Journalist shares first-hand experiences of Iranian election aftermath

According to Roger Cohen of The New York Times, June 12 marked the destabilization of Iranian society.

That day — the day of the highly refuted Iranian presidential election — thousands of civilians took to the streets in protest in the most significant uprising in Iran since 1979.

Cohen, now also a writer for the Op-Ed page of the International Herald Tribune, was one of few journalists to witness those tumultuous post-election events. Last night, Cohen recounted these first-hand experiences to an audience in the ARCH Buliding’s Crest Auditorium.

To really comprehend the plight of the Iranian people, Cohen said, you need to see the civilians teargassed, beaten and in some cases murdered by the Basij militia. “To understand a situation, you need to be there on the ground.”

He explained that the failure of the election is unbelievably tragic because, unlike countries where democracy is forced upon people, Iran was ready for a truly democratic government.

Over the past few decades, the “slow-forming contours of democracy” did have time to take root in Iran through education and civil involvement, Cohen said. However, now achieving a democratic government seems like an unattainable dream.

It was as if on the day of the election a “sinister puppet master” decreed the abrupt end to the openness of the weeks leading up to the election, he said.

In addition to his work in Iran, Cohen has written extensively on subjects from Sarajevo to Yugoslavia. He has also contributed to The Times for almost two decades.

Reflecting on his experiences, Cohen declared, “Good journalism requires a head and a heart.”

This, more than anything, is what has allowed him to “take the pulse of Iran,” according to Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, the director of Penn’s Middle East Center and the event organizer.

As College freshman Carolyn Chen remarked, “The fraudulent Iranian presidential election has global implications,” and no contemporary journalist understands the psychology of young Iranians better than Cohen.

While he was in Iran, Cohen said, he took the Iranian cause to heart.

Although thousands of Iranians have become disillusioned about their government, there is hope, Cohen said. The people of Iran have moved from “reluctant acquiescence to taking a stand.”

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