Photo: LilDebbie

The message on a Minneapolis street corner Wednesday was unmediated: VIVA IRAN. That and dozens of other slogans of the Iranian protest movement were carried on signs and on the mercifully cooler air that wafted through downtown, where a crowd of as many as 200 people gathered in a semicircle for urgent call-and-response chants.

Free free elections! Stop stop deception!

After 10 days of TV, Twitter and YouTube, participation in a live, local protest was a bracingly direct way to express and observe the passions and ideals being bravely paraded on other streets a half a world away. The demonstrators’ main communication was to each other, though there were occasional appeals to “our brothers and sisters in Minneapolis” and a few supportive honks from passing cars.

Iran Iran, fight fight! Iran Iran, we hear you! Iran Iran, never give up!

Most appeared to be Iranian-Americans. If the size of the local community with family ties to Iran is correctly guessed at 3,000, perhaps one-twentieth of them had found their way to the Hennepin County Government Center plaza for the noon rally and stayed through a brief shower that arrived at that hour.

I am Neda Neda! We are all Neda!

Beyond that, no generalizations held: men, women, youngsters, people with canes, some wearing the movement’s trademark green. Most held one kind of sign or another, from a simple hand-lettered “I AM NEDA” (in reference to the young Iranian woman whose shooting death in Tehran has gripped YouTube viewers worldwide) to photos of street protests in Iran and a large green banner with the name of Iranian President Ahmadinejad crossed out.

Ahmadinejad is a Hitler! Down with dictator!

Tina Soltani of Maple Grove, wearing a green scarf, said she came to the demonstration to support the people of Iraq. It’s no longer about the elections, she said, but how the government is dealing with the protest movement there.

“My mom was part of the [Iranian] revolution,” said Soltani, herself born and raised in the United States. “They weren’t revolting for [Iran's current regime]. The were revolting against the king … for democracy.”

Other governments have to keep up the pressure on Iran, Soltani said. Though she understands the hesitation to meddle, she sees world opinion as critical to the protesters inside Iran.

“If they give up, the government wins,” she said. But if the people have the world’s support, “the government for sure will fall.”

Daniel MacInnes said he had also attended two previous but smaller protests in Minneapolis: one in Uptown that he helped organize and another on the University of Minnesota campus. He was impressed both by the larger size and the makeup of today’s turnout.

“To see the Iranian-American community running it, this is really crucial,” MacInnes said.

MacInnes, a blogger, said he keeps up with local Iran-related events via a Twin Cities message board at the Why We Protest web site and other social media.

Another event is tonight at the Mayday Bookstore in Minneapolis, where St. Catherine University economics professor Nasrin Jewell will speak on “Coverage of the Election in Iran and the Role Played by Western Media and Governments.” Women Against Military Madness has more information.

“Mr. President, you’ve all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger said to Ahmadinejad,  telling the Iranian leader that “you’re either brazenly provocative or astonishingly ignorant.”

As Ahmadinejad heard those words from a translator, it seemed obvious from his expressions  that he probably had never heard similar remarks from a person standing 10 feet away, especially if that person was his host.

Hence he chose to take the high road.

That’s uncharacteristic of him. This is a man who has spewed hateful words over the years and who continues to question the existence of the Holocaust.

For those things he deserves to be challenged and admonished — quite strongly, yet civilly. But Bollinger’s remarks were devoid of the civility that is emblematic for most academic leaders, not to mention the fact that the Columbia president was host to a foreign leader, who, whether Bollinger agreed with him or not, deserved respect.

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Bollinger had been under intense pressure to cancel Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia — a request he consistently rejected. Yet his withering comments stripped much of the respect he might have earned throughout that ordeal.

In the end Bollinger lost to a man who shouldn’t be handed a victory. President Ahmadinejad used the exchange to rally his base not just in Iran, but in the Muslim world, where he epitomizes somewhat of a firewall against the perceived arrogance of the United States.

Even Ahmadinejad’s harshest critics were dismayed with Bollinger’s incongruous insults. Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League told the New York Times that “If you invite someone, you have to be polite. Ahmadinejad scored points, especially in their culture. If you permit an enemy to come into your home, you still treat him with dignity and respect. Therefore, we lost.”

Now Bollinger has to deal with the double whammy: He disregarded those who advised him not to invite the fiery Ahmadinejad in the first place; yet, when he did, he failed miserably to host him respectfully.