students vs. khatami

bargeboo: by now you might have heard about the confrontation president khatami has had with some university students at a gathering to honour the "student's day". the gathering which was supposed to be a civilized lecture turned into a rowdy and confrontational event in which the student engaged in direct exchanges with the president most of which where not of the most respectful nature.

at first, when i heard about it, i went digging and found a transcript of the event in farsi. i went though translating half of it for you till i ran across this first hand account from a alleged eyewitness.

and then once i saw this video i knew that translation was no longer needed. you can now see it for youself.

significance? on many levels this is a ground breaking incident, in which the same students who hovered around khatami 8 years ago hero-worshiping him, now have turned on him and call him a lier to his face. which makes the point that khatmi makes in his "speech" worth repeating: that "the way [these] students are conversing with their president is trully unheard of in the modern political history of iran". 

what this show of anger really translates into one can only spaculate and perhaps hope. realistically this is NOT a second revolution. the level of brutality this regime shows its opponents is so sever that the average student who has much to lose will not do much. it sadens me to think how many of these naysayers have already been identified and perhaps punished for their courage.

certainly the tide has been turning against khatami at least in public opinion. you might remember my very first post which was a translation of an open letter from students to him, listing his shortcomings and the promisses that were never delivered.

one thing i could not agree with more was another part of khatami's speech in which he warns the students to not be affected by those who have "forsaken" iran and have fled. as much as this could perhaps offend me as a passionate iranian, i will own up to the fact that i have no business telling anyone who has been living in iran in the last 20 years how to deal with IRI. i wonder anyone broadcasing in LA is listening ...

in any case, here is the link to the video again. you can judge for yourself.