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Monday
Dec072009

16 Azar Opinion: "Iran's Voice Will Be Heard"

16 AZAR POSTER2From Josh Shahryar on Huffington Post:

As the Iranian people prepare for a day of protests across Iran on December 7, the Iranian government has stepped up its efforts to halt the flow of news out of the country. Already the government has banned as many reformist news sites as it possibly can, jailed reformist journalists and bloggers and restricted internet access across the country. As if that were not enough, it also banned all foreign media journalists in Iran from leaving their residences and revoked their permits from December 7 to 9. But this is all they can do to stop the flow of news.

What they can't do is stop the thousands of Iranians and their non-Iranian supporters from spreading the news that they get from Iranians inside the country online. There is literally an army of these people who in a few hours will be doing only one thing -- spreading news about the protests on Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, LiveJournal, YouTube, MySpace, Photobucket and every available bit of space on the internet they can get their keyboard and mouse on.

While the Iranian community abroad certainly has an interest in the affairs of Iran, and its participation could be seen as a sign of patriotism -- the involvement of non-Iranians gives a bystander new hope about the future prospects of mankind. Surprisingly enough, few of these individuals are professional human rights activists, journalists or political junkies. What unites them is greater than any occupation. They come from different countries, speak different languages and their skin is beautiful shades of the same color -- the color of humanity. That is the banner under which they have united.

Their stories are different: a skinny girl from Israel who loves her country, a yoga instructor from Germany who's fascinated by Asia and a Phillies fan from Pennsylvania who admires President Bush for his faith. But they are all united by one cause, one desire and one goal -- to help stop the Iranian government from muffling the voices of its citizens.

Already, some are preparing for the big day. One Twitter user made lunch and dinner for her children in the morning so she could tweet uninterrupted throughout day and at night. A Facebook user spent hours creating a page online to thwart the Iranian regime's attempts at spreading disinformation. A YouTube user called sick to work so he could spend the day uploading videos.

Many in the US kept telling each other to sleep during the day so they could stay focused through the night, when it's morning in Iran because of the time difference. Others reinstalled their computers or ran lengthy virus checks to ensure maximum productivity. One supporter told me he'd borrowed his brother's laptop so he could upload videos of the protest on his PC and tweet using the laptop.

As the Iranian people go out on the streets of Tehran to demand justice, these amazing people will sit behind their desktops or laptops or hold their blackberries or iPhones and get to work. They will tweet bits of news, live-blog on their blogs, upload photos to Photobucket and videos to YouTube and make frantic phone calls to let the world know. Sure, their work is not considered quality journalism by the mainstream media, but what they will accomplish tonight -- and what they have accomplished in these past several months - is greater than that. They are living proof that despite of all the ethnic, linguistic, religious, political, geographical and historical divides -- humanity shines ever brighter today.

The Iranian government has done what it can, but it has failed before and it will fail again. It won't be able to muffle everyone's voice. The voices of the people of Iran will be heard. If foreign journalists are barred from being the voice of the Iranian people, the Iranian people will still speak up. And Iranians abroad and citizens of the world have and will take matters into their own hands to ensure that Iranian cries for justice are heard loud and clear. Humanity will prevail.
Monday
Dec072009

Iran: Full English Text of Mousavi Statement on 16 Azar and the Student Movement (6 December)

16-AZAR-POSTERAdapted from the Facebook site supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi.

In the name of God, the compassionate and the merciful

I congratulate the coming anniversary of Qadir Eid to the Muslim nation of Iran. I pray the great God to get our nation and all the Muslims around the world closer to the ideals of the person [Imam Ali] who the Qadir occasion belongs to. In this time of celebration, the Shiite wishes wellbeing and prosperity for one another and ask each other for gifts that would help them accomplish such wishes. They wish for a fine destiny for our nation and country especially in these crisis stricken times. It is expected from us to commit to the same action. It was still our duty to fulfill the wish [of putting our nation onto a path to a find destiny] even if this expectation did not exist. What we can do in this regards is to maintain loyalty in looking for the good [of our nation even when it is not accepted as is] and persistence in thinking for the future [of our nation even when it is not called as such.] Dangers ahead are too serious to let us or others think of our own interests, and the realities we face are too severe to disappear through ignorance. With the help of the atmosphere of elegance that the eid has provided in addition to the anniversary of 16th of Azar (December 7) as the day of University Students, no topic would be better to talk about other than a solution to our current crisis; a pill that is not necessarily bitter to swallow if we put away our prejudgments.



