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The Real Race for Iran
28-Jun-2010
Since Iran was thrust into internal turmoil by last year's election, the world has been moved by events that unfolded during the protests of the Green Movement. As we watched the violence of the agents of the Iranian government against peaceful demonstrators, most of us thought that it would be impossible to defend the regime's position amidst the bloodshed we witnessed on our TV screens.
Not so. The Iranian Government, despite all the detentions, abuses, and unlawful killings since June 2009, still has support overseas in the guise of purportedly unbiased political analysts, none more vocal than that of the authors of Race for Iran, one a former CIA and National Security Council official, the other a former diplomat in the State Department.
Their solution to the human rights abuse issue? Pretend it is not relevant. Arrests, torture, rape, and the murder of protesters are set aside.
The testament to how far they can go in defending an indefensible position? Consider the lengthy response of RFI's authors to "Misreading Tehran", a series of seven articles published on the Foreign Policy website.
In this article, the duo close their eyes to all other internal matter to declare that the 2009 Presidential election is legitimate, simply because the opposition has allegedly not provided any evidence to back up claims of fraud. Thus, the vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be free and fair.
If we were to accept this argument, then every election under Suharto in Indonesia was free and fair. Every election held in Islam Karimov's Uzbekistan is free, as is every vote held in Cuba under Fidel Castro. Robert Mugabe is the rightful ruler of Zimbabwe. If stolen or "created" ballots cannot be exhibited, the result is not only legal but legitimate.
Under this "legitimate" Iranian Government, freedom of speech is severely curtailed. Newspapers are regularly banned, journalists regularly imprisoned. Candidates for elections are screened by the establishment, and only those passing the Guardian Council's ideological tests are allowed to run. There are hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of political prisoners suffering in Iran's jails. Under such harsh conditions, it is a distortion -- a dishonorable distortion -- to say that elections in Iran can be free, fair and honest.
If that were not enough, high-ranking clerics -- from within Iran's own establishment -- came forward and decried the elections as fraudulent. Grand Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani was quoted, "Every healthy mind casts doubt on the way the election was held." Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri called the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "illegitimate" and "tyrannical." Perhaps the most revered cleric after Khamenei, Grand Ayatollah Lotfullah Safi Golpayegani called the results "a grand lie." Their voices were silenced by the media blackout, with Western journalists unaware of their clout within Iran's government and society.
But to RFI's authors, it is beyond consideration that Iran's leadership is a brutal regime hell-bent on keeping itself in power. They dismiss that people from within Iran's establishment question the legitimacy of the election. To them, an inquiry can only be considered if the Green Movement takes up arms, fights the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, confiscates all the ballot boxes from the election through force of arms and then counts them somewhere in Europe in front of international media. Only then, will 'healthy" minds accept fraud.
Yet there is a somewhat tortured twist in RFI's line, illustrated in the article in Foreign Policy. Having declared -- following the sudden execution of five Iranians on 9 May -- that the consideration of human rights was beyond their agenda, the authors resurrect two months-old "studies" of the 2009 election to establish that the political and civil rights of Iranians were respected and defended.
Doing so, they hold up a cracked mirror with RFI's reflection of post-election Iran: one of the purported reports on the election is by little-known "analysts" who have also suggested that Neda Agha Soltan, killed during the protests of 20 June 2009, was slain by agents of "the West":
It is inconceivable that an Islamic regime which understands the power of martyrdom in its own culture would sanction the cold-blooded murder of an innocent and ordinary young woman on the streets of Tehran. However it is every bit conceivable that those who thought the opposition movement needed a symbol and icon of resistance -- recipients and supporters no doubt of a $400m CIA-backed destabilization program for Iran -- would have arranged this horrible murder and try and pin it on the Iranian authorities.)
If RFI's authors claim that rights have no place in their forum, why resurrect a long-surpassed and rather creaky case for a proper vote on 12 June 2009?
In part, it is a necessary tactic to support the authors' main objective, which is to promote US-Iran discussions on important regional and global issues. Putting forth that case requires the notion that President Ahmadinejad can be engaged because he has a legitimate position.
