Let me add that I agree with Ms. Afshin-Jam completely. Unfortunately, Iran has seen some terrible swings in how it has been governed. The Shah was far beyond the people, from a secular perspective. He was seen as being excessive in his lifestyle and in his approach to the world, in a way that was embarrassing to many Iranians. At the same time, in order to suppress domestic dissent, he had a very firm grip on the SAVAK, on the secret police, to oppress people who opposed him. As a result of these things, the mullahs were able to take control after the Islamic revolution and go to the other end of the spectrum from an Islamic fundamentalist standpoint.
What I think isn't known as much is that back in 1979 there were various moderate elements within Iran that were struggling to be heard. Massoud Rajavi rallied 500,000 people in a soccer stadium in 1979, but ultimately the Mojahedin-e Khalq, one of the opposition groups that had been in prison under the Shah as well, alongside the mullahs, was unable to persuade the Iranian people to support their group.
Ultimately, from all the conversations I've had with Iranians and with Iranian Americans, I think the Iranian people want a more moderate middle. They want a moderate version of Islam, where they can have their lipstick jihad, as the book goes. They want to have a state that has the fundamental precepts of Islam respected and a state that isn't going so far as to impinge on the rights of people, but at the same time isn't so secular that they lose their Islamic identity. From what I hear, that is what most Iranians are seeking to achieve.
It's a question of how we in the west, as well as others in the Islamic world, are going to support those moderate elements within Iranian society that are seeking support. I know I personally am not going to persuade any Iranian to do anything, nor is the Government of Canada or the Government of the United States, frankly.
What we can do is support those Iranians in Iran who have a vision of the world that seeks to achieve equality. We can support them however we possibly can, in a way that will not get in their way of persuading the Iranian people, but in a way that will help them—for example, radio broadcasting in Farsi. Being able to have people broadcasting what is happening in the world into Iran in Farsi, so that people hear about the human rights abuses, they hear about the violations of human rights, so that they have the information they need to make decisions, and they hear about how Iran is being viewed by the rest of the world, is the kind of thing I think we can do to be supportive of the aspirations of the Iranian people.