Part of Mousavi’s Speech given yesterday June 20:
I still strongly believe that the request for annulment of this election and a renewed election is a given right and it should be investigated impartially by a board trusted nationally, instead of rejecting the possibility of any positive results from the investigation beforehand; or propose the possibility of bloodshed in order to keep people from rallying and demonstrating; or the National Security Council, instead of answering the righteous question about the role of plainclothes in attacking people and public property, and inflaming public movements, resolves to [pyschological projection] and blaming others for the tragedies that have happened.
As I look at the scene, I see that it has been set to achieve more than just forcing an unwanted government on the nation, it is set to achieve a new type of political life in the country. As a companion who has seen the beauty of your green wave of participation, I will never allow anybody’s life to be endangered because of my actions. At the same time, I stand by my firm belief of this election being null and void, and insist on reclaiming people’s rights, and in spite of the little power I possess, I believe that your motivation and creativity can still result in following up your legitimate rights in new and civil guises. Be confident that I will stand by your side at all times. What this brother of yours advises for finding these new solutions, especially to the beloved youth, is: Don’t let the liars and fraudsters steal the flag of defending the Islamic regime from you; Don’t let “the delinquents and the strangers” [quote from Ayatollah Khomeini, quotation marks ours] confiscate from you the precious heritage of the Islamic Revolution, which is built from the blood of your honest fathers. With trust in God and hope for the future and relying on your capabilities, continue your social movements based on freedoms explicitly stated in the constitution and stay away from violence, as you have been doing. In this road, we are not up against the Basij members; Basiji’s are our brothers. In this road, we are not up against the Revolutionary Guard members; they are protectors of our Revolution and regime. We are not up against the military; they are the protectors of our [country’s] borders. We are not up against our sacred regime and its legal structures; this structure guards our Independence, Freedom, and Islamic Republic. We are up against the deviations and deceptions and we want to reform them; a reformation that returns us to the pure principles of the Islamic Revolution.
We recommend those involved [the office-holders] to, in accordance with Article 27 of the constitution, not only facilitate non-violent gatherings in order to achieve peace in the streets, but also encourage such gatherings and release radio and television from the shackle of ill-speaking and biased behavior. They should let the voices, before becoming cries, to get corrected and balanced in this flowing media in the shape of good argumentation and disputation. They should let the press criticize, report the news as it is, and in short provide a free space for people to express their agreements and disagreements. Let us let those who like to say Takbir’s say them, and let us not treat them as opposing us. It is perfectly clear that in this case, there won’t be a need for the presence of military and regulatory forces in the streets, and we won’t come face to face with scenes that upon watching them or hearing about them brings pain to the heart of everyone interested in the Revolution and the country.
Your brother and companion, Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Note the strong commitment to the idea of a republican theocracy. For Mousavi, in any case, this clearly not about a change to the system, and while he says he’s following the “green wave of participation” of the youth, he doesn’t think that they are about a challenge to the idea of the system either. What splits, if any, are there between Mousavi and the students? Funny how this dimension has gone almost completely unexplored in the New York Times and other english sources. This perpetuates what is probably the false assumption that these students oppose the whole kit and kaboodle. And what’s worse the neocons are way out ahead of themselves, like Andrew Sullivan repeating the message of neocon Reuel Marc Gerecht’s Op-Ed in the New York Times, that this is “he clearest and most promising sign that the Islamist Wall is breaking up.” Clearly, they are listening selectively to what’s going on and also using using their imagination to interpret events as we know neocons are so good at doing.
