Esfand Aashena

"We will show you more"

Have we seen not enough, my friend? I said soft. It seems Sepah( IRI's military institution) is the main beneficiary of his economical policies. Isn't it?

Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

No Fear, AO, and Anahid

I see where you are coming from - however, for me the best thing about AN is that he shows the true ugly face of IR.   Unlike with people like Bazargan, Bani Sadr, Khatami,......who gave the people a false sense of having a bit of power - with AN we know the people have Zero say - and the whole Parliment and Republic under IR is just a joke - as it has been all along.   So - yes - I too rather deal with the real IR than deterants...

Dear Anahid - thanks for getting my point about Reformists inside Iran.  They are indeed smart revolutionaries.  and thanks for bringing up the Kabab again - I hope Esfand Read it this time - because it appears he still thinks we are attacking Panahi, and other reformists inside Iran.   Just look at Makhmalbaf and how he changed his approach when he decided to fully move out of Iran - he has the same goal, but he has now crossed the IR red lines. 

Comrade,

With only the presidential institution in our control, it can not be considered as a coup.

We need to gain majority in the parliament and we need to beat both the reformists and the traditional conservatives for that.

We will show you more reforms if we gain control over the parliament.

"This is called reform"

Let's call it a soft coup.

Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.

Reformers are not dead/failed. They're under house arrests.

Everything is sacred

trying to resurrect a dead/failed "reformers"

IRI's reformists (not Iranian reformists) are about political change so much as they are about political opportunism.  Do you think someone of Mousavi, Kahroubi, calibre has a chance among secular, democratic, non-islamist thinking, pragmatic, reasoning people?

Not a chance.  

This begs the question: why do we  as a group consider ourselves thinking, thoughtful and reasoning people, continue to engage the so called Rafsanjani/Khatami faction?.

How long would IRI's "reformist" be relevant if they were ignored? Sure, their people would hang in there for awhile but think about it.

How long would any group stick with a movement  who could not get any reaction from their hated opposition.

Seriously. the "reformers" only remain prominent in the opposition only  because they  keep the real secular-democratic movement distracted and unfocused. That's the game.

 Why are we hanging on? Why are we even debating the "reformers" again?

Mirror miror on d wall whos d best reformist o'them all? Ahmadi!

No Fear Ahmadi is the bestest reformist of them all! 

Everything is sacred

Crazy!

This one is just a crazy liar. Iranians have so much freedom they don't know what do with it!!!

داریوش جان آمدی جانت به قربانم ولی‌ حالا چرا؟!

DK jaan I'm getting ready to turn the lights off on my end but thank you for your comment.  Yes apparently they all failed to slow down the Mullahs running over everything.

Maybe they should have taken more serious steps but apparently they were not ready!  Perhaps the post election crackdowns made some people more ready to take on Mullahs more forcefully.

I'm all for getting rid of Islamic Republic once and for all.  An all out hard core reform like they did to Bakhtiar.  I just don't see that happening so quickly.  I see reformers and their followers doing all they can to expose the atrocities and stand their ground so I want to give them their dues.  That's all. 

Everything is sacred

Esfand, do you know what reform means?

Lets just stick to internal issues. I know very well that you guys do better at getting invited to dinner parties in europe, so no arguements there.

Ahmadinejad is the true reformer. He has improved women rights in Iran and he had to break many religious taboos to get there. This is called reform.

Ahmadinejad has effectively purged the incompetent clergies from administrative powers. This is called reform.

Ahmadinejad has implemented a plan to address the subsidy problem in Iran. This is called reform.

Ahmadinejad has openly mentioned that how people dress is not the responsibility of his government. This is called reform.

Ahmadinejad and his team are the first ones who are putting Iran ahead of Islam. They have said without Iran, islam would not even exist! This is unpresedented and points to a new interpretation. This is called reform.

Ahmadinejad has effectively destroyed the political life of major corrupt politicians in Iran and made their powerful organs ( such as the Expediency council ) less effective in our politics. Keep in mind that members of those organs are not elected. This is called reform.

The concept of " electronic " government was implemented during Ahmadinejad era. Now government employee can work from their homes in many departments. This is called reform.

The fact that today we are able to know who the political prisoners are and even hear about their voices in the courts and from prisons, is unprecedented. This is called reform.

Today, there are more presses and newspapers criticising Ahmadinejad's policies in Iran ( over 400 publications ). He and his ministers have been very direct with people and have addressed issues on national TV. This is indicative of our government allowing itself to be criticised. This is called reform.

You Cannot "Reform" an Interruption ...

" 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." 

