anchor has just posted their editorial call: "Iraq blast/Afghanistan/India stampede/Mex hijacking/Turkey flood/Taiwan Cabinet/world cup". Yep, the US match with Trinidad & Tobago beats out any consideration of the Government crackdown. (No, the CNN website never did mention the arrest of key Mousavi and Karroubi advisors like Alireza Beheshti.)

0815 GMT: Josh Shahryar has posted "The Green Brief" for Wednesday, including the essential correction that he gave us (0655 GMT) on yesterday's statement about those breaking the law by the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani.

0800 GMT: The New York Times, which had been doing quite well of late with Iran coverage, decides to indulge in peripheral hysteria this morning. Michael Slackman, Nazila Fathi, and Robert Worth, each of whom has some knowledge of Iran as something more than Islam and bombs, give way for David Sanger, who knows what was told to him by the most recent "Western diplomat" or Administration official. So today, it's another recycling of the superficial and misleading claim, "U.S. Says Iran Has Ability to Expedite a Nuclear Bomb".

(Superficial because "ability to expedite a nuclear bomb" is vaguery bordering on linguistic nonsense. Misleading even in the caveats in the article: "a rapid, if risky, sprint for a nuclear weapon" is shorthand for Iran either does not yet have or has not pursued the capability to convert low-yield uranium into highly-enriched uranium in practice, rather than theory. Thus, "the new intelligence information collected by the Obama administration finds no convincing evidence that design work has resumed."

All swept away because someone told Sanger something on his way to the office to file a story: "In interviews over the past two months, intelligence and military officials, and members of the Obama administration, have said they are convinced that Iran has made significant progress on uranium enrichment, especially over the past year.")

Perhaps Sanger might write, for his next not-exactly-an-exclusive, "Ohmygod, Iran and Venezuela are Going to Kill Us All!"

0655 GMT: With a slow morning for breaking news (which is tempting fate, since we said the same thing yesterday and then faced a torrent of afternoon development), we have posted an analysis, "Retrenching before Friday Prayers". And we've taken time to give a breaking story, featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, the respect it deserves: "EA Exclusive: Iran and Venezuela are Going to Kill Us All".

There is, however, one significant development or, rather, a  correction of a development. We updated yesterday on the interview of the head of Iran's judiciary, "Has Larijani Jumped Behind Ahmadinejad?", because we read his condemnation of those "outside the law" as  a reference to the opposition. Indeed we posted in our last update, The New York Times, drawing from Fars News Agency, was highlighting Larijani's phrase “great costs to the Islamic system”.

Josh Shahryar has had a close look, however, at the interview as it appeared on Radio Zamaneh. Read on its own, it is unclear who is being targeted by this passage:

Some had tried to call the elections fraudulent and attempted to stray outside "the circle of legality". [Larijani] said that law-breaking had become rampant and it had been observed in the aftermath of the elections how such actions had inflicted a great cost on the Islamic regime. He said that these violators shouldn't think that they're not being watched and the Judiciary should pursue the perpetrators of any such law-breaking legally.

However, the ambiguity evaporates when the previous paragraph is added: "Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani today said that what had happened in the detention centers had inflicted a huge blow on the standing of the regime. He said that the Judiciary would pursue these violations carefully and vigorously."

Iran: Green Wave Resurgent?

Iran’s Victims: The 72 People Killed in Post-Election Conflict
Iran Analysis: How Important is the Mousavi Statement?
Text: Mousavi Statement to “Green Path of Hope” (5 September)
The Latest from Iran (6 September): The Reformists Speak

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And so the next wave? After the recent pre-eminence of President Ahmadinejad's quest for authority, backed by threats to quell the opposition challenge, yesterday brought an intriguing combination of Green statements.

All three of the most prominent figures were in play yesterday. Mir Hossein Mousavi's statement to "The Green Path of Hope" has sparked an excellent debate, including on yesterday's updates and on our special analysis, of the significance for the opposition. Mehdi Karroubi pressed his claims of detainee abuse, manoeuvring with the three-person judiciary panel investigating the cases. And Mohammad Khatami struck back vigorously at the regime's efforts to direct --- through injunctions to administration and faculty, through curriculum revisions, and through threats to instutions like Islamic Azad University --- "proper" studies. There were also fightback statements from reformist MPs and clerics against the Revolutionary Guard's efforts to intimidate the opposition with the claims that the Green movement was pursuing "regime change".

