Esfand Aashena
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Reformists - past, present and future
21-Jan-2011
When you say Reformists the first person that comes to mind is President Khatami. However, the reform movement is nothing new. In our history I’d go back to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905. Today even in democratic and secular countries we often hear calls of reforms and reformers and platforms of “Change”.
Reformers have been a big part of the Iranian politics since the 1979 revolution and true to its name – revolution – it made a full stop and reset of whatever reform was in the works. Mossadegh was a reformer and his “followers” be it Bakhtiar or later Bazargan, Ghotbzadeh and others who didn’t want absolute rule of Mullahs in and outside the Government tried all they could to stop that trend. Many lost their lives in the process and became the first ones to “confess” and be executed for being “spies”. As we all know by now spies are everywhere in Iran and we have cornered the world market on the spy business!
People don’t want to live under dictatorships and they try to make changes however they can with whatever is available to them. What is important is to keep the flame of freedom and justice alive so we know what our priorities are and who listens and values these just demands that have eluded us for so long.
Just because the common argument is that Islamic Republic can’t be reformed doesn’t mean those who are in the Government and want a better future for their country shouldn’t do anything, lay low or just get out. How many people work for or inside the Government? Are they ALL rotten crooks and criminals?
These days in the diaspora circles it is fashionable to ridicule the reformers such as Khatami, Mousavi, Karoubi and others. Inside Iran as you get older people know about everything and they ridicule just about anyone because they don’t think anything is going to change. However, if you look at young people and how they get inspired and how they move their leaders and push them to their limits it is unreasonable to think ALL those who have served in the Islamic Republic have a hand in the rampant torture and murders. Often those who were murdered were part of the reform movement.
If you want to know how a generation is moved and how a politician can move them and make changes see the documentary Our Times (2002) which is made by the world renowned film maker Rakhshān Bani E'temād who by the way graduated from Melli University during Shah and I think was also a class-mate of Mousavi, although younger than him. The documentary is about Khatami’s campaign for his re-election, thus Our Times (Ruz-egar-e ma).
This documentary shows in great detail how a movement starts. Who leads it (the young), who tries to ridicule, who tries to sabotage and who stands up and defend. It is really interesting to see people get on camera and say derogatory things about how things are done. One person says he is not voting and states his reason as; why should we vote so they can claim 20 million votes?
Basically everyone said what they wanted to say on camera. Can people say these things now? Or were those words not even worthy or appearing on camera making grand criticisms a hoax? I often hear and read people’s response after they see a film or a news article asks how can people say these things and don’t understand how can regime allow it? Well, they are courageous people with self-confidence who unlike you and me don’t just say these things in private. They say it out loud and know how and when to say it.
The film itself actually covers 2 or 3 areas. First area is the re-election and the young people who go out and campaign and get into arguments and thugs attacks and the camera follows them. Second part is when they go to interview the women who applied as candidates but were disqualified for being a woman. In these interviews you see a lot of demands and drama about women’s rights. Third part is about a young single mother (26 or 27 at the time, I think) who has to work and pay for her 8 or 9 year old daughter and her blind mother. She applied as a Presidential candidate and that’s how Bani-E'temad found her and then the story and documentary takes on a life of its own. She had such a hard time finding an apartment because they wouldn’t rent to single or divorced women “without a man” and she didn’t have enough money for rent, had two jobs to make ends meet and so on. Very interesting real life drama.
So beating everyone with the same stick while the differences are evident is being unfair to our own history and those who fight for justice. Many of us wouldn’t say a fraction of the things people said on camera during Khatami, yet many did. They had the courage and Khatami provided that atmosphere. He didn’t get most of the things people wanted but he accomplished enough where movies thrived, artists flourished and restrictions on hijab and women were eased. As small as these achievements may seem they were things the young generation wanted.
