Shades of 20 Years Ago

Like many others, I've been playing close attention to the happenings in Iran, where demonstrators continue to rally in support of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi, who controversially lost the presidential election the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amid accusations of voting fraud. The protests have evolved, or perhaps expanded into a larger themes around democracy and civil rights for women, and with news of deadly clashes between demonstrators and riot policy, there's anticipation that the turmoil will get worse.

Like many others, I couldn't help but recall the events twenty years ago in Beijing, where demonstrations largely comprised of university students began to rally in support of democratic reform. After a short standoff with Communist party leaders who demanded that they disperse and halt their "counterrevolutionary activities", the defiant students were crushed by military forces, a rampage that was broadcast globally by news services. The number of those killed still wildly varied somewhere between 1000 and 8000.

I remember President George H.W. Bush's response to the massacre, and as a youngster who was ethnically Chinese and pro-democracy, I found it woefully understated and muted. Yes, he did suspend military sales and visits, but words about expressing "grave concern" seemed insufficient. As a young teenager, I admit that I had a perhaps unrealistic view of how politics and diplomacy worked. President Bush was being pragmatic, and clearly my hopes for him to condemn more forcefully the crackdown and to intervene militarily or by giving financial support to an underground democratic movement was naive and wrongheaded in retrospect.

Interestingly, President Obama is facing the same criticism of his handling of the Iran turmoil. Critics argue that his measured tones are insufficient, and that if his principles of democracy and hope are truly things he hold dear, he should act and speak more forcefully, political expediency be damned. I tend to believe that his measured response is the right one. The kiss of death to reformer Moussavi would to be promoted and lauded by the West. When a seemingly common ground of rallies is "Death to America!", props from the American president is probably not an endorsement that he'd welcome.

For the Iranian leaders and protesters, they have the benefit of looking back into history 20 years ago and studying the actions of those who went before them in Beijing. There is an opportunity here to usher in a new and better age for the Iranian people without the collateral damage of thousands killed. Let's hope that the leaders and demonstrators can find that common ground and succeed where their Chinese predecessors failed.