University Student day is ahead of us. In our modern history student movement has always been the flag-bearers and has acted as the reason and purpose for people’s movement. During the bitter days following the coup, and in some of the darkest times in the history of our nation when all hope seemed to be lost, what happened in the 16th of Azar of 1332 (December 7 of 1953) was a clear sign that the spirit of people and their historical demands are still alive. Those ‘three drops of blood’ and ‘three godly Azar’ (pun: Azar is the name of the month in the Iranian calendar, but also means flares of fire) that created a basis for the University student day are after half a century later still a vivid and enlightening reminder in the memory of people because they signified the existence of greater reality in the lives of people. In the years and generations that followed these signs were maintained through the student movements and still does. For countless reasons, the society does not reveal its inclinations to those who only see the appearance. Great transformations are often accused to happen suddenly such that they refuse the political players the opportunity to adjust. Of course, basically no transformation has been realized suddenly, it is only their manifestation and rise that takes a sudden form. In such conditions, signs that tell of the unknown abyss of society are truly invaluable.

The student movement in our modern history has always contained reports of formation of deep political and social currents in our society. If the officials have had reacted to this role [of university students] tactfully in the past and now, we would have had a smooth path toward development and advancement. Instead, they violently break these invaluable artifacts. They rather pacify themselves that silencing a couple of loud and young individuals would solve the problem as if removing the question would remove the problem from its origins. This is story that we have heard over and over. It is the same story of ignorance towards realities, and interpretation of news from social conditions to the taste of a group in power. No era of power has ever ended without at least a few signs of such stories. [Quoting Quran:] “They said that these are an insignificant group”, as these days they (referring to Ahmadinejad directly) say they are but a dust. “And they enrage us.” “And we are all at the state of readiness [to fight them.]” “So God threw them away from the gardens where springs originated.” “and from their treasures, and desired positions.”

It is very sad and bitter to see the same mistakes repeated despite all the similar lessons in the recent past in and even further: those who insist on saying that people are calm again and it’s only the university students now; and that among the universities, it is only those universities in Tehran that are not calm, and among those there even fewer universities server as leaders. They think that in these leader universities there are couple of organizing centers run by several young members and that if they were to be expelled from the campus, or threatened to deny continuing their education, even they would quite down and that would be the end of story. Ok! But these students were threatened, and they were expelled, why is the story still dragging on? It is because the student movement is a proof of realities greater than itself. Alas, I wish they would appreciate this. I wish they would learn from the insight such a movement is providing to the transformations in the distant and far future so that they would adjust accordingly, especially in times like this when university students are not a minority group but constitute one of the most expansive and active social layers in our society. Right now, there is one university student out of every 20 Iranians. If those responsible in power had paid attention to the university students’ role as a proof and sign to our future, today we would not be in such a critical condition.

Of course, this story has two sides to it. University movements are only as strong and as rooted as the relation of their message to real inclinations within the society because the power of social movements [or the student movement for that matter] is tied to the necessities which create and sustain them. When our generation was participating in the student movement, it clearly saw how effective is its connections to the society essential to sustain its strength. During that time there were many inclinations among the students. If the student Islamic committees were the strongest it was because they were representing a greater number of social realties.

Many of the activist students of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. This is an additional reason why they should not stop serving as the symbol of our social realities. Their vitality and strength depends on this. The secret to the success of politicians is the same thing. They will be able to server their country or at least remain powerful only until they are willing to understand the needs and inclinations of their society, and even become the symbol and proof of such needs and inclinations. This thought that someone can rule over people despite their inclinations is nothing but an illusion. Even when a government manages to survive by relying on repressive forces it is in fact only relying on society’s inclinations to remain indifferent towards oppression, although such an indifference will never last forever.

Our society is experiencing the greatest transformations these days. Who is to deny this truth after the incidents seen during the recent months? What is the exact nature of such a transformation? This is the greatest question to us and our opponents. If they know what great and prosper phenomenon is heading our way, they too will put away their helmets and batons and start seeking for means to look after this delicate plant that has just risen out of our land.

Among many beauties of the days before election, the most beautiful phenomenon was the gathering of people with different tastes .to become successful about that they did not put aside their differences and diversities, but recognized them. No one found it necessary to lose their identity in order to contribute in this integration and become a different person. There was a joy in that integrating which was accepted by our nature. The green human chain that surrounded our cities was not an untruth show. We were not supposed to ignore each other's fate after passing that bridge and our spirits didn't want to scatter after experiencing that integration. Undoubtedly such a thing is a sign of rising growth and dignity in the life of a nation.

