Mohammed Khatami Issues a Strategy Plan to The People of Iran

Lifted and translated straight from Mr. Khatami's Facebook page:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

We are no longer going to waste our energy. We have said what needed to be said to the world, however now it’s time to act rather efficiently.

Effective this Tuesday June 23rd, 2009, every morning we shall protest towards the main bazaars of every single city in Iran. Should the revolutionary guards try to avoid the situation, the bazaar will be shut down. Should they don’t react to our protests, due to the mayhem caused by protesters, the bazaar will automatically shut down. Should they try to cut the phone lines around the country, yet again there will be a massive conflict within all the activities, resulting in the bazaar shutting down.

We shall bring our children along, and peacefully continue our protests. No sign boards, without wearing green, we go towards the bazaar with the intention of shopping. However we will buy nothing and we go with the aim of closing down the bazaar. We shall leave no marks or traces behind ourselves, not even showing the victory sign with our hands.

We shall only think of Victory. Should any of the hard liners and oppositions try to cause violence, we shall not interfere or get involved, since we are only there with the intention of shopping freely, therefore no one should fear and everyone should come along. If the revolutionary guards try to use tear gas against us, the bazaar will get shut down again. We should act smart and never ever get involved in any sort of violence.

The death of our youth and people is no good to anyone. Neither the reformists, nor Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi wants to see your sacrifice and martyrdom, what we want to see is your leadership and cooperation. What we needs is results, therefore it’s your duty to pass the news around and persuade every single Iranian looking for freedom and democracy to join us and follow this plan.

This plan will be very efficient and peaceful, which will result in least number of casualties, deaths or violence. This will bring millions of Iranians to the scene without any bloodshed. Don’t doubt the effectiveness of this plan, be prepared to hear rumors from oppositions about such plans being false. Don’t listen to what you hear, listen to your heart and remember, after all the bloodshed, you now have a massive responsibility on your shoulders, and that’s nothing but victory.

Now that we have so much restriction on our media, every single one of you should act as one. Spread the word around and act quickly.

Good luck.

Bottom line: If they try to oppress us in any way, we shut down the markets. Do not wear green, do not overtly protest. Dress normally and do not even make the victory sign. Bring your family with you when you go out. If the police stop you and ask what you're doing, say you're shopping, even though large sections of bazaars are closed in actual protest of the election results.

It's a good strategy of Khatami's and Mousavi's. While martyrs can be enormously powerful, while martyrs are sometimes needed as a catalyst, no one wants martyrs.

The sense coming from Iran is that the hatred once focused on Ahmadinejad has now been shifted to his main apologist Ayatalloh Khamenei. The public perception is that it isn't the incumbent president who's been dispatching the basiji to kill and maim protesters but the Supreme Leader himself. This is pretty indicative of where the real power lies. The president of Iran, as long as the government is run by the Islamic Supreme Ruling Council, is largely a secular figurehead and the people know who's really in charge.

If Mousavi had been rightfully given his victory instead of becoming Iran's version of Al Gore, his hands would've been just as tied as was Khatami's when he was president until August of 2005. But Mousavi would've provided some ideological balance to the Iranian government. Khatami, of course, is a reformist whose eight year-long administration was marked by moderate reform that called for dialogue between nations and giving the people a freer voice. With Khatami and Rafsanjani, another former two-term president. Mousavi would've had some powerful allies in the inner circle and neither Khamenei nor Ahmadinejad wanted that.

No one wants any more bloodshed. Iran already has more than enough martyrs. In calling for a general strike of bazaars and across several major industries, in calling for the people to stop wearing green and flashing the victory sign, in switching gears and tactics, reformers such as Khatami and Mousavi are already showing that they're more agile than the rigid Ruling Council led by Khamenei.

Yet such agility in strategizing is not to be confused with concession or conciliation because they're still calling for the people to come out in full force even at the expense of their personal finances and the nation's already damaged economy. Today we're seeing a different kind of bravery but it's still bravery, nonetheless.