bahmani

Male chauvinism, and emphasis on 'testicles' is exactly what IR

has been doing for the past 33 years, and some correctly argue what has kept them in power so far.

In other word such vile,  and offensive mentality and language  is not only blind to struggles and contributuons of half of Iran's population, it is also blind to daily struggles and sacrifices that people in Iran are experiencing and going through on a daily basis.

When here on IC we all read about "Prisoner of the Day," do these individuals go to jail, as a vacation? Or for a retreat? Or as a result of their courage and ethics? 

Clear actions, begins with clear thoughts, and clear thoughts starts with clear language and terminology, not a discourse and vocabulary exact the same as mullahs.

Shame on all male chauvinists in Iran and all over the world.

politely said we are a nation of "no balls".

I have said it many times here in iranian.com and other places that we all have lost our dignity and pride a long time ago. There are other nations with similar problems such as cubans in USA and they mange to organize themselves in radical groups and because they have " balls" they manage to get funds and arms from CIA and other government organisations and have shown in the past that they are a political factor to reckon with.  Meanwhile we have enough iranians abroad but we cannot push them or organize them as they have lost dignity.No wonder some scums such as mojahedin manage to lead with a bit of balls that others lack.

American Films and Rostam’s Faith. What is REALITY?

Mr. Bahmani, I believe that the foundation of your thinking is correct i.e. realistic. We can let the blind spot in our mind cast a shadow of the reality of Iran at this time, the result of 33 years of exposure to the most potent toxin in the Universe—the wish of allah as communicated by his self-appointed representatives on this earth has worked its magic. The realistic thinking requires knowing the Iranian social psychology. The significant role of religion, the Shia 12 Imam sect ideology of shahadat, the meaning of Adol-Laah, and fear of the consequences of making your allah short of perfectly happy.

More than half of the 75 million people are not urban dwellers, university students, and savvy users of twitters and face book and other technology. They are NOT going to rise up and become part of a “grass root movement” it is absurd to think like that. Any change that I, I believe you, and others sharing the same values expects REQUIRES the absolute and iron clad rule of separation of Islam/religion/Aakhoonds from any and all type of politics and governing at any level for all time. However I believe these tens of million would NOT go against the word of god and the holly book as they are told and easily accept a very alien (to them) completely secular government and accordingly society and its laws.   

The regime is the largest employer of the civilians, never mind the military, relative to the rest urban population regime has paid more attention to government workers particularly middle and upper managerial level. In addition to what you referred to as the “people in a well-fed welfare state” the same people are part of the gigantic looting of anything and everything that has value—the national resources. What is their real INCENTIVE to “strike” participate in a “sit-in” and the rest by this people that have key positions in factories, refineries, oil industry, etc.?

The probability of any segment of this vast killing machine- military by virtue of the fact of their special way that they are selected and “trained”,  to stand up against tyranny and oppression that they are the main element of it , is the same chance that an ice cube would not melt in hell! The older military men either are dead or forced retired. This violent younger jihadist in charge of all different aspects of this killing machine are as dedicated to Rahbar and ideology as Brown Jacket and SS were to the other Rahbar. Who is left then? Urbane and educated women, idealistic university students with various ideological mindset, and the people, mostly city living men now in their 60, and 70s who have discovered back in “those days” as the loose translation goes, what kind of shit they have eaten!

It is a gloomy picture, the idealistic university student; men and women, out of desperation for a breath of fresh air fell into the “ZABZ” trap. The most despicable elements of this phony so called movement are sitting in Paris, London, and US, the likes of Haji Karim Dabaagh, Paasdaar Ganji, Paadaar Sazgaraa, Paasdaar Makhmalbaaf, he call himself professor Kadivar, Aakhoond Saane-ey, and of course Ya Hosein-Mir Hosein is safe and sound somewhere out of sight. The young idealistic Iranian youth with a few stones in their hands “raised up” and again as you correctly pointed out “ when the brutal put down of the slightest objection is as efficient and fast as it is?” it proves that it does not work. They were killed, tortured, raped, and put into the solitary confinement, and IRR has become more vicious and violent since then, the sharp increase in arrests, imprisonment and hangings is good evidence.