Now today we see Mousavi, Karoubi and Khatami virtually under house arrests. I don’t know who is going to be the next person to take the reform flag and move it forward but it would be unfair to him/her if we ridicule him/her from the beginning. Of course we can do whatever we want but those who matter have shown throughout history to have taken another path. The reformists are always out there with or without our support.
I think the next milestone is the 2013 presidential election and believe this would be the first real test of boycotting an election in Iran and a milestone in the democratic/green movement. Will the regime make it mandatory for everyone to vote or use other intimidation tactics or will the people decide to sit this out? What would be the outcome and what would be regime’s explanation for such a large drop in the voter turnout?
Photo caption: Baran Kosari Iranian actress with her mother Rakhshān Bani E'temād’ and Abbas Kiarostami (no relations).
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nice blog
by Niloufar Parsi on Sat Jan 29, 2011 04:39 AM PSTesfand,
very nicely written blog. i had a cursory look at the discussion (i don't read them in detail any more as many arguments on iC are too repetitive), but based on this let me give my '2 cents':
any minor consideration or discussion of political realities inside iran is deemed a sin among a very vocal and oppressive minority here. you must be the 'enemy' of such people if you so much as suggest that iranians inside iran have an existing political culture that merits discussion on its own terms. funny thing is, while these people do nothing other than play poodle for israeli and american agendas, they will attack your person with all kinds of twisted accusations. i won't even list them, but you can already see how they address you.
on the question of ahmadinejad and the next elections, i beg to differ.
first, iran's economic performance since he came to power in 2005 has been far stronger than you depict. even in the context of an increasingly difficult set of sanctions coupled with the global economic crisis iran has continued to show positive growth. not only that, ahmadinejad has been pushing through subsidy-reducing reforms that have strong inflationary effects. nevertheless, iran remains stable while tunisia, egypt etc have erupted due in large part to poor economic management (more than anything else, in my view). btw, the situation in several european countries in tenuous, and no one can be sure that america is out of the doldrums yet either. the risk of rising extremism and instability in the west is small but real.
on the next elections, well i understand where you are coming from. i came to the same exact conclusion as yours after the 2009 elections. but i suspect the focus on a 'boycott' at this early stage is more a wish than reality. you know three years is a Very long time in politics, so let's keep our minds open to the possibility of other scenarios. the internal rift within the conservative camp and the fate of the so-called 'reformers' is certainly interesting to watch in the meantime.
i say 'so-called' because i agree with AO in that ahamdinejad is certainly a type of reformer in his own right.
AO,
glad to see you learned something from the likes of no fear. hope you thanked them for their hard efforts.... ;)
Reformists or traitors?
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Fri Jan 28, 2011 08:21 PM PSTWho are these reformists who under the pretext of reform destroy and kill and steal from us Iranians? Moussavi, Karoubi, Khatami, Milani, Dabashi, Bani Sadre, Shirin Ebadi et all... All of them are staunch supporters of Mr. Khomeini's radical Islamic revolution and dissemminated BLOOD LIBEL against Pahlavi Monarchy and Iranian people in 1979 to bring in radical Islamic terrorism into Iran and convert Iran into a neocolonial turf for the British .
These islamic luminary reformes are the traitors. How do you cure the cancer they have given us? We need to cut out the cancer of Islamic Fundamentalism in Iran. We need to root it out like pigs root out truffles. Every where we go, we need to root out these mullahs and their mullahzadeh's who spread poision and BLOOD LIBEL about our ancient land. These "reformers" consist of communists, pedophiles, Islamic luminaries, thieves, murderers, etc. The only solution is complete eradication of the islamic republic and its British Islamic goons and replacement with a constiutional democratic parliamentary monarchy -- return to our real roots as Iranians. No muslim is Iranian. No Iranian is muslim.
When will we wake up to see that these reformists function to keep the system and to continue pouring petrodollars into Britain to fund the Queen of England's luxurious lifestyle, the welfare state of Britian -which has made British socialism a success. How is it that the British live in such lavish luxury, have such high level education? so many schools and unviersities? healthcare, jobs, peace, freedom to travel anywhere? peacefully sitting in their homes churning out Harry Potter stories? they have deployed their network of spies in Iran, and the world? How do you think they fund all this activity? With Iran's oil -yes, you guessed it. its blood money.
