Iranian Alert -- DAY 31 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST [Riots erupt]

BUMP

It was good. Thought I'd post it here:

July 10, 2003, 9:00 a.m.
July 9, 2003
Our struggle continues. Are you hearing us?

By Koorosh Afshar

TEHRAN, IRAN — July 9, 2003, proved to be another important date in the contemporary history of my nation. In Engelab Square in the heart of Tehran, right outside the University of Tehran, the Iranian people once again demonstrated their desire for freedom — and willingness to fight for it.

I know, I was standing there.

The scene of the battle was a familiar one. Unarmed citizens vs. the troops of oppression: heavily armed riot police, right-wing radical bloodthirsty thugs and vigilantes working for the mullahs. People of my great nation poured into the streets to prove to the world that we are determined to fight for freedom.

For about a month now, the regime has focused their power on silencing our voice: They captured our peers, cancelled exams, forced students to leave the dormitories, and shut down the university. They went from door-to-door, searching houses in Tehran, confiscating satellite receivers and dishes. Owners were left with a court date and the promise of fines. In recent weeks, the regime has managed to arrest more than 4,000 people throughout the country — many of them university students, journalists, and writers. The government here has done its best to kill the information flow in and out of the country.

Have no doubt: This is the face of President Mohammad Khatami's "religious democracy." We are living under a reign of terror and tyrannical censorship.

To make matters worse, so many of us believe that the regime used the surgery performed on the late Iranian conjoined twins earlier this week to distract the world's attention from the July 9th anniversary. I don't want to speak for them, but I did meet the sisters at the university a few times. They were true Iranians: lovers of freedom, as most young Iranians are these days.

So many of us are willing to sacrifice whatever we have to — even our lives — to free our nation. It's the basics we yearn for: freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of expression — we want to be free to decide how to dress ourselves in the morning!

The question foremost in our hearts and on our tongues here, though, is one you, especially, need to hear: Is the world seeing this? Does the world understand? Does the world support us? Does the United States? How many times do we have to pour onto the streets and chant slogans, get beaten and imprisoned or kidnapped — or even killed — before the world will "wake up" and start to listen?

In the wake of the U.S. interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the mullahs are more nervous than ever. The smart ones are realizing that the war on terror will make its way to them: The United States and its allies will not tolerate oppressive terror-funding dictatorships anymore. The smart ones (who have not already fallen from power) know that their fate will not be different from that of Saddam's, Mullah Mohammed Omar's, or Osama bin Laden's. Terrorism is a sinking ship.

These are evil people who remain running Iran, in the meantime. As I said in an earlier piece for NRO, "Westerners may have difficulty imagining what these people are like. In fact, it's quite easy: Simply remember the Taliban. The only difference is that they don't wear Afghani clothes." Right now, as the regime cracks down on Iranian freedom seekers, former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, still a powerhouse, and his kids, hope the world takes its time coming to our aid. Ex-President Rafsanjani's son Yasser spends Iranian money recklessly — he's known for expensive Arabian nights in Dubai and elsewhere. The Rafsanjanis are doing their best to strip Iran of its remaining wealth: I believe they will sell the soil and water if they can manage it.

This is nothing too new, of course. As investigative journalist Akbar Ganji, who now sits in Iranian jail cell, has already told the world, Rafsanjani has been behind the elimination of dissent both in and out of the country — uncovering death squads and other horrors.

Despite the terror, though, we're not afraid anymore. Some of my peers have even been seen smiling as they've been taken off the streets by officers of the regime. They know the goal and are proud of their work fighting the fight for freedom.

One of the newspapers here on July 9 included the front-page headline: "Iran cried for her daughters….And the world for Laleh and Ladan…."

I hope, with all my heart, that that is true. I, of course, hope they remember the too-short lives of the late twin sisters, Laleh and Ladan. And I hope they remember the nation of Lalehs and Ladans. In Farsi, Ladeh and Ladan are two types of flowers. There are a lot of flowers that need watering here. They — we — need the world's support. Please listen to their message, lest they wither.

— Koorosh Afshar is a pseudonym for a student in Tehran. His name has been changed for his protection.

