SecularDemocraticIran

25 Bahman Updates: The Iranian Democratic Movement Is Matured

After more than a year of silence, the brave Iranian people once again demonstrated that not only they have not put aside their demands for freedom and Democratic, but in fact their demands are now more radicalized and directed toward a main goal: to overthrow the Velayate Faqih fanatical dictatorship and establish a secular democratic government led by the people themselves.

The number of protesters ranging from 500,000 according to some estimate to several millions took to the streets of Tehran and all other cities through out Iran including Shiraz, Mashad, Isfahan, Qom, Tabriz, Isfahan, Rasht and many other small and large cities all over the country.

The regime banned all foreign journalists from covering the events and fully shut down internet and other ways of communications such as MSM, mobile phone service, internet and jammed satellite signals in an attempt to isolate the crowds and prevent the news being broadcast to the outside world. According to the witnesses, the regime forces were extremely frightened and their commanders were begging them to not give up and continue beating and use as much tear gas they can to disperse the protesters.

One main development is that the regime can not rely on its revolutionary guards (IRGC)anymore and now mainly relies on the Basij and Ansar Hezbollah militias who are mostly illiterate thugs and criminals hired from mostly rural and poor areas, paid large bonuses to suppress the protesters while their Basij ID gives them free pass to sell drugs, receive government bonuses and in some ways become untouchables. The revolutionary guards (IRGC) is mostly made of professional military men, many have served during the Iran-Iraq war and prefer serving the country and most have lost faith in the regime’s ideology and its leadership. Hundreds of revolutionary guards who attempted to side with the protesters were arrested (and tens of them secretly executed) during the post-election uprising. The main reason the main body of IRGC is still silence is because of its monopoly control over Iran’s economy (over 75% of Iran’s economy is controlled by IRGC and much of the black market and contraband market is also controlled by them) The Iranian formal Army (Artesh) on the other side, can never be relied and that’s why the Islamic Republic has always tried to weaken the Army since the 1979 revolution after Khomeini executed hundreds of its commanders and leaders for their loyalty to the Shah.

During a recent event, one of the highest ranking Islamic Republic intelligence officers and IRGC general who defected last year, expressed signs that they are planning a military coup to overthrow the Ayatollahs in Iran and establish as secular democratic alternative by engaging the opposition and the people’s role in the future of Iran.

On 25 Bahman, I was receiving minute by minute updates from the fellow Iranians in various parts of Iran, all complaining about the free world’s double standards and how the peaceful and friendly, but dictator leaders of Egypt and Tunisia were forced to leave the country by the international community after weeks of protests, but they have been largely ignored by the free world.

Nearly all the chants were aimed at the heart of the Islamic Republic, Khamenei and the Islamic republic. There was almost no mention of their votes, Mousavi or even Ahmadinejad. People burned down Khomeini and Khamenei’s pictures, there were reports of displaying the real pre-Khomeinist occupation Iranian flag the Lion & Sun flag in the demonstrations and there were clear denounce of the Islamic Republic, not the Ahmadinejad administration.

People were chanting slogans such as: “Bin Ali, Mubarak, now Seyed Ali (Khameni)”, ” Religion and politics must be separated”, they cheered burning Khomeini and Khamenei’s pictures, protesters chanted slogans asking the military and security to unite with them and their aim was complete change of the system, reform is dead.

To understand how unpopular the Islamic Republic is among the Iranian people, you should compare the regime organized 22 Bahman (the celebration of anniversary of 1979 Islamic Revolution) protest which after mass promotions, free meals, government benefits, bonuses and gifts offered by the regime to the participants, not even 5,000 people showed up to the 25 Bahman protest which after days of threats by the regime and without any protest permit people risked their lives and millions protested all across the country.

The Iranian people know well that the brutal Islamic dictatorship is nothing as humane and peaceful as the Egyptian and Tunisian governments that their leaders simply respected the popular demands of their people and the advise from the free world and left the country with minimum resistance to the people. They know that without some sort of military intervention, either from within the Iranian armed forces, the free world or a combination of both, the most brutal ideological, fanatical mass murdering terrorist regime can not be removed with peaceful protests alone.

Those Iranian people are risking their lives just to tell the world that they want to be free at any cost. They’re trying to demonstrate to the world how different they are from the occupying Islamic Republic regime.

There were minimum use of Allah-o-Akbar (except the night before which was used as a psychological tactic that works the best shaking the foundation of an Islamist system and also reminds the regime of their own revolution 31 years ago) and other Islamic slogans, and there were no pro-Mousavi or reform slogans such as “Ya Hussein, Mir Hussein” anymore.

Clearly, regardless of what the reformist and pro-IR media is pretending, the movement has moved beyond reform and wants complete regime change, also the symbolic use of the color of “green” which was originated from the 2009 presidential election campaign has been largely abandoned and the movement is a colorless (or multi-color) and diverse movement.

Democracy is the goal, but in order to establish a progressive democracy, we first need freedom to express our political opinions, organize democratic political parties, have democratic constitution in place and non-political military and security units to safeguard the population and their representatives in the government.

Establishing a democratic system is like constructing a building. If you have a building with a well engineered foundation and structure, a renovation may be your best option because most structural parts may not require changing, but of there is an old, rusted brick and mud house built on the land, you will need the plan and will to construct the new building, you’ll need architects and builders qualified to build such building, then the old brick and mud house must be fully demolished, a new foundation strong enough for such building must be laid, first the structural parts must be completed, safety measures should be considered and then the finishing parts. You can not just say that since demolition will be costly and may risk damaging neighboring structures or workers may be harmed during the demolitions, it should be skipped. You also can’t build a house without a foundation. Even if you don’t have a complete set of plans, you at least need to have a clear idea of what you are looking to build and the architects can be employed during or after the demolition as long as you have the will, determination, budget and resources necessary.

Likewise, constructing a democracy first requires the will and determination of a nation. A corrupt, fanatical, terrorist, fascist, violent and irrational dictatorship like the Islamic Republic can not be renovated (reformed) because if you leave any of the corrupt, dysfunctional and uncivilized parts intact, after all the time and expense to reform the system, it won’t end up a fully functioning and lasting democracy and you will end up in long chaos and eventually have to build a new democracy from scratch.
Nothing can save a such unpopular regime in long term, however various internal and external factors can accelerate the collapse of the Islamic Republic.

BY: Cy. S. S.

On Twitter @CyrusShares

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