As has been the case throughout this crisis, anyone who ventures to predict the fate of this latest wave is either a fool or a visionary far beyond my capabilities. Some markers can be set down, however.

This time, the opposition activity may be moving toward a defining junction in the challenge to Government legitimacy. Publicity through the Internet, flyers, and word-of-mouth is already pointing towards the last Friday of Ramadan, 18 September, which is also Qods (Jerusalem Day). Under the working slogan of "Silence = Consent", activists are looking to mobilise the biggest march since 18 Tir (9 July) and the biggest event since the 40th Day memorial of 30 July, possibly in conjunction with prayers led by Hashemi Rafsanjani.

With a wave of protest which seeks to build over 11 days, the watching brief should be not to expect a major challenge until the 18th but to look, each day, for some step-by-step statements and actions that indicates, "We are here, and we are gathering strength."

And that effort may be aided by an emerging factor on the other side. While noting all the indications of an Ahmadinejad campaign to establish his leadership, supported by the security forces, the President also now has to govern. Little things like the economy, delivery of services, and re-nominating ministers for the posts of Health, Education, and Energy come into play after three months of near-stalemate.

All those little things take time away from the direct contest with the opposition because --- as we noted a few days ago --- the long-term Achilles' heel for the legitimacy of this Government is Iran's economic and social infrastructure. And this far-from-minor diversion opens up some space for the opposition to gather itself.

But, to put in a third (of many) consideration. In all the paragraphs above, indeed in weeks going back to mid-August, the large presence of Hashemi Rafsanjani has disappeared. While Mousavi calls for the "Green Path of Hope", while other protestors try to build up a momentum that (paradoxically) will not collapse with a single setback, while Ahmadinejad tries to rule....

Where will Rafsanjani be on 18 September?

Iran Analysis: How Important is the Mousavi Statement?

Text: Mousavi Statement to “Green Path of Hope” (5 September)
The Latest from Iran (6 September): The Reformists Speak

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It took 48 hours but, after the assertion of Presidential authority with the approval of the Ahmadinejad Cabinet and the cancellation of events such as the Qadr Night ceremony at the Khomeini shrine, the Green movement fought back yesterday.

There were the criticisms from reformist members of Parliament, both of the Revolutionary Guards' threats against leaders like former President Khatami and Mousavi Khoeniha and of the cancellation of the Khomeini shrine event, where Khatami was due to speak. There was Mehdi Karroubi's vigorous statement that he would "defend the values of the revolution and the nation’s interests as long as he lives".

And then there was the statement of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Our sharp readers will have noticed our impression that, over the last month, Mousavi was either being pushed or was withdrawing to the sidelines of this conflict. Yesterday he tried to assure his followers (and his enemies) that this was not the case.

We've published the English translation in a separate entry. Let's just say here that this is a rousing call for "The Green Path of Hope". It is forthright in setting out both a defense of the post-election movement and its difficulties it has faced from a regime "creating crises and catastrophes and keeping away from any attempt to solve the problems and quandaries in society". And it declares "a crucial necessity to take a social approach (instead of only a political approach) to solving the current conflict".

Mousavi's implication is that a head-on political challenge to President Ahmadinejad is not going to bring results, given the power that the regime holds through security forces and Parliament's unwillingness to force a showdown. So, to bring about "restoration of...forgotten objectives" of the Islamic Revolution, Mousavi is proposing a "broad social movement to repair and create some of the most fundamental political foundations that will influence all affairs of the country and provide the essential needs of various committees and parties for proper and fruitful activism".

This may dissatisfy some activists as a diversion from the political arena. On the other hand, Mousavi is pointing to a longer-term effort, building links within and across sections of Iranian society to ensure that resistance --- on religious, legal, economic, and social grounds --- is maintained and to build pressure for change.

It should also be noted, contrary to some initial reports, that the statement is not void of political objectives. Mousavi sets out nine demands, including a "truth-finding commission", a revision of election laws, punishment of those committing post-election abuses and crimes, release of detainees, and freedom of the press. Together with the efforts of Mehdi Karroubi and others, the platform maintain a focus on the Achilles' heel for the regime: the continued system of detentions, "confessions", and trials.