These Britishers confound our politics and undermine our monarchy, our democracy and security so that they can sleep securely at night and feed their own bellies. Here are these traitors working for these racist anglo saxons who watch coldly as our brothers and sisters get bottle raped, beaten, killed, hanged, bludgeoned to death every four hours. Where is the Queen of England's outcry against Islamic Republic in these 32 years? Why is this woman quiet? Is it because these radical muslims are her loyal servants? Can any of these reformers denounce the Queen of England? Do you know what would happen if a britisher or anyone were to curse the Queen of England? He would be arrested and hanged. It is considered treason. yet, these Britishers continually denounce our Pahlavi King and Queen in their papers like Guardian, as do their mercenaries like Mr. Kinzer, a Jewish American, Mr. Milani, son of millionaire mullahs, cocooned at Stanford, and Mr. Dabashi, son of millionaire mullahs and spokesperson for CNN who continues to spread Blood Libel about our Royal Family.
Does any Iranian condemn the Queen of England for living in a palace with 500 rooms stuffed with $50 billion in looted goods from all over the world? Why not? The British meddle in our affairs, why don't we meddle in theirs and bring down their blood drenched monarchy? Yet, these pseudoscholars continue to point a finger at the Pahlavi digs in Tehran - modest home with so few rooms that the children had to move out of their room to accommodate guests. Has Mr. Kazemzadeh and Mr. Kinzer seen the digs of Queen of England and other European royalty? Is he writing treatises on their atrocities? the Queen of England's private Bank? her $500 BILLION hidden away in her private bank? her vast property holdings - 2 billion acres of land-- all over the world? the House of Windsor's human rights violations? the blood drenched houses of these European royalty and artistocracy?
Why don't we, Iranians, denounce these mercenaries? What about the billion dollar bank accounts of these British mullahs in Iran? Stealin from Iranians and hiding it in banks in England, Switzerland, and Mexico? Yes, mexico is their safe haven into USA.
When the Pahlavi family came to United States, these people were denouncing them, harrassing them,... has anyone harrassed these pseudoscholars? stormed their homes like they did to the Pahlavi family? or forced them to commit suicide? Why don't these islamic luminaries write biographies about those they really know well - their own grandfathers, jail mates (Rafjanjani, Moussavi, etc) who are leaders of the British Islamic Republic?
Dear Esfand,
by Bijan A M on Fri Jan 28, 2011 03:13 PM PSTAfter being away for a long time, I came across your well written blog which is one of the most discussed.
Before anything else I should confess that I religiously believe that a theocratic government can NEVER be reformed into a secular democratic one. It is impossible (from historical perspective). Without getting into the dynamics of what’s happening in Iran now, a question has always bugged me to ask from supporters of the reform .
You are probably too young, but, I’m wondering if those who support reform would have stood for reforming the Monarchy of the Shah?. Millions who poured into the streets in 1979 clearly said the system is not reform-able.
I therefore submit to you that our only way out of this mess (Islamic rule) is another revolution (with or without outside support). There is no reforming of this rule with or without velayat-e-vaghih.
The greatest question is: How do we unite millions who are truly for a secular government to pour into the streets (like 1979) demanding death of religion based tyranny. The course the IRI is at now is leading the nation into a devastating war. Can we organize hastily enough to avoid catasrophy? I doubt it. (sorry for my pessimism).
Thanks for your thought provoking blog.
hamsade ghadimi ,
by Delavar1 on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:58 AM PSTYou are absolutely right. Howvever for some reason I could not delete my recent comment (it didn't give me the option). I will start on your suggested blog.
Thanks.
