Hopefully my green tank top will bring good luck to Mir Hossein Mousavi today as Iran heads to the polls. I wish I could post the videos I had of all of the demonstrations and campaigning in Tehran, Shiraz, and Esfahan, but unfortunately my laptop is broken.
The general trend seems to be that Moussavi is the best of the bad choices (which reminds me of Bush vs. Kerry), especially in large cities. Because Ahmadinejad has been handing out chickens and potatoes in the rural areas, though, his backing is still fairly strong. The outcome depends mostly on whether the population of youth (about 70%) or the population of poorer Iranians makes a stronger showing at the polls. The thing that I've noticed the most, however, is that nobody has any hope that the election will turn out the way they hope (i.e. Moussavi supporters are sure Ahmadinejad will cheat and win, and Ahmadinejad supporters are dismayed by the fanfare surrounding Moussavi's campaign), nor any hope that this election will really change anything.
Either way, my Iranian birth certificate is in my purse and I'm ready to cast my vote. As they were singing on the streets of Tehran, "Ahmadi bye-bye!"
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SANAZ! I did not know that you get to vote. How incredible. You get to be a part of something that seems like such a big deal to me! I've been following the election on the Times. I will post a video for you ;) .
ReplyDeleteI'm excited for you Sanaz!
ReplyDeleteI thought you were born in the US. I still think you were, but is there some way to obtain an Iranian birth certificate when you're not born there?
Maybe i know less about you than i thought.
Hopefully Mousavi wins. I know that the election means little in the sense of actual change occuring - not much will happen. But I do think that the outcome of this election speaks loudly about the will of the Iranian people to change - slowly but deliberately.
Relations with the US, which is apparently supposed to be my chief interest as an American (it isn't, though), will improve.
I'm more concerned about the rights of Iranian women, but I have a feeling that will take much more than a Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
I'm glad you're able to vote. It must be an exciting time to be there. And it sounds like the polls are packed there, so much so I guess they have had to extend their hours twice already. Hopefully, those people are overwhelming the youth you are talking about who can turn the tide for Mousavi.
ReplyDeleteSANAZ!!!!!! my dad and i were watching some worldfocus show on tv about the election and they talked about you and your blog! i pretty much spewed food everywhere. we were slash and still are really excited for you :)
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I should have said: Iranian equivalent of a birth certificate, called a "shenas nameh" or certificate of recognition.
ReplyDelete-SAA
Hi! Here is a link to the world focus episode that featured your blog. I just checked out your blog because of the show! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/06/12/full-show-june-12-2009/5793/
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