In a
new piece in the LA Times, the always wonderful Borzou Daragahi provides a glimpse into Iran's rural heartland, where Ahmadinejad's base of support supposedly lies. Documenting the case of a 23-year-old engineering student who before the election only wanted to "go abroad, get rich and have drinks by a pool in Miami," Daragahi's piece reveals that the Green movement may be slowly but surely making inroads into the country's most religious and conservative areas:
"If you asked me last year, I would probably say, 'My dream is to go abroad for my master's degree and try for a foreign passport,' " he said. "But now, my only dream is our victory against the dictatorship, and to gain my own freedom."
[...]
His account of what has happened over the last seven months in Birjand [a city of 160,000 that sits near the Afghanistan border], corroborated by former and current residents of the city, and consistent with reports from other small cities around the country, illustrates how the opposition movement has gained a foothold nationwide.
(h/t
Enduring America).
