A friend of mine, someone I respect a great deal, just observed that Mousavi calling for more demonstrations was sad, given that it isn’t his head that’s going to be cracked. Leaving aside the fact that I’m not so sure he’s sacrosanct, if things go far enough, my response is “so what?”
Because, with all due respect it’s that sort of attitude that let Bush get appointed as President in 2000 and thus lead to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. Nothing’s worth getting heads cracked to most Westerners. Certainly not an election which was even more unquestionably stolen than the Iranian one (which may or may not have been.)
For all the good Gore has done since then, I’ll despise him to the day I die for his gutlessness in 2000. Democratic crowds, including leg-breakers from the unions and other sources were ready to roll, and he told them to stand down. If there had been large protests, there is a very good chance that Sandra Day O’Connor would have blinked, and voted against Bush.
The price of Gore’s gutlessness was a lot of deaths. A hell of a lot of deaths, and the gutting of the US constitution, which the country may never recover from.
I don’t know if Mousavi is making the right decision in continuing to keep the fight going. But I do know that whether it’s the right decision or not is not determined by whether or not his opponents will use violence. If you are unwilling to stand up to violence, then anyone who is willing to use it controls you. You become their slave, and a slave to fear.