- Green was the symbol of Mir Hossein Moussavi's campaign in Iran, but after the controversial elections,  it  became  the symbol of a rather original dissident movement that initially sought to cancel the election results.  Some have even called it Iran's "civil rights movement". How do you assess the "Green movement"?

This movement in Iran is specific in many regards. It is perhaps the only indigenous grassroots movement in the Middle East - or even in the Muslim world - that is primarily concerned with “democracy” and political reform. Iranian protesters are not out-there because of economic reasons. They are not out there because they want bread or because the inflation rate is too high. And they are not out there because they've been encouraged, orchestrated or assisted by any foreign power, like it was the case in the so-called “color revolutions” in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Balkans throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

Iranians are pouring to the streets by the millions to claim their fundamental political and civil rights, of which they are perfectly mindful. They are fomenting a home-grown organic movement that has a deep understanding of democratic values and pursues political reform with a remarkable determination through non-violent means.  This is a very sophisticated movement that most outside observers never expected to see in a region such as the Middle East.