More importantly, though, the tactic is a deflection. The Green Movement and civil rights organizations inside Iran long ago moved beyond contesting the elections to the campaign for a political, social, economic, and religious system that upholds rather than abuses its citizens' rights. Mir Hossein Mousavi has released several statements in recent months emphasizing that the Green Movement needs to firm up its ties with the Iranian populace to spread the message of change and to ensure that the Islamic Republic fulfills the rights set out in its Constitution.
Iran's Government is unable to address these issues, but they are also unable to prevent their consideration. It has persisted in arresting people who protest brutality and human rights abuses, but the challenge continues. It has tried to penetrate the ranks of the Green Movement, but it cannot prevent activists from interacting with disgruntled Iranians who have been affected. It has pursued the alternative of proclaiming Iran's exalted international position, but that distraction cannot be sustained when headlines are re-claimed by the heckling of Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson and the attacks on Iran's most esteemed clerics.
So the solution is sought by Tehran's defenders: while announcing that rights do not matter, revive the notion of the "legitimate" rule -- with the implication that legitimacy confers the authority to pursue any and all acts in the name of the Iranian state -- established by the 2009 election.
The problem for this defense is that rights will not go away. Those who bravely persist in the face of repression are emphasizing human rights and democracy more than ever. Ten days ago, Iranians who marched in Tehran were not heard chanting, "Where is My Vote?"; amidst the calls of God is Great, they were demanding that their rights -- as Iranians and as human beings -- be affirmed by their Government and by their Supreme Leader.
An objective analysis worthy of the label would question why the Iranian government fills the countries streets with security forces if it is stable and loved by its people. It would investigate why foreign media is effectively banned and why dozens of Iran's journalists are in jail, barred from working, or under threat of punishment if they dare to write. It would at least raise a quizzical eyebrow at the scores who are on death row and the hundreds more behind bars or on heavy bail simply because they voiced their opposition to the regime.
But that analysis would be tantamount to a questioning of legitimacy. And there the authors of RFI meet their self-imposed limit. They have shackled themselves even more effectively than the Government which they defend has shackled its people.
If there is a Race for Iran, those who defend the regime -- in the name of the irrelevancy of human rights -- can only stand still, stamping their feet loudly that there is no alternative. And in that race, it is the alternative which -- while hobbled by intimidation, restricted by suppression, hindered by punishment -- continues to move forward towards its goals.
First published in HuffingtonPost.com.
AUTHOR
Josh Shahryar is a Journalist and Human Rights Activist. Follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JShahryar
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The decadence of Iranian stooges of the West
by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi on Thu Jul 01, 2010 06:25 PM PDTIt is obvious from this site that those who uphold and defend Islam are barbarically attacked by fanatics whose very existence depends on the satanic will of the arrogant infidels.
This talk of "freedom" and "democracy" means just about as much as Yajuj and Ma'juj - they are terms used by the infidels to deceive the believers into disobeying the Almighty and Ahlul Bait and to worship themselves instead.
This is why wilayat al faqih alone can guarantees the rights of the Islamic nation of Iran. It protects the believers from the tyranny of Westoxification and imperialistic infiltration and corruption.
"faul person"?
by fooladi on Thu Jul 01, 2010 05:03 PM PDTSince when identifying a person's parentae is "faul"???
The parentage seem to be "faul", but certainly not the language....
"Yousef is no more": Shame
by fooladi on Thu Jul 01, 2010 05:14 PM PDTThis means one less islamist we can have a good laugh at his own expense....
Never mind there are a few more left :)
Yousef is no more.
by Rosie. on Thu Jul 01, 2010 04:48 PM PDTYousef, in case you are checking this, I believe the tongue pulling business and the cursing and denigration of gays may have been part of the decision. This really is a free speech forum. But there is a limit.
****
As regards the most recent exchanges, well, it is very sad for me to see. Please no lectures or explanations. I have heard them all.
benross
by Niloufar Parsi on Thu Jul 01, 2010 04:12 PM PDTyou are a foul person
No Fear
by Onlyiran on Thu Jul 01, 2010 01:26 PM PDTOn the one hand, I like your new "civilized" persona. The overwhelming use of the word "a*s" in your comments was getting kind of...well...boring.