BTW we will not see any more Jian's in Iran :-(
by Esfand Aashena on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:41 AM PSTEffective Farvardin (March 21st) all cars before 1360 (1982) won't get permission to drive :-(
This is the news today and the link may not work later.
Everything is sacred
Delavar peace b w/ u2. I've a Jian dealership! More Jians2 come!
by Esfand Aashena on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:35 AM PSTEverything is sacred
...
by hamsade ghadimi on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:34 AM PSTfunny one esfand.
delavar, i agree with everything you said but the comment doesn't belong on this thread. though, it makes perfect sense on this recent blog: //iranian.com/main/blog/fred-228
Esfand
by Delavar1 on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:29 AM PSTPeace be with you. btw, I love that Jian Car of yours.I have got so much memmories of the past with "Jian". I also remember cars such as Arya, Shahin and Hilman
Delavar there are so much "ism" and "ists" in your comment!
by Esfand Aashena on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:23 AM PSTIf one did not better it'd seem you are an oppressed victim of WWII who just got out of POW camps and the only thing you could cough was the rattles in your comment! Take it easy the world will not come to an end if you don't write a "comment"! What's the matter you got tired of that other blog and now taking your chance here?!
Everything is sacred
To all supprters of Republic of Islam
by Delavar1 on Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:17 AM PSTFabrication instantly becomes fact and the more far fetched, the better! That was the strategy Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda director, used in his war against the Jews of Europe and it worked. The Jihadists may not be very original but they certainly have figured out how to seize upon a good idea and run with it. to your surprise many of us true Iranians are not against The Jews or Zionists , the Communists, The Bahaies, The Hindis, the Buddists or anybody else.
Calling an athietst like me with muslim parents a"Zionist" is another Jihadi "Turn_speak" whereby the aggressor becomes the "victim" and the true victim becomes the "aggressor!" The term was first used by journalists to describe German Nazi propaganda after it invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939. Because the truth is the exact opposite of the information being disseminated, it is psychologically difficult to counter and leads to confusion. The Jihadits accusing me to be a "Zionist" another one of their techniques. This method has been used in Iran by the republic of Islam to accuse and execute the poor Iranians. They have accused theBahais to be "Zionitsts". They have even accused some of the MKO members to be "Zionists". Btw, I don't mind being called a "Zionist". King Cyrus the great is said to be the first Zionist according to the definition of Zionism. Some of my best friends are Jewish and Zionists. Interestingly they are all socialists and very Liberal. I have nothing against Jews or the Zionists.
Esfand! Great job flagging my comment!
by Pahlevan on Wed Jan 26, 2011 05:49 PM PSTGreat job flagging my comment! signs of things to come if your Khat-e Emami ilk take over the country. Critics should shut up or be mass executed 1988 style! thank god Iranians have seen through the nasty nature of the so-called "reformist" ilk and they will not let Khatami-Rafsanjani mafia be in a position of power again.
Pahlevan as I said you're entitled to your opinion.
by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:46 PM PSTEverything is sacred
If by "Dime a Dozen" you mean numerous then I am happy
by Pahlevan on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:44 PM PSTIt's a happy occasion when true believers in democracy are so numerous that they are referred to as "dime a doze" by Islamists. Fortunately your bunch are a dwindling kind! A small group of liars and Arbadeh-keshs.
Pahlevan your the 2nd one 2 get the "secret" out = Dime a dozen!
by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:28 PM PSTEverything is sacred
Esfand, Congratulations for coming out of the closet!
by Pahlevan on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:25 PM PSTIt seems like I might have been wrong in my initial judgment of you! you are the lying Islamist type rather than the innocent naive and ignorant type ... Good for you!