The truth will not overcome the evil, evil has the power and resources but nevertheless It is a nice, sentimental, good thought and feeling, again as you said it is best portrayed in American movies! FREEDOM is not FREE or cheap. It requires the greatest personal and collective sacrifice. There will be heavy price and so called collateral damage that must be paid and our collective conscious must be ready and comfortable with paying such a high price. If so, then the rest will be much easier to discuss and reach a consensus. In our culture we have a tendency to believe that “The first war is better than the last peace”

History, and history of revolutions are THE MOST COMPLEX

things in the world. Even Lenin admitted to that, (See below).

"Efficiency" and "functionality" all being relative, fact of the matter remains that, IR has been able to survive for the past 33 years through a series of most severe crisis: some of them planned by itself (US Embassy Fiasco,..), some not ( Iraq-Iran War), and some in between (the continuation of that War,...).

So, you do have a point as far as resilience and adaptability of IR.

Besides American popular culture and Shahnameh we also have history of the world, and instance of General Strike in which not a single power in the world could overcome and survive it.

How to get to that stage of a General Strike, that level of a coherent, nation-wide, unified opposition, is the obstacle (which again as you correctly point out) has been missing for the past three decades.

You ask;" Will the people in a well-fed welfare state EVER consider alternative governance that might not feed it as well?" Everday facts of the life in Iran seem to point to a different direction:

- Elimination of state subsidies by AN's administration,

- Unprecedented levels of unemployment and inflation, 

- A new generation of activists (Labor, students, women,...)

All point out to factors we have not had in the past three decades.

Will all this amalgamation make a qualitative difference? We shall see. The first step (for us, outside of Iran) would be to establish organic connections with these movements and augment them.

P.S. Did you get a chance to read Mr. Ghaed's Blog?

-----------------------------------------

Lenin on;1) "Complexity of History", and 2) "The Laws of Revolutions":

1)"History as a whole, and the history of revolutions in particular, is always richer in content, more varied, more multiform, more lively and ingenious than is imagined by even the best parties, the most class-conscious vanguards of the most advanced classes. This can readily be understood, because even the finest of vanguards express the class-consciousness, will, passion and imagination of tens of thousands, whereas at moments of great upsurge and the exertion of all human capacities, revolutions are made by the class-consciousness, will, passion and imagination of tens of millions, spurred on by a most acute struggle of classes."

2) The fundamental law of revolution, which has been confirmed by all revolutions and especially by all three Russian revolutions in the twentieth century, is as follows: for a revolution to take place it is not enough for the exploited and oppressed masses to realise the impossibility of living in the old way, and demand changes; for a revolution to take place it is essential that the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way. It is only when the "lower classes" do not want to live in the old way and the "upper classes" cannot carry on in the old way that the revolution can triumph. This truth can be expressed in other words: revolution is impossible without a nation-wide crisis (affecting both the exploited and the exploiters). It follows that, for a revolution to take place, it is essential, first, that a majority of the workers (or at least a majority of the class-conscious, thinking, and politically active workers) should fully realise that revolution is necessary, and that they should be prepared to die for it; second, that the ruling classes should be going through a governmental crisis, which draws even the most backward masses into politics (symptomatic of any genuine revolution is a rapid, tenfold and even hundredfold increase in the size of the working and oppressed masses—hitherto apathetic—who are capable of waging the political struggle), weakens the government, and makes it possible for the revolutionaries to rapidly overthrow it.

I fear it is simpler than you suggest

HOW seems to come to mind more often these days.

How can the grass root struggles ever hope to succeed, when the brutal put down of the slightest objection is as efficient and fast as it is?

Is it not possible, that sometimes, hostile brutally oppressive regimes can be so well run, so finely tuned, that they can last forever?

American films and TV tells us, that eventually truth will win out over evil. But our Shahnameh says that you will only end up killing your own son.

Is our legacy really tied to Rostam's fate? Or is it tied to American film?

There is no doubt that what you say is true, it will take a relatively sudden mass-rise-up to overthrow this tyranny. But that has been the case now for 33 years. And for 33 years this tyranny has fed, bought off, bribed, and lied it's way forward.

Will the people in a well-fed welfare state EVER consider alternative governance that might not feed it as well?

These are things I ponder in the point of realism of 33 years I find myself in.

What else do you advise?

To read more bahmani posts visit: //bozkuhi.blogspot.com/

The answer is to defend the character of those that

brought you and supported peace, human rights, freedom and progress. To Value and Appreciate what they spent their lives creating and then to create of your own actions, not by attempting to destroy using lies.  Its when some iranians lie about the patriots of the past using non-iranian words like dictator, corrupt, excessive repression, savak tortures, megalomaniac etc, those Iranians who just support this with out critical thought are just acting on the cue of those who were and are the enemies of these qualities for Iran and today meet their aims by loving extremism for Iran. 

