Iran: Ashura's Message "Iranians Are Not Punching Bags" (Josh Shahryar)
Monday, December 28, 2009 at 9:23 
Josh Shahryar offers this assessment of Sunday's events, also posted on his blog:The Ashura (December 27) protests across Iran are over. Tens of thousands marched across the country as in the past to show their discontent with dictatorship and human rights violations. They yet again proved that the Iranian struggle is far from over. But after following the protests for almost 200 days, I don’t think that it was just another show of force. This was a tipping point in their struggle for one of the most basic of human rights –-- the freedom to speak one’s mind without fear of repression.
Since June, the people of Iran have come out to streets peacefully and have tried to make their voices heard. And what was the government’s response? Bullets, batons, cables… arrests, injuries, deaths… torture, rape, murder. Few people have been so fearless and devout with their resolve to overturn the tide of tyranny as the people of Iran. Their humanity has been written about and well-deservedly praised. However, let us not have unreasonable expectations from them. They are human after all. And like all humans, they are susceptible to frustration and eventually – anger.
The Latest from Iran (28 December): Taking Stock
Iran: A Point of No Return?
Iran: A 5-Minute, 5-Point Reaction to The Events of Ashura
Latest Iran Video: The Ashura Protests (27 December — 3rd Set)
Latest Iran Video: The Ashura Protests (27 December — 2nd Set)
Latest Iran Video: The Ashura Protests (27 December)
The Latest from Iran (27 December): The Day of Ashura
For the first time in 200 days, the Iranian people decided that enough was enough.
If the government was going to send goons, then they were going to deal with them the way goons are dealt with. We had seen burning homes, bleeding protesters and protesters being dragged across streets. This time around, we saw burning police cars, bleeding Basijis and riot police being dragged and beaten.
As a human rights activist and an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, I am strictly opposed to violence. What went on in Iran yesterday was anything but peaceful. Protesters fought back and they fought back hard. The level of violence against protesters may have been high, but it was answered. The response may not have been as violent as the assault of the security forces, but it was clearly expressed.
This prompted many of my friends and colleagues to question their support for the Green Movement. After all, we were expecting a non-violent revolution, one spurred by peaceful protests. But let us not forget. There is a difference between unprovoked acts of violence against individuals and self-defense. Did we really expect the Iranian people to just sit back and allow the government to kill, maim and arrest people ad infinitum? What would I or you do if someone used violence against us for six months over and over and over again? Are we going to go out and present ourselves as living targets for shooting practice? Or are we going to hang “Hit Me!” signs on our backs to make it easier for our attackers?
I won’t. The problem is that peaceful protests are great. However, they only really work when the opposing side is human enough to not use violence on such a massive scale. The protests in Iran in my opinion have been far from peaceful. It takes two hands to clap. How can we expect the government to repress people and at the same time not expect the people to fight back? This is what happens with bullies at schools. They only attack those who they think won’t fight back.
Next time the Basij, riot police, IRGC and plainclothesmen are out in Tehran during protests, they’ll know that their actions are going to be met with counter-measures. They’ll know that Iranians aren’t just sacks of wheat that they can pound on endlessly and mercilessly. If they fall into protesters’ hands, they should expect the worst.
Ashura’s protests in my opinion started a new phase in the revolution in Iran. The people are no longer going to sit back and watch as the government continues to not listen to their demands. They will come out and if they are attacked, there will be a crushing answer. The security forces can no longer use violence against protesters and then go back home to their children, enjoy a good meal, and make love to their women. They can no longer do that while bleeding protesters lay dying in hospitals, which will promptly transfer them to prisons where they will be locked in tiny holes for months on end.
The goons should know that in the future when they are out during a protest in Tehran, that if they attacked protesters, they will go home covered in their own blood and know how it feels. Because if they had felt it before, we wouldn’t have had to hear about Sohrab A’rabi’s body locked away in a morgue for weeks or see Neda Agha-Soltan’s dying eyes. I believe the Green Movement is still fully committed to non-violence, but yesterday they illustrated that their commitment extends to self-defense as well.