Yes you "taught" me that critics of Reformers are dime a dozen!
by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:14 PM PSTEverything is sacred
the most successful
by hamsade ghadimi on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:12 PM PSTthe most successful reformers in history of islamic republic have been khamenei and rafsanjani. together with help of haj ahmad khan, they were able to reform the eligibility criteria of supreme leader. once the marjaiat condition was eliminated and khamenei got an honorary ayatollahship from khomeini, they bumped off montazeri and other eligible candidates like shariatmadari who were marja'. now, that's what i call reform in the context of politics of islamic republic. let's face it esfand jan: mousavi, khomeini's golden boy, will be true to his idol and velayat faghih even if they hang the millions who voted against enghadinejad (current reformer). :)
I hope I was able to teach you something
by Pahlevan on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:09 PM PSTPersonally I am always open to different point of views and have changed and tweaked my position several times as a result of logical arguments by others. However your blog was backed by a lot of emotion and hot air rather than logic and solid facts.
I hope at least I was able to teach you something so that you can get your facts right next time!
Pahlevan you're entitled 2 ur opinion. I'm not here2 convince u.
by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 26, 2011 02:00 PM PSTEverything is sacred
I see! you are now using the Islamist tactic of false accusation
by Pahlevan on Wed Jan 26, 2011 01:58 PM PSTI see! you have resorted to using Islamist tactic of lying and false accusation instead of logical discourse! is that because you are unable to logically respond to my points (the fact that Mousavi is a mass murderer or the fact that his ilk are die-hard Islamists rather that "democracy activists") ? ... I never said that "Green movement is fringe like MKO"!!! I did indeed say that the Mousavi cult, AKA sabzollah, is very much so a fringe movement similar to Rajavi cult. People who chanted "Esteghlal Azadi Jomhoori-e Irani", "Marg bar asl-e velayat-e faghih", "marg bar jomhoori-e eslami" or "na ghazeh na lobnan janam faday-e iran" are not with the likes of Mousavi and Khatami but against them.
Participation of millions in choosing between kasif and kasif-tar in the hope that their miserable lives will get a little better or in order to create a rift between Islamist rivals does not give legitimacy to kasif OR kasif-tar. On the contrary, the fact that someone was able to pass through the Islamofascist filter of the Guardian Council, means that they are far from any democratic movement let alone being the leader of one!!!
As for Mousavi's website, it's really irrelevant. Khomeini and other Khat emamis also pretended to be "concerned" about political prisoners during Pahlavis, but they executed most of the same prisoners after they came into power. This is all about power struggle, and Khatami/Rafsanjani mafia's desperate attempt to undermine Khamenei's mafia and get back to power! furthermore websites like Kaleme and Jaras rarely talk about gheir-e-khodi prisoners or executions of gheir-e-khodis (like Kurds, Balouchs, Mojaheds, etc) while they overtly focus on a handful of reformist prisoners! What is important though is not how much they or Mojaheds or other opposition groups talk about political prisoners! what is important is their social and political views and ideology!
Lastly, I along with most young Iranians are not "waiting" for anyone. You might be looking for a khomeini-like leader whose face can be seen on the moon!!! but the era of movements who blindly follow a leader is over! In 1989-1990 Eastern Europeans overthrew their communist governments and established democratic ones without following a leader. Recently, Tunisians overthrew their government without a leader; Egyptians are trying to do the same thing. However, if you are looking for a leader to follow, certainly following an Islamofascist mass murderer is not the way to go!!!
P.S. I don't know about you but most people do not post videos of themselves on Iranian.com. Ostaad Moshiri is both older and wiser than me and he is not talking about Mousavi but rather Khatami! I suggest you watch his video once again ... you might actually learn something!
Keen observation; Green movement is fringe like MKO!
by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:15 PM PSTI see that you have your own blog about Mousavi, not sure if you're the one in the clip (Moushiri?) but more or less you're saying the same thing.
There is no sense having a tit for tat on this subject. There are many who had hoped for a better future for Islamic Republic than what it turned out to be. You can't force people how to think. No one forced people to come in the millions and vote for Mousavi. Sure Mousavi has many who laugh at him, you're one of them and like you I go to Iran too and was there right during the elections and saw many who laughed at Khatami and Mousavi. It's nothing new.