Obama with no discusion, on a whim, with out any consultation, just ordered the unlawful destruction of a foreign army, the murder of its head which the US State Department said had to go, yes the humanitarian charity project for Libya.  I pity Iran because of our so-called pro-democracy thinkers and supporters, who sit among each other with a straight face more similar to a Neanderthals than any dumb mullah and call the late shah a dictator. 

What you are each discovering, with your own peanuts, after 33 years, each year that passes by, only serves to Prove what the Shahs team knew about Iranians and their readiness to manage their own democracy without being dominated by anti-Iranian Interests and the need for a Single-Party Rastakhiz to move towards multi-party elected government.

None of us 'knows' the answer,

So in that sense, by declaring that you too, don't know the answer, the only reply could be: Join the club!

However as Agnostic as we chose to be, few things are for certain:

A) A defeatist attitude only helps IR. In other words we are not doomed.

B) There's no coherent nation-wide opposition.

C) There are extensive on-going grass roots struggles in Iran.

D) The balance of forces currently is in favour of IR.

E) The balance of power could quickely be changed and transformed into one against IR, it all dependes on (C) extensive on0going grass roots struggles in Iran, and how quickley they (we) are able to project these struggles into a nation-wide, coherent united action.

If and when you get a chance, do read Mr. Mohamad Ghaed, not only he's a great historian, and one of those rare actual participants that is still alive to tell his story, his writing and his prose, when re-eatablish your faith in Persian language!

Proof is in the Aash

I agree with your callout of my naive assumptions, and lack of "on the ground" badge of experience.

I'll counter argue that I don't need no stinkin' badges. The proof is the current state of affairs.

Nary an objection, our most effective responses to tyranny being the errant Arr Arr Arring that NIAC makes by mistake.

I guess the real problem I have, is that after 33 years, there is no viable well run "opposition". I am certainly unqualified to start or run one. But I am smart enough to join one.

Too bad there isn't one to join.

Maybe we are just doomed, maybe we are simply the last remaining gasps of the dying Persian Empire we still yearn for, and maybe we should start to learn to accept the death of our once greatness.

I don't know, I'm just asking.

To read more bahmani posts visit: //bozkuhi.blogspot.com/

1979 was a thoroughly Iranian affair & we had two Revolutions

as opposed to just one, which is often thought of.

One was the Revoilution of the Urbane professionals, classes against shah.

Second was the Revolution of Mullahs and Bazar and traditional classes against shah.

The secobd one won, and put an end to all Revolutions.

This is a historical argument put forward by the editor of Ayandegan, Mr. Mohamad Ghaed.

داستان آیندگان

دی 57 - مرداد 58

//mghaed.com/ay/Ayandegan.list.htm

As far your over-generalization of four to six million Iranians, with stroke of a pen, and subsuming all under one 'definite' category, suffice it to say that:

If you had spent any of your years abroad to assist Iranian Refugees, political prisoners in Iran, or workers trying to form their own independent organizations, in other words, if you actually had established any connections with all the struggles that occure in Iran on a daily basis, and had actually contributed something, anything, towards their life and death struggles, then perhaps not only you wouldn't have felt soooo cynical about your life outside of Iran, you actually might have seen why it's simply wrong to generalize about a few million people, with stroke of a pen. Cheers

Cancer: A FIX or a SOLUTION?

The deadly cancer is well diagnosed, although I believe there are still some very fundamental questions that the Iranian Nation must challenge and answer . Thousands of pages can be written about what it is, where did it come from, how is nurturing itself and growing with apparently no end to it. For more than 30 years those who thought they care highlighted and pointed to all the crime and atrocity and misbehavior of this nefarious regime and of course offered encouragement, pushed for standing up, political engagement, social participation, Ham-Bastegy,  and the rest, the evidence of this by people in the homeland or diaspora is boundless. NOT all people have been silent at all time! People not only by thousands in Iran, but by so many outside of Iran have LOST their lives for standing up, speaking out, and protesting. All for as you have mentioned to make the Wrong, RIGHT. The unfortunate reality is that right NOW we are just where we are and that is almost 35 years from then!    

