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|  Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tanith_astlik for pointing me to this: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-08/an-iranian-icon-on-todays-protests/The link goes to an interview with Ahmad Batebi about his role in the 1999 protests and the protests still ongoing in Iran. Here's the beginning of the story: [Yesterday was] the 10th anniversary of the day Iranians refer to simply as 18 Tir. On that day in 1999, a group of students who had holed up in Tehran University for six days to protest the government’s closure of a major reformist newspaper, Salaam, were savagely attacked by paramilitary forces under orders from the Revolutionary Guard. The protests were the biggest of their kind since the fall of the shah two decades earlier—though they have been dwarfed by this past month’s protests, which have swept through the whole of the country. The university students had been emboldened by then-President Mohammad Khatami’s reform agenda to demand greater rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and a free press. However, the regime, frightened by the spectacle, saw the student movement as a threat to the stability of the state. In what has now become a familiar sight, the government unleashed the full force of its security apparatus on the students Early on the morning of 18 Tir—the date according to the Iranian calendar—while most of the students were asleep, Basij forces raided the dorms of Tehran University, indiscriminately beating and arresting people. In the melee, a bullet whizzed by the ear of Ahmad Batebi, a young university student, and lodged itself in the chest of his friend. Batebi took his friend’s shirt off and used it to put pressure on the wound, but to no avail. He then ran to the front of the protests and held the shirt aloft for all to see, a witness to the massacre that had just taken place. A photographer in the crowd snapped his picture. The next day, the image was splashed across the cover of The Economist and instantly became a symbol of the uprising: It was the lonely Chinese man standing before a phalanx of tanks at Tiananmen Square, or, more perhaps more fittingly, it was Neda Agha-Soltan slowly bleeding to death on the streets of Tehran, blood pouring from her mouth and nose. The day after Batebi’s picture appeared, the police arrested him. He spent the next 10 years in prison, most of it in solitary confinement, in a cell the size of a bathtub. He was repeatedly tortured and forced to undergo a mock execution. The government wanted him to sign a statement saying the blood on the shirt was not blood at all—it was tomato sauce. Batebi refused. | |
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| 35,000 people protested in Iran yesterday, marking the tenth anniversary of the brutal crackdowns at the universities in 1999, despite warnings from the government that they would be facing arrest and death. These people are not backing down. This is not over. http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/10643-green-brief-23-july-09-a.html21. In Tehran, the Telephone Directory Service was out, SMS was cut off again, cell phones weren’t working in several parts of the city and even land-lines were also cut off in some parts. Most Iranian televisions ignored protests almost completely. Some later showed limited footage. Press TV again claimed that the UK was unquestionably behind the unrest in Iran. Where is the American mainstream media in all of this? Why are they still covering the death of a has-been musician and pedophile? Aren't they supposed to be covering the news? CNN is a worldwide news source, and they could be a major voice for change and an end to repression. They have repeatedly over the past month failed their mandate. Maintaining silence in the face of brutality, repression, and censorship validates those tactics. All over the world, CNN is considered the voice of America. In the face of their indifference and their decision to suddenly become just another entertainment "news" source, they have failed us all and silenced our voice. If we as a nation keep silent, if we ignore what is happening in Iran, we are in effect supporting their brutal regime and aiding them in their attempts to cut their people off from the rest of the world. Every day I and many, many others are working hard to help the Iranian people be heard. Won't you please join us in speaking out against brutality and censorship? Email the news sources of your choice, let them know you want them to cover the REAL news. Speak up, in any way you can, in any venue you can, to anyone who will listen. Let the world know that repression and brutality no longer have a place in this world. Every voice matters...let yours be heard. | |
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| So many of you, my friends, my true family, are going through hard times. Some of you feel alone. Some want to give up.
I wish there was something, anything, I could say or do to make everything all right.
All I can do is share with you a song that has given me comfort so many times.
This is Danny Elfman back in the Oingo Boingo days, and I'll tell ya...that boy can sing me a lullabye any old time he likes. *Sigh* There aren't nearly enough gorgeous red-headed geniuses around...
Anyway, my dears, please remember...you're not alone, you are loved, and the world would be a far darker place without your light.
Everyone says sooner or later you'll reach the end of the line
When things get rough some think it's easy to jump the ship . . .
You decide
I say--don't throw it away
There's about a million reasons why
Though you've heard them all before
And you're getting very tired
Lay your head on my lap and I'll sing you this lullaby
CHORUS
Don't you know
That everyone around you
Has felt the pain you feel today
You're out of control yeah--and you want someone to tell you
When you wake up in the morning it'll only be a dream
You're out of control . . .
