The Real Race for Iran

Human rights vs. Tehran's defenders

Share/Save/Bookmark

The Real Race for Iran
by Josh Shahryar
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

Share/Save/Bookmark

 
Sargord Pirouz

Josh, you out there? I spent

by Sargord Pirouz on

Josh, you out there? I spent a bunch of time providing antithetical elements to your analysis, per your request. Any feedback?


MM

how were d votes hand-counted in 2 hours? A divine act, no doubt

by MM on

, w/ its worldly representative on earth (VF) as the implementor.


fooladi

"on last year election; get over it"

by fooladi on

Says "no fear"

We are well over it , the issue has not been the "election" for at least 10 months now. The issue is the methodes and tactics on how to overthrow the islamic regime and what to do to the leaders who fail to catch the last plane to damescus!

You must start paying more attention to news from Iran instead of spending all your time at your local star bucks!

"War cannot be abolished unless classes are abolished and Socialism is created."


MM

Amir - I remember IRI's slogans like it was yesterday

by MM on

یا مرگ یا کربلا
راه قدس از کربلاست


MM

chop-chop Yousef probably worked as an Evin torturer before

by MM on

Boroujerdi is nobody?  Why is he in prison?


AMIR1973

No Fear: Who are you kidding, the "election" was in 1989

by AMIR1973 on

Yeah and it saw 100% participation of the 86 Shia "male" experts who chose the country's Leader 21 years ago under IRI's "Islamic democracy".

BTW, IRI's "85%" turnout is paltry compared to the much higher turnouts in its fellow People's Democracies and "international friends", Cuba & N. Korea. Yup, I believe the propaganda of tinpot Third World dictatorships. Sure, I do.

And what is this talk of "let us do the driving"--are you driving from Canada, U.S. or somewhere else in the West. You're not in IRI, so stop with the comedy act already.  :-)


fooladi

" one where we really do chop the hands"

by fooladi on

says the "deranged yousef":

"I want a more Islamic system, not something more secular - one where we really do chop the hands off thieves and rebels".

 So no "trial for treason" for the rest of us any more? Something I said to have changed your mind?? :)

Keep talking bache ba hoosh, you are the best :)  

BTW, one day, when you are calmer, after taking your medication, you can tell us about that "childhood experience" which did this to you......


Onlyiran

There you have it ladies and gentlemen

by Onlyiran on

"I want a more Islamic system, not something more secular - one where we really do chop the hands off thieves and rebels....let us start with Mousavi and Karroubi - cut out their lying tongues."

Partner of Kaveh Afrasiabi, CASMII board member. :-))) 


AMIR1973

The words of an Islamist scholar-journalist

by AMIR1973 on

Yousef Bozorgmehr in his own words: 

chop the hands off thieves and rebels

cut out their lying tongues


AMIR1973

War prolonged because of Khomeini's desire to capture Karbala

by AMIR1973 on

Khomeini and his henchmen made it clear in their statements and by their actions that nothing short of the IRI marching into Karbala (and from there onto Holy Qods) with the overthrow of Saddam's regime and the imposition of an Islamic "revolution" in Iraq (and beyond) would be acceptable to them. At the outset of the war, Khomeini called it a "blessing". After 8 years of death and destruction, Khomeini agreed to "drink the poisoned chalice" (again, Emam's wording says everything about his extreme reluctance to end the war) and accept worse conditions than Iran was offered in 1982.

 

If you think IRI couldn't or shouldn't have accepted the terms in 1982 because Saddam and the Arabs were "playing tricks", then why did it do so in 1988 when IRI's position was far worse? (By that "logic", IRI shouldn't have finally agreed to a ceasefire in 1988 and should have continued the war till Saddam was overthrown).  The IRI finally agreed to a "ceasefire" in 1988, because it suffered huge defeats and didn't have the means to carry on any longer. In true Orwellian fashion, the war that Khomeini called a "blessing" and did everything in his power to prolong and continue has been rebranded in official IRI propaganda as the "imposed war" (imposed, yes, but jointly by Saddam and Khomeini).


Yousef Bozorgmehr

Boroujerdi is nobody

by Yousef Bozorgmehr on

 

There are many senior ayatollahs who never accepted velayat-e-faqih. The Green movement showed this to be the case. What matters is that the younger clerics are all on board with Islamic rule.

I want a more Islamic system, not something more secular - one where we really do chop the hands off thieves and rebels....let us start with Mousavi and Karroubi - cut out their lying tongues.

