Iran Protesters Lose the High Ground

They're still right, they're still fighting on the side of democracy and majority rule, but by responding to violence with violence, the anti-government protesters in Iran have lost the high ground.

I don't blame them. The hardest thing in the world, harder than enduring torture and far harder than hitting back at someone who hits you, is to stand still and not defend yourself against attack.

But that extreme difficulty is why it works. When a powerful government uses lethal weapons on unarmed protesters who refuse to fight back, the protesters win. But when the government gets to claim self-defense, the protesters lose credibility, sympathy and support.

I had high hopes that the Iranian protesters would emulate Gandhi and King's tactics and thus achieve Gandhi's and King's victories over repressive governments far more powerful than Tehran.

Those hopes died last night.

It's still possible for the protesters to prevail in the short term - their victory in the long term is assured. For while the long arc of history does, indeed, bend toward justice, its arc in Iran just got longer.