You have presented an interesting picture of the nauseating reality of a segment of the Iranian society at home and abroad. The normative judgment is far away from the reality of what is, as is. The thought of “ BaaBaa Velesh Kon Mageh Bikaary” is entrenched in the psyche of the crowed that you are referring to; these are apparently people with resources and education if that means anything, what is expected from masses of millions of Omat? And how they can be encouraged and mobilized to what I agree with you needs to be done?

I have reached the conclusion long ago that the cancer tumor of this magnitude cannot be “cured” by rhetoric, hope and Doe-aa, lectures and speeches, expressing frustrations and anger on www. It may have some temporary effect, slowing down the frequency of hanging and Stoning of women, but it is a fix. The true solution to the problem makes it go away; a fix has to be repeated time and again. Yes, Eslaahaat and the sabz crowd are lurking somewhere to present the nation all they want in a silver platter!! Removal of the cancer tumor requires a radical surgery. It needs surgeons, nurses and assistance. There would be a risk of course, loss of blood, collateral damage. But buy the end a free and happier life in the absence of the deadly cancer perhaps makes it worthwhile! Sometimes the only good and workable solution is the one that you want to avoid by all cost.

I intend to shake, and I am not afraid of shaking everything that is already crumbling down, whatever the outcome. Nothing is more valuable in life than freedom of thought!

Amou, you got a few things right, but overall not so

You know how cruel, hope for change is when it is based on false hope, keeping a hope alive theat never has a possibility of realization?  You think, be bold, act, people power, unity etc are our problem at this point?????  Iran has a National Culture you know too little about, change with out understanding is pointless because it is impossible to create progresss with out it.  Saving Iran at this point is easier than it has been at anytime, if the people do not know how or what to do it is because they are being misled and decieved even more than in 1979, not less. If the USA would do just 2 things the end of the IRI would be a matter of a few phone calls not a mass political struggle.  The ball is not in the court of Iranians, its very true that it was neither a revolution or iranian.  The libyans are on the way to seeing and experiencing first hand the same thing for their western organized uprising.  That the USA loves the IRI is not a solveable problem for Iranians while the USA is the #1 world power.

Reflect on Irans 99% went from moving about tehran and the country on a donkey at the time of Reza Shah in the 30's, to having Free National Education, A Constantly improving standard of Living, the 9th largest economy in the world going to the 4th in a decade according to the world bank and one of the best equipt Militarys in the world ..... to having its people being used as patsys, played like instruments, by the west who wanted the shah removed because of his teams ambitions for Iranian Freedom and so would not go under the control of any outside power.  This speaks volumes of ingratitude and lack of thanks by the 99% for the team that made this possible and risked their lives to create these opportunities by kiling them, betraying them and instead aiming to steal Irans resources instead of build a healthy society focussed on peace, progress and human rights, which were the foundations of life with the Pahlavi's and in its place going after the mantra, whats in it for me and greed.  The reason Iranians did not celebrate the diamond jubilee of M.R. Pahlavi on september 2001 and instead saw the USA under attack is not because of god wanted differently or even the Iranian people wanted differently, its because of the Jihadi USA.  If you are awre of Irans circumstances instead of encouraging the victims... "the people of Iran".... to blame themselves, show them how easily they were used, how embarrassed they should be for aloowing it not causing it, but more so to stopm blaming themselves for fulfilling the wishes of other criminals the USA/UK/France, when they were under the illusion these were a great people, a good people Iranians should wish to emulate when they were not at all and the west has more to learn from Iran and what its society will built in the future, unlike them with the creation of the most hypocritical and unlawful empire in history, with the largest military based empire in the history of mankind, for the USA today taking in almost 1 trillion dollars total in personal income tax from Americans, yet spending more than that sum or the military and secret services etc, therefore being forced to take money from the 2.5 trillion total taxes received from all other forms of taxes. 

you need to cheer up and start believeing in yourself and......

your people.

Think about it this way: "we" (be it in diaspora or back home), are the products of our environment. But at the same time, "we" have the intelligence, talent and energy as human beings to change our environments and ourselves...

Than you need to go and start learning  why 1979 revolution, which despite your assertions, was indeed one of the most popular revolutions of the 20th centry (regardless of what we think of it's ultimmate outcome....) happened in the first place.......,  

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

Yep

You nailed it

;0))))

It's incredible I've been thinking exactly the same thing all day today ... My mom asked why I was so angry today and I didn't know what to say but you summed it up.

"The point of this semi-tasty sermon you say? Sometimes there isn't one. Sometimes I just think of shit, and then feel the urge to say it."

Don't know if we are Great Minds but we have surely met !

;0))