Hmm ... Well Apparently Not All ... 

pictory: Bakhtiar Denounces Bazargan's Provisionary Government in exile (1979) 

And those who did subsequently reached that conclusion too late to their own expense ( aka Bazargan, Gobtzadeh, Forouhar and co) :

Mehdi Bazargan and the controversial legacy of Iran's Islamic intellectual movement

Hence the Following blueprint which prevails today as the only logical and historically legitimate thing to do in order to acquire the social rights which existed prior to the Revolution but which would include the democratic and human rights aspirations of our forefathers in their century old struggle for political responsability and democratic rights:

Dr. Bakhtiar Suggest REGIME CHANGE based on RESTORATION of 1906 Constitution ( Last Speech before Assassination)

But I have nothing against the pursuit of a "REPUBLICAN UTOPIA" given that I myself have been accused of harboring a "CONSTITUTIONALIST UTOPIA" ...

Except that Some Dreams:

Words For Eternity ... 

Resonate Stronger with our Genuine Identity:

GIVE ME BACK MY COUNTRY: Bold Poem by a fellow compatriot denounces Ahmadinejad's Iran

A Genuine Irandokht Response

Than Others ...

Gobtzadeh and Khomeiny: Hichi

So I Guess in the end of the day it is about making the right Choice ...

;0) 

" A Country that Loses it's Poetic Vision, is a Country that Faces Death" -Saul Bellow

Vildemose:

Good point. He doesn't even read carefully. Has no clue what democracy is about. Reform what? Those who call for reforms are only asking for a longer life for the regime. Because the idea of democracy is new to them, they think Iranians would have difficulty understanding it, too. He harassed others with his constant comments, but complains about HG's! Funny!

Vildemose, Panahi and Kiarostami are "quisling"?!

Well I don't know if you really know these people or not but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you don't.  However, your nonchalant dismissal of Panahi and Kiarostami should give pause to those who do know these two and reinforce my point better that how some people can easily and genericly make light of reforms and reformers. 

Everything is sacred

No Fear you should be to one to talk reforms!

First of all you make all kinds of gradiose claims like Ahmadi but doesn't mean anything.  Here you're claiming: The other day i was watching a tv program from Iran and i saw women openly playing musical instrument and singing as a choir group. This is unprecedented and it is making many religious organs uneasy.  

Unprecedented?  Take a look at this film and watch young women not only playing musical instruments but also singing not as a choir group but individually and in a park.  "Choir group" is halal?!  And I suppose the Aryan band made its debut during Ahmadi.

Now the Monkerat bill?  It was during his term that the law making it easier to get second wives was introduced and so they can do it in private without 1st wife's knowledge.

For people like you it is always the opposite.  Ahmadi the reformer, except he is trying to reform the world by claiming Holocaust was a myth, 9/11 was an inside job, Iran has the best economy in the world, no gays in Iran, poverty is on its way out of Iran and inflation is 10% and falling!

Everything is sacred

Agreed with Hamseda. Reform

Agreed with Hamseda. Reform means complete dismantling of the Islamic Republic as a whole. Mousavi and Kahroubi, panahi, kiarostami, et al are quisling. They cannot be trusted to do the will of the people.

The factions infighting and the fissure between them has nothing to do with the true will of the people and what's in the best interest of Iran.

This is another attempt at distracting us from the real goal. In Esi, we have another Abaramard. We've been down this road in the past and will not   fall prey again or get involved in the fascists power struggle among themselves.

Anahid jaan that's fine I'll stick with what I've said.

I believe people such as Bani-Etemad, Kiarostami, Panahi and others would agree with me and wouldn't bash reformers.

Everything is sacred

Esfand,

Read your article.

Let me first tell you since the reformists have a poor record of being effective as running the administration, why not concentrate on winning the majority in the parliamentry elections so as " true" reformists, you can change the laws in the parliament?

Why do you want the presidential institution when reformists don't have a clue about economy and how to run a country? Need i say more about your track record in our foreign policies?

Besides, there are rumours that seyed hassan khomeini ( grand child of khomeini ) would be running as a reformist candidate. Is this true?

Why did the 46 reformist MPs who are currently in the parliament, joined the traditional conservatives to put pressure on Ahmadinejad to introduce the " Monkerat" bill for ratification?  I thought at the very least, you guys should be against harsher dress code laws.

Well, I have to confess...

I'm the one in the backseat of the motorcycle.  The one driving it is the marhoum Sargord Pirouz.  :-))

AO jaan I think your comment is more suited 4 this other blog!

This blog from Bahmani (Ghosts or Heros) and you can state your positive points of Ahmadi there!

Just because he doesn't wear a robe doesn't mean he is not like them.  He starts with reading bunch of verses before he even starts speaking Farsi!

Khamanei's name has already been dragged through the mud during the protests and his auroa was already been broken, no thanks to Ahmadi there.

