Blogs’ Campaign for Real Democracy in Iran

Count me in, for the reasons Dr. Zin at Regime Change Iran explains here:

The next few weeks in Iran may prove critical to the efforts of the pro-democracy forces there. On June 17th, Iran has scheduled its Presidential elections and as the LA Times said recently:

It was already one of the most important elections in the world this year. It now also promises to be one of the most watched.

This time the world will see for itself that the elections in Iran are a fraud. The regime permits only those candidates that support the present regime to run. As Amir Taheri says, the outcome of the election is certain. The Supreme Leader of Iran will remain in complete control, the Presidency is meaningless. But the regime needs a high voter turnout to fool the world community that they are the legitimate representatives of the people.

This is why the people of Iran are boycotting the election as they did in the last Parliamentary election. They want a real democracy. But this time the world media will be watching. We need to make sure the world is watching.

Those of us in the blogosphere need to publish the news on Iran in order to help Iranians searching for news know that we support their efforts to replace the existing regime with a real democracy. . . .

Why republish the news? Because the regime is blocking access to most major news sites and the blogosphere is a means to frustrate their efforts. It is also important for the people of Iran to know that people around the world are standing with them in their struggle. This support has proved invaluable to others that successfully overthrew their oppressive regimes in other places around the world, such as Georgia, the Ukraine, Lebanon and elsewhere.

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There’s no reason to be cynical or halfhearted about helping people to liberate themselves from the Dark Ages. I believe that with a little courage, this summer could be the one when they finally pull it off, provided they get the right amount of encouragement and support from abroad. Threats of sanctions, for example, could be an effective way to stop the regime from doing a Tienanmen, given that 90% of Iran’s revenues come from oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz. On the other hand, if you want to be cynical, consider the impact on our North Korea diplomacy if Iran peacefully drops out of the Axis of Evil.