> I note with some pleasure that the late Shah's son has
> joined the pro-democracy forces:
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The irrelevant exiled royalists, the Rafsanjani-Mousavi faction of the
ruling regime, and the demonstrating students and youth all have different
and often conflicting values and interests - inevitably the case when very
diverse forces coalesce in any social upheaval.
It seems evident that, were you in Iran, you and others on the list would be watching the unfolding events from the balconies with sardonic detachment rather than participating in them.
Would you ever join a movement for democratic rights aimed at deposing the present regime? How would it differ from the one which presently exists? Would you decline to march with those whose class background or possible illusions about the West offended you? How would you propose to exclude those you disliked or with whom you disagreed?