Collegiate Times

Author and historian Hamid Dabashi is in Blacksburg today to discuss the future of the recent Iranian government protests, also known as the “Iranian Green Movement.”
The Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, Dabashi has written several books, including “Iran: A People Interrupted.”Dabashi has been critical of the Iranian government following the contested 2009 election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Dabashi will speak at room 300 in Whittemore Hall at an event entitled “The Iranian Green Movement: Historical Roots and Future Prospects.”
Before his speech, Dabashi took time to speak with Collegiate Times in a phone interview Monday.

COLLEGIATE TIMES: News attention about protests in Iran has dropped since reaching a peak last summer. Is that something that bothers you at all?

Dabashi: No, it does not bother me at all. This is a civil rights movement and it’s in the form of a marathon not a 100-meter dash. It is best compared to the American civil rights movement, which began in the late 1950s with the Montgomery bus boycott. In fact, when President Obama just managed to get the health care reform bill through Congress, he called it the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century.

In other words, when you’re talking about securing the civil liberties of the people, you’re not talking necessarily about toppling a regime, or harassing the government. You’re talking about a prolonged civil rights movement for securing civil liberties.

One day it may manifest itself in rallies, it may manifest itself in teaching, boycotts, etc. The struggle will be sustained and will proceed.

CT: You’ve called these protests a civil rights movement. What elevates this struggle beyond the level of, say, a government insurrection?

Dabashi: Because it began with a very simple question “Where is my vote?” Mainly we have always had rebellion, revolution, coup d’tet, things of that sort. This movement is definitively a non-violent movement.

We are into the 10th month of this movement, and not a single Molotov cocktail has been exploded … despite the fact they have faced incredible violence from the government, and also considering the fact the movement is taking place in the context that is infested by violence in the region. From Afghanistan, to Iraq, Palestine. Homicidal violence … genocidal violence.

In that context, we are witness to the growth of the non-violent movement. That is the indication in my judgment that what we’re talking about is a civil rights movement and not a revolution.

CT: There was some controversy about America’s response when the protests began last summer. Do you feel that enough was done to support this Green Movement?

Dabashi: I make the categorical distinction between the American government and the American people.  The American peoples’ attention to this movement has been absolutely extraordinary, supportive. Feeling the reflection of their own civil rights movement in a different event, they have been excited and supportive.

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 30 issue of the Collegiate Times.