Iran Holds Pro-government Rallies

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/20091230104542881809.html (from al jazeera)

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Iran for pro-government rallies.

Protestors fill the squares of Qom, Tehran, Shiraz, and Arak. These demonstrations were not only designed by the state to show the strength of the government, but also to rally against the Iran’s political opposition, which had previously held a series of it’s own protests against the state. Protesters shouted slogans berating to the two opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi (picture right) and Mehdi Karroubi. There were many different reports of where the two leaders of the opposition were during these rallies. While a senior aide to the leaders said they were in Tehran, there were many other rumors. One report said the men had fled to north Iran after learning about the population’s demand for their punishment. Another source claimed they were in custody for protection, while another said the Revolutionary Guards had picked up the men for protection. The Iranian government blames much of the social unrest on the foreign influences of Britain and the United States. Iranian analyst Karim Sadjadpour says that for the West, the situation with Iran is a delicate one. He explains that while the US and European countries should encourage democratic change in Iran, they should be weary of the internal Iranian drama. They could “walk into a trap of tainting the independence of the opposition movement.”

According to Freedom House, Iran is not free. And thought it practices democracy, it is an Authoritarian regime. Iran is a democracy in the way that it has adopted the rudiments of democracy, but Iran is not consolidated, it does not practice these rudiments to their full potential. Iran struggles for stability, and the opposition rallies against the current government are proof of instability. The fact that the state had to organize it’s own, pro-government rallies to combat opposition suggests an unstable state, a state laden with crisis. Instead of trying to take control with a more hands on, democratic approach, the government quickly organized rallies of it’s own. Though organized, rallies are still chaotic, and show that the government does not necessarily know how to handle political and civil disturbances within the state.