List of Islamic Republic apologists

If you look to the right hand side of your screen and scroll down, you'll notice a new links list I have compiled. It is a work in progress cataloguing those that by whatever means push the Islamic Republic agenda. They include Professors, a Baroness, a Member of Parliament, journalists and so on. Some of these apologists e.g. Abbas Edalat attempt to do this very subtly, whereas others are open about their connections with the Regime and the fact that they are on its payroll e.g. Roshan Mohammad Salih.

These people all have one thing in common, that being that they have seeked to promote or apologise for the Islamic Republic, in universities, the media, etc. It is important that such individuals/groups are exposed so that there is no doubt about where their allegiances lie.

• Abbas Barzegar
• Abbas Edalat
• Ardeshir Ommani
• Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
• CASMII
• Darius Guppy
• Elaheh Rostami-Povey
• Flynt Leverett
• George Galloway
• Haleh Afshar
• Hamid Molana
  
• Hooman Majd
• James Petras
• John Rees
• Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
• Ken Ballen
• Leon Kuhn
• Matthew Richardson
• Mazda Majidi
• Mehri Honarbin-Holliday
• Nader Mokhtari
• Nima Shirazi
• Patrick Doherty
• Phil Wilayto
• Ray Takeyh
• Roshan Muhammed Salih
• Seumas Milne
• Stop the War Coalition
• World Socialist Web Site
• Yvonne Ridley

This list is currently a work in progress. Since I live in Britain, I am obviously better informed about those apologists that operate here in the UK. However, I know that people from all around the world read this blog, so if you see or hear any individual or group that you think ought to be included on the list, please leave a comment at the end of this post, or email me stating their name and with the appropriate evidence and they will be included.

Related: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=205508165777

Thanks

Arash

Child poverty in Iran documentary and Ahmadinejad's lies

Edit: Cross-posted with kind permission on Harry's Place.

This documentary was shot in Khak-sefid district of Tehranpars in Tehran, four years ago.

My translation begins at 0:32 to 2:29.

Majid Mahichi (MM): Is this your home's garden?
Milad: No, it's theirs.
MM: Where is this?
Milad: This is their room.
MM: Who's room?
Milad: Miss Lida's.
MM: Who's Miss Lida darling?
Milad: She's our neighbour
MM: She's your neighbour, she lives over here?
Milad: Yeah.
MM: Did you give this room to Miss Lida?
Milad: No, they were here first.
MM: They were here first? Is Ms Lida at home right now? Go and check.
Milad: No, they're in the other room, I don't think they're here.
MM: Ah, they're not here, okay, let's go into the room. Do you want to show me your toys? What did you say your name was?
Milad: Milad.
MM: Milad, will you show me your toys?
Milad: I don't have any toys.
MM: You don't have any toys?
Milad: No.
MM: You have none at all? What about a car? You don't have a car? Would you like toys? Which toys would you like?
Milad: A gun, a car, a bag.
MM: Okay, what do you want a gun for?
Milad: So I could pretend to be a policeman.
MM: Do you want to be a policeman when you grow up?
Milad: Yeah.
MM: Why do you want to be a policeman?
Milad: So I can lock up addicts.
MM: What was that dear?
Milad: Addicts...
MM: You want to lock up addicts?
Milad: Yeah.
MM: You don't like addicts?
Milad: No.
MM: Why?
Milad: Well, those who do drugs have to be imprisoned...

Note the squalor that this little boy is being brought up in, the loss of childhood innocence...there is an entire generation of children in Iran who have grown up knowing little but poverty, drugs, prostitution and all manner of other social ills which have plagued Iran.

And Ahmadinejad has the gall to tell us that before the Revolution "95% of Iranians lived in absolute poverty...but now no-one in Iran sleeps hungry at night". Sickening.

Comments are most welcome

Your names will echo in the streets forever...