Reader Comments (52)
Both thought on a new constitution and a discussion of high-level goals seem to me critical at a conceptual and motivational level, but don't go far, I think, to answering the current TACTICAL question of how the movement gears up and comes together organizationally for the next stage in a pitched battle -- a stage which probably begins tomorrow or next week at the latest.
I guess my question is as much about what people see already beginning to happen in that direction, the potentials that are emerging, as it is about what "ought" to happen.
Ali Khamenei,
Looks like you got your A** kicked pretty well on Ashora, I saw a few of your thugs bleeding black blood. Have no worry my friend when you run out of goons, you may want to make a deal with state and federal officials in the U.S. and recruit from our over-flowing prisons. We have lots of very dedicated and scary murderers, rapists, and child molesters that would make your Radan looking more like a Naadan (a fool).
Our convicts will fit in just fine in your army of Basiji and revolutionary guards and they require no training. We make you a good deal too; we throw in our Bernie Madoff for free. Bernie can help you to make wise investment so you can fund your nuke project and give your IRG the toy they have been yearning for. To make the offer one you cannot refuse, we will even throw in Dr. Jack Kevorkian free of charge. Jack can help you sleep when you decide to take a long nap. Still want more freebies? How about Obama’s Pastor, the one and only Reverend Wright. Reverend Wright can do God Damn America better than anyone else during your Friday prayers. What do we want in return? We ask you to tear down Evin walls and let those people go.
Megan
You do know the Ali Khamenei posting here is from a satire site. You should visit it by clicking on his name for the link. It is actually quite funny.
thx
bill
Jashmid:
Are you ever going to stop stalking Austin Heap and Josh? You show many mental disorders including paranoia and obsession. I would suggest you seek some professional help.
Sincerely,
Russian FSB Agent Daniel
Bill,
I know and I love his writings. He makes us laugh, something we all need badly these days. I wrote to him once, on this blog, that he should quit his day job and do satire. His reply to me cracked me up and I laughed so loud I was afraid I would wake up people in the next block.
What I wrote to him in this thread meant to be funny. Obviously, I did not do a good job because you took it seriously. Oh well, I better stick to my day job.
Josh,
Thank you for your balanced analysis. Glad to see you have your head in the right place. I cannot say that for another blogger who is pissing all over herself because some protesters refused to be beaten to a pulp on December 27. The holier than thou is on the pulpit preaching non-violent approach and criticizing protesters’ action and calling anyone who disagrees with her Necon. I find that really comical. I think if they do not turn down the rant they may do violence on themselves.
My only comment to your human rights activist friends is the following. The operative word is “human” and those riot police, Basiji, plainclothes are not “human” and therefore their rights were not violated. The goons and thugs of Iran regime are the lowest form of life on planet earth. We have seen their lack of respect for human life displayed before our eyes in the past six months. And that is when they know thousands of camera phones are capturing images of death and devastation they cause. I do not even want to imagine what they do and have done in the past 30 years behind closed doors. These sub-human forms of life have been deadlier and more destructive in Iran than N1H1 virus, the scary bad guy of 2009.
Interesting passions stirred here, and I don't follow all the labeling going on among various partisans with apparent serious private battles. I'll pass. It seems most of it starts with the premise that violence by one side or the other at this stage is quite alright.... cuz the other side did it first, etc., and that anyone who disagrees must be a naive leftist "liberal" of some sort.
I would like to offer a comment to Josh, with much respect, for his thoughts going forward. It would seem your strict commitment to nonviolence -- as you note -- isn't very deep. Lest I be misunderstood, the repression used by parts of the system presently is appalling and sickening. I understand too the impulse to protect, to defend one's friends in a struggle for political rights -- the rage that emanates upon realizing that modern day Yazid's are afoot. Very human and very Iranian reaction.
Some of the comments vaguely reference events of 78/79. Was it violence that brought the Shah, savak, & his most brutal generals down? Or was it a conscious effort to refrain from violence? -- by the masses of protesters and in the end, by the military and police forces who refused to fire upon them? And why did they refuse to fire? Because they were "afraid" of being killed? Or afraid of losing their souls?
Were the greens now turn into the "reds" and commit to the logic of an eye for an eye, where would that take things? Would going out and killing basiji on sight solve anything, or make things worse? Would it not give the most fanatical masters of repression just the excuse, the exhibits they'd need to rally their shock troops to have the "nerve" to be even more brutal?
