- 7 May 2010
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- 2 Comments
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- Events in Iran, Iran Election 2009
Who is Mousavi Challenging in His New Statement?
7 May 2010 Posted By Layla Armeen
Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a statement just a few days ago calling for the implementation of each and every article of the Iranian constitution. According to Mousavi, the full implementation of the law is the only peaceful solution to the existing crisis in Iran, and he commits to this path forward. His English translated statement can be found on his Facebook page. Mousavi’s official site – Kalameh – provides the full text in Persian.
Every single ignored or abandoned article of the constitution should be implemented
Mir Hossein Mousavi stressed that the full implementation of the constitution without any personal interpretations against the clear rulings of the constitution is the only solution for achieving national unity and reinstating the rights of all ethnics groups and said: “Every single ignored or abandoned article of the constitution should be implemented and if there is any issue in this matter that should be put to a referendum.”
Which abandoned articles of the Iranian constitution is Mousavi referring to, and what are the road blocks that he sees in this proposed path forward?
He is most likely challenging the full – unquestioned -authority of the Supreme Leader which even under the existing Iranian constitution is supposed to be monitored by the Khobregan Council; a council that because of the nature of its appointment by the bodies under the control of the Supreme Leader himself is unable to make a sound judgment in questioning the Leader himself.
Mousavi almost never talks about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directly. The two have a history of a ferocious political fighting in the early days of the Iranian revolution, and it appears that neither of them is ready to move away from that history.
After the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the revolution, the Iranian constitution was amended and voted on. That was when the Absolute Guardianship of the Islamic Jurisprudence – Velayat e Motlagheye Faghih – was inserted into the Islamic Republic’s constitution. Almost overnight, Khamenei, a Hojatoleslam back then and a man who was a subordinate of Mousavi in government was elevated to a position of an Ayatollah, and became the sole absolute power in the Islamic Republic. Thereafter, Mousavi disappeared from the political arena for twenty years.
Although the principle of Velayat Faghih is enshrined in the constitution, there also exist other chapters and articles that are supposed to monitor its performance. But these articles are never enforced.
Being absent from the political arena in Iran, Mir Hossein Mousavi, “felt a sense of danger” as he called it, and re-entered politics to challenge the existing absolute authority. As opposed to American political culture — which can be much more direct or blunt — the Iranian way of conducting politics is hidden beneath loads of sarcasm, metaphor, poetry, and peculiar Persian literature, which is another reason why it is so difficult for foreign governments to understand the Iranian side of the story.
But now Mousavi is back, and is challenging a twenty year old – undisputed – stronger-than-ever, absolute authority that appears to be more frustrated with its own inability to contain popular resentment.
Mousavi never refers to this personal authority by its name, but his subliminal messages appear more and more transparent as his movement progresses.
2 Responses to “Who is Mousavi Challenging in His New Statement?”
Layla, how exactly is this “movement” progressing? The crowds have dissipated. The reformists (~Greens) have never in recent history been more irrelevant to actual politics than they are now.
Irrespective of that comment, Hooman Majd was in Tehran last month and has a fine perspective up at Foreign Policy (recommended reading):
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/06/postcard_from_tehran
NIAC is such an apologist for Mousavi and as long as it continues in this way, it will never speak for the vast majority of Iranian-Americans who remember Mousavi’s critical and militant role in the early years of the revolution. It’s time NIAC stopped portraying Mousavi as this grand humanitarian who is somehow standing up for liberal democratic principles and human rights. Mousavi is absolutely part of the current brutal regime and systems that have terrorized Iran’s for over 30 years. So, please stop portraying him as Iran’s best hope for secular democracy. He may the better alternative among a long list of brutes, but let’s please be a bit more honest and even-handed in assessing a man who has plenty of blood on his hands and who is hardly a democrat by any absolute standard.