 


No Fear

On last year election.

by No Fear on

Get over it.

The fact that 85 percent of eligable Iranians voted is a big deal.

Did you ever asked yourself that if Iranians, who live abroad , can somehow be united as a political bloc, they would still lose in the election since their numbers are nowhere close to the 24 millions who voted for Ahmadinejad.

However, if all you guys ( living abroad ) had voted green and supported Mousavi, You had a very good chance to defeat Ahmadinejad by taking it to second round.

But instead, the opposition leaders decided to buycott the election!

For now, just remain in the passenger seat and be happy that you still have a seat. let us do the driving. The majority of the Iranians have elected our team to run the country and we still have a couple more years to go. If you don't like it, vote green or reform in two years. Until then, respect the rule of majority.


MM

Ayatollah Boroujerdi`s letter on separation of religion&politics

by MM on

PS, Ayatollah Boroujerdi is currently in Evin prison being tortured to denounce his objections to IRI, VF, treatment of minorities, women and other religions.  He has not budged.  Ayatollah Boroujerdi will most like end up like his father, a victim of IRI

Ayatollah Boroujerdi`s letter about separation of religion and politics

Ayatollah Boroujerdi`s letter about separation of religion and politics EVIN Prisoner’s scathing greeting to the God, who has created beauty, elegance and compassion. Greetings to the prophets who had no mission but enunciating love, affection and devotion.
Salutation to IRAN, which is experiencing the most difficult and incomparable crimes, discrimination and oppression.
Respecting contemporary history, that is bailiff of unreliability, disrespect and rudeness imposed by the cannibalistic religious governors toward holy trends of God.
Indeed you find monotheism religion with no possession of worldliness seculars that your life is not getting bitter by pressures, threats and also physical and mental torturing. Even the promise of Hell and punishment becomes Eden out of merciful God intercession. In our prophets’ narrations, we clearly perceive extreme compassion and caress of God that munificently cares for his servants.
While religion and politics are mixed up, it makes an opportunity for witchcraft, deception and villainy. The symbol of innocence, goodness and happiness converts to the monster of violence, persecution and harassment, then you will be witnessing the tragedy of leaving religion, which is a God`s regulation, by a mass of population. I wish we all were dead and never see such painful and piteous days.
A religion that its leader was fraternized with other religion followers as far as visiting Jewish neighbor. A prophet that forgave his uncle`s murderer who was his great support and also a backing for his army. The one whose slogan in Mecca conquest was “today, is the day of favor”! Although the city residents had killed his relatives and followers, but he treated them all with tenderness. He let Hejaz pagan`s houses a safe place for infidels and also permitted Abo`sofiyan (an infidel Arab leader who was Prophet`s enemy) to be free to do any conspiracy.
A religion that its Imam on the pulpit ask for amnesty from audiences and also retribution for any non-intentional injustice. Now I wonder how I can believe that this religion, Islam, is torturing its followers and believers, and also spreads suffocation so that any kind of protest toward unimportant agents of governmental religion will face a dreadful sequel.I frequently asked political religious governors and theorists to present their documentations in a media debate; likewise we will proof our explicit evidences and crucial reasons then the whole world will be capable of a better judgment, and also our merciful God will get rid of thirty one years accusation.
Indeed, mixing of republic and Islamism is a sensual and carnal idea and this secular phenomenon leads to general permutation of contemporaries, as we see in Omayeh clan and Abbas clan (Arab clans in the time of prophet) destiny that a mass of Muslims joined blasphemy or other religions. Today, if we get rid of despotism religion we will understand that tyrannous mixing of religion and politics has resulted in depleting of the country from spirituality and monotheism.
Seyed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi

Monday, June 28, 2010
//vofiran.blogspot.com/2010/06/ayatollah-boro...


No Fear

On why the war was prolonged.

by No Fear on

Saddam needed time to upgrade its military and to prevent the advancement of Iran. Thats why some gulf nations who were supporting saddam all along, decided to offer retribution to provide the necessary time to saddam through negotiation with Iran over money.

If saddam was truely after ending the war, he wouldn't allow and support the MKO incursions into Iran after Iran accepted the UN resolution 598. (Iraqi airforce bombed our defenses and was supporting MKO)

A UN resolution carries a lot more weight than a few arab nation promises, and saddam broke that promise. What makes you think he would have kept it when his buddies were offering it?

Don't be so naive.