By contrast, does not the sustained commitment to nonviolent struggle hold out the hope that those Iranians behind the foreign made security uniforms might in the end not be brainless robocops, but still be genuinely "Iranian" -- and not be willing to shed the blood of their fellow Iranians? (again, as in 79?)
I don't have any easy answers, and I don't know where this is going, except to realize that the fissures within the system, with Iran run very deep, and have been there for years.
If I've learned anything of Iranian political culture, I realize it's long suffered at the hands of a "sultanistic" tendency, of one flavor or another, a culture in which, as Khatami once said harbored a tendency towards being "dictators" among all Iranians.... a proclivity to use brutal force to maintain order and rule
-- to kill the cat in the nuptual chamber.....
Yet Iran is also a land of "seditiously brilliant poets, mystics, deep thinkers, religious & secular alike, a place where commitment to justice, of resistance to unjust rule remains deep within the national psyche. (from the Shahnameh to a Thousand & One nights, from Montezari to Behbehani)
I understand those here who feel that the only way the present system will change is by the spilling of much blood. Maybe that indeed is where this is headed -- as there are clearly those willing to use what they deem "necessary" to get their way. And bloodshed will likely beget more rounds of bloodshed.
Yet pardon a well wisher of Iran to hope, to believe, that there's another genuinely Iranian way, of safer rails to justice and sustainable peace, justice. and prosperity for all Iranians.
Thanks, Escot. Back in ancient history when we were opposing the war in Vietnam, a comrade "in arms" of Quaker persuasion but a realistic spirit, who had in addition a lot of tough experience in those trenches, put it nicely: non-violence is our goal as much as our method. We live in a violent society and are trying to become non-violent. When faced with brutality, that isn't always possible, but it is still where we are trying to go, and we won't give up trying.
In addition, I think among the most inspiring sequences in the video clips of the last few days (and I mean the kind that inspire further resistance and, when necessary, counter-force) are those of protesters corraling but then protecting some of the Basiji and Revolutionary Guards. Some of them know no other way and come from circumstances that have almost forced them down this dead end. Remember that interview with one from the Mashad region back during the repression of the June demonstrations? It put me in mind of a great proverb from my days of African experience: "Whatever drove the mouse to jump into the fire must be hotter than fire itself."
The last two posters are to be commended for their deep soul searching. And indeed you bring up very valid points. However, part of the reason the military did not fire upon people in 1979 is because they were leaderless. The Shah had already given up. So of course, there were no clear orders.
This situation is different.
In this revolution: We have some key problems:
1. A regime who has effectivly built a social network. They have spread roots through out Iran. they operate like the mafia.
2. A regime who has demonstrated themselves to be far more ruthless than the Shhah. Dont be surprised when they start shooting any young person who is moving on the streets when they declare marshall law. Dont be surprised when they bring tanks into the cities. Dont be surprised if they kill your family to shut you up. In fact, they could kill 65 million people; and say they did it for god.
3. a headless dragon of a movement that indeed has been built from the bottom-up. It needs to be given the tools to organize and fight.
4. Planning the future government. A true democracy with proper checks & balances. A system that reduces coruption and respects human rights & the rule of law.
The present path some people take only plays on the hope that the regime will have a change of heart because everybody is so mad. This is foollish, idealistic, and lazy. It is the path to least resistance. You can not break them with non-cooperation because they don't make their money from taxes. Iran is a rentier state.
In these circumstances, can we risk the lives of protestors to find out if nonviolence works? Can we sit here and do that and then sleep at night? All indecations have been the regime will use force when ever it is needed. Risking the lives of protestors is no different than sending children to walk across landmines in the iran Iraq war in order to clear the path for more experienced troops.
Nobody is talking about terrorist attacks, civilian targets, or rhandom acts of violence. We are talking about defending protestors, strategic targets, and avoiding a military coup/other issues when new gov is in place.
Further, you will find the regime will quickly crumble when proper strategy & tactics are applied.
There will be no cycle; because they will be crushed in short order. In addition, when we cut off their source of revenue, they will have no choice but to surrender or run
Why? Because they are out numbered ten to 1. Because we fight for the political ideology of democracy. We fight for our nation.