The dignity of a nation is not based on being rich or powerful, they are only small parts of its effects. The dignity of a nation is based on the greatness of its spirit. Dignity is when we can have apparently incompatible affairs together. A small house is a place only for "me", but in a big house there is also space for others. An employer which has small spirit thinks he can not exceed property but by assaulting labor's rights, while a great employer knows that benefiting others, is the only way of gaining benefit. The difference of small employee and a great employee is also the same. Based on thousands of reasons, the only way of benefiting is to benefit others, but those who are small do not have enough capacity to infix others on them. It is also the difference of a religious which is big and a religious that is small. A great religious is Imam Sadeq (6th Imam of Shiite) who sat in the house of god and had conversation with an atheist. The truth of the house of god is his heart that has capacity for everyone, and respects everybody's right, the right of living, right of hearing, right of choosing, and the right to make mistakes, the right to be great. Yes, being great, otherwise, what a great person has to do with a small person? They see an irreligious in a place where can face the beauties of religion. if could not find a truth, do not ignore the possibility of understanding it by others., or they can be small and ignore whatever they have not heard before, whatever they can not understand, and without sitting and listening to understand it recognize other ideas baseless.

Our nation is now showing the signs of its greatness; this is that wonderful change which our nation was in search of experiencing it. Of course what is important is that this greatness and not its signs. I repeat its signs to believe that it comes like spring and changes our lives, to believe in its consecration and do not scare of changes it will bring. This is that growth that our revolution was founded based on. Some times passed, and we neglected it, but our god did not neglect. He developed the seed which was planted 30 years ago by many hopes, until now when its sprouts are ahead of us.

The greatness symbols of a nation are qualities that are expected from a brave human being. A man who has no ideal is a man worth nothing. However, who can be an idealist while not losing the touch of reality? A brave human being and a great nation.

If people are still demanding the full execution of the Constitution as their main slogan despite of all those bitter scenes they have seen in the last months, is not because their other demands can not be met. It was only and only the realistic sense of people and their wisdom that did not allow a volatile and radical reaction to the horrendous behavior of the rulers.

In another example, imagine the quality of bravery. The courage that a brave person (like a father who is defending his young daughter) shows is not with an uproar. It is not without a foresight and it is not necessitated with accepting an unreasonable price. However, [this courage] is more fearsome and more effective than the strength of others. Haven’t you seen this level of courage in the brevity that people demonstrated?

In another instance, adaptability of a brave person is not translated into giving in. It only means that (s)he has many problem solving options. In the last six months any window [of opportunity] that people opened was closed. However, they have created new solutions without leaning towards confrontations and without compromising on their ideals.

As another example, look at the patience and firmness in the movement of people.
They live their demands in such patience that it looks like they have lived them for a hundred years; A patience that exhausted their opponents; a patience that resembles growth.

As another example, a brave human being is some one who has self-confidence i.e. he is aware of the values that exist within him. We have not been like this for a long time. We had to keep our heads down. The self-confidence of our nation was taken away in two centuries of subordination, until the Revolution repaired this fallen barricade. However, did we reach this goal immediately and cleared the historical damages from our souls?

So why were we surprised when our artists were praised throughout the world?
As if we did not even suspect ingenious form an Iranian. Or as if we were so pessimistic, that if we had the slightest praiseworthy feature in ourselves we were looking through the conspiracy theories. Does a brave human being react like this if he is praised? Or is he aware of his qualities such that neither applauds make him overwhelmed with joy nor deviate him from his path. In the last few months the nation of Iran was praised tremendously. Now compare our people’s reaction to these applauds to their previous reactions so that you believe the essence of our society is experiencing their symbols of greatness.

It is mentioned in our 20-year Perspective Document that Iran must be the most powerful country of the region in the year 1404 [2025 in Georgian Calendar]. Are we supposed to tell the truth about our greatness to the world and the region or are we supposed to lie in that year? Are we just supposed to wear the big clothes to look great while we have not grown and prospered? Are we just supposed to inaugurate uncompleted civil projects in the level of the countries in the region? Are we supposed to consider our lost cause [diplomatic] travels as victories with the help of the media? Are we expected to put ourselves in the middle of continued controversies and contempt others so that we can claim greatness? Or are we supposed to be really powerful?I ask this question because I believe that a country is only great when it has a great nation.

Our wish came true and our great nation matured to a well deserved degree, only by relying on itself. However, the problem is that this great nation will not keep quiet if its votes are taken away. A great nation does not tolerate degraded elections with fixed results. When a nation becomes great, its [public] servants can no longer tell the people what to eat, where to go, who to elect, and whom or what to trust. This great nation expects the guardian council to convince them of the legitimacy of the elections. They don’t accept from the council to claim only one thing [that everything is ok] and to annul all the observations and documented facts.

