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The article presents information on democracy, dissent and solidarity in Iran by Leili Kashani, editor at "Arab Studies Journal," with professors Ervand Abrahamian and Hamid Dabashi at the Brecht Forum in New York on July 13, 2009. Kashani started the discussion with the issue of protests after the June 2009 Iran's presidential elections. Abrahamian states that there is no truth to the idea that the U.S. is trying to repeat the 1953 takeover in Iran. Dabashi notes that ethical solidarity is important in recognizing the veracity of this movement.

In the midst of several research trips to Iran in the 1990s, I spent one year living and conducting exploratory research in Cairo. In Tehran, revolution seemed unfinished if not perpetual, yet in Egypt it was unimaginable. In spite of the entrenched support for the Leader and the political status quo, at this time Iran's reformist movement was robust. The policies of the Islamic Republic and consequences of the eight-year war with Iraq unleashed new social conditions that combined with established forces to push for women's rights, freedom of speech, independent civil associations, and exposing contradictions in the postrevolutionary order.