No one owes you anything. Look at Mousavi's website and Ettelat's website. To you there is no difference. One talks about political prisoners and their families. The other one talks about rioters and hanging them.
You're waiting for someone "clean" to come along so everyone can "easily" follow him and get to power as soon as possible!
Everything is sacred
Esfand, yes people are not snapshots but some never change
by Pahlevan on Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:08 PM PSTNo! I am not "trying" to define anyone as "snapshots". Being a reformer or a revolutionary per se, doesn't make anyone good or evil! what matters is a person's goals, ideals and ideas; now to implement one's ideas and achieve one's goals, depending on the circumstances, one might choose different methods! Bakhtiar's ideas didn't really change that much after the revolution; he wanted democracy and pluralism both before and after the revolution, but due to the change in circumstances he decided to adapt a different method to achieve his goals!
Mousavi and the rest of the Khat Emami's however are still pursuing their Islamofascist ideology to this date! and that's why they are being ridiculed by so many. Mousavi says he wants to return the country to "doraan-e talaaii-e emaam!!!!" which, frankly, was hundreds of times worse than "doraan-e tareek-e khamenei" and I for one will do anything in my power to prevent going back to that era! he says things like "Jomhoori-e eslami na yek kalameh bishtar na yek kalameh kamtar" and constantly talks about his precious "emaam-e raahel" who is arguably the biggest criminal and mass murderer in Iran's modern history! Islamists like khatami are even worse (as bad as Khamenei), he claims that secularism is a form of fascism ... talk about being an illiterate fascist!
By the way I am not talking from a diaspora or Iranian.com point of view, I have been living outside of Iran for only six years and go back to Iran every year and live there for at least 2-3 months. And I agree with you fringe groups cannot lead a movement, be it the Rajavi cult or the newly formed Mousavi cult (sabzollah) who despite being a small minority are very loud and Arbadeh-kesh ... and frankly very obnoxious!
Pahlevan people are not snapshots.
by Esfand Aashena on Wed Jan 26, 2011 05:17 AM PSTYou're trying to define people as snapshots. If Bakhtiar was a Reformer during Pahlavi and then became Revolutionary what does it make him, Revolutionary or Reformer? Ghotbzadeh voted for Islamic Republic before he voted against it?! That's not what he said.
You're trying to see the events and how Iranians think from a narrow view of how people in i.com or diaspora thinks or how Iranians should think. Mousavi has his supporters and I believe as long as he is standing by his claims and not giving in he'll have followers.
He may not even want to be in this position but he is in it. People shouldn't let him soften his positions. I've also talked about this but to many it doesn't matter and that's fine with me.
Life is much more complicated than having it boxed. Many of the Political Prisoners are Reformers. Things don't happen overnight and fringe groups hardly ever lead a movement but they sure are LOUD!
Everything is sacred
This blog is filled with fallacies and lies!
by Pahlevan on Tue Jan 25, 2011 09:12 PM PSTYou are either an extremely ignorant and jaahel person who doesn't know what he is talking about, or you are intentionally lying to try and manipulate readers! I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are truely ignorant of Iranian history and will attempt to educate you.
Firstly, all great Iranian heroes like Mossadegh and Bakhtiar were reformers within the Pahlavi system. Jebhe Mell, as a secular political party viewed the Pahlavi regime as reformable and was a reformist party within the Pahlavi system. But the same party, led by Dr. Bakhtiar became a revolutionary organization after the establishment of Khomeini's Islamofascist regime and advocated overthrowing of IRI and still does to this date. Because those great Iranian visionaries saw IRI for what it truly is: an unreformable totalitarian regime based on velaayat-e faghih ideology, a form of Shitte fascism.
Secondly, the overwhelming majority of people murdered and executed by Iran's Islamofascist regime were bar-andaaz (revolutionaries). Frankly I have never heard of a reformist being murdered or executed under IRI!! even ghotbzadeh was a revolutionary and plotting the overthrow of the regime! So saying "often those who were murdered were part of the reform movement" is an absolute lie and utter nonsense!
