Three things about the following video, which comes via Nico Pitney’s Iran blog at Huffington Post, need explanation: first, it’s obviously been made with a microcamera hidden on someone’s body. That speaks volumes about the way technology eats away at a regime’s ability to connect with the world while maintaining an authoritarian grip.
Second, the context of the situation is important: it’s Friday prayer time, when a man derisively known as the “minister of slogans” (vazireh shoaar) always leads the people of Tehran in chants of “Death to America!,” “Death to Britain!,” etc. You can hear him on the loudspeakers.
But lastly: instead of repeating his slogans, the people are shouting “Death to Russia!” Russia and China are the two major powers that have recognized the reelection of Ahmadinejad.
That ordinary people would engage in slogan jamming tells you the Green Revolution is far from finished. It may no longer be found in the streets every day, but it has taken permanent residence in people’s hearts. How that may or may not translate into change remains to be seen.