Khashayar et al,

I was so tired last night I forgot one step in checking the web site (with the pictures from the demonstration in Seattle) before announcing it. This morning it is fixed; all the pictures and the background are now present. (I took some sound clips as well and hope to add that tonight.)

It is still at http://eala.freeservers.com/iranrally

Request: Would people attending other demonstrations in the US and elsewhere take photos and publish them online?

Powell has horrible political instincts...he will almost invariably start out on the wrong side of every issue. He will often "right the ship" later, but anything he says or does prior to that "correction" will be 180 degrees out of sync with where he should be.

He must be a Democrat at heart, because that's the exact same tendency they show (except they rarely correct themselves).

Strange that there are no stories of liberals flying out to the Middle East to protect the Iranian people from the weapons and bloodlust of bloodthirsty government. Human shields for Iraq, but not for Iran? Maybe this revolt is all about oil.

Human shields for Iraq, but not for Iran? Maybe this revolt is all about oil.

Haha. Nice.

Bumping my support of FREEDOM FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRAN!

(Can I say Persia? It sounds so much better. I had a Persian friend in college, who left me with lasting respect for the strength and independence of the Persian people. From whence did the name 'Iran' come from, anyway?)

...This Powell story is disinformation. If you read the text of his interview with Sean Hannity you will see that he twice supported the demonstrators against the government, and his remark about staying out--for the moment--referred to military intervention, not political support....

How do you explain Powell's "family feud" remark and his statement about Iran being a democracy?

Can you post the transcript of the interview? and your article in the NYSun, can you post it as well? I tried to find it on the site but was unable to see it. I think we would all like to see your take on the story.

Strange that there are no stories of liberals flying out to the Middle East to protect the Iranian people from the weapons and bloodlust of bloodthirsty government.

You still don't understand leftists. If they ever were to fly to Iran, they would do it to protect the regime.

I am reposting this from yesterday because I think it is important to understand the source of alot of the anger of the Iranians towards the regime....

This is very important!

Your question raises an extremely important point. Lets review it.

...How many know that the Ayatollah Khomeini was not even Persian? His Mom and Dad were from India!<
Not to mention he took refuge in Iraq and also... you guessed it... in France...

Something most Americans do not understand about the situation in Iran is that the Iranian revolution was stolen by Arab clerics lead by Khomeini.

Their anger started with him when his first words upon arriving in Iran, when asked how he felt being in Iran, he said he felt "nothing."

Persians as a people are extremely proud of the nation, its history, language, and culture. Their pride is similar to most Americans in this regard.

But the Arab clerics hate Persian culture, history, language, even the idea of a Persian nation. To run the government the clerics have had to import Arabs from all over the middle-east to take positions of power, such as Judges, governors, etc. Persians fought the Arabs for centuries and therefore they hate having Arabs lead them in their own country.

For instance, when your child is born in Iran today, the government gives you a book with Muslim names to choose from. You are not allowed to give your child a Persian name. The clerics hate it when the people sing nationalistic songs. They hate any kind of nationalism. This is because the clerics don't speak of Iran as their nation. They are trying to build an Islamic nation, which in their minds will someday extend to all four corners of the earth.

This kind of Islam has irritated the Persian people to the extent they are willing to throw off this regime. They no longer want an Islamic Republic. Therefore they are now looking for an alternative. The most popular of which is our secular democracy. They see our system works and theirs does not.

This has a lot to do with the struggle we are witnessing in Iran today.

From whence did the name 'Iran' come from, anyway?

The father of the Shah renamed the nation in 1935. Don't know why he did it.

Did your wife enjoy her segment on air last night?

Ayatollah Lugar

NY Sun Editorial
7.10.2003

Yesterday in the streets of Iran, protesters against the tyrannical, terrorist theocracy braved attacks from water cannon and machetes. They were speaking up for freedom and democracy at extraordinary personal risk.

Naturally, some Americans wanted to express support for the protesters, hoping to nurse freedom in Iran. This is consistent with American values, and it also would help our national security by removing a terrorist-sponsoring regime with nuclear ambitions.