On the other hand, I don't believe that you even believe the nonsense that you spew here. You act as if the IRI is actually a government and not a mafia and/or a terrorist cabal. LOL :-)))
No Fear
by AMIR1973 on Thu Jul 01, 2010 01:22 PM PDTThe Leader and his minions will never face justice as long as the IRI is in place. Nothing short of regime change will allow such an event. If that were to take place, Iran could follow the lines of S. Africa, East Germany, former Yugoslavia, Nazi Germany, etc and bring the criminal IRI to justice.
Amir,
by No Fear on Thu Jul 01, 2010 01:15 PM PDTJustice must be served regardless, even if top founding members of IR are implicated.
No one is above the law. Not even Khamenie. Can't you read between the lines?
No Fear
by AMIR1973 on Thu Jul 01, 2010 01:09 PM PDTYou should cheer for justice and pursue it without any condition
That would mean that the top people in the IRI, including Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Mousavi, Khatami, and officials of IRI's security and intelligence apparatus--among others, should face justice for their part in the killing of many thousands of Iranians since the IRI's inception in 1979.
" I'd stay away from that bastard if I were you. "
by comrade on Thu Jul 01, 2010 12:55 PM PDTHow? unless he suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder.**
** Irrelevant to a member using the medical term as an ID.
Never late to learn....//davidharvey.org/reading-capital/
VPK
by Onlyiran on Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:31 AM PDTIRi agents' M.O. is this: they do a "drive-by", let's say, call IRI a utopia, accuse Iranians of being racists, beat their chests for Palestine, etc....but when you confront them with facts, they, as we say in Persian "soorakh mikharan yek million".
Again, don't hold your breath waiting for an answer...
Benross,
by No Fear on Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:24 AM PDTYou asked ;
" Could you name those who were tried please? Who were they? What was their occupation and how they got their job? What was their defense? Who defended them? What was exactly the acts they were found guilty of? Who were their victims? "
I would imagine their name ( Defendants ) would surface now that a verdict has been issued. The victims names are published in Iranian papers along with their lawyers. Keep in mind that since the defendants were all members of military or security organizations, they were tried in a military court which adds to the secrecy of the precedings. They are tried based on military laws and conducts , not civil laws.
Be patient and more info would be released by time. Don't jump on the bandwagon too early.
OnlyIran
by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:20 AM PDTYou are right about the IRI noise machine. I am still waiting for Abarmard to answer me about the Palestinians. Not a word out of him since I proved Palestinians were racist. And that they betrayed Iran.
Of course the IRI propaganda machine will never touch its sacred cows. That would be the Imams; the Pals; the Hizbolah and their own murderers.
VPK
Benross Jaan
by Onlyiran on Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:03 AM PDTCould you name those who were tried please? Who were they? What was their occupation and how they got their job? What was their defense? Who defended them? What was exactly the acts they were found guilty of? Who were their victims?
Don't hold your breath for a response from this IRI propaganda machine.
Plot against
by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:56 AM PDTShia Islam is named Yousef! With a pile of garbage coming out of his mouth he make them look bad. I don't know if this person is real. But if so he sounds like the product of British Islamism. It is well known that MI5 and MI6 have infiltrated Britain mosques. They are working on radicalising them so as to be rejected by sane Muslims. They are is appears successful. I doubt most of the know they are tools of Britain.
Now for partiotism. I have known patriotic Shia; Sunni; Atheist; Zartoshti; Jewish; Christian and Bahai Iranians. I have also known patriotic gay Iranians. I have also known idiots. That would be Yousef.
Yousef
by Adib Masumian on Thu Jul 01, 2010 08:20 AM PDTI would be surprised to know if there are any patriotic Bahais when
their cult of the Baab is essentially a British-Zionist plot against
Shia Islam
//www.brli.org/storage/debunking.pdf
//www.brli.org/storage/debunking-Persian.pdf
//debunking-myths.blogspot.com/
Continue with the indefensible lies, and we will continue with our thorough and objective research.
rosie
by humanbeing on Thu Jul 01, 2010 07:14 AM PDTwe all get sucked in. it goes on and on.
your presence kept me coming back to this thread and to ic on this anniversary day.
many happy returns.
not so fast
by benross on Thu Jul 01, 2010 06:09 AM PDTCould you name those who were tried please? Who were they? What was their occupation and how they got their job? What was their defense? Who defended them? What was exactly the acts they were found guilty of? Who were their victims?