I don't understand what you mean by more political freedom, even relatively speaking.  We have more political prisoners than ever and more forced confessions on TV.  Presidential debates were a good thing but before him Beheshti did it with the Communists!

You can take Ahmadi over the greens as some did during the campaign.  Here are 2 such people! 

Everything is sacred

Dear Esfand, I wanted to anwer your comment addressed to me

But there is an easier way. Other commentators including masoudA, and hamsade have responded to you and I agree with them where they write:

masoudA:"The Kabab missing in your chelo Kabab is:

You need to fully separate an active reformist inside Iran, with an
active Reformist outside Iran.  Only then your article becomes a full
Chelo Kabab!!  lol   but seriously, people who live inside Iran do not
cross the IR red line if they seek only reforms within the so called
Nezam - even if they know better.   But as for us outside - suggesting
for $hit to be reformed - it is a whole different ballgame.   Don't
forget - the true powerholders in IR never changed be it during
Khomeini or Khamenei - and believe me - the powerholder has never been
any president - be it Bazragan, Bani Sadr, Khatami, or AN. "

hamsade:"to me the demonstrations, the fetneh, the aashoob, the green movement,
whatever you want to call it is separate from mousavi, karoubi, khatami
or any mullah (montazeri, kadivar,....).  don't confuse the two issues. 
the people want to 'reform' the government as in removing it
altogether.  i'm not going to root for someone whose idea of reform,
showing hair or playing music in the park, can be repealed by the next
thug under velayat faghih.)"

So , Esfand jan, my reply to you is to agree and repeat what I am inserting here from masoudA and hamsadeA' comments.

همساده خفمون کردی!

As you may or may not know, Mousavi and Khatami have already made suggestions that the "system" may have been lost to the agents of fear it may bee too late to have fair elections while there are political prisoners left over from the last election!

Karoubi's house is looted "legally" with pictures of police giving a hand so the thugs can spray paint graffitis easier and then post a picture on Mehr or ISNA.  What can I say about Veliyat faghih?  It is SUCKS!  

G Rahmanian if we haven't been able to achieve anything for the past 100 years then why even bother?  Those who care will always care.  I'm under no illusion that we can achieve democracy and a just society so soon or at least during our lifetime, but at least we can all try and work towards it.

A Sunday sermon? sure why not.  What else here is not a sermon?! 

Everything is sacred

This may come as s shock to everyone

But I have to say that I prefer Ahmadinejad and his gang over the so-called "green" gang.  Now before you all pick up the machete and go for my head (I know that understanding nuance is not something that can be found in copious amounts on this site), I want to state my reasons:

1) AN and his gang are at least pseudo nationalists.  And they are not mullahs;

2) Unlike the green gang, AN was not involved (at least at any significant level) with the mass executions and purges that took place in the 1980's.  In fact, if I am not mistaken, he even served in the war, which is admirable.  So, he has a much cleaner hand that Moousavi, Khatami and Karoubi;

3) No one has done more to question the authority of the Velayat faghih than AN.  At times, he has even belittled the VF (i.e., decree allowing women in stadiums and firing of Mottaki).  This, in turn, has taken away the notion of VF's infallibility and will open the door in the future to more challenges;

4) Relatively speaking, there was more personal and political freedom under AN than any other IR President.  Examples: music concerts, relaxed "hejab" standards, music, the arts and most important of all: the presidential debates--unprecedented in Iran's history.  And if the rumor about him being slapped in the face because he wanted the people to have more freedom is true, then that's just icing on the cake.  And it shows that the post-election atrocities (which were still, relatively speaking, minor in comparison to what happened when Mousavi, Rafsanjani and Karoubi were in positions of power), were probably beyond his control;

Again, this is a nuanced position. As everyone knows, I am not a fan of the IR or AN.  I am just saying that in comparing the two, I think that AN and his gang are better options for Iran going forward--if the IR remains in power. Mousavi's stated goal is to take Iran back to the "golden years" of Khomeini.  Plus, he doesn't appear to have any balls.  I bet you if he was elected, he would have been another Khatami.  Another VF a** kisser with no results.  PS-he's even related to Khamenei.  Do you really think he would have taken him on?

"You can't expect to run before learning to walk."