They fight for money and super stition.
Jamshid
Escot, regarding your rhetorical question about what caused the shah security forces not to open fire at people, I would say that 1) as you know they started with opening fire and establishing martial law across Iran but those tactics failed to scare people away, 2) I believe it was neither violence nor non-violence that caused the army to stay away from wider armed suppression of the people: it was people's sheer numbers!
I was at those demonstrations toward the end that I would guess any where between 50% to 70% of the entire population of each city were on the streets at the same event! Those are huge numbers that no paid army can suppress.
I've also always advocated non-violence but even more important than non-violence are tactics that shift the loyalty of the 30% or so Iranians who are still loyal to this regime (for religious or financial reasons). 30% may not sound like much as far as an election concerned, but when those 30% control almost all levers of power and security forces, shifting each % to taking a neutral position becomes a huge step for the protesters.
That's where the rubber will meet the road.
Hamid,
Thanks for a highly enlightening comment, but it returns us to the question in square one, so to speak: what now ARE "the tactics that shift the loyalty" of the remaining 30% and, more broadly speaking, that will give to the movement the organization and coordination -- if not the high profile leadership -- needed to achieve next steps in the teeth of what may be even more severe repression?
In response to PBE, I think that the lack of formal central organization still remains a key strength of the opposition and bodes well for the future of democracy in Iran (I'll remind readers of the fact that it was the strong mosque-centered organization that enable Khomeini to quickly morph into a bloody dictator). Of course, at some point in time, this lack of central organization will start impeding the movement when it comes to organizing the massive strikes that must at some point occur to break the back of the regime (the strikes were much more effective at paralyzing the Shah's government than the large demonstrations).
At this stage, a central organization, if in Iran, will be quickly discovered and destroyed by the regime (unless perhaps sheltered and protected by a good number of Marjas). If outside of Iran, it will probably suffer from infighting with the other foreign-based groups and lose credibility inside the country. I think that time works for the opposition and the longer it survives, the more people it will peel off the regime and the more mistakes Khamenei-Yazid will make.
Last but not least, the 1978-79 revolution took 13 months and we shouldn't expect the current one to happen much faster. On the one hand the internet gives it more momentum but on the other this regime is infinitely more brutal, barbaric and fanatical than the Shah's ever was.
PBE, that's the multi-billion dollar question. In other words:
- What are the levers that can shift the remaining regime loyalists to either oppose the regime or at worst take a neutral position?
Here are my thoughts:
1) Remember that after the initial protests to the June elections outside of Tehran that lasted a couple days, Montazeri's death was the first time that "ordinary people" outside of Tehran have come to the streets. That just shows the power of people like Montazeri across Iran.
So we need to keep those associated with the 1979 revolution (Mousavi, Karrubi, Khatami) in the fold. They provide the reassurance that the regime loyalists need to address their fear that the protesters are anti-Islam.
note: the noise from groups like monarchists, MKO, Leftists who attack these former IRI officials is a huge help to the regime.
2) Place high emphasis on leveraging anti-regime clerics to show how this regime's actions are directly undermining Islam and will drive religious people (their customers), especially the next generation away from Islam and the mosque.
3) Leverage former IRI leaders to recruit other IRI leaders, especially clerics. These opinion leaders (especially local; clerics that run the mosques) have a very strong influence among regime loyalists. Need to develop a detailed plan for how to influence these folks (e.g., which one of the current green members used to be their teacher).
Meanwhile keep up a non-violent approach and leverage every opportunity to inform the loyalists that we are the majority and we are not giving up.
The regime's PR inside Iran has done a good job of convincing many Iranians that the protesters are just some rioters looking for an excuse to pour into the streets and cause chaos (my own parents still believe that). So I would also initiate the process of issuing some simple high-level demands to clarify our objectives (e.g., hold a national referendum where all Iranians vote on the system of government that they prefer).
