海角大神

After massive protests shook Iran this past summer, Iran singled out an obscure American political scientist in his 80s as a key figure behind the unrest.

Gene Sharp, a retired Harvard researcher, is considered the godfather of nonviolent resistance. Since the early 1970s, his work has served as the template for taking on authoritarian regimes from Burma to Belgrade. A list of his 198 methods for nonviolent action can be downloaded free of charge, along with his seminal work, 鈥淔rom Dictatorship to Democracy,鈥� which has been translated by his Albert Einstein Institute into two dozen languages ranging from Azeri to Vietnamese.

Hailed as the聽manual by those who conducted people-power coups in Eastern Europe, its contents were no secret in Iran, where authorities have obsessed for years about their vulnerability to a 鈥渧elvet revolution.鈥� In fact, a few years ago they requested 鈥� and were sent 鈥� hard copies of Mr. Sharp鈥檚 works. Officials saw this summer鈥檚 unrest as the fruit of his strategies.

In a mass trial of some 100 key reformist figures this past August, Iranian prosecutors charged that postelection protests were 鈥渃ompletely planned in advance and proceeded according to a timetable and the stages of a velvet coup [such] that more than 100 of the 198 events were executed in accordance with the instructions of Gene Sharp.鈥�

Sharp does not take credit 鈥� nor accept blame 鈥� for the summer crisis that, in the words of Iran鈥檚 most powerful military commanders, brought the regime to the 鈥渆dge of a downfall.鈥� But Sharp鈥檚 ideas are clearly reflected in the continuing political unrest.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 take charge of movements,鈥� says Sharp, who runs his nonprofit on a modest budget out of his Boston home. 鈥淲e try to provide materials to enable the people on the scene, who know the scene better than we do, by far, to make those decisions and do those things.鈥�

Protests by the reformists took a bloody turn this weekend, with at least 8 dead聽by Monday. Antigovernment demonstrators attacked police with stones for the first time and also burned a jeep, according to an eyewitness. The nephew of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was killed. A spokesman for Mr. Mousavi alleged that Seyd Ali Mousavi's killing was a targeted assassination. He said he was shot in the heart.

Farsi downloads of booklet soar

In June, as hundreds of thousands took to Iran鈥檚 streets and faced a violent crackdown, downloads of 鈥淔rom Dictatorship to Democracy鈥� in Farsi spiked to 3,487 from just 79 the month before on Sharp鈥檚 website. Other sites hosting Sharp鈥檚 work reported a similar boost in demand.

鈥淭he great irony is that people actually weren鈥檛 focused on the velvet revolution option before the elections,鈥� says Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only after the elections, when Iranians have come to the realization that they can鈥檛 change their political fate with the ballot box, that they鈥檝e looked to more dramatic options.鈥�

The momentous collapse of authoritarian rule, from Czechoslovakia in 1989 to Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, and others, established a model for implementing Sharp鈥檚 tactics 鈥� one the Iranian authorities sought to avoid.

Authorities in Iran have closely examined past velvet revolutions, as well as Sharp鈥檚 books. A 2007 cartoon video created by Iranian intelligence portrayed Sharp as 鈥渢he theoretician of civil disobedience and velvet revolutions鈥� and 鈥渙ne of the CIA agents in charge of America鈥檚 infiltration into other countries.鈥�

But Iranians have their own history of 鈥渋mprovised struggles鈥� that predate his work, says Sharp: the 1905-06 constitutional revolution, and the 1979 Islamic revolution against the shah, during which 鈥減rotesters were even putting flowers in the guns of the shah鈥檚 soldiers.鈥�

Today, the stated aim of former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and other key reformists in Iran is not to overthrow the Islamic system set up in 1979, which they themselves helped build. Instead, they seek to reverse what they say was a fraudulent election, and make pro-democracy reforms within the existing system.

Still, some reformist actions are vintage Sharp, from Mr. Mousavi鈥檚 refusal to negotiate or back down on demands about the election to strict nonviolence. Sharp says it鈥檚 鈥渜uite amazing鈥� that the protests are continuing despite an extensive crackdown that left scores dead and subjected detainees to torture and rape.

While fewer are brave enough to come out in the streets today, Sharp says massive demonstrations are only one way to bring down a regime. A variety of methods can be used to undermine dictators, who 鈥渞equire the assistance of the people they rule.鈥�

Aggravate regime鈥檚 weaknesses

鈥淭hese regimes always present themselves as all-powerful 鈥� absolutely omnipotent, so that resistance becomes futile,鈥� says Sharp. 鈥淏ut if you learn this regime has these five ... or 20 weaknesses 鈥� and you can deliberately aggravate those weaknesses 鈥� it weakens the regime. It helps it fall apart.鈥�

Sharp鈥檚 ideas, adapted for Iran, are circulated by people such as Mohsen Sazegara, a founder of the ideological Revolutionary Guard who was arrested after becoming a reformist editor in the 1990s.

He now lives in Virginia, where he produces a daily 10-minute video to encourage nonviolent action, which he says reaches hundreds of thousands in Iran. He has read Sharp鈥檚 work closely.

Farsi translations of two of Sharp鈥檚 books can be downloaded from Mr. Sazegara鈥檚 website, which receives 2,000 e-mails a day 鈥� often including new tactics that he beams back into Iran in his videos.

鈥淚ranians are an educated nation, especially the younger generation ... and I鈥檓 sure that many of them study the experience of nonviolent movements in other countries,鈥� says Sazegara, who adds that the strategy of Mousavi鈥檚 Green Movement is strictly nonviolent. 鈥淲e think if we make a mistake and go for violent actions, the regime [can be] more brutal than any violent opposition.鈥�

But it can still be a dangerous business, even from thousands of miles away from Iran. Sazegara says he has received a number of death threats.

鈥淚f they kill me, so what? There will be thousands of Mohsen Sazegaras right now,鈥� he says. 鈥淓very one of the young generation has read these books, and knows everything better than me.鈥