In Iran, the protests have quieted, but the protesters are simmering

[Turborama]

Source: La Times

By Borzou Daragahi -

Reporting from Tehran -- The young men and women enter Haft Tir Square tentatively. Their pace slows as they discreetly glance around. They spot the club-wielding uniformed security officials and plainclothes Basiji militiamen, scan the square for other would-be demonstrators. A woman in a form-fitting mini-coat looks left, then right. There is safety in numbers, but there are few of her kind here for the scheduled gathering, so she quietly moves along, glancing at the shop windows. Maybe she'll circle back in a few minutes.

"The authorities have beaten people up, and killed some," says Hamad, a 26-year-old business student among those navigating the square, cautiously examining eyes and dress. "Their legitimacy has been damaged," he says. "Now I wait. I do not know what will happen. But the atrocity and cheating will linger in the collective memory. And someday an eruption will occur."

The streets of Tehran are quiet once again. But the multitudes who protested the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad haven't gone home and put their rage in a closet. They are carefully weighing their options, balancing personal lives, economic well- being and political aspirations -- and trying to determine whether they have any real leadership.

Those caught up in the "green wave" built on the presidential campaign of Mir-Hossein Mousavi are still trying to understand what has happened to their country in the short space of a month. According to conversations with dozens of analysts and ordinary people, most of whom did not want to be identified by their full names, their view of Iran and understanding of the rules that governed it for 30 years have changed dramatically.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-calculus28-2009jun28,0,7756401,full.story

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Iranian security forces on motorcycles make their presence known on a Tehran street.
Postelection rallies have quieted, but such patrols have been common, as authorities
keep an eye out for would-be demonstrators.

[RandomThoughts]

1. People that are aware and not sedated get to define their own futures.

The people shined a light on the corruption, did not let it be just be a whisper unheard, but instead showed that it was wrong.

I think it is the difference between thought and sleep.