Hamid,
Helpful comments and tactical suggestions, which is what is needed, it seems to me. Reminds me again of aspects of nonviolent direct action in war resistance here Stateside -- obviously a much lower decibel version of what the Iranian people are struggling through right now: namely, the idea that public support for the regime is a 180 or 270 degree spectrum. You're not trying to move people from one pole to the other so much as to shift the whole spectrum toward the human rights goal, to help those on the fence to come out in support and those now violently opposed to move to the fence, so to speak. So the work on the religious hustings is really important.
In any case, as several have said, this ain't gonna be a sprint, but more of a long-distance run. How can we on the outside help to keep up spirits and lifeblood for those on the inside?
Pic, when I noted a need for organization and coordination, I don't think that I necessarily meant CENTRAL organization or NATIONAL leadership. You're right, that model invites rapid decapitation. It may be more a question of coming up with replicable and locally modifiable forms of DECENTRALIZED organization, discipline and coordination. I think that is already happening to a greater degree than we are (or at least I am) aware and the challenge may simply be to "escalate" it in order to navigate what everyone is calling a critical turning point.
PBE & Hamid: I agree with you both.
At the grass we have a very effective organization that's made up of small units with a truly viral structure. That makes it impossible for the regime to eliminate them all. Many remember "Persian Kiwi" on Twitter who was very active after the election and who disapeared right after reporting that one of his group's had been captured who under torture might give up the others' names. Well, Persian Kiwi was taken in (and I really hope that he's just in jail rather than being one of those killed). The regime can take out one individual or one group at a time (they'll probably torture the many people they've just tortured to get to others), but that's a long, messy and ineffective way to combat a viral infection that affects most of Iran's body.
At the leadership level, we do have coordination but in the form of social networks intelligence that bubbles up. I also believe that people shout Moussavi's name not because they're fanatically loyal to him but because his name has become synonymous with people demand for democracy. That could be replaced with slogans demanding a referendum that everyone from the students to Moussavi and the marjas can then demand and promote. That would probably peel off yet more people from the regime's support group (Hamid: you mentioned your parents as still supportive of Khamenei. How do you think they might respond to calls for a referendum? And how did they take the Khameni-Yazid parallel?). That would put back the limelights on the issues rather than on personalities and make it meaningless for the regime to imprison Moussavi or Karroubi. Of course, the elephant in the room would still be people's distrust of the government to conduct free and fair elections or referendum.
Other pieces of the puzzle that I can't see: where are the veteran bassijis and passdars of the 1980's? We know some who like Sazegara have moved away from the regime and some like Rezai who are (uncomfortably?) sitting on the fence (maybe waiting to be installed as President as a "concession" to the opposition). But were are the thousands who fought the terrible war with Iraq and who must be disgusted by the regime's current actions? And were's the merchant class (bazaris) whose role is now reduced to a shrinking slice of a shrinking pie given that 80% of the economy is dominated by the state and the IRGC? What leverage can get the veterans and the bazaris to join the Greens?
Pic,
As you may know Shah's SAVAK secret police also used torture to get new arrestees to give up info on their colleagues. What I heard after the revolution was that in response to savak's early success, opposition groups initiated their own improvements:
1) daily contact appointments at an exact time where members would call into a central number to announce that they were ok (otherwise it was assumed that they had been arrested triggering the other steps).
2) members were trained to endure the torture and avoid giving up info for the first X hours after their normal contact time. This would give the other members X hours to take avoidance action.
I hope that the local leaders in Iran have access to this type of info from the shah days. I would think that the greens that spent time in shah's prisons are routinely providing this type of lessons learned to Iranians.
Regarding the example of my own I must've been unclear. Obviously they are in their later years and don't have the physical capabilities to be active in any demonstrations. But they are not pro Khamenei. Despite the fact that they watch BBC Persian and VOA every night, they seem to have bought into the regime's PR that the protesters are a small minority of "young people" who just want to create chaos. The fact that they do not personally experience the protests (they don't live in Tehran), supports those claims by the regime. That's why the commemoration ceremonies for Montazeri are so important in getting the truth out outside of the core group of protesters in Tehran and several universities.
I have a cousin who went to the Iraq war as a Basij member, was taken as POW, and spent years in Iraqi prison camps. Although the regime has really helped him financially, he is now very open-minded. But my guess is that he is more the exception than the rule. Once religious beliefs are supported by financial rewards for supporting the regime, it's a big challenge to overcome.
