For a man who came out of near-oblivion to the presidency of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to face serious restlessness among his subjects. Despite having the backing of the hardliners in the Guardian Council who arranged his victory, or perhaps because of that support, Ahmadinejad has become the center of widespread scorn and dissastisfaction among Iranian students, a volatile and powerful force for radical change in the nation. Combined with a humiliating setback in local elections, Ahmadinejad may find himself on the same career path as the Shah:

As protests broke out last week at a prestigious university here, cutting short a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Babak Zamanian could only watch from afar. He was on crutches, having been clubbed by supporters of the president and had his foot run over by a motorcycle during a less publicized student demonstration a few days earlier.

But the significance of the confrontation was easy to grasp, even from a distance, said Mr. Zamanian, a leader of a student political group.

The Iranian student movement, which planned the 1979 seizure of the United States Embassy from the same university, Amir Kabir, is reawakening from the slumber of recent years and may even be spearheading a widespread resistance against Mr. Ahmadinejad. This time the catalysts were academic and personal freedom. ...

The protest, punctuated by shouts of “Death to the dictator,” was the first widely publicized outcry against Mr. Ahmadinejad, one that was reflected Friday in local elections, where voters turned out in droves to vote for his opponents.

Earlier reports had the Iranian leader shocked by his treatment at Amir Kabir, but that analysis has been somewhat eclipsed. The protest at the university only got organized after the students saw busloads of Ahmadinejad supporters coming into the school, apparently to provide a cheering section for the president that would otherwise have been lacking. Quite obviously, Ahmadinejad and his lieutenants understand how unpopular he has become, and tried to pack the auditorium to prevent it from becoming common knowledge.

He may have looked stricken, as the Guardian reported, and on the verge of tears. However, it's not likely that came from a surprise at his unpopularity, but at the fact that the protesters had made their way into the auditorium despite his best efforts to keep them out. Ahmadinejad may also have wondered whether these bold protests would give dissenters a huge boost in credibility and inspire others to follow their example. What we know with certainty is that the regime had to go out and find supporters to put on a facade of unity, a facade that has cracked significantly in the last few days.

The students, more than a few of them now in hiding, turned down an opportunity to meet with the president. He offered to meet them to address their concerns about academic freedom at the university, but they told him they would not give him the public relations victory such a meeting would have produced for Ahmadinejad. They also pointedly castigated him for his lack of rhetorical sophistication and used the pre-revolutionary name of the school, Teheran Polytechnic, rather than Amir Kabir.

These men may be in hiding, but they're showing some serious courage in their efforts to strip all pretense of openness from the regime. If this keeps up, the students may repeat history and conduct a second revolution to rid Iran of all the excesses of the first. Ahmadinejad will not rest too easy from this point forward, especially since it looks like he will be the first against the wall in the coming event.

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Could Ahmadinejad Be In Serious Trouble?Ed Morrissey For a man who came out of near-oblivion to the presidency of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to face serious restlessness among his subjects. Despite having the backing of the hardliners in the Gua... [Read More]

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Could Ahmadinejad Be In Serious Trouble?Ed Morrissey For a man who came out of near-oblivion to the presidency of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to face serious restlessness among his subjects. Despite having the backing of the hardliners in the Gua... [Read More]

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For a man who came out of near-oblivion to the presidency of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to face serious restlessness among his subjects. Despite having the backing of the hardliners in the Guardian Council who arranged his victory, or perhaps be... [Read More]

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