Growing out of the establishment

"They are all tailored from the same textile." So a lot of Iranian émigré are saying about the reform movement in Iran. who have long lost touch with the situation in Iran.

But this time, the reformist candidate -- or progressive reformist, as they want to be called recently -- is truly breaking the taboos of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They are not part of the establishment anymore with some of these unusual ideas they are pushing.

They are proudly rejecting the religious authority of the supreme Leader beyond the law. They've announced they're going to use Liberal-Nationalists, long dismissed by the establishment, in their government. They have started to get recognize ethnic and religious minorities and women involved in the decision-making process. They've shown they believe in human rights and freedom of speech.

Although there is still a huge gap between their words and their deeds, but even talking about all of these things are absolutely unprecedented.

We should use this opportunity and not only hold them to all these ideas and promises, but also should push for deeper changes by actively engaging them.

There are still many issues that even progressive reformists are in fact quite fundamentalist about, such as freedom of religion, Hijab, homosexuality, Israel, etc. But this should not stop us from embracing what they are today. There is no way they can reach there by not going through these preliminary stage.