Iran's sullen majorityóuncensored
Thursday, May 13, 2004 at 3:31AM "Overdosing on Islam," by Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, 12 May, p. A23.
Another fabulous article by Nick Kristof where he samples Iranís unhappy masses. His descriptions remind me greatly of the should-have-been ìboomersî of the Soviet Union that I spent a lot of nights with in the summer of 1985. Hanging out with all these thirtysomethings back then, it was clear to me that all of them had already opted out of the system, meaning Gorbachevís call to reform Soviet society and its economy was doomed to failure. He simply would never be able to connect to these people, the core of society, in any meaningful wayóthey were already lost. So when Gorby started opening up the system, it fell apart completely.
By Kristofís description, Iran is at roughly the same point as the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, which is why I say in the conclusion to my book that the mullahs will lose their grip on power before 2010. As one plumber said, ìHow can you have hope for life any more? If there were a free vote, 99 percent would oppose this system, and only the 1 percent within the system would support it?î
This is what ìcompulsive Islam,î as Kristof dubs it, gets youóthe sullen and disconnected majority. This is not really any different that what ìcompulsive socialismî got the Soviets in Russia. We are waiting on the Chernobyl-like spark, the Gorbachev-like leaders, the Ceausescu-like collapse of regime legitimacy.
I canít wait.
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