Situating the 2009 Green Uprising

Contesting the Iranian Revolution

“…65 Dabashi affirms that in order for Shiʿism to remain morally potent, it "must always be in a posture of resistance." 66 Thus, while the Islamic government in Iran is doctrinally rooted in Shiʿism, it paradoxically and unwittingly assumes the mantle of those who murdered the Prophet's grandson, the cornerstone of Shiʿism's martyrology. 67 Conversely, the Islamic Republic has produced a resistance to it in the form of the Green Movement that is not necessarily "Islamic" but has utilized the emotive power of Shiʿism and the ideological universe of the Islamic government in order to legitimize its defiance while delegitimizing the authority of the state.…”