Author: Maral Karimi File Type: pdf In 2009 Iran witnessed the Green Movement, a popular uprising that challenged the status quo of the socio-political structures of the Islamic Republic. This movement which pre-dates the Arab Spring uprisings in the region, drove large numbers of Iranian citizens to the streets, reminiscent of the 1979 revolution, protesting the presidential election results. This book investigates the impact of the political communications of the leaders of the uprising, namely Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Hojatol Islam Mehdi Karoubi, on the movement. Although the Green Movement was ultimately unsuccessful, it produced valuable data for studying political uprisings and the role of social media in facilitating articulations of dissent, especially in the Middle East. This work is particularly significant since the cycle of protests surfaced again in 2017-2018 and Iran was yet again embroiled in violent dissent. This book provides a historical link between the political discourse of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the current regime, and that of the leaders of the Green Movement. Such historical approach facilitates an understanding of the impact and implication of speech on key Iranian uprisings since the revolution of 1979. In other words, this book asks was the discourse of the leaders of the Green Movement oriented towards building bridges or systematically distorted communication oriented to electoral success? This work successfully tests the viability of a constellation of critical and cultural theories in the Iranian context. More specifically Jurgen Habermas Theory of Communicative Action, his conception of the Public Sphere as well as Anthony Giddens Theory of Structuration serve as the theoretical foundations of this inquiry. Furthermore, this book takes the unique approach of analysing YouTube videos of the protests, for the counter hegemonic role played by this social media platform as well its broadcast capabilities in authoritarian regimes where mass media are in the service of the ruling class. This study takes a Critical Discourse Analysis approach to analyse the collected data. The investigation uncovers evidence of systematic communication distortion in the public discourse of both Ayatollah Khomeini and the leaders of the Green Movement and discusses the impact of said distortions on the direction and shaping of the movement. This book also offers a brief analysis of the 2018 protests in comparison with Green Movement and explores ways to unify the nation and move forward. **Review Maral Karimis work, The Iranian Green Movement of 2009 Reverberating Echoes of Resistance, is a link in a chain of clarification and understanding of this globally significant civic eruption, one, because of the country within which it occurred-Iran two, the domestic social conflicts inducing its occurrence-a revolt from disgruntled urban, pro-Western, middle-class professional intelligentsia, students and, small business owners three, the opponents choice of social media technology for voicing, in this case, globally, their grievances against the established political authority of their Iran, namely, the Mullahs of the Islamic Republic fourthly, their choice of modern media technologies echoed similar revolts from below in North Africa (think the Jasmine Revolution and, Arab Spring) where mass use of modern social media technologies caught dictatorial regimes by surprise temporarily escaping their control exposing to them a new vulnerability in their authority profile of their regimes in the minds and eyes of their domestic publics and global communities, namely, their inability to control both the forms and contents of the narrative of social conflicts within their countries and externally vis a vis the rest of the world. The Green Movement was a pioneering political movement in the modern history of Iran which demonstrated the awesome liberating power of social media technologies and of their destabilizing consequences for dictatorial governments such as the countrys Islamic Republican Government. Maral Karimis work puts the reader front and center in this struggle for a new political authority and political culture in the Iran of 2009 by bringing the language use of the main players in the conflict under critical examination, exposing their self-deceptions, silences, commitments, assertions, capitulations, compromises, organizational weaknesses and political fears. The reader acquires a measured understanding via discourse analysis of the intellectual innards of the government officials and civic leaders in opposition to the government and is able to understand the whys and wherefores of events that subsequently unfolded. For example, one can pinpoint why the recent 2017-2018 revolt of unemployed workers, unemployed students, underemployed citizens, housewives and government workers in cities and districts away from Tehran, the nations capital, took the spontaneous form they took and were absent the leadership of the urban middle-class (leaders of the Green Movement) which did not voice their specific material concerns during the 2008 revolt. As unemployed and underemployed workers and unemployed students they were on their own and had purchase on the moral conscience and political authority of the Mullahs since the latter frequently wrapped its cloth of legitimacy (vis a vis its urban middle-class political competitors, for example) in claims to be institutional representatives of the downtrodden of Iran, the very constituencies that took part in this spontaneous revolt. Maral Karimis work assists all those seeking a fuller understanding of modern Iran an opportunity to do so because of its signature critical discourse analysis of the conflicts main players and acknowledgement of the mobilising role of social media in the conduct of the conflictpolitical competition between the Islamic Republican rulers of the country and their less religiously partisan middle-class critics. A recommended work. (Charles Simon-Aaron, PhD, Ryerson University) Maral Karimis book is a must read for anyone interested in an in-depth analysis of the Iranian 2009 Green Movement. This theoretically sophisticated and methodologically innovative empirical research makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the emergence and demise of the popular uprising following the contested presidential elections as well as the consequences of this failed movement that further undermine democratic values and the viability of Reform Movements. (Goli Rezai-Rashti, professor of social justice education, University of Western Ontario) An excellent example of a critical discourse analysis case study with concrete implications for directions of resistance movements beyond the context of Iran. (John P. Portelli, professor of leadership, higher and adult education, University of Toronto) About the Author Maral Karimi is a doctoral student at the Department of Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.