They ask us to forget about the election results as if the problem is only the elections. How are we supposed to explain that it is not so? The problem of our people is not who the head of the government is or who is not. The problem is that this some are blustering their ego to the face pride of great nation. What makes people angry is that their greatness is denied explicitly.

Don’t you want to be the government and for us not to? The way is to pay attention to the reality: people have no fraternity agreement with anybody. They choose the one who has more respect for their greatness. Paying attention to this fact will solve the election problem too, but if neglected be aware that the problem is not going to be limited to just the election results.

[Dear] brothers of ours! If you are not getting anywhere with your enormous efforts cumbersome costs, perhaps you have mistaken the battlefield. You fight people on the streets, but you are constantly losing your dignity in people’s minds. So you won’t tolerate the celebration of Azar 16th in the universities, what you are going to do with Azar 17th, and Azar 18th? How do you capture the minds of those who saw with their eyes your useless battles in the universities and your fear? Even if you silenced all the students, what are you going to do with the reality of the society?

These are the words we say with good intentions, but they don’t listen. If they listened, we would have been very close to victory. The victory I speak of is not that of any specific party; it’s the expanding of the nation’s maturity; the victory that makes the people, individually and in groups, greater, to the point that even the warder will be ashamed.

Recently I heard that Basij in one of the universities has given the opportunity of speaking up to the opposition. That’s a good start. I also heard that they gave each other green scarves as gifts for Qadir eid. From our point of view this is the greatest gift. It wasn’t us who chose green. It was green that chose us. Is it possible for green to choose our brothers too? We think it’s possible, because the good-hearted is one who doesn’t look at the deceiver’s deception and the way to becoming green is not closed to any one.
Sunday
Dec062009

Enduring America's Coverage of the 16 Azar Protests

16 AZAR POSTER5We'll be live-blogging from 0700 GMT as protesters gather in Tehran and other cities. We have correspondents in place in Europe, Britain, the US, and Iran, bringing out the news as soon as it happens.

We'll also have special features during the day, including a letter we've just received from an observer in Iran: "There has been a major shift in opinion after 13 Aban (the protests of 4 November) in the people around me. I really think the IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) is finished: and that there is enough support now for complete change."
Sunday
Dec062009

16 Azar Special: A Letter from Inside Iran

16 AZAR POSTER4An EA reader writes, "Some time ago, some dear friends of mine returned to their home in Iran after a prolonged holiday. I had sent them a long farewell message, wishing them well and asking them to try and contact me whenever there might be a chance. I wasn't sure when or if I might hear. Then on Saturday, 5 December, just as news was spreading about Iran 'cutting off' all Internet access, an e-mail arrived:

At the airport when we landed, they questioned me about what I'd been doing abroad, where I'd been, and asked if I was on facebook, and for my passwords. They even did a search for my name on Facebook but didn’t find me. I am so glad I closed my account. I know it has been said many times but still people should be warned to close their FB accounts, etc. (Still. I was really worried because I still had a Twitter account open – but I had set that up with all false info ---luckily.) It was intimidating for a bit but I acted as confidently as I could. It was not a pleasant experience. So please if you know anyone coming back here, advise them to close all their FB & Twitter accounts.

People are going about their everyday lives but it’s not really very normal, there is graffiti everywhere. We saw many photos on the web but there is so much more than I expected! You see green paint & writing and V’s everywhere, sometimes in the strangest places!

All anyone talks about is politics, it’s more open in that respect than before I left! Especially when it comes to the Supreme Leader & the Regime. There are of course the coup supporters who pretend nothing is happening - but they are in the minority It is amazing how they close their eyes and make excuses for the coupsters. One person told me the protesters were Western-trained terrorists! They sincerely believed it too. They have this total blind faith even though most of them are highly intelligent. They are really delusional. I know this kind of sounds contradictory, but at the same time they are very worried, the supporters regurgitate the same IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) propaganda about western soft war and convince themselves the government is holy and would never hurt anyone!

We get a lot of news, considering I rarely get on the internet! I really miss it.. The first time I could see friends online, but was too scared to log in and say hello, I so badly wanted to. It was the strangest thing: I was excited that I could see you but decided it was safer not to "speak2 to you.

I have seen videos of protests in Universities around the country, I think that most things that are circulated on Twitter are also circulated around here, both eastern and western news. We saw (journalist Maziar} Bahari’s interviews (with Jon Stewart and CNN), for example, and the (Mir Hossein) Mousavi interview. We have read news articles from western news sites & the news from the reformist sites & opposition blogs is e-mailed and handed out on flyers. Many of my friends told me they are still on the Internet watching different blogs and social media sites but they don’t sign in anymore. Remember this is the Bluetooth capital of the world! There are videos, assorted fliers, we even saw a newsletter! And anything the government says, you know the opposite is true.