Thirdly, claiming that "young people" view the likes of Mousavi & Khatami as their "leaders" is again another baseless claim. According to my own personal observation whilst participating in the post-election unrest, young people and iranians in general viewed the election as a choosing between Kasif and Kasiftar. As someone once said to me in Iran: "mikhaaym in jomhoori eslamichi-ha ro beh jooneh ham bendaazim" and they in fact succeeded in creating a rift between two Islamist factions and weakened the regime!
Fourthly, claiming that Mousavi and the rest of reformist khat emami's aren't responsible for the 1980s genocide against political activists is like saying that Himmler (High ranking Nazi official) is innocent and cannot be blamed for the Holocaust! Of course not ALL people who have served IRI have blood on their hands and many of them are innocent! but high-ranking officials such as Mousavi (Prime Minister) Karroubi (Two-time head of Majles) and Khatami (Minister of Ershad and later president) certainly do! People who try to whitewash the crimes of jenaayatkaars like Mousavi are engaging in a very nasty form historical revisionism which is as despicable as denying the Holocaust! There is no doubt that a neutral post-IRI court would convict people like Mousavi and Khatami of crimes against Iranian people and if not pardoned by Iranians these Islamists would spend the rest of their lives behind bars!
P.S. For more information regarding 1980s executions read Geoffrey Robertson's (Human Right's lawyer) report. Also read his interview with Guardian.
These Dumb Advocates
by G. Rahmanian on Sun Jan 23, 2011 07:38 AM PSTof Reformatocracy keep swallowing and regurgitating the same thing after puking it.
Simorgh
by MOOSIRvaPIAZ on Sun Jan 23, 2011 07:12 AM PSTHow are you going to change the society's attitude towards marriage,
domestic abuse, death penalty, homosexuality, Israel-Pal or even Islam? Do you not need reform? You cant beat people over the head and tell them what is good or bad. you will be met with overwhelming resistance.
People should stop politicizing this important word.
Reformists
by Simorgh5555 on Sun Jan 23, 2011 07:02 AM PSTReformists - past, present and future is the toilet. Mousavi resides at the bottom of the cesspit of history with all other reformists stacked on him one by one.
Those who are supposed to get it, get it.
by Esfand Aashena on Sun Jan 23, 2011 07:20 AM PSTSome need their food chewed for them while some others as we say in Farsi; need neighbors to take care of the husband!
I remember one day after the election protests and Khamanei's speech about blood on the streets is the responsibility of everyone except basiji and police, I was in a taxi with a young man and the discussion started that people no longer want their vote counted. They now want to get rid of the entire system of Islamic Republic.
I think many would agree that is the rallying cry of many of the Iranians but there is no organization to harness this energy properly. So this is not about "just" getting rid of Ahmadi, it's about wholesale change, up to and including getting rid of Vilyat faghih.
For example, as far as elections are concerned getting rid of Guardian Council's arbitrary dismissal or approval of candidates. Taking the election council (equivalent to the Presidential Election Commission in US) out of the President's office. Isn't this the most conflict of interest, President's office being in charge of all rules and vote counting for the presidential election!
So in this context options are being considered and people getting ready and looking forward to the next presidential election in about 2 years. The sham of the election has been brought to forefront. Ahmadi as the beneficiary of this sham has ruined Iran's economy and took it down to the gutters. Are you telling me nothing can be harnessed out of these 2 events?
Everything is sacred
Now I Get It!
by G. Rahmanian on Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:31 PM PSTReformists Autocracy. Or Reformatocracy! Tha is, the Reformists are not going to "share" their power with anyone. The question is, though, what's in it for people? As I wrote below, the man has no clue what democracy is!
Komoleh terrorist group defends Mousavi and Karoubi
by No Fear on Sat Jan 22, 2011 08:13 PM PST//www.rasanenews.com/ghadrdanikomoleazfetneyesabz/