Sounds more like a sermon on a boring Sunday! Iranians have been "walking" for over a hundred years, if not longer. Many of the freedoms that young Iranians are being harassed, arrested or killed for are not alien to my generation. Except for political freedom, majority of Iranians enjoyed so much freedom that Iran was the envy of all neighboring countries. And who is going to help Iranians learn to "walk?" Certainly not a bunch of mullahs or believers in the ways of the mullahs. Such ideas sounds good when teaching a bunch of college kids who are more concerned about their grades than the contents of the course. Iranians want democracy and democracy necessitates/means the rule of law. It is the law which protects individuals' rights. You are hoping to achieve reforms in a land that is lawless. In a democracy you may have hundreds of institutions working to uphold people's rights. In Iran of today, there is not a single democratic institution that can function freely and here we are reading about how we should learn to reform one of the most ruthless regimes in our modern history. I have done so much walking in the past 32 years that makes Forest Gump proud of me. Nice composition, by the way!

masoudA the battle lines are always changing

Do I think a reform movement would derail or weaken an all out removal movement?  No. Such a movement is not strong enough to make any legitimate claim.

We're already past the point of trying to do everything within the established "rules" of the Islamic Republic. This became evident when all sorts of rule were broken and were put on the internet for everyone to see.  Wall to wall evidence!   All kinds of atrocities from shooings in the streets and running over people by motorcycles to breaking and looting private property by plain clothes security forces escorted and supported by uniformed police and so forth.

It was so much that many of the religious leaders are now rebels!  I know all too well on who has the ultimate power but lines can be redefined depending on the political and economical events.

Everything is sacred

ey baba esfand, it's

ey baba esfand, it's strange to hear from 'haggler extrodinaire,' why i'm haggling so much.  the only time i voted in my life in iranian politics was for roobah-e makkar himself (his first term).  if you read the criticisms about him in the links i provided, you can see why i dislike this character so much even if he ran against the devil himself.  he's faithful to the velayat faghih.  that means 'reform' to him means tweaking a bit here and a bit there but be faithful to rahbar, khomeini, and velayat faghih.  if this is your idea of reform, fine.  if you think this is the path to ultimately remove velayat faghih, fine.  not my idea.  i respectfully agree to disagree.

to me the demonstrations, the fetneh, the aashoob, the green movement, whatever you want to call it is separate from mousavi, karoubi, khatami or any mullah (montazeri, kadivar,....).  don't confuse the two issues.  the people want to 'reform' the government as in removing it altogether.  i'm not going to root for someone whose idea of reform, showing hair or playing music in the park, can be repealed by the next thug under velayat faghih.  that's it for me buddy.  see you at the movies. :)

Anahid jaan is it "safe" to call yourself a reformer nowadays?

If you call yourself a reformer you're herded with other supporters of green and marched to komite for questioning.  It is not even "safe" enough to wear green clothing!

Now if it is not safe for anonymous ordinary people to call themselves reformers, imagine what it takes for known people to call themselves reformers.  Can you imagine that?  Do you think being a reformer is confined to just Khatami?

Don't you think Bani-Etemad, Kiarostami and many other high caliber artists who have called themselves reformists and continue to make statements in support of their jailed colleagues, have courage?  It takes courage so it should be noted and not swept under the rug. 

Everything is sacred

Dear Esfand

Read your article - and I liked it - but it is a Chelo Kabab without the Kabab!!   I think we must stop playing with words, because there is nothing ever wrong with Reform in general.   Mashrooteh was not a reform it changed the whole constitution - it was a revolution.  But let's not get stuck in the past - it appears you agree with the base that IR must go - yet you see nothing wrong with gradual improvements, as you say:

.................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? ...............

Fair enough - just a question: Would a reform movement derail or weaken an all out removal movement ?

The Kabab missing in your chelo Kabab is:

You need to fully separate an active reformist inside Iran, with an active Reformist outside Iran.  Only then your article becomes a full Chelo Kabab!!  lol   but seriously, people who live inside Iran do not cross the IR red line if they seek only reforms within the so called Nezam - even if they know better.   But as for us outside - suggesting for $hit to be reformed - it is a whole different ballgame.   Don't forget - the true powerholders in IR never changed be it during Khomeini or Khamenei - and believe me - the powerholder has never been any president - be it Bazragan, Bani Sadr, Khatami, or AN.   

Maryam jaan thank you I appreciate it. I do what I can! LOL!

Hamsade why are you haggling so much?!  Remember who was Khatami's opponent? Pashm shisheh!  Sadegh Nouri.  He would not allowed the freedoms that Khatami allowed so all those artists would be confined to making cheap commercial movies like they're making now.

I've already said to you and others these reforms and women loosening their hijab may be too little, but to me and others it was not a small deal.  The reforms that happened during Khatami would NOT have happened with just anybody at helm.  People have courage and we should give them when credit is due.

It is my blog and my opinion!

Everything is sacred

Maryam , I have to say that...

Even though sometimes Esfand is good in his logic, there are times when I find myself agreeing more with hamsade ghadimi.

khatami's admission of failure might be his only success...

...