Shayan Ghajar

Mir Hossein Moussavi issued his 18th formal statement to the Green Movement June 15, outlining what he terms a “charter” for the goals and strategies of the Green Movement. The charter consists of numerous subsections addressing the intent, identity, ethics, and strategies for the movement.

Much of Moussavi’s latest statement consists of points he has made countless times before in other statements and speeches. However, according to the LATimes blog, the original .pdf version of the “Charter for the Green Movement” contained one critical paragraph omitted from the version published on Moussavi’s website. The paragraph called for the absolute separation of church and state. The LATimes quotes Moussavi as saying, in the missing paragraph, “Maintaining the independence of religious and clerical bodies from the regime is the only option to preserve the exalted status of religion in the Iranian society and it will be one of the main principles hitting high on the agenda of the Green Movement.”

It is unclear how the paragraph became excised from the published version. It may have been edited out by Moussavi at the last minute if the opposition leader considered it too controversial or dangerous to publish, or it may have been dropped from Kaleme, Moussavi’s website and the first to publish the statement, for other unknown reasons.

The call for a separation between church and state in Iranian politics would certainly draw a firestorm of criticism from supporters of the current structure of the government in which religion and politics are inextricably intertwined. It would also open Moussavi to criticism from the regime that he has betrayed the ideological foundations of the Islamic Revolution.

The publically available statement reads much in the same vein as previous Green Movement manifestos issued by Moussavi. He emphasizes repeatedly that the Green Movement must be based upon certain fundamental values in order to be a coherent force for progress. The most oft-repeated value is the equality of all citizens regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, or any other differences, and Moussavi describes the primacy of human dignity as the Green Movement’s guiding ideal.

Also in accordance with Moussavi’s previous statements, the opposition leader described the various grievances of the Green Movement, decrying the “totalitarian tendencies” of the government, saying they “violate the fundamental rights of citizens, disrespect human dignity, mismanage public assets, exacerbate class differences with economic and social deprivation, illegally utilize law enforcement, sacrifice national interests for international demagoguery,” and so on. Also as per Moussavi’s previous statements, he called for the opening of civil society and the cessation of all censorship and persecution of dissident voices.

Moussavi also highlighted his fundamental concern for the Iranian Constitution, both by pointing out the myriad ways the government acts without regard for national law, and by stressing the restoration of the Constitution as the paramount manner in which to satisfy the Green Movement’s demands.

Mousasavi failed to offer concrete strategies for the Green Movement to attain these goals. He said only that “social networking” is vital to the success of the opposition.

Reactions to the statement thus far have been muted. The lack of concrete strategies in the statement may prove frustrating to Green supporters. Prominent dissident cartoonist Nikahang Kowsar published a reaction in the exiled opposition website RoozOnline, depicting an elderly Moussavi in a dark, cobwebbed basement issuing “Statement Number 300” in 2020. Kowsar’s reaction may be emblematic of how many frustrated opposition supporters feel about yet more words with little action from Moussavi.