The helplessness of Iran's diaspora

An Iranian living in NZ, who does not wish to be named, gives reaction to the political turmoil in their home country following Iran's elections.

For millions of Iranians around the world, this has been a weekend of constant news updates and scanning the internet for the latest reports from Iran. The rigging of the Presidential elections has sent thousands of people into the streets demanding electoral justice.

For the average person who is unfamiliar with the country, Iran may conjure a simplistic image of veiled women, oil and the recent nuclear energy program. Events such as this may not seem particularly unusual, possibly even expected and to be forgotten once the next news story comes out.

But for others, particularly Iranians outside our homeland, this is far from forgettable. Such open scenes of political disobedience and discontent have not been seen since the revolution of 1979 and overthrow of the Shah Reza Pahlavi.

To get an idea of the magnitude of these events, it is important to put them in some context. The revolution of 1979 ousted the Shah and brought in the current regime. The country was soon plunged into a ruthless and costly war that resulted in over one million casualties. The war beat the people into a wary and tired state, making them much less willing to resist the deprivation of their rights. The war also solidified the grip of the new regime on the country.

Since then, especially between 1997 and 2005, the country made slow and gradual improvement and life moved towards a more reasonable state. However, progress did not come fast enough.

As a result, voter indifference led to the electoral win of the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His presidency brought back many policies Iranians thought had been changed for good. It also brought the country into international disrepute, economic collapse, and arguably to the brink of war.

So when it came to vote for a new president in last week's election, the growing discontent especially in the more liberal urban areas and amongst the disenfranchised youth, the people rallied behind the moderate candidate Mirhossein Mousavi.

For the first time in Iran's fledgling democratic history there were large political rallies and even street parties that continued well into the night. There was also Iran's first presidential debate that was broadcast live on television. Never before had political leaders broken ranks and openly criticised each other and even openly suggested that the other was corrupt. For anyone reading this, it is important to understand how monumental such events were in encouraging the growth of democratic culture.

This brings us to the events that have been skimming across news headlines around the world in the last few days. When it was announced that Ahmadinejad had not only won the election, but beaten the reformist opposition by a huge margin of almost 30 per cent, mass disbelief swept the nation. People took to the streets demanding the truth and refusing to accept Ahmadinejad as the true election winner.

It seems all the pent up discontent is spewing out into to open displays of civil disobedience. For the first time the youth of today are beginning to chant the same chants their parents did in 1979 when overthrowing the Shah; "Down with dictator", "Iranians will give their blood but not their dignity". It is important to realise the huge potential of these events. All this is taking place in a country where public assembly is illegal, even before the elections.

At the moment people, in Iran at least, are not looking for fully-fledged revolution. It still seems that people are willing to accept the general elements of the current system. We had accepted that any future reform was to come through peaceful means; through the ballot box. However it now appears that the electoral system has been corrupted and one of the few peaceful ways of reforming the country from within has been taken away.

In what appears to have been pre-planned precautions, the government has shut down mobile phone networks and the internet to prevent any organised discontent from further materialising. The protests that have taken place have ruthlessly been fought down by well armed police; people have even been killed in the resultant beatings.

Unable to get a clear idea of what is going on, the millions of Iranians who now live outside our homeland have spent this weekend constantly scanning the internet and news networks for information on what is going on in Iran. Calls to family and friends in Iran are dominated by questions of the latest news and people's safety. This is the resultant life of the people who live in Diaspora.

Dispersed around the world, there is a constant feeling of frustration and helplessness. We were able to vote in the election but as the old adage goes, it is not the name that goes into the ballot but the name that comes out that counts. Now that the election has been stolen, we are virtually unable to help calm the unrest or help our nation bring about change. Living in countries that, understandably, are unable to share our concern and understanding of the events, we must continue with our lives as though our country is not slipping into turmoil.

All we can really do is sit and watch the ensuing developments and wonder with either hope or disbelief whether these events will be the spark that gives way to the inferno of revolution.