I'll try and do some more in-depth analysis/opinions based posts over the next few weeks, but at the moment I'm rather snowed under by work, so I thought I'd just leave you all with this:



Subtitles included in the video. It's a lovely, rousing song, a bit like a more modern, rock 'n' roll version of Ey Shahid :)

Comments are most welcome

Mir Hossein Mousavi is not the Iranian people's ambassador!

Update: Cross-posted with kind permission on Harry's Place.

Two things caught my eye this weekend. One was the picture I've posted above, made by Babak, an Iranian graphical designer. Many of his works have a monarchical spin, however this particular piece was very good in my opinion, and summed up my own feelings about Mousavi quite well, especially in light of the second thing that caught my eye. Read on.

The text under the photo of Mir Hossein Mousavi translates as "We shall not follow the mercenaries and murderers of old, and those endorsed by the Guardian Council and agents of the Islamic Republic. Our desire is a free Iran with the people's vote".

The second thing that caught my eye was a news report detailing the tearing of a poster of Khomeini on an Iranian university campus during the 16th Azar (7th December) protests. There's currently a battle raging between the Islamic Republic's officials as to who's behind it. The hardliners are blaming the reformists and the reformists are accusing the hardliners of framing them. The main defence for the reformists was summed by Mir Hossein Mousavi as "I am sure the students have never gone over such boundaries, because we all know they love the Imam [Khomeini] and are prepared to sacrifice their lives for his goals".

This entire episode yet again confirms my suspicions that the Islamic Republic, reformist or otherwise will always be at odds with the wishes of the Iranian people. The entire movement that was born after June's elections, has been about securing democracy and freedom in Iran. The shouts people gave started as "Mousavi, Mousavi reclaim my vote" and have since progressed to "Independence, freedom, Iranian republic"; an outright rejection of the motto of the current regime founded by Khomeini.

What Mousavi doesn't seem to get is that Iranians by and large do not care for Khomeini, a vile dictator that before the revolution promised freedom, democracy and justice saying "Our future society will be a free society, and all the elements of oppression, cruelty, and force will be destroyed", and after the Revolution declared "Don't listen to those who speak of democracy. They all are against Islam. They want to take the nation away from its mission. We will break all the poison pens of those who speak of nationalism, democracy, and such things".

How can Mousavi think for a minute that Iran's youth, who have lived through 30 years of totalitarianism under the Islamic Republic, and have risked rape, torture and execution to protest on 16th Azar would ever die for Khomeini's "goals"? The youth are dying for freedom and democracy and Mousavi actually believes they would rather die for someone who actively hated freedom and democracy! Was there ever anyone more clueless than this so called "moderate"?

I say to you that Mousavi is, and always has been, with the Islamic Republic. If he ever had to choose between the wishes of the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic, he'd choose the IRI every time. He built it and nurtured it, for three decades he propagated fascism in Iran. Reformists are the lowest of the low in the Islamic Republic's government. They attempt to cosy up to Iran's people, whilst at the same time actively supporting the preservation of the unjust, fascist status quo that is the Islamic Republic.

I thank god that the current resistance movement that has rooted itself in Iranian society is lead by Iran's people and not by weak lackeys like Mousavi, a man who has continually tried to rein in the Iranian people to follow the Islamic Republic line. Long live the Resistance movement, and remember the words of 16th Azar's protesters "Mousavi is an excuse, the entire regime is the target".

Comments are most welcome

Ey Shahid

The song is called "Ey Shahid", or "O Martyr"....it starts off with pictures of heroes from Iran's ancient past e.g. Arash Kamangir, Kouroush (Cyrus) the Great and Babak Khorramdin and goes on to show photos of those involved in Iran's century long struggle for freedom and democracy e.g. Sattar Khan, Dr Mossadegh and Dr Fatemi. It shows pictures of the Islamist takeover of Iran, the eight year war with Iraq and finishes with photos of the new resistance movement that was born in the aftermath of the events of June 2009.