AMIR1973

amgw4: Khodeti

by AMIR1973 on

Dear amgw4 and alirezag

Akheh, who are you trying to b.s.? We all know that the IRI's Leader was chosen by 86 fellow akhoond-e shepeshoo 21 years ago to represent the Twelfth Imam. What is this nonsense about sham IRI elections? Kim Jong Il and Bashar Asad have the same "popular support" too. Oh, yeah. Sure. Khodeti.


Onlyiran

Now you've done it Yousef

by Onlyiran on


--Does or doesn't IRI's support of sex change operations underscore their loathing of homosexuals? 

I see it as support for people who are clearly mentally ill.

Calling homosexuals "mentally ill" only means one thing:  you're a self loathing closet case.  That's why you display so much anger and violence toward innocent people, calling them "mohareb" and calling for their execution.  Why don't you just come out? I promise that you will calm down and have a whole new perspective on life and human rights.    


amgw4

Operation Ajax II failed, give it up

by amgw4 on

Even US news commentators admit Ahmadinejad won the election and has popular support. You're just making fools of yourselves now.


khaleh mosheh

'Welcome aboard'

by khaleh mosheh on

A signature tune of the pupeteer, 

Please see the 11th comment from the top on this thread where an iri new comer is greeted by an iri golen oldie in exact same manner as Yousef is greeted by No fear.....Deja Vu

 //iranian.com/main/blog/jaleho/moral-bankruptcy-green-leaders-and-quds-day


Cost-of-Progress

Elections now, abu, NOW!

by Cost-of-Progress on

"As for elections, Bani Sadr and Dariush Forouhar stood for presidency in 1980 and the former was elected - both are secularists at heart."

Even if true, which is not because all of these people are akhund and akhund zaadeh, that was 30 years ago. We are talking about the new and backward Islamic Regime - T O D A Y!

Oh...and who elected hojatoleslam Khamenai.....who overnight became Ayatollah?......NOBODY. So you can take your elections and insert them where the sun don't shine.

Delusional as you are, they trained you well.

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________


AMIR1973

Cult of Rajavi, Aryanists, blah, blah

by AMIR1973 on

Okay, now am I a Rajavist-Aryanist. Am I reading Hossein Derakhshan's blog? "Hoder" used to accuse opponents of his Islamist Utopia of being Pahlavists, Rajavists and Rafsanjanists. Speaking of free, democratic, and popular elections in tinpot dictatorships (which is what the IRI is), turnout is higher in these other countries than in the IRI  :-)

Iraq:

//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2331951.stm

Cuba:

//www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1551076.php/Big-turnout-in-Cuba-s-municipal-elections

North Korea:

North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted the Central Election Committee as saying turnout was 99.9 percent of registered voters


Yousef Bozorgmehr

Rosie's questions

by Yousef Bozorgmehr on

 

Are or aren't many people in both 'camps' racist
and/or chauvinistic?

Yes.

--Is or isn't the use of the term 'Nazi' wrong (not even necessarily
morally but for the two other specific reasons I explained) on the part
of both 'camps'?
 

Aryanism is Nazism

--Did or didn't you look at the link I provided to my last blog
emphasizing my last long post to Yolanda?

I did not.

--Did or didn't you use the term 'untermensch' to intentionally
provoke and polarize?

No...it was the most appropriate word to descrive perverse and abominable people.

--Does or doesn't General Javani of the IRGC foresee an end to the
IRI not unlikely even  in our lifetime as opposed to your 'end of time'?

Javani, like me, forsees crises ahead but no end to divine rule.

--Is or isn't it absurd for you to use Nietzsche to substantiate anything
when his core idea is that God is dead?

No. Nietzsche was trying to fill the void caused by secularism in the 19th century.

--Is or isn't IRI infrastructure an improvement on what the Shahs
laid down?

Pahlavi regime did some good things to the railways etc.

--Does or doesn't IRI's support of sex change operations underscore
their loathing of homosexuals? 

I see it as support for people who are clearly mentally ill.

 


Yousef Bozorgmehr

War and elections

by Yousef Bozorgmehr on

 

The War was prolonged along because Saddam was supported by the West, the Communists and the MKO.  You expected Iran to make peace with this maniac while he developed a nuclear bomb?

Anyway, the war bankrupted Iraq and forced it to invade Kuwait - the rest is history. Iran is the strategic winner 30 years later.

As for elections, Bani Sadr and Dariush Forouhar stood for presidency in 1980 and the former was elected - both are secularists at heart.

