http://www.spreadpersepolis.com/
Also: Which Path to Persia? Options for a new American strategy toward Iran:
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2009/06_iran_strategy/06_iran_strategy.pdf
Global Insanity
I have been watching more TV than my usual quota of 5 minute per week. Yesterday Zakaria was talking to Robert Baer – ex CIA, author of “The devil we know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.”
The conversation was something like the following (not the exact words, you’ll have to find the program on CNN website to get the exact sentences):
Zakaria: Is it true that the US is meddling in Iran?
The question is funny to begin with – as if Mr. Baer would start to explain us the meddling-plans if there were any. Nevertheless you won’t be disappointed by the answer:
Baer: No, we have minor operations in Afghanistan and Iraq (to destabilize Iran), they are carried out just to appease the hawks in the Congress.
Can someone get some Valium or dope for Congress’ hawks so they are “appeased” in a less costly and deadly manner?
Disparate
Jon Stewart has a series of short videos on Iranian elections. Somewhere he illustrates the influence of the “Obama effect” on Iranian elections: the use of slogans such as Yes We Can, Change and also the “Michelle Obama” effect, with an excerpt of a speech where Zahra Rahnavard says something like “this is the first time that I am proud of my country“!. Oops, it seems that this last part was a joke! I missed the sentence in Persian – Thanks P:)
You can browse the videos here, among others see Jason Jones: “behind the veil” – part 1 – 2 – 3.
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One of my favorite quotes from PPGG’s homepage:
“Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better, but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions, to create occasions for evil to manifest itself.”
Aldous Huxley
Maybe that is how we end up with a “We Won’t Negotiate” posture and consider protest as a “low-level terrorism“.
What does the coverage tell?
I am not a TV fan and frankly I didn’t have a clear idea on how the recent events in Iran are represented in the international MSM.
It was quite an experience for me to spend the most part of yesterday at a friend’s in front of the TV. We watched mainly CNN where the Iran coverage constituted almost 70% of the program.
Various far-from-interesting-guests-and-experts would explain in length their difficulties to get information out of the country and what were the limitations imposed recently on foreign journalists. Footage of Iran consisted mainly of whatever they found on the net and guests would explain that they weren’t sure of the date and location. You had those who thought that President Obama was doing the “right thing” etc. My friend and I laughed at the “art” of talking and talking and not having much to say.
The only thing we learned about this lengthy Iran program with not much substance was the following: For some reason CNN was willing to invest a lot of its valuable air time to Iran despite the lack of facts, figures or in depth analysis.
No need to say that all my sympathies are toward the brave Iranian youth. Still this program was sort of ridiculous if you think that the Afghan, Iraqi or Palestinian people are systematically deprived of such an interest.
Now I understand As’ad AbuKhalil’s frustration when he speaks precisely of the CNN coverage:
“[…] But the hypocrisy is quite stunning. They are admiring the dare of the population when the Palestinian population shows more dare. They are outraged at the level of repressive crackdown by the regime when Israeli crackdowns on demonstrations are far more brutal and savage? They are admiring the participation of women in a national movement, when Palestinian women led the struggle from as far back as the 1930s (see the private papers of Akram Zu`aytir). They are outraged that the Iranian government is repressing media coverage, when the Israeli government is far more strict: when it was perpetrating slaughter in Gaza few months ago, the Western press was not allowed any freedom of movement except the hill of death where Michael Oren led reporters to watch Israeli brutal assault on the Palestinian civilian population from a distance. The media coverage in the US and UK prove beyond a doubt that increasingly the Western press has been serving as a tool for the various Western government. If the government cheers, the media cheer, if the government condemns, the media condemns, etc. […]
And here is Doug Darkworld’s take of the coverage where he distinguishes three types of reporting (1,2,3 are added):
“[...] Basically, there’s always people rioting and demonstrating about something somewhere. We can’t rely on the media to tell us what they are rioting about, but the coverage of such events is revealing. To wit:
- If foreign demonstrations get extensive media coverage and are portrayed as popular “pro-democracy” movements, this means the government in question has told the USA to fuck-off and they aren’t about to let the UN and the IMF run their countries to expedite western looting of their resources. This of course would be the case in Iran.
- If the demonstrators are opposing a US backed today government, they will get zero mainstream media coverage. This would be the case in Georgia or Thailand.
- And if the demonstrators are actually opposing the hyper concentration of wealth and power that epitomizes the modern era, such as the protesters at the recent G20 conference, they will be portrayed as radical anarchist thugs.
