In Iran today, it's Tiananman Square... 20 years later

June 20, 2:49 AMSF Politics ExaminerArthur Bruzzone

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                                      Tianaman Square Protests 1989

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Twenty years ago, almost to the day, the world witnessed the protests of nearly a million Chinese in Tiananmen Square.  On June 5, 1989 the military moved into clear the square, and as many as 2,500 protesters were killed, ten thousand or more injured.

There’s an eerie similarity to what’s occuring today in Iran. head mullah Ali Khamenei delivered the Friday sermon insisting that the June 12 elections were fair and ordered the protestors to stop demonstrating in any way. He warned that opposition rallies are banned and any attempt to hold one will be put down with armed force. 

Like in the early hours of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Iranian army has been relunctant to fire on Iranian protesters. The feared Pasdaran or Revolutionary Guard (IRG) is evidently so split that the mullahs can't rely on them.  There is even word that soldiers and IRG will turn on the regime's basiji militia thugs who have been doing the beatings and killings so far, and defend the protestors.

The crowds in Tehran and elsewhere have been able to organize despite a government clampdown on the Internet and cell phones. The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence.

Unfortunately, the Tiananmen Square protest ultimately led to a government crackdown on dissidents in around China.  That is what the protesters face today.  Then members of the Party who had publicly sympathized with the protesters were purged, with several high-ranking members placed under house arrest, such as General Secretary Zhao Ziyang.

That scenario is also playing in Iran.  A spokesman for Mousavi said Friday the opposition leader is not under arrest but is not allowed to speak to journalists or stand at a microphone at rallies.

The Chinese Communist Party leadership and military was far more organized and disciplined in 1989.  Iran’s mullahs and Revolutionary Guard less so.  Twenty years later, the world may witness a freedom movement smashed by a tyrannical regime fighting for its survival, and bloodshed that will result.