Among those Americans on the side of freedom is Senator Brownback, who, with the bipartisan support of Senators Kyl, Schumer,Inouye and others,introduced the Iran Democracy Act. That bill stated clearly,“There is currently not a democratic government in Iran. Instead, Iran is an ideological dictatorship presided over by an unelected Supreme Leader with limitless veto power, an unelected Expediency Council, and Council of Guardians capable of eviscerating any reforms,and a President elected only after the Council disqualified 234 other candidates for being too liberal, reformist, or secular.” That is a crucial point, because the American deputy secretary of State, Richard Armitage, has been going around saying publicly and incorrectly that “Iran is a democracy.”

The Iran Democracy Act went on to assert it is the policy of America to “support an internationally-monitored referendum in Iran by which the Iranian people can peacefully change the system of government in Iran.” And it included millions of dollars in funding to help spread the message of freedom in Iran.

Unfortunately, the Iran Democracy Act ran into opposition from the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, and the top Democrat on the committee, Joseph Biden. Mr. Brownback, desperate to show some signal of support to the brave Iranian forces of freedom, compromised, proposing a trimmed-down amendment to the State Department authorization bill. That proposed amendment said “It is the policy of the United States that currently there is not a democratic government in Iran, the United States supports transparent, full democracy in Iran, and the United States supports the holding of an internationally monitored referendum in Iran by which the Iranian people can peacefully change the system of government in Iran.”

Yet even that proposal was too much for Ayatollahs Lugar and Biden. In the end, what was added to the Senate bill neither clearly stated that Iran is undemocratic nor called for an internationally monitored referendum. It merely stated that the United States supports transparent, full democracy in Iran and the rights of the Iranian people to choose their own system of government, and that the United States condemns the human rights abuses of Iranians expressing political dissent inside Iran.

That’s better than nothing. And perhaps there’s some poetic justice that, as America seeks to spread freedom and democracy to Iran, it is hampered by the natural give-and-take inherent in our own democratic legislative process. We certainly don’t mean to question the patriotism of Messrs. Biden or Lugar or to suggest that either one is rooting for the Axis of Evil nation. Still, Mr. Biden and Mr. Lugar might ponder what message they are sending to those protesters risking their lives for freedom in the streets of Iran. If all those protesters can expect from America is a watered down and desultory message of support, with no money behind it, it just increases the likelihood that the theocracy’s reign will be prolonged, and that one day soon, Americans, our allies, and Iran’s citizens will be facing off against a terrorist-led Iranian regime that no longer is seeking atomic weapons, but that has them.

http://daily.nysun.com/Daily/skins/NYSun/navigator.asp?BP=OK&GZ=T&AW=1057851719671

Is there any way to find out where those thugs took the student leaders? Something really has to be done about those militants.

We've got to get the people to understand that even armed militants can't stand up to people when they stick together. Ten to twelve people can simply overwhelm even a group of them. Twenty or thirty would be even better. The students have to make up their minds that if they are going to protest they are going to have to work together. If one of these thugs attacks one of them, they will all have to come to their rescue. They have to be able to depend on each other. Each man thinks he is not strong enough to make a difference so he does nothing, if he knows that everyone around him will join in, then he will move.

Here's the link for RaceBannon's photos from yesterday, in case anyone missed them.

...I note the open posting of the pro-democracy Farsi broadcasts from Israel mentioned in JPost. Is there any discussion / threats from either side re the 25,000 Jews still living in Iran? Is the Jewish Persian community in LA well involved? ...

I have not heard of any new threats against the Iranian Jews. The LA Jewish-Iranian community is involved.

The Voice of the Iranian Revolution

By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter

July 9, 2003

If Iran's hard-liners are having trouble sleeping, and they probably are, it is because Iranians are fed up. And they are fed up because they are finally getting the truth about how bad Iran really is broadcast by satellite from, of all places, Tinseltown.

CBN.com – LOS ANGELES - Some believe Iran's hard-line Islamic government could fall within the next six to eight months. If it does, it will happen, in part, because of a group of small TV stations broadcasting into Iran. They are run by Iranian Americans, and they are causing more trouble for Iran's hard-line government than the CIA ever could.
If Iran's hard-liners are having trouble sleeping, and they probably are, it is because Iranians are fed up. And they are fed up because they are finally getting the truth about how bad Iran really is broadcast by satellite from, of all places, Tinseltown.

