Well, there we agree. I have full confidence that they will choose their path wisely and that they are destined to succeed.

This is not the eighties. More people are against this regime than for it today. Its economy will implode soon. IRI is a marked nation in the international community because of its nuclear activity. Israel is on its tail. The aftermath of rigged election exposed the true nature of this regime further. It will face extinction in no time in the event of large scale atrocities. Remember Slobodan Milosevic government?

Furthermore, if the actors of this regime believed tanks in the streets and marshal law would have helped, they would have done it by now. They remember 1978.

I put my trust in the hands of people in Iran. They can decide what works, violent or non-violent.

There’s nothing magical about non-violent resistance and I firmly believe that there’s nothing the IRI fears more than non-violence. The IRI can easily crush violent resistance as evidenced throughout the eighties.

If by American South you mean peaceful protest led by Dr. Martin Luther king we need to consider that U.S. had a constitution that had been drafted some 170 years prior to the said movement and that all three branches of the government had adhered to it. So I am afraid the comparison is flawed.

The IRI constitution is not worth the paper is written on because the Iran regime has been consistently violating it. Example Article 27 of IRI constitution that provides for peaceful protest but government beat and killed people on June 13 peaceful protest. How do we justify that?

We need to stop apologizing and explaining away the inexcusable acts of this rogue regime. We need to stop being complicit in murder, rape, and torture of our Iranian brother and sisters. We need to recognize our responsibility in preserving our rich history and do not allow our homeland continue to be the banana republic it has become.

I do not want to see violence. I do not want to see people, the greatest assets of a nation, to be either killed, or be depressed, or turn into zombies. I see and listen to people and I see their psychological scars. Even those who have been able to flee the country live scared as if they are being hunted. I also feel sorry for those lost souls who are the brutal hunters. They have been brain watched to believe they are doing the God’s work. They are victims as well.

I do not know how this mess can be cleaned, how brutality can be uprooted, and how this dust of depression over Iran can be blown away. All I know it will not be with a magic wand. I wish it was.

I’d agree with you if it wasn’t for the fact that what I see written above is very much in line with non-violent resistance theory. Non-violent resistance has been used successfully in many parts of the world from the American South to British occupied India. These aren’t concessions. Non-violence is a well thought out strategy that is quite reasonably the most effective way forward for the movement.

The theory that self defense by protesters can be a precursor for large scale violence by the regime is not convincing. First, regime has used great deal of violence magnitude of which will not be known for some time. Second, large scale violence by regime thugs such as tanks in the streets and mass killing will bring its end in a matter of weeks if not days. They are insane but I do not think they commit suicide. Second, if violence by the regime has kept protesters at home the same will be true for Basiji, IRG, and riot police. They are not from a different planet. If protesters inflict death and injury on them, especially those who are looking at their mission as a job and making a living, they will find excuse to stay home.

This is not to say that I am advocating violence. I do not want to see people lose their lives. This is to say that each person (protester=freedom fighter) should be left alone to chose his/her faith and whether they should or how to defend themselves. People are the one leading this Movement, it is their lives that are on the line and they should not be directed like sheep.