Friday Prayers, the scene for this week’s assembly of protesters, was crammed. How many showed at the event at and around Tehran University is impossible to determine. On a normal day, the area inside and around the university takes in about fifty to a hundred thousand people, but yesterday’s ceremony, the first for many – most, in fact – was anything but normal. Given that after weeks of absence, Hashemi Rafsanjani was the speaker, and the fact that Mousavi and Karroubi were to be present, most of these first timers weren’t even there for prayers. Instead, this was a rare official public tribune for one of the most powerful men in the Iranian political arena, believed to have sided with the reform movement and the masses, as well as an opportunity for more protests in a relatively safer environment, using yet another tool of the hard-liners against them. It was assumed that Darth Mahmoud and the Emperor would not let the Stormtroopers loose on people as it would be too embarrassing.
That was a wrong assumption. I didn’t witness any violence from where I was, but cell phones were down, we could smell tear gas, and many friends who were in other locations, later called and reported on beatings and arrests before and after the prayers. Even Mr. Karroubi was attacked by some plainclothes militiamen.
During the week, we were overloaded with speculation on what Rafsanjani would say on Friday, and how he would align himself. Was he still a powerful man in Iran, or, as we say, had his tail been cut in recent years? Had he managed to muster enough clerical support in his four weeks of silence to come out openly and side with the people? Signs of extreme worry were visible among hard-line supporters of the government and the media as well. Rumors were circulated about how Rafsanjani had made a deal with the Supreme Leader and would let people down, open letters indirectly suggested what he should say, and the smear campaign against the protesters and their leaders raged on. It also looked like much of what was being said, was to cause anxiety in people so they would not show. After all, Friday Prayers has always been theirs. But in my view, Rafsanjani had two options: to belittle himself before the masses or not.
Rafsanjani’s recent history is interesting. Over the years and before the previous elections, he had lost his standing among people due to suppositions about his corruption and immense wealth, amassed over the years after coming to power. This is partially what Ahmadinejad leveraged to defeat him in the race. Once people were faced with the choice of selecting one of these two men, many boycotted the elections altogether, and many voted for Ahmadinejad out of spite. Regardless of the veracity of the accusations against him, Iranians realized what a dreadful choice they made. I don’t want to defend Rafsanjani, or any other politician in Iran, as I am sure if one sets his mind to it, there is plenty of dirt to be dug up on the majority of them. We are a nation that has to select between bad and worse, and that is the argument I put to everyone when I talk about politics and elections.
In a matter of four years the tide turned once more, despite the government’s efforts to sideline Rafsanjani. The icing came when Ahmadinejad’s personal attacks on him and his family during the pre-election televised debates backfired. Yesterday, Rafsanjani took the podium while he had the opportunity to redeem himself, and most importantly, knowing he would have the backing of Iranians, to position himself against Ali Khamenei for the throne.
We walked toward the university on Keshavarz Boulevard with a small radio in hand, but could not get too close as the crowd was backed up all around the campus. People were chanting as usual. Stormtroopers were aplenty, but it seemed they were there mostly for show. As soon as the chanting started to become widespread, they would arrive on their bikes, line up near the sidewalks, wait for a minute for the crowds to quiet down and then take off.
At some point we decided to sit and listen to Rafsanjani’s speech on the radio. This is what everyone was doing. Usually the speech is broadcast on loudspeakers hanging from light poles in the area, but yesterday, the loudspeakers in our location were not working (we’ll imagine there was some technical difficulty), so small clusters of people were forming around those who were carrying radios. Throughout the speech, people would chant slogans and cheer, and they were very different from the old and tired nonsense usually heard at the prayers. One of the fresh ones was “death to China”, which started when Rafsanjani spoke about the atrocities of the Chinese government during the recent riots there, something that the official media in Iran has not even mentioned. The loudest cheer, however, came when an ambulance arrived in the area and started to transmit the broadcast on its speakers. This simple act of kindness caused the crowd to go wild.
My opinion is that Rafsanjani exceeded expectations and subtly went all out at the podium. In a rebuttal to Khamenei’s talk on the Friday after the election, he offered his speech in three segments. He went around the twelfth Imam, whom the hard-liners reference the most in their rhetoric, and quoted verses and accounts directly related to the prophet. He alluded to those stories which emphasized the prophet’s support and defense of the people. Unlike the hard-liners, he recognized the rift between society and the government as a crisis, worrisome and in dire need of attention. He underlined the importance of the republic and its laws, criticized how the Guardian Council did not make use of its opportunity to respond justly to people’s grievances over the election results, and spoke of proposing solutions to restore people’s confidence in the system. But most importantly, his only mention of the Supreme Leader was in passing reference to his extending the deadline for the partial recount of the votes, and none of the habitual praises and expressions of gratitude. In short, Rafsanjani not only sided with people in his speech, but he also played the role that the Supreme Leader was expected to play: father of the nation, and the thoughtful arbiter in the crisis that has boiled up in the recent weeks in Iran. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to hear and see this slogan in the coming days: “Rafsanjani for leader.”
Twice during Friday Prayers – once before the main speaker takes the podium, and once after the prayers are over – someone comes behind the microphone and gives people some hard-line slogans for chanting. Among them you hear the usual “death to America”, and “death to Israel”. He would shout the slogan and people would repeat it. But yesterday’s crowd was very different. In response to the cues, people would instead shout “death to Russia”, which produced what was at the same time a comical effect and symbolic of people’s defiance in the face of the regime.