Iran's hard-line religious leaders have long warned their people about the evils of Hollywood -but little did they know. Los Angeles may be the entertainment capital of the world, but entertainment is not the mullahs' problem.

In a low-budget studio on a sleepy street in North Hollywood, they are stirring up an Iranian revolution. They do it by delivering factual news, by poking fun at Iran's religious leaders, and by urging Iranians to stand up for their future. It is called National Iranian television, or NITV. And it is the brainchild of a one-time Iranian pop star named Zia Atabay.

When CBN News commented that Atabay was changing the government on Iran, he replied, "It's not me changing the government of Iran. It's Iranian and young people changing the government of Iran. But they didn't have a voice. And they didn't have hope. They didn't have someone to tell their story. And NITV is the voice of the Iranian people."

Atabay did not start NITV as a way of bringing down the mullahs. It was going to bring Persian culture and entertainment to Iranians living in this country. So he took family money and started broadcasting on a shoestring. But in a now famous goof, one day an engineer threw the wrong switch.

Atabay said, "Somebody by mistake connected our signal to the European and Middle East satellite and we find out they are seeing us, in Iran. And Iranian people thought there was a revolution."

NITV can now reach about one quarter of the Iranian population by satellite. After 9/11, when Atabay called on Iranians to show their support for America, thousands turned out for a candlelight vigil. And when street demonstrations broke out this year, the Iranian-American stations acted as a communications hub for the protestors.

Iran expert Michael Ledeen said, "They serve to triangulate communications between various cities in Iran. There's a lot of jamming of cell phones and they turn off cells within the city so you can't communicate with another city, but it's sometimes possible for them to go and call Los Angeles and then that gets put on the air and relayed all over Iran."

Iranians, frustrated at their government, have come to rely on Atabay.

"They call me father. They call me uncle. They cry on my show. They send me thousands and thousands of emails. They believe that I can help them. I tell them: 'The future is yours. This is your country. You have to choose what you want. Nobody can tell you. Not America, not me, not someone else. You are going to choose what you want,'" Atabay said.

And Atabay says what his Iranian viewers tell him they want is a secular government. They want equal rights for women and civil rights for all. He says they love George W. Bush and want good relations with America.

One of the most popular shows on NITV features comedian Ali Dean as "Mullah Hajji," sort of an Islamic Colonel Klink, something that would put them all in the klink if they were in Iran. In fact, NITV has become so watched inside Iran, that Atabay now lives under a death threat. Iran's hard-liners have sanctioned his murder, and although he is trying to move into better facilities, the money is running out.

So Atabay is making this plea to Washington: "Help. I need your help. I can make a lot of the changes, with no war, with no bullet, with no blood. I need your help," Atabay said.

But Atabay's plea has fallen largely upon largely deaf ears. Republican Sen. Sam Brownback has proposed legislation that would channel millions of dollars into stations like NITV, but leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee oppose the amendment, and few observers expect it to pass this year.

"I'm just one person, I don't have a lot of power, I don't have a lot of connection in Capitol or in Washington, D.C., but I did it, what I could do. But the problem is nobody helps. Nobody helps. It's very hard. We are behind and we keep going, we keep going, till, with the wish and hope that one day, somebody will help and we can make this voice stronger," said Atabay.

Ledeen says there is plenty of blame for all sides.

He said, "The real scandal here is not so much that the U.S. government is not supporting them, which it should, but that the Iranian community, which is an extremely wealthy community, is not supporting them at the level they deserve."

Ironically, the one group that did offer Atabay a lot of money was the Iranian government, if he would shut down. He refused.

"I didn't accept it. And I said the price of freedom is higher than what you're offering me," said Atabay.

So, Zia Atabay presses on. He figures, if he is not out of business in eight months, Iran's Islamic government just might be.

Are there going to be more protests for the rest of the week like we saw a few weeks ago? It seems like it must be harder to organize protests with school not being in session.