Word: reformist
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...fervent supporters, all decked out in yellow, the reluctant candidate's favorite color. And when Marcos cheated her of victory in the February 1986 vote, the outcry was tremendous - and his doom was sealed. Bearing witness to their political allegiance, the millions who crammed the streets to protect reformist soldiers who had mutinied against Marcos chanted the now familiar mantra: "Cory, Cory, Cory." Nuns armed only with rosaries knelt in front of tanks, stopping them in their tracks. (Read "People Power's Philippine Saint: Corazon Aquino...
...After Marcos won the blantantly rigged election, the reformers prepared to take a more active part in the efforts to topple him. By this time they had won the support of some of his closest security forces. Says one reformist: "I don't think the President thought that so many of his praetorian guards would turn against him. He thought money could buy loyalty. He underestimated the basic decency of Filipinos...
However, it appears to be the opposition that continues to come under physical attack by the regime. According to reformist website Mosharekat, relatives and supporters of the dozens of defendants on trial gathered outside the courthouse and chanted Allahu akbar (God is great) until riot police moved in to disperse the crowd with tear gas. The other defendants, who all wore gray prison garb, include Ali Tajernia, a former opposition lawmaker; Shahaboddin Tabatabaei, a leader of the country's largest reformist party; and Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist who has written critically of the regime...
Within the building, Ahmadinejad began his controversial second term, one that many political insiders do not expect him to finish. In a blatant slight, visible to all from the televised proceedings, few reformist lawmakers and no opposition leaders - including former Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ayatullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - attended the open session of parliament. Several remaining reformists walked out when Ahmadinejad began his address, according to news reports. (Read a story about the prospects for a weakened Ahmadinejad...
Equally remarkable is the fact that many of the protests that continue in defiance of Khamenei's dire warnings weeks ago that those who continue to demonstrate would be treated as enemies of the Islamic Republic are still joined by such notable establishment figures as former President Mohammed Khatami, reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate. Khamenei's red lines have been ignored by the opposition, and his own legitimacy has been questioned as never before, whether by street protesters breaking a taboo by shouting slogans against him, or by key regime figures like former...