ABSTRACT
More than thirty years after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the protests filling the streets of Tehran in 2011 (and indeed the streets of neighboring Cairo, Marrakesh and Manama) are reminiscent of mass demonstrations that led to the Iranian revolution thirty years ago. Young people, disenchanted and frustrated with a regime that does not embody their sense of ‘Iranianness,’ take to the streets, coalescing first behind a leader and movement referred to as the Sabze, or Green Movement 1 in 2009, and then, in 2011, coming together as an opposition movement seeking to unseat the regime in power. The protests that swept across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 all had a similar goal, to voice the people’s opposition to what are viewed as repressive governments in the region. People came together, pouring into the streets in civil-rights-type movements, and demanding accountability from their governments.
