Although more than 40 days have elapsed since the Presidential elections in Iran, general political and social conditions have not stabilized. In addition to sporadic demonstrations in Tehran and other major cities, the presence of security militia in public areas, Allah-o Akbar calls at night, a ban on SMS messaging and widespread discontent displayed in lowered activity in the government and economic sector are all serious signals of an imminent political crisis.In the few remaining reformist newspapers and news sites as well as the blogs which have survived filtering, news of the green resistance movement dominates. News of men and women who have been illegally arrested with no formal charges, young people injured and wounded during demonstrations and the victims who have given their lives is slowly emerging despite government attempts to block and prevent dissemination.
Members from the Tehran City Council met with more than 50 family members of activists arrested after the elections. Among those arrested were top political party leaders, journalists, lawyers, students and even innocent bystanders. They initially spoke about the plight of their loved ones. They elaborated on their revolutionary and Islamic reputation and the fact that they supported Mousavi who was approved by the Guardian council, they explained how militia men in plain clothes had entered their homes to arrest their kin. Mehdi Chamran the current pro-government head of the Council who had a critical role in bringing Ahmadinejad to power was present in the session. The attendees indicated that they expected the City Council to follow the reports on illegal detainment procedures and also on the biased and distorted reporting of the State radio and television which has a monopoly on national news broadcasting. This behavior is unIslamic and has nothing to do with the authentic values of the Revolution they stressed; we have nothing to do with foreign powers, we fear a serious deviation from the values of the Islamic Revolution. The mother of Sohrab Aarabi , a young student killed during the peaceful demonstrations on the Monday after elections also came to the session. She spoke courageously about the legacy of her son to promote the values of the Islamic Republic, freedom and democracy , "his blood has not been shed in vain" she said, "the green campaign will succeed".
2 comments:
Three things that I've found very disappointing about Iranian politics across the whole spectrum:
1) Inability to explain the appeal of the other side. Very few people across the political spectrum (this goes for Mousavi and Ahmadinejad supporters) acknowledges that the other side has real popular support. It's rather that we represent the "real" Iranian nation so we close our eyes to the massive demonstrations and expressed support in favor of the other candidate.
2) Both sides seems to want to claim a monopoly on the legacy of the revolution and want to claim the other side as deviant. When you do this, there is no room for dialogue, rather instead what you get is the ugly fanaticism and exaggerated claims that we've witnessed emerge over the last few months. Let's face it, there are intelligent righteous people who supported both candidates and other candidates too, and there are also pretty fanatical elements on both sides- this should be recognized. I'm not certain that the green movement has done a much better job in characterizing those whom they oppose in a realistic way. This website for instance gives no indication as to why people support Ahmadinejad, and the criticisms you offer here, though I imagine are definitely of some substance aren't put into the proper context, so they just falls into the hands of political opportunists and into the framework of the American neo-cons and the secular inevitability thesis. I live in Westwood, where the ex-pat Iranians there came out in protest against the Iranian government and in support of the green movement. This is what I mean by political opportunists. They came out in green, but also with Shahi flags and placards that said: "mag bar jumhuri Islami." These people don't really know Mousavi or support him, they just sense the political crisis and want to see things come down via Mousavi's opposition.
Are we to suppose that all those Iranians who support Ahmadinejad are backward, simpleminded, and deviant? One example, of this tendency is of course Mohsen Makmalbaf, who somehow became a spokesman for the "Green Movement." In an interview with an arabic news channel, he made the outlandish claim that ahmadinejad is a terrorist no different than osama bin laden, that the government is building nuclear weapons and aiming them at neighboring arab states. This is non-sense that is hardly different that the non-sense about the green movement being foreign interference plain and simple.
I can't believe that Former president of this country along with
Former Head of Department of Environment are ignored so vastly and can't do nothing .
30 years ago you took Americans hostage and the consequences were a demolishing war and lots of damage to this country.How come you say these things right now although you triggered it.
I don't understand why these people can't see the truth.Are they brain washed.
Why should some young people pay the terrible price for what they didn't do? Their life is ruined.It's our all lives going to be ruined.
I can't understand this situation.
About the whole plot,
I think the Persian Paradox is right.
hosseinghafoori.blogfa.com
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