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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.

I hope this report is wrong. The US media is silent on the events in Iran...

ANALYSIS-Iranian protesters intimidated and leaderless

By Paul Hughes
10 Jul 2003 14:36:54 GMT
TEHRAN, July 10 (Reuters) - Intimidated, leaderless and few in number, Iran's pro-democracy protesters face an uncertain future with little to show for several nights of sporadic unrest against the country's Islamic clerical rulers.

Hundreds of people converged on the streets around Tehran University on Wednesday night in defiance of an official ban on gatherings for the anniversary of violent 1999 student unrest.

Apart from scuffles between police, youths and hardline Islamic vigilantes, the protest passed off with little incident. There was none of the chanting of virulent slogans against the clerical elite that could be heard during 10 nights of protests in Tehran and other cities last month.

"You couldn't even call it a protest really," said a foreign diplomat who went to see events for himself. "Most people were just sitting in their cars, too scared even to honk their horns. I hardly think the government is quaking in its boots."

Unlike in June's protests, which mushroomed unexpectedly out of a small student rally against privatisation and spread to more than half a dozen cities, authorities were well prepared for trouble on Wednesday.

Police, riot police and Islamic vigilantes fiercely loyal to conservative clerics were out in force.

"Intimidation is a key factor. Not many people are prepared to risk being beaten up or arrested," a European diplomat said.

SATELLITE CHANNELS BLOCKED

Communication is another weak point for the protesters. Mobile telephone networks across Tehran appeared to be blocked for much of Wednesday night.

Local and foreign media were instructed not to cover the demonstrations and the signals of U.S.-based Iranian exile satellite channels, which played a key role in promoting June's protests, were jammed.

Many expect the current wave of protests to enter a period of dormancy, although they could flare up again at short notice.

"The pent-up anger is still there, beneath the surface. But for it to seriously take off you need a catalyst, you need a cause, you need organisation and leadership. It's a big task," one European diplomat said.

Most analysts agree the protests reflect widespread frustration among Iranians, the vast majority of whom were born after the 1979 Islamic revolution. But an effective channel for that frustration remains elusive.

"People have a wide range of complaints. Some want more democracy, some want more social freedom and some just want jobs and lower prices," said political analyst Hossein Rassam.

"They need a common cause, a vehicle to express their anger," he said.

Just a few years ago millions of Iranians felt pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami would serve as the vehicle to deliver their hopes for a more prosperous, open and democratic society. Now, many have lost hope in Khatami's ability to overcome resistance to change from powerful hardline clerics.

PEOPLE LOOK TO STUDENTS

"Khatami has just prolonged the status quo," said one frustrated housewife. "I voted for him but now I wish I hadn't. Maybe without him things would have changed by now."

With political disillusionment on the rise, many Iranians look to university students to take the lead in the protests.

But students have paid a heavy price for playing that role in recent years.

Some 800 students were among the 4,000 people arrested during and after June's demonstrations. Dozens of others were seriously injured when hardline Islamic vigilantes burst into dormitories to attack students with chains, knives and clubs.

Plainclothes men arrested three student leaders on Wednesday just after they held a news conference to announce the cancellation of events to mark the 1999 student unrest.

"The student movement has effectively been emasculated," said one European diplomat. "Every time one of their leaders stands up and says something he's grabbed off the streets and isn't heard from for weeks."

Most students are too scared to talk openly to the foreign media for fear of arrest. A few still dare to speak out.

"Everyone in our country, be they a worker, teacher, businessman or whatever wants freedom, democracy and respect for human rights and in the future people will become more and more critical," Mehdi Habibi, a senior member of Iran's largest pro-reform student organisation, told Reuters on Thursday.

"Today's world is too small for dictators and dictatorships," he said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HUG023873.htm

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