I heard the Allah Akbar’s the night before the last big rally on 13 Aban (4 November). It was so moving, I had seen it on You Tube, but to hear it live was something else I guess it confirmed for me how real it was...the sound seems to come from everywhere. The people I was with told me it was much louder before, I can't imagine what that must have been like. How much our country has changed in the time I've been away!

We planned to visit a friend in central Tehran early in the morning of 13 Aban, I just wanted to see it for myself --- you know what it's like there you see the videos, I just wanted to watch it. As we made our way towards the apartment, somehow we got in the middle of some people trying to group up and some security trying to disperse them. We had no choice but to start running, I got a whack from a baton but just kept running. I looked around and everyone was running like me. From somewhere in the direction of where we were running to came teargas. It all happened so quickly, we got separated and I lost almost all but one of my companions in the confusion.

Thankfully my friend knew where to go, and we quickly got to a place of safety even though we were coughing and choking from the teargas. When we reunited with our other friends we shared a cigarette for the teargas. We then watched the terrible scene unfold on the street below.

I’m sure you have heard, I can’t put into words what I saw, but they are ruthless, horrible animals. The worst part was, they seemed to be targeting girls! People eventually dispersed from the scene, but most came out again later! We could hear people protesting somewhere in the city right into the evening.

Talk now of course is all about student's day (16 Azar --- 7 December), I don’t know if there will be a huge turnout, but there will definitely be protests. Everyone knows about it, some are scared, but there are many others that are determined. There has been some talk of strikes as well, in the last couple of days, but that may be just a rumor. The whole country is getting really tense again in the lead up to 16 Azar, you can really sense the tension.

Allah Akbars are only night before the major protests now, although I heard there have been some in the university dorms, as well as many protests. In the street every once in a while someone will just yell out a slogan and everyone smiles or people flash V signs. It always brings smiles, it’s like the fog has lifted for a minute. I have seen this a couple of times now, these people are so brave, there are security officers everywhere.

People I have talked to are mainly fed up with the government altogether - there's always been grumbling against the regime, but even I am surprised by the amount of people that are now openly stressing the need for secular democracy. There has been a major shift in opinion after 13 Aban in the people around me. I really think the IRI is finished: and that there is enough support now for complete change. People are just waiting at the moment, but we will have a better idea in the next month. Winter has always been a big time for protests.

One thing I can say for sure is there is no going back now, I couldn’t begin to guess what the future might hold, but the green movement isn’t going away, if anything it is growing. There are definitely some Basij questioning what they are doing. There are stories of divorces and broken engagements over differences in which side they support. Family members have stopped talking to each other over this, even disowned each other. So, there are strained relationships everywhere between families, associates, friends, neighbours. Something has got to give eventually. It seems like some are finally noticing what is really going on instead of continuing to stick the heads in the sand.
Sunday
Dec062009

Today on EA

TOWN CRIERIran: It's the day before the important protests of 16 Azar. In addition to our LiveBlog, we have Enduring America's analysis of the significance of the demonstrations and an opinion from Iran News Now, "Why the Green Movement Will Prevail". The routes and information for 16 Azar are posted, and we've got tonight's rooftop "Allahu Akhbar" chants.

The notable political developments today are statements from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani --- thanks to an EA reader, we have an English summary --- and from Mir Hossein Mousavi for 16 Azar, which we have posted in an abridged translation.

And don't forget that our 1st Enduring America Photo Caption Contest, featuring a Mr M. Ahmadinejad, is still open.

Afghanistan/Pakistan: It's super-spin day for the Obama Administration, as it sells the President's escalation plan on Sunday talk shows. (There's also puffery in the "inside reports" in The New York Times and The Washington Post on how Obama reached his decision.)

We've got transcripts, with snap analysis, of the interviews of Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Gates on ABC News and on NBC News. Meanwhile, here's the top-quality, hard-hitting questioning you can expect from CNN's John King: "We'll use the Magic Wall for help during our interview w/ National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones." (He has even put up a picture of the magical Magic Wall.)

Middle East Inside Line: We have the latest on possible Israel-Syria peace talks, with Turkey as a mediator, and the response of Israeli settlers to their government's 10-freeze on construction in the West Bank.

The Switzerland Minaret Ban: Continuing our coverage of the incident, we note the intervention of the Iranian Foreign Minister.

Sunday Funnies: To lighten the mood, we have the latest in our series "Why We Know Barack Obama is a Muslim".