Tag Cloud
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Local Iranian-Americans face aftermath from Iranian elections
by Rashad Baadqir, published on June 15, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Storyline: Think Globally, Act Locally
In the wake the recent presidential elections or re-selection of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, supporters of the opposition Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have staged massive protests within the country to show their displeasure of the announced results. With a record voter turnout in what amounted to as a very heated contest for the top public post in Iran, observers, reformers, and analysts alike across the globe felt that popular candidate Mousavi could unseat Ahmadinejad when it was all said and done. However those hopes were all but dashed when the official reporting came out that in fact Ahmadinejad had not only won by a close margin but a significant one, carrying 62 percent of the reported vote. That revelation in turn led to reactionary demonstrations not seen in the country since the birth of the Islamic Revolution led by the late Supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini over thirty years ago.
Mousavi is a seen a moderate reformer and a populist among Iran’s young voting block. Young Iranian voters under the age of thirty make up close to half of the country’s population. The appeal of Mousavi seemed as a perfect fit to a generation far removed from the old guard of the Islamic Revolution some thirty years ago. Mousavi led a campaign based on a more moderate tone than the bombastic pronouncements of Ahmadinejad. Mousavi advocated for the softening of public rights that many feel are too restrictive on the daily lives of everyday Iranians. Also Mousavi had hoped he could improve Iranians fledging economy despite the country’s vast oil resources. Unemployment another hot button issue is very high in Iran, and has run upwards to 20 percent since Ahmadinejad took office four years ago.
For local expatriate Iranian-Americans they too saw their aspirations of a reformed Iran having taken a set back. Many if these assimilated Iranian-Americans fled the country they once called home as a result of the first Islamic Revolution, and never returned. Since then a generation of Americans of Iranian descent have grown up in cross cultures. Across America Iranian-Americans held optimism their vote of change would help lead the way of improving relations between Iran and America. California is home to one of the largest communities of Iranians outside the homeland, and many Iranian-Americans took to the streets from Sacramento to Los Angeles to show their support for their people and native country. Sacramento area Iranian-American residents were looking to have a day of celebrations instead what they were hit with was a thank you for coming to the party but your vote didn’t count.
Rashad A. Baadqir, M.A. Diversity Consultant
Author of “The Browning of Europe, Multicultural Challenges and Perspectives to a Changing Europe”
Sacramento, CA
Flag Article As:
Conversation Express your views,
debate, and be heard with those in your area closest
to the issue.
Leave a Comment
More than that, I'm very interested to hear the responses of local Persian Americans to the election. Do you know people you could interview, and post their opinions on the site? Are any of them planning further protests at the Capitol or anywhere else in Sacramento? I'd love to hear more about this, please join our ranks of citizen journalists and do some reporting and writing on this! Thank you.
That said, Mousavi, though his election would have shown Iran's system to be functional despite its deep flaws, is not much of an improvement over Ahmadenijad in terms of bringing Iran back from the brink. There's no point viewing him as any kind of true reformer. But he does represent slow, evolutionary change, and that is the best kind.