And Mousavi campaigned on a partly secular platform.


fooladi

"Ayatollah Khamenei pardoned 708 prisoners "

by fooladi on

Oh really? so what happened to the "trial for treason" you were threatening us with 10 minutes ago? did I say something to frighten you my valiant cyber bassiji?

Now be a good boy and keep your swearing and threats for amat. As somebody said  earlier, it is all to do with what happened to you as a child......

 :)

"Fascism is capitalism in decay"


Rosie.

Okay, Yousef, I will try again

by Rosie. on

for the third time. Regarding my post to you titled 'Yousef, in your department store' in which I meticulously replied to yours to me: 

--Are or aren't many people in both 'camps' racist and/or chauvinistic?

--Is or isn't the use of the term 'Nazi' wrong (not even necessarily morally but for the two other specific reasons I explained) on the part of both 'camps'? 

--Did or didn't you look at the link I provided to my last blog emphasizing my last long post to Yolanda?

--Did or didn't you use the term 'untermensch' to intentionally provoke and polarize?

And now, moving up my own laundry list on this thread:

--Does or doesn't General Javani of the IRGC foresee an end to the IRI not unlikely even  in our lifetime as opposed to your 'end of time'?

--Is or isn't it absurd for you to use Nietzsche to substantiate anything when his core idea is that God is dead?

--Is or isn't IRI infrastructure an improvement on what the Shahs laid down?

--Does or doesn't IRI's support of sex change operations underscore their loathing of homosexuals? 

And finally, do I or don't I agree with a few of your points and didn't I even I tell you  that you got me to think of a new idea concerrning 'Aryanists'? And is or isn't the onus actually upon you, since you entered into enemy territory, to make the first concession?  And is or isn't at least one of my points simpler to concede on than those of others?

And if so, can you?


Cost-of-Progress

Speaking of the war

by Cost-of-Progress on

khomeini was the number one reason the war stretched out as long as it did. It was the excuse that the regime was looking for to secure power and divert attention from its lies and deceit.

Today, the regime is looking for the same thing: A war, so it could rally everyone behind it and secure another 30 miserable years in power. The turbans are itching for a war.

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________


Cost-of-Progress

Fair elections

by Cost-of-Progress on

?Who elected the grand murderer 

?Who "screens" the candidates for presidency

?Can a secular person run for presidency 

چقدر آدم باید پور رو باشه  - شما ها به سنگ پا میگین زکی - همین جوری راست راست به آدم نگاه میکنین و دروغ میگین . سوال اینکه آیا مزخرفات خود را باور میکنین یا طوطی واری پرت و پلا میگین؟؟

____________

IRAN FIRST

____________


Onlyiran

Mamad Ali Jaan

by Onlyiran on

Please post proof of your involvement in all of the following efforts right away:

 true patriots that have fought for independence in the domains of the Iran-Iraq war, national security, defense, technology, and the media, and today fight the good fight against these MKO-lite weaklings,

If you don't, then we will automatically conclude that you are 1) NOT a true patriot, and 2) a "shrill voice"...of something or something...

Please note that you cannot simply claim that you have engaged in any of the above mentioned conduct.  We need proof, which means documents, service records from the time that you fought in the Iran-Iraq war, evidence of you developing technology for, or delivering technology to, the IRI, pictures of you delivering handcuffed and blindfolded MKO traitors to the holy IRGC at Evin, etc.

We will be looking forward to seeing the evidence.   


Yousef Bozorgmehr

The first presidential election in Iran

by Yousef Bozorgmehr on

 

I seem to remember Bani Sadr being the first elected president of Iran - you know the guy who destroyed the Iranian Army and then hijacked a plane and escaped to France only to join forces with Maryam Rajavi.

Since this guy supports the cult of Rajavi, as do you lot, isn't this proof that elections in Iran are free and fair?


mamadali

Again, the foreigners' backers

by mamadali on

Quite humorous how the shrill voice of the faux patriots does nothing more than scare the birds.  The true Iranians know who you are, how removed you are, and finally the ill will you have towards them and our great country.   This article, its supporters, and the 'writer' are nothing more than that shrill voice-the voice that supports the hand of the foreigner but thanks to the true patriots that have fought for independence in the domains of the Iran-Iraq war, national security, defense, technology, and the media, and today fight the good fight against these MKO-lite weaklings, they will not succeed.

Mamad Ali

Javedan Iran!


MM

IRI's wish is to work its way towards Saddam's 98% approval/vote

by MM on

If the last round of voting is any indication, we will see a >98% approval/vote for the VF's puppet one minute after the polls close.

See......Who says IRI is not goal-oriented?