The question has many different dimensions, but within the limited time available here, I think one of the challenges in Iranian civil society or with the Iranian public in general is for Iranians across different political, religious, and ethnic divides to learn to converse with each other, to learn the art of dialogue and compromise against an authoritative and repressive regime, which has denied them that opportunity. That, to me, is really the only sustainable basis for having a democratic transformation in Iran.
The reason the regime persists is that it has done its utmost to crush civil society, to repress labour unions, women's movements, student movements, human rights movements. It does this because it knows that the more vibrant the civil society becomes, the greater the chance that the ground will crumble beneath the feet of the regime.
Investing resources in facilitating dialogue, facilitating that space in the public consciousness, is extremely important.
There is one particular issue that I should also mention. There is a citizens' lab at the University of Toronto that is doing great work in this regard, helping with technology so that young people can bypass the filters of the regime. The regime is talking about the so-called halal Internet, an Internet that it can control, because it realizes what a powerful tool the Internet is for civil society, for debate, criticism, and dialogue.
I think we should be careful not simply to think that by imposing sanctions and isolating the regime we're going to achieve our objective. We need to be much more selective and nuanced, and also understand that isolating the population by denying them access to the Internet is actually counterproductive.