MOHSEN SAZEGARA recognizes that nonviolent protest is a tough sell for most Iranians, given that bloodshed is a part of both their long history and their faith.

But Mr. Sazegara ticks off a couple points in its favor. First, the Islamic Republic has disenchanted a wide section of the population. Second, he believes that Iranians harbor a mystic tradition that could be channeled into the kind of nonviolent tide of dissent that bends history. Go to NY Times.

Mohsen Sazegara discusses Mourning Mothers, Saeed Mortazavi, and 22 Bahman.

Both the Basij and the Revolutionary Guards Corps (or Sepah) were founded in the first year of the Islamic republic in 1979, following a decree by Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. “From the start, the Sepah was about building a popular army, one that had the duty to protect the Islamic republic from within,” explains Moshen Sazegara, a founder of the Revolutionary Guards who later fell out with the regime and currently resides and works as a journalist in the U.S. Go to Time.