What is happening in Iran should be analyzed on two levels, a state level and a societal level. At the state level we have factional politics, divisions and power struggles between reformists, conservatives, and even within the conservatives--traditional conservatives versus neo-conservatives in Iran, run by Mr. Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khameini, the leader, who he's aligned with, and the Revolutionary Guard people. On the societal level, as I mentioned, it goes back to over a century ago with demands for democracy and democratization.
What is happening today in Iran is unique in a number of ways. There is an epistemic shift in the discourse of people, which means they simply want a peaceful democratic evolution; they don't want to use violence. They're very civilized, with new and novel methods, and I've learned quite a lot from this new generation. Of course, they don't really descend to any charismatic leader, unlike my generation and even the generation before; they don't need a charismatic leader.
I received a letter from Iran, and I'll just read one sentence from it. It talks about this new generation, this movement, and it says that in the history books of the 21st century, the first chapter will be about them, the Iranians. In the introduction they might write that important events have happened before them, events like 9/11 and wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, but those were the odds and ends of the previous century, with an outdated language, and with 20th century tools--which means airplanes, bombs, and bullets. The letter goes on to say that this is a new thing, and they are true children of their time, 21st century Iranians. It will be written that they were the social movements in which all of them were leaders and all of them were the organizers. The letter went on to describe how a movement without a command centre was acting so well orchestrated, and how amazing this movement was.
At this point, the social democratic movements in Iran are far ahead of Mr. Mousavi and Karoubi, two leaders. At the same time, these people are playing a positive role, and we should really appreciate that.
I don't think we have a charismatic, unique leader at this point, but in the future we may or may not. We will have leaders, and the leaders will come from within, definitely. That's the point. Of course, Ayatollah Montazeri is one great source of irritation, the grand ayatollah who's opposing the current leadership. He may or may not be a potential leader at this transitional moment.
My understanding of the social movement, the current movement, is that we have to be patient. It's not going to solve the issue in a few weeks or months. It takes time, and it will be more and more mature. That's the first thing.
What was the second question?