There's a cloud-rollin' overhead and it seems to rain on no one else
There's a black sun--casting a black shadow,
and I know you feel so all alone
You're out of control--and you want the world to love you
Or maybe you just want a chance to let them know
That you live and breathe and suffer
And your back is in the corner and you've got nowhere to go
Nothin' for nothin'--everything's right at your fingertips--for a price
Who ever said that life on this planet would ever be paradise
I say--don't throw it away, you've got too many things to say
If you throw your life, if you throw away your life . . .
THe world will never be the same
CHORUS
You're out of control--and you move without direction
And people look right through your soul
You're out of control--and you want someone to tell you
When you wake up in the morning it'll only be a dream
And I wish that I could tell you, it'll only be a dream | |
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| Here's the latest of the 'Nite Owl' briefs from Iran: http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/8136-green-brief-18-19-a.htmlSome interesting excerpts: 3. Heavy sand storms have hit Tehran and according to sources within the city, the entire city is affected by low visibility. Confirmed reports indicate that protesters are quietly going through the city and writing anti-government slogans on city walls, using the storm to their advantage. 7. Reliable sources have indicated that Mir Hossein Mousavi will be creating a new party in order to further their goals of nullifying the election. Among the many instances of fraud in the election that have been claimed by Mousavi is the alleged printing of 20 million extra votes by the government in order to fill boxes with votes for Ahmadinejad. 14. Hamid Maddah, a core member of Mousavi’s campaign in Mashhad, died in custody on Saturday. He had been arrested in Gowharshad Mosque along with many other Mousavi supporters. According to sources, he had been tortured badly and wasn’t able to recover. The official death certificate registers the cause of death as internal bleeding in the skull. 15. There are reports surfacing of the wide-spread use of torture and intimidation in Evin prison. Protesters are regularly beaten, sources claim, and there have been instances of male protesters being raped. Unconfirmed reports also indicate of several protesters being hanged at Evin and in Mashhad, but they cannot be confirmed at this point. | |
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| Here's a very interesting article explaining why the current Iranian regime is doomed, and why a completely revamped government is inevitable. http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090630/wl_time/08599190791800"Indeed, the actions of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei have imperiled two of the system's key sources of legitimacy - the principle of clerical guidance and the popular mandate achieved through democratic participation. In the 30 years since the Islamic revolution, the position of Supreme Leader has been kept largely above the regime's factional power struggles. And despite the clergy's tightly limiting the field of acceptable candidates, Iran's elections have seen wide popular participation. But the June 12 election fraud, in the eyes of millions of Iranians, has exposed Khamenei as a partisan factional player in what is widely viewed as a maneuver to consolidate the power of the ruling clique regardless of the verdict of the electorate. " And the widening divide between Iranian clerics. Who is taking sides, and why, and what this means for the Islamic regime. http://tehranbureau.com/widening-divide/ | |
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| Holy Shit! This is BIG NEWS, my friends.
Many of you have stated that you are not interested in Iran, since the result will be just more of the same. Here's a little something to illustrate that it's not.
Ayatollah Amoli today called for a separation of Mosque and State, declaring that there is a problem when a single person can enact, execute and judge the laws, an oblique reference to Khamenei and the position of Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Rafsanjani publicly broke ranks with Khamenei for the first time, declaring that the complaints of the protesters should be examined thoroughly and fairly. Former President Rafsanjani publicly backed Mousavi's campaign, and has been very critical of Ahmadinejad, notably for his belligerent attitude toward the West. | |
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| Despite what CNN says, in the five minutes it gives to Iran in between MJ tributes, the situation in Iran is not over. The protesters have not given up. The gov't has not come to their senses. Brutality remains the order of the day. Here's an excerpt of a long post from someone whose info has been easily confirmed from other sources. Accurate stuff. 4. Later, intense clashes broke out between the security forces and protesters. Several shots were heard from the vicinity of the mosque. Fires were started in the area and smoke could be seen coming out of some streets from afar. Police violently beat some protesters in order to disperse them. Although the protesters had received a permit by the government, they were still attacked by the police under the pretense that people were only allowed to be inside the mosque. Protesters were beaten, tear gas was used and many protesters were hauled away and arrested by the security forces. Some of the high-profile arrests today included Reza Ataraan - a movie star and filmmaker -, Shokoofeh Azar, reporter for Sarmaye Emrooz, and Kambiz Norouzi, legal secretary of journalists' union. The actual number of protesters arrested today could not be confirmed, but several dozens people were likely arrested, reliable sources indicated. There were also reports of protests in other parts of the city and clashes as well, yet they could only be partially confirmed. Here's the whole article. It's well worth reading. http://iran.whyweprotest.net/news-current-events/3792-green-brief-12-june-28-a.html | |
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| This video is the perfect example of why we need to support the protesters in every way possible. A group of riot police have been cornered by an angry mob of protesters. Other protesters step in front to protect the police, saying "We are all Iranians." That sort of decency and courage deserves our support, our compassion, and our attention. Here's another example from a different day. This, my friends, is what it means to be human.  | |
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