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Showing posts with label Mir H. Mousavi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mir H. Mousavi. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Also Sprach Zarathustra. And What Say You, Khamenei?

Afshin Ellian is blogging today on the rich pre Islamic cultures and religions of Iran. This Wednesday marks an important day in the tradition of Zoroastrianism. But it's caught up in the crack down of the regime on dissenters.

Rather than translating the entire post, due to time constraints have chosen in part for the descriptive style.

Iran is the only Muslim country with a strong pre Islamic consciousness. For centuries people have been trying to keep the traditions alive, none to the pleasure of the Ayatollahs.

In the Middle Ages the Islamic authorities declared the people of Zarathustra dhimmis, on par with Jews and Christians. This saved their lives.

- Capture: Chehel Sotoun's Wall painting, that dates back to the Safavid era, depicts a Chaharshanbe Suri celebration - 

Festivities begin on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year: Chaharshanbe Suri. Bonfires are lit. Jumping the flames cleanses the soul. It is followed by the green celebrations, the feast of the resurrection of nature. Not death, matyrdom, not paradise, but life in the here and now is celebrated.

Last night millions of people in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kurdistan celebrated victory of light over darkness. The Ayatollahs have been trying for centuries to declare the festivities unislamic. This year Ayatollah Khamenei pronounced a fatwa, denouncing the celebrations as irrational perfidy.
"Irrational? Is Islamic prayer rational? Is chopping off hands in the 21st century rational? Is the adoration of a building in Mekka rational? Perfidy? Is the rape of protesters not perfidy? What is perfidy? Having sex with a nine year old girl, or the celebration of the eternal light?
Will Khamenei's fatwa be respected? Will there be no celebrations this year? What's quite rational are the security measures taken in Tehran. The leaders of the green movement, Mousavi and Karoubi have been calling for the celebrations to proceed as usual. As a matter of intimidation the Revolutionary Court convicted six protesters to death. To no avail."
It started after sunset. Violent confrontations between security forces and protesters have been reported in Tehran, Isfaham, Mashhad, Ardebiel, Rasht, Boroujerd and other cities. The green movement isn't against Islam, but against the tyranny of the Islamists. Most greens want a secular state.

Watch the videos in the original post.

Update

Der Spiegel sits down with Neda Agha Soltan's fiance, the 38 year old journalist Caspian Makan, who fled the country and now lives in Canada.

Related dossiers

- "Ellian Blogs"
- "Persian Power Play"
- "Nuclear Proliferation"
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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Today in Iran: the anniversary of the 1999 student uprising

Another day, another great post by Afshin Ellian.  Protests will be held today in London and Oslo. Today is also the anniversary of the 1999 student uprising that shook the Islamist regime in Iran ten years ago.

A  key leader of the uprising, Roozbeh Farahanipour (37) was jailed for several months and tortured extensively.  Earlier this week he returned to Iran clandestinely and plans to lead today's nationwide protest. NewsMax yesterday published "Opposition Leader Returns to Lead Protests in Iran", an article by Kenneth R. Timmerman on the subject.

Dutch-Iranian refugee and Leiden University lecturer Afshin Ellian posted this article earlier today on Elsevier. The following is a freeish translation of "On the usefulness of the turban for ayatollahs".

Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme sacred and secular leader of Islamic Iran, has closed the file on the rigged elections. This is strange, because every night around 10PM the sky of Tehran is filled with the sounds of "Allahu Akbar, death to the tyrant!"

On the highest echelons of power there's still speculation whether to depose the selfproclaimed President Ahmadinejad and supreme tyrant Ali Khamenei. The regime is split about the way in which Khamenei exerts power.

For the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic there's division and strife between fatwa eligible ayatollahs. A number of respected ayatollahs have fatwahed Ahmadinjad's presidency illegal. And some have declared the actions by the Revolutionay Guard and the paramilitary haram (forbidden). Yet Khamenei declares the protests ended.

Khamenei makes a crucial mistake. He is not the people's leader, nor the clerics'. He's just the leader of killers and fawners. He's not eligible to proclaim the protests ended. Reality is entirely different.

Recently in Mashad, one of the holy cities of Iran, one of Mir Hosein Mousavi's representatives died as a result of torture.

Hated state television showed a number of protesters making public confessions. 

