Tomorrow is February 11th. That date may not mean much to us here, in the West, but it means a great deal to a whole hell of a lot of people on the other side of the world. It was on that date in 1979 that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared the victory of his revolutionary Islamic movement in Iran. It marked the foundation of an Islamic theocratic republic – in the overthrow of an established monarchy – and the ushering in of a regime that is even now the vexation of the civilized world.
The date has traditionally been one of great celebration and defiance in Iran, seeing the population (in a carefully controlled manner) pour into the streets to give jubilant voice to the spirit of a revolution that took place before many of them were born and which, even now, keeps them in a state of awkward poverty – both financial and intellectual – the needlessly hated children of an international community determined to move beyond the sort of thing their rulers so fiercely represent. It is a monstrous place, and a monstrous reign, both fully worthy of the otherwise unfortunate “axis of evil” epithet bestowed upon that nation during the Bush administration. It is a state that murders the victims of crimes rather than the perpetrators. It is a state that does not care what its constituent people actually want.
There are two undercurrents of thought that bear particular concern on this particular anniversary, though. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the dubious president of Iran, and the current Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s spiritual (and practical) ruler, have declared that, on the glorious 11th, a sort of mighty blow will be delivered in the form of some manner of act or revelation that will stun the arrogant West. It is not very clear as to what this will actually be, but their country’s slowly-ramping-up nuclear program and the recent (and successful) testing of a long-range ballistic missile might provide a clue. Will tomorrow see a nuclear test? Will the sands of Iran’s vasty deserts be fused to glass by a new release of the fires of Hell? Or will it be something more expressive and irrevocable even than that? We don’t know. Maybe it will be nothing. Likely it will be something.
On the other hand, however, stand the people of Iran. They stand against their rulers, and against the corruption of their supposed republic, and against the aggressive stupidity of their supposed representatives. They are every bit as brilliant and determined and forthright as the men who speak for them on the world stage are idiotic and complacent and secretive. They are young, and passionate, and – if they could only receive the help they deserve – strong enough to wreak mighty havoc on the brittle bones that stand around them.
When Adhmadinejad was “re-elected” late last year, the people of Iran showed the ferocity of their opposition in a widespread popular uprising that was, regrettably, quelled. It was quelled because the entrenched powers are strong, and because the uprisers do not wish to stoop to their brutally violent level, and because the attention span of a potentially-helpful West is short. They marched in the streets in rage and beauty, and they failed. They failed, and were silenced, and were sent home. Some of them were murdered for their troubles.
Starting tomorrow, it is likely that they’ll take up the quarrel one more time. Enormous protests are scheduled, in defiance of the government’s orders, and it is possible that even as this stunning blow of the ruling classes is struck against the West, in whatever manner, a similar blow, from the aggregate of outraged fists, will be struck against the incomparable swine who so obstinately make it all necessary.
Tomorrow, the streets of Tehran, and Mashhad, and Ahvaz, and Isfahan, and countless other cities will be choked with people. If we are lucky, they will be people in open revolt, determined to drive out the absurd monsters that are so wicked to their subjects and so irksome to the world. If we are not, they will be people in complacent celebration of the regime that beggars them; the regime that, through its ostentation and idiocy and “stunning blows,” will soon enough send many of them to an early grave.
For western bombs, when they fall, will be stupidly indiscriminate; if we know anything, we know that.


