The ongoing civil unrest in Iran over disputed presidential election results stand in sharp contrast to the laissez-faire attitude with which Canadians conduct themselves when voting time comes around.
Since the so-called “official” announcement that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had trounced rival Mir Hossein Mousavi in the June 12 election, Mousavi and his followers have made repeated allegations of voter fraud against both Ahamdinejad and the theocratic/judicial bodies that govern Iran. Mousavi, a former prime minister, has taken his grievances straight to the Guardian Council, which has promised to review allegations of voting irregularities but have refused to annul the entire result.
The last 10 days has seen an unprecedented public outpouring of support for Mousavi’s cause, condemnation of the regime by its citizens and a violent, deadly crackdown by the police and the militia that has caused an unknown number of deaths, ranging anywhere from a dozen to more than 150. The results cannot be verified because members of the international media have been either confined to their offices or hotel rooms, locked up by police or expelled from the country. The one enduring image that has rocketed around the world courtesy of the Internet is amateur video footage of young woman known as Neda, her dead eyes staring up into the air as blood pours from a bullet wound in her chest.
These protestors — characterized as terrorists and hoodlums by the regime —want their grievances with respect to voting fraud heard and addressed. Failing that, they have taken their complaints to the streets where arrests, assaults by police and death at the hands of the Basij militia are frequent. Some citizens, despite threats of arrest and death, as well as a crackdown on Internet traffic, have emailed their videos and photos to friends on the other side of the ocean, which have then been relayed to Western media. They are risking their own lives to make sure the rest of the world knows what is happening in Iran.
There is no experience similar in Canada’s history, nothing to which we can relate. We may complain about our government, our elected representatives and the choices they make, but on a fundamental level, our democratic process from Parliament to local school boards is protected by arms-length organizations that recognize the necessity of fair, transparent elections. There might be small mistakes or irregularities at polling stations, but as a whole the system works. We do not have to risk our lives to make our voices heard.
And yet so few of us bother to take the time to use the most effective mechanism for change in Canada — our vote. Turnout in federal, provincial and municipal elections has declined sharply as electors spout sundry excuses that mean absolutely nothing. Our generation today fails to understand that democracy is an active process. It means learning who stands for what, it means deciding what matters to you and your community and it means finding a half-hour on any given Monday to drive to a nearby school or community hall to cast your vote. The end result means nothing if fewer and fewer people don’t take the time to become engaged.
We are complacent without cause, when the winner is determined by who shows up. Iranians are dying in the streets and risking arrest because they showed up and their votes were mistreated. If the powerful have their way, it likely won’t matter but at least they, unlike so many in Canada, can at least say that they tried.