- Caption: Hat Tip: "Tehran 24" - 

The president of the judiciary, ayatollah Sharoudi, ordered the Courts and the Prosecution to work with the secret services to act harshly against persons who cooperate with the free media.

But what is cooperation? Broadly interpreted:

1. Those who put critical material at te disposal of the foreign media and on the Internet. Material includes giving interviews to CNN, or to the present site.

2. All who use the free media and the Internet.

So, whoever reads this post is guilty of a crime. If the file is closed on the protests, why is it necessary to act so harshly and openly against civilians? Because the file isn't closed. Millions are still trying to get in touch with the free media.

Sharoudi is the president of injustice. On his watch innocent people are tortured and killed. Say, Iran has truly changed. What advice should we give Sharoudi? Simple: given the nature and the extent of his crimes Mr Sharoudi should hang himself instantly with the aid of his turban. His Nazi predescessors weren't that lucky. But an ayatollah is a lucky criminal: he has a turban.

A majority of [Dutch] Parliament is willing to support an initiative in which scientific institutes and corporations will put free computer capacity at the disposal of the Iranian opposition.  I ProxyIran is a great initiative. Parliament is even willing to allocate human rights funds. [Check it out! "It costs next to nothing to do and requires little effort but is of tremendous importance for the Iranians' capability to organize themselves without the fear of detection."]

The association of journalists also needs to spring into action. A great number of them are in Iranian custody. They need to get in touch with their European colleagues and write to the EU Presidency and the Secretary General of the UN.

Listen up, Khamenei. The case isn't closed. You'll see this week how Iran commemorates the murder of scores of innocent students in 1999. The green wave of freedom is hard to suppress.

Post Scriptum - Iran state television showed public confessions, people confessing to being traitors. I want to do the same. Next Saturday you can read it here.

- Filed on Articles in "Persian Power Play" - 

Monday, June 22, 2009

Mousavi to O: Cut the Moral Equivalence!

What stands out  in the public discourse on Iran like a wart on a baby's bottom, are the petty, peeved reactions by some Western Postmodern politicians, to wit White House and Democratic spokespersons in the US, and in the UK in an article in The Guardian, Foreign Secretary David Miliband with regard to Iranian accusations of "meddling" ... 

"I reject categorically the idea that the protesters in Iran are manipulated or motivated by foreign countries."

After having railed against George Bush for ousting Saddam Hussein's fascist regime in Iraq and establishing a democracy (of sorts) in its place, pomo politicians can think of no greater sin than doing the right thing ... chase the tyrant and establish a Government by the people.

But it's more profound than that!

What the reader needs to know for a proper understanding, is that to Postmodernists democratic principles are nothing more or less than subjective, Western constructs which we're wont to foist on other peoples, whether they like them or not! That was the basis of being "against the war in Iraq".

Foisting, 'meddling' is the single most gravest sin in the Postmodern creed.

What an unholy mess these people have created in their minds! The cognitive dissonance must be deafening!


Moral equivalence is now starting to cause serious damage in the global political arena. It's the result of the relativist idea that 'eternal truths' do not exist and every view is valid from its own perspective (including Adolf Hitler's, Lenin's, Stalin's, Saddam's and Ahmadinejad's), thus throwing out the entire field of ethics! (They've shed epistemology as well, but that's for another time.)

Many more such 'ideological accidents' are bound to happen. Consider the following messive that surfaced yesterday ... it doesn't matter all that much whether the letter indeed originated at the desk of Iran's main opposition leader, Mr Mir Hossein Mousavi:

PajamasMedia: "Sunday Morning in Iran, A Letter from Mousavi’s Office", by
 Michael Ledeen

I’ve received what purports to be a statement from Mousavi’s Office in Tehran.  Like everyone else covering the revolution, I get a lot of material that can’t be authenticated, and one must always take such material with a healthy dose of skepticism. 

That said, the person who sent this to me is undoubtedly in touch with the Mousavi people on the ground, that much is certain.  His information has been proven reliable throughout this period.  So while the following open letter carefully puts distance between the author(s) and Mousavi himself, I am quite sure that at a minimum it accurately reflects the state of mind of the Mousavi people. So here you go:

From  the Office of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi

To the President of the USA, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama:

Mr. President,
In the name of  the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement “Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind,” we consider this as a grave and deep insult, not just to Mr. Mousavi but especially against the judgment of the Iranian people, against our moral conviction and intelligence, especially those of the young generation that comprises a population of 31 million. "

It is a specially grave insult for those who are now fighting for democracy and freedom, and an unwarranted gift and even praise for Mr. Khamenei, whose security forces are now killing peaceful Iranians in the streets of every major city in the country."