As far as priorities, I still rank the need to shift the regime loyalists to a neutral position much higher than getting those on the fence actively involved. Why? Because those on the fence tend to be from the older generations and therefore they naturally have a tolerance level for risking their homes, families, and life-savings.
That's why I go back to the need to have a concise plan for shifting the loyalists, especially the young ones) starting with taking away the fears that the regime is perpetuating (i.e. anti-Islamic fears).
Megan,
My bad I think those two brain cells I have comprising my brain have forgotten what humor is. The reality is you only get half of the message through electronic communicaiton. You miss the body language and tone that obviosuly would have denoted your post as humor. Well I got hit with the dummy stick on this one! :)
Bill
I just saw this comment on FB. It goes along with our discussion here:
دوستان داخل ایران فیلمها و عکسها ی روز عاشورا که مامورها وحشیانه درگیریها و سرکوب مردم را شروع کردند را روی سی دی تکثیر کنین و به افراد مذهبی و کم درآمد و کم آگاه بدین. الان روشنگری و آگاهی رسوندن به افرادی که ناآگاهن با سرعت بالا میتونه به جنبش کمک کنه
I can't help but stop and express my enthusiasm that we now have an "escot" here joining the family :)
Scott, as you may know in persian words either the first or the 2nd letter is always a vowel.
So "Escot" is just how we pronounce "Scott"!!!
From a Farsi Espeaker! ;)
And I have an Iranian friend who was so gun-shy of making that very mistake that he always pronounced "establish" as "stablish." :-o بی شوخسی
Hamid, Thanks for your FB info. DVD's are certainly accessible to more people than the internet is. I'm sure that all the smart people in Iran will come up with many ideas to spread the Green message. I also appreciate what you said about your family members opinions. Most people mean well and want the best for their country but older people are naturally more fearful of change. Your point about the reach of Montazeri, especially after his death, is right on.
As for violence, I'd exhort the Greens to avoid it, both for moral and for effectiveness reasons. Capturing bassijis and letting them go unharmed is a high impact viral act whereas doing onto them what they're doing to the people merely brings everyone down to the same awful level.
You might recall that Khomeini in a speech told the Shah's generals that they have nothing to fear. I think that the Greens should make similar statements (but of course, contrary to Khomeini, mean it) and also insist on the abrogation of the death penalty for all crimes. That should address the fears of some mid-high level IRGC officers.
As to the younger soldiers and bassijis, they must be approached and influenced when off-duty through their families and their community. Once on duty, their superiors will force them to act like brutes to make sure that their humanity is kept in check. Good film makers such as Makhmalbaf should be able to make DVD movies that adroitly and convincingly asks the right questions such as what's happened with the billions of dollars of oil revenue. Even religiously conservative working-class people will be appalled to learn the extent of the incompetency and of the looting. That might be helped with students spending more time in South Tehran and Share-Ray as part of social projects that indirectly raise consciousness.
As someone else said iearlier in this thread, this is a marathon and not a sprint. Changing people's minds and hearts takes time, but that will build a more solid foundation for a democratic Iran.
Pic,
I love the Makhmalbaf (or others) making a documentary on the regime's failures.
We can have our own Michael Moore!
And the military thing ? (haven't read any updates, am about 24 hr behind on news). Wouldn't the army coup thing be the answer, leaving time for new candidates (released from prison, overseas.. ) time to collect, an new election, a new beginning with choices being freely broadcasted. During this time the country could still be run by it's civil servants who know about the general stuff, even if much would be suspended.
Hoping that those military could be sufficiently knowledgable to be able to run the county... to not cause chaos but keeping it progressing. However, as our medias are talking talking about Iran just now, all the analystes, who seem to say that the régime is finished, but they obviously don't know exactly when but are absolutle in agreement saying that the regime are certainly not reacting correctly, are doing the opposite of what should be done !
To me Jasmine is a crook
Iran is not a military coup country...won't happen especially because the revolutionary guards hold all the real keys to internal fight, not the army.
Most TV analysts know nothing about Iran. Will the regime fall? Of course, every regime will eventually fall. So the real point is this month or within the next 50 years.
I'd go with the next couple years.