Continued ...

In recent years, with the destruction of the middle class, the rulers have themselves captured the upper three per cent and shifted their social base from the middle class toward the sixty per cent of society that belongs to the disadvantaged classes.

My question to political activists seeking transformation is this: given the breadth of social groups and the great differences among their political, cultural and economic demands, what political culture have you created and internalised that will enable you to realise balance, tolerance, acceptance of others and the fundamental principles of a diverse and plural society in Iran’s future?

Beyond political slogans and the repetition of “they must go,” what other discourse have you created that can not only unite the majority of society but also give us confidence, after change, in its maturity and fitness to make the transition to a free society?

There are dozens of formal studies in the field of social research indicating that if a political force can organise and lead three per cent of a society, it can create a civil resistance movement capable of leading to victory.
My question is: what proportion of society do you imagine consists of the core supporters of the ruling system who possess a deep and rooted belief in its foundations?
What percentage of society do you think they constitute?

How will you be able to pass along the narrow road of victory over despotism and guide your nation toward freedom and a better future if you lack flexibility and a deep understanding of political culture even in confronting an enemy who opposes you?

My proposal is not that we stop or despair. My proposal is that we broaden the horizon through which we understand the struggle for change. The field of this struggle is our entire society.

Every social activist, every civil-rights activist, and every person anywhere in Iran who shifts the balance in favour of strengthening civil society is participating in a process that makes cultural and political development possible. And every activist who extends the range of their comrades in this historical struggle for Iran’s future to the furthest point from their own political beliefs is helping to create the political culture that can guarantee freedom, justice and the realisation of civil society on the day after change, which will come.

This conversation continues ....

Aydin Areta

(The complete third discussion, entitled “The Narrow Road to Freedom,” was published in three posts. To read it in full, begin with the first post.)