Your statement misled the people of the world.  It was no doubt inspired by your hope for dialogue with this regime, but you cannot possibly believe in p
romises from a regime that lies to its own people and then kills them when they demand the promises be kept."

By such statements, your administration and you discourage the Iranian people, who believe and trust in the values of democracy and freedom.  We are pleased to see that you have condemned the regime’s murderous violence, and we look forward to stronger support for the rightful struggle of the Iranian people against the actions of a regime that is your enemy as well as ours. (...) >>>
A number of updates follow the open letter.

Voila, the "under the bus" phenomenon, already a key feature of the Obama administration! Relativist thinkers are no longer mentally capable of making a moral judgment. That was the whole idea behind it. Target: absolutes and 'eternal truths' like those once part of the core ideas of Judeo-Christianity; the secular sanctity of man of Humanism; or the inalienable individual rights of Classical Liberalism - all nixed as evil, Western constructs!

- Caption: "Running Battles", Demotix -

Underlying all that is the Postmodern premise that an objectively true world is but a figment of our imagination ... the balderdash you get when your thinking about thought states that "we are unable to see because we perceive".

Can someone please save the world and get a stash of Objectivist books to the White House please - ASAP?! It may already be too late! In this article on Friday ...
"Newsmax has learned that the Obama administration also has zeroed out funding for pro-democracy programs inside Iran from the State Department budget for fiscal 2010, just as protests in Iran are ramping up."
Victor Davis Hanson is offering five ways why Obama should speak out and five reasons why he has not done so. VDH nails it in the final paragraph: "His (Obama's) entire anti-Bush foreign policy is then in trouble. We’ve heard for eight years a cheap slur of “neo-cons” did it, not that in the dangerous world abroad there are no good choices, but supporting freedom is usually the better alternative if one must choose. If a peaceful democratic revolution succeeds in Iran, then what happens with “outreach” to Putin, Chavez, and Hamas? The new liberal realpolitik insisted that we don’t offer moral judgment, and was framed instead by winning the hearts and minds of tyrants through humbling ourselves and meae culpae. But if these democracies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and an Iran (?) were to succeed, then what? You would not go to Chavez and promise first to talk about shared colonial racist oppression, but rather say to the Venezuelan people, “We stand with you in your struggle to achieve freedom and dignity and to join the other democracies of Latin America”? That is not just in the cards, and so Iran, is well, a monkey-wrench. (...) >>>

- Filed on Articles in "The Pomo Presidency" - tiny URL: http://twitthis.com/yx4y54

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Today in Iran, So Far ...





Vigilante Journalist on YouTube (more new material)

Blog on Vigilante Journalist website

Great! Slide show of post election art!

At last there's some statistical evidence how the election books may have been cooked:

The Washington Post: "The Devil Is in the Digits", by Bernd Beber and Alexandra Scacco

Since the declaration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory in Iran's presidential election, accusations of fraud have swelled. Against expectations from pollsters and pundits alike, Ahmadinejad did surprisingly well in urban areas, including Tehran -- where he is thought to be highly unpopular -- and even Tabriz, the capital city of opposition candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi's native East Azarbaijan province. (...) These pieces of the story point in the direction of fraud, to be sure. They have led experts to speculate that the election results released by Iran's Ministry of the Interior had been altered behind closed doors. But we don't have to rely on suggestive evidence alone. We can use statistics more systematically to show that this is likely what happened. Here's how. We'll concentrate on vote counts (...) >>>

Here are a few more sources:

- "Iran Election at Live Stream"
- "2009 Iranian election protests"
- "Rotten Gods"
- "Tehran Bureau"
- "Olive Tree News"
- "Iran Press News" (working on a new site, should be up and running in a couple of days)
- "Tehran 24"
- "Neda Revolution"

It's truly sad but it would appear this uprising could do with better leadership:

The Guardian: "Streets of Tehran left empty as protesters wait in vain for sign"

• Mousavi fails to offer direction after clampdown
• Injured demonstrators and journalists detained

 
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