See, one can learn something from the mainstream media, one just as to know how to interpret it.[...]“
- I have prepared something, could you check the English please.
He reads the first three lines of the first paragraph:
- Are you crazy?
- Why? What’s wrong?
- Are you pretending not to understand? You remember the deal? No politics.
- But this has nothing to do with politics, I am just telling what that fellow said.
- Are you trying to outsmart me? You think people are idiots?
- I really don’t get it. What’s wrong with this. It is a very simple story, it isn’t even related to today’s news.
- You are totally out of your mind.
Then he leaves shaking his head.
June 17th
I am tired and emotionally stirred up. I am just going to write down a few thoughts and try to keep a cool head:
All started with the accusations of rigged elections – see Why our votes were stolen. If there was a neutral oversight of the counting (I am not talking about international observers. It was possible to organize one using local observers) much of these claims could have been kept away.
Now that we are here, much of the turmoil could have been avoided by an immediate application of existing laws on such claims.
Let’s assume that the announced results prove to be correct, it is safe to state that a section of 15 millions of the eligible voters have expressed their frustration. Calling them thugs, trash or bad losers does not help. This large section of society should feel integrated in the public life.
The current events are also the revival of what we call the Khatami era. During and after two presidential mandates, Khatami has been harshly blamed for having failed to deliver what he promised. Now he and other reformists have joined the camp of Moussavi, trying to make up for what they were not able to accomplish in the past.
I sincerely hope that all could come together as soon as possible and find a plausible compromise and thus avoid to further radicalize the population and minimize risks of malevolent foreign meddling.
A few interesting links:
Is the election pitting the poor vs. the middle class? A glance at the demographic economy of the voters
Rafsanjani’s gambit backfires. Looking into the game of the main political figures
and Khamenei rides a storm in a tea cup by M K Bhadrakumar
- Progressive observers are extremely suspicious of the motives and intentions behind the newfound concern for the Iranian people. See:
The “Bomb Iran” contingent’s newfound concern for The Iranian People
More articles in Iran category at P U L S E
Iran 2009 category at 99
See also here
Previous Post
Check Naj’s blog and Pedestrian for updates and Iran category at PULSE for a different view
Done
We went to vote at around noon expecting less people at lunch time. It took us about 3 hours and a half to cast our vote.
See also: Election day in Iran
‘Our’ Iran
Iranian elections: live
Update 1: Poll closed. Voting was extended four times.
Update 2: Moussavi’s website: Despite many irregularities in polling stations Moussavi is leading by a large margin.
Update 3: According to sites close to Ahmadi-Nejad, he has won the elections with 69% of the votes
Update 4: Snippets from Voters: IRNA (The Iranian News Agency) claims with 20% of all votes counted, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leads the race. IR’s official Iran news agency, has declared Ahmadinejad the winner of the election.
Update 5: پیام دریافت شد؛ اصلاحات را فراموش کنید
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- The Man Who Could Beat Ahmadinejad: Mousavi Talks to TIME
- Congress-Ahmadinejad Secret Love Affair Continues: The Iran Refine Petroleum Sanctions Act, by Trita Parsi
- Philip Weiss: Obama’s Iran man is still pictured on site calling for sanctions on Iran
- “Don’t Cry For Me Ahmadinejad”: “When it comes to the Iranian presidential elections, Jerusalem is convinced that it is in fact Iran’s current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is the best candidate to serve Israel’s interests. ‘We’re better off with him getting elected,’ said a senior political source. ‘The prevailing opinion here is that Ahmadinejad just speaks his mind. How are the others any different? They’re just nicer, but they think exactly like him.’”
In less than 8 hours …
” … if the Iranian people do so desire it, Iranian society will continue on this natural and sustainable path of change and reform. Of course, this is provided that foreign powers do not interfere in a way that will destroy this movement, or hurl it back a hundred years or more.” Read the article
See also Campaing round up, Moussavi’s agenda and more at Tehran Bureau
A story within The story
From Opium and Saffron:
“These nights, I also wrap green band on my wrist, my eye shadow is also green. I and 14-15 of my friends have bought two green nail polishes, and paint our nails the color green. These nights, we come from downtown to the posh northern part of the city to arrive with the first crowd of happy people and start dancing with them.
These days and nights, I constantly take out my armband, and again ask a posh boy to wrap a new green band for me and again the scent of his perfume lives on my wrist for two days. These nights are the only nights that we are not clowned because of our poverty.” … read more
See also: How does an election look in Iran