Could it be that they just killed those who may have had a loose mouth?
You are a shameless shameless bastard you know that. Right?
not so fast
by Niloufar Parsi on Thu Jul 01, 2010 05:42 AM PDTAn Iranian military court sentenced two people to death on Wednesday for the murder of three protesters taken into custody after last June's contested presidential election...A further nine people were ordered to pay fines
and blood money and receive lashes for the abuse of prisoners at the
Kahrizak detention center, south of Tehran. One person was cleared. The
convictions are subject to appeal. link
Josh, are people still going at it here?
by Rosie. on Thu Jul 01, 2010 09:33 AM PDTAre you serious? Every now and then something, someone, comes along that sucks people in, sets their hearts on fire, and fans the flames of their imagination. That brings out the best and worst in them, but makes them realize what they all have in common. This 'Real Race for Iran' will go on...and on..and on. It will never end.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3DcWtkKeIY
Happy birthday, iranian.com.
Josh Shahryar
by Josh Shahryar on Wed Jun 30, 2010 08:46 PM PDTPeople are still goin' at it here?
Great Comment Waters
by fooladi on Wed Jun 30, 2010 08:42 PM PDTCould not have put it any better.
People like this idiot are actually the biggest enemies of muslim people world over
MM, Rosie
by minadadvar on Wed Jun 30, 2010 07:12 PM PDTThanks.
essentially a British-Zionist plot against Shia Islam" LOL
by Waters on Wed Jun 30, 2010 06:36 PM PDTAmman az bisavaadi va Jahl. The only enemies of Shia Islam are the ignorant souls like youself, who have made the whole world their enemy and still cant see it. what is wrong you man?
By the way I am a veteran of that war and let me tell you somthin lill youseft, no soldier needs your charity commendation. Keep your bazl o bakhshesh to those whom you have made homeless, fatherless... with your utter jahl and get some help.
Salaam
Mina/Rosie - Forget chop-chop Yousef - here an avatar 4 u 2 see
by MM on Wed Jun 30, 2010 05:09 PM PDT//www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mba/lowres/mban1911l.jpg
Abarmard
by Yousef Bozorgmehr on Wed Jun 30, 2010 04:37 PM PDTYes, Iran is for all Iranians irrespective of their ethnicity, creed and gender. Iranian citizenship is given on the basis of parentage and birth.
I would be surprised to know if there are any patriotic Bahais when their cult of the Baab is essentially a British-Zionist plot against Shia Islam, but if any fought against the legions of Saddam they should be commended.
I just wish the people here would not disrespect the thousands of young basijis, many of them aged just 13 yrs old, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country and because of whose martyrdom Iran is now a regional superpower.
Oh, I know, Mina,
by Rosie. on Wed Jun 30, 2010 02:08 PM PDTbut you-know-who might have been confused about it. In any case, here is a VERY big deal:
To avoid future problems with identification, I found a psychologist's avatar for you.
//neoneocon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/psychiatry-couch2.jpg
Rosie
by minadadvar on Wed Jun 30, 2010 01:56 PM PDTIt is not a big deal.
Fooladi
by Veiled Prophet of Khorasan on Wed Jun 30, 2010 01:53 PM PDTTo Rosie re: Ahmadi's halo & Emam's face in the moon
by AMIR1973 on Wed Jun 30, 2010 01:43 PM PDTGoogle: Ahmadinejad AND halo and you will find material (including on youtube) regarding IRI pseudo-president's visions at the UN.
Khomeini's face appeared in the moon on November 27, 1978 (Azar 6 in the Iranian calendar). People wept and cheered after the sighting (I could not make this stuff up. This is Islamism). Just google "Khomeini's face in the moon".