Translation:

We swear to the cry expired in blood,
We swear to the martyr who relinquished life,
We swear to the last call,
We swear to the mother's shaking tears,

We swear to the name of freedom,
We swear to the moment you passed away,
We swear to the heart torn apart,
We swear to the martyr lying in blood,

We swear to the will of comrades,
We swear to the faithful oppressed ones,
We swear to the tired ones ready to die,
We swear to the brave heart companions,

That until the last breath we will continue your way, O Martyr!
That our way will be that way of yours, O Martyr!

Everyone move forward, together we sing, long live our dear eternal Iran!

Comments are most welcome

The Larijani brothers and Iranian students

Firstly: A HUGE thank you to my friend Folderol for designing the new logo-header for this blog. I'm sure you'll all agree that it looks fantastic, and all the credit should be given to him :D

But now for a group of people who are not being appreciated...I almost feel sorry for the Larijani brothers, they seem to attract a lot of trouble whenever they enter Iranian universities. In December 2008 Ali Larijani (Speaker of the Iranian Parliament) was told by the brave students of Shiraz University that they reject him as he is the "leader of an illegal parliament" and on October 4th 2009, his brother Javad visited Sharif University in Tehran (by invitation from the Basij) where he received the following welcome from the Iranian students, who are quite clearly sick of sanctimonious and oppressive government officials visiting them:

Students booing and protesting at Javad Larijani's presence:



Students shouting "death to dictators":



Students continuing to shout "death to dictators", chanting "coup d'etat government, resign, resign" and chanting in favour of Mir Hossein Mousavi:



Always remember these brave students who are fighting fearlessly for freedom, whilst the pseudo-liberals like Obama and George Galloway appease the Mullah regime!

Comments are most welcome

Iran's students: defying stereotypes

Dear readers, again I must apologise for my recent absence from the blogosphere, the start of term is always accompanied by a surge of extra work.

But I have been following the goings on in Iran, and at the same time which I began studying so did my fellows in Iran, and as the universities opened on the 23rd of September, alongside academic commitments, for many students this was also the best time to continue their struggle for freedom and democracy, as they have done admirably with protests springing up in campuses all across the country.

Iranian universities are no stranger to political activity, and were rated as the Number One Campus for Activism in 2003, "for unflinching dissent in a nation where speaking out can lead to imprisonment, or worse" . So it begins again, as we hear that 14 members of the Unity for Consolidation Office (Iran's National Union of Students) were arrested on October 2nd, and their wherabouts remain unknown with the authorities denying knowledge of the arrests to the student's families. Translation of the article is provided here.

Here in the UK, Student's Unions provide us with cheap drinks and academic support. Iran's Students Unions however are far more radical. The fourteen people who were arrested were members of Takhim Vahdat, originally setup by Khomeini's government so Islamic students could counter the influence of dissidents who might have been spreading secularist ideas in universities. Takhim Vahdat has now evolved into one of the harshest critics of the Islamic Republic and has repeatedely pressed for a national referendum on the future of the Islamic Republic and has also told the unelected Mullahs to suspend their nuclear activities. Sadly, many of the members of this organisation are jailed, tortured (very often so they give false confessions) and killed, but they have continued fighting for freedom and democracy in a very courageous manner as seen notably in December 2008 when the students of Shiraz University told Ali Larijani (Speaker of the Iranian Parliament) that they reject him because he is the "leader of an illegal Parliament". Brave souls, I'm not one prone to hero worship, but watching that guy give his speech, I could not help but feel like a lesser man.

To sum up, Takhim Vahdat is an extremely important institute and one that will be crucial in the coming months and years. The clerics in Iran thrive off an atmosphere of division and disunity but university provides a breeding ground for collective dissatissfaction to accumulate and increase, especially since graduates and students have a tough time in Iran, even if they're not political activists. The arrest and abuse of each and every freedom loving student in Iran is a catalyst in the eventual destruction of the Mullah dictatorship, and brings us closer to the rebirth of humanity and liberty in Iran.

Comments are most welcome