Losing the Grip
The clerical rule in Tehran is going berserk, trying to enforce impossible laws. This video documents - along with other, similar recordings - how the police raid communities, breaking headlights and flattening tires.
The reason is, of course, protesters have taken to demonstrate their opposition to the power by driving with the headlights on.
In other cases Iranians have been pulled out of cars and beaten, because they honk the horn, another form of protest. The rulers know this.
The order is, apparently, to crush any form of protest. The clerical rule is taking their absolutism to the absurd:
From special units inspecting clothes in the streets to make sure everybody dresses in a fashion appropriate for the Islamic Revolution to this, basically outlawing anything out of the ordinary connected to the post-election protest.
It is obviously a desperate, knee-jerk reaction, creating an intolerable condition, an environment nobody can feel comfortable living in.
Also, no society can function in the long run under such invasive scrutiny and sanction.
The societal hectoring is a very solid indicator the clerical rule is losing the grip, not just on the people - it seems to have happened some time ago - but on reality.
It's a good strategy for protesting: Making the ordinary arbitrary, forcing authorities to strike down randomly, creating more opposition.
July 1 2009
