Demonstrate Against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sunday 7 October, Piccadilly

Every year, supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran hold an Al Quds Day rally.

In the United Kingdom, that rally is organised by the Khomenist group which misleadingly calls itself the "Islamic Human Rights Commission".
In Germany, German, Iranian and Turkish progressives have put together a counter-demonstration to Al Quds Day.

This year, there is going to be a counter-demonstration to Al Quds Day, supported by Iranian and British progressives.


It will take place at 12 pm, next Sunday 7 October, in Piccadilly, London.
Please join us.
And please pass the message along to as many people as you know who will stand with us.

Many Thanks to Harry's Place

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What's in a Talk?

I like to present two articles written by Sohrab Ferdowsi and Sheema Kalbasi in response to the uninformed piece by none other than Mr. Ignatius. Mr. Ignatius has been a cheerleader of giving the fascist oligarchic Islamic Republic what it covets the most, namely the "Security Guarantees" from the United States without considering the long-term implications or whether it did any good when we gave it to N.K.

Mr. Ignatius wishes the U.S. to become a junior partner with the Islamic Republic in controlling the Middle East but does not have quite the moral fortitude to consider the fate and prospect of liberty and prosperity for the enslaved Iranian people. Or perhaps, he finds that proposition a nuisance as long as there are fleeting short-term gains in the political scoring board. What does it really mean to give a 'security guarantee' to a fascist regime whose main raison de'tere is to export Islamism and defeat the Great Satan? Is pouring more money into the Ayatollahs coffers by allowing them to join the World bank or having more cultural exchange between the two countries going to change the identity and the objectives of the religious regime? Is Mr. Ignatius aware how American culture was deeply entrenched in the secular society of the pre-Revolution era? Does he know that most Iranians above the age of 28 grew up on watching heavy doses of "Little House on the Prairie", "I love Lucy", "The Flintstones", and "The Walton's". The mullahs hated the Shah precisely for that reason because they saw Western culture as a threat to Islam.

Nor Mr. Ignatius finds it vital to identify the risks associated with making "pragmatic"(irrelevant concept when you're dealing with Islamic 'cause' of establishing the ummah) agreements with a religious institution that views itself as a vanguard to defeat the current world order and offers the world an "alternative Islamic" order. It’s also interesting that he does not provide any historical precedence in achieving our goals by sleeping with our enemies that have not had long-term disastrous consequences. Additionally, he does not mention that a powerful group within the ruling elite does not want rapprochement with the U.S. because it threatens their economic leverage and status. He is also profoundly misguided to think that there are any differences between the reformers or the hardliners. He judges only the ‘style’ of the “charming” reformers, which is more appealing to the western palate (because they tell Americans what they want to hear, practicing Taqiya), but he does not grasp that their goal is one and the same. That the propagandist maneuvering and Washington lobbying of the Westernized-appearing and tie-wearing Islamists profiteers (Scholars, organizations, professors, PhD Candidates, and ‘fake dissidents’ dispatched to lobby on behalf of the Islamic Republic in the U.S.) has fooled Mr. Ignatius is an instruction on his utter ignorance of the true nature and foundational history of Islamic theocracy and what the words 'theocracy' and 'Khomeinism" mean.

Mr. Ignatius is looking for a short-term solution, as did many of his cohorts in the past with catastrophic results. Sheema and Sohrab echo my sentiments in regards to talking and making "pragmatic" deals with the fascist regime:




What's in it for ordinary Iranians?

May 25, 2007 iranian.com

Once again talks about negotiation between Islamic government of Iran and American leadership have become a hot topic in both countries. Leaders of Islamic Republic, as always, are issuing all kinds of mixed messages through promises of helping Americans in Iraq and willingness to negotiate and also repeating same old rhetoric on issues like nuclear activities and presence of American troops in Persian Gulf region. From the other side, American policy makers have been tangled in a power struggle since last congressional election which has greatly influenced their ability to deal with non domestic issues.

Leaders of Islamic regime in Iran appear to believe that this divide among elements in American leadership is in their interest and openly try to capitalize on that in order to find a support in American government for trouble free extension of their system. This is not the first time and the only instance that, despite all rhetorical slogans in every Friday prayer, Islamic regime has made attempt to get closer to Americans. Islamic Republic government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars since more than a decade ago through institutions which were inherited from previous system in order to buy "friendship" of some Americans who show interest in getting close to Islamic regime of Iran.

Formation of institutions like AIC (American Iranian Council) with sponsorship and support of well known and influential figures and corporations in America about 10 years ago, to encourage "dialogue" between leaders of Islamic regime and United States, has been one of the methods that have been tried in this direction with help of some Iranian elements. It is obvious that those who were involved in creation of this organization could not have come up with the idea overnight and having corporations like Shell, Chevron and Exxon on their side to "encourage dialogue" with oil rich Iran is a clear indication that no charity work is involved either!

There is no doubt that "dialogue" in order to resolve an issue is the best option depending on how dialogue is to be handled and by whom. The issue is that "what problems" can be resolved through dialogue between American government and Islamic Republic regime of Iran which have not been resolved so far? Will this resolution have interests of Iranian people as a nation included or just a certain portion of society will benefit from it?

There is no question that friendly relation between the two nations have a lot of advantages for both under proper circumstances but letís see who benefited from "dialogue" and resolution of issues between Islamic government of Iran and others like European governments? Have the friendly relations between Islamic Republic regime in Iran and European governments, Japan and Russia along with their generous contracts with European and Russian companies had any positive effect inside Iran as far as conditions of economy and human rights for the public?

A glance into the day to day events in Iran shows the Islamic regime is always busy with brutal suppression of any kind of objections from working groups like, teachers, public transportation drivers and labors and also students in the name of "national security" and the answer to the above question is definitely "NO"! Despite constant increase in revenue of the Islamic government particularly from oil and gas sector, the quality of living for majority of Iranian population has been in decline and extreme poverty has resulted in opportunities for some disgraceful type of businesses to boom.


This makes one wonder if "friendly" business relations of Islamic Republic with all western nations (except United States) and the rest of the world, has not helped to improve the quality of life for people of Iran in the past decades then how the friendly relations with American government and American oil corporations will be helpful to them?

The scandals of bribery with French and Belgian corporations in which associates of high ranking members of Islamic regimeís leadership were implicated is tip of the iceberg on how the business is conducted in Islamic Republic government. Coming of American corporations to Iran under current system will never help anyone but Islamic regime leaders and those who lobby for their own share from this big pie while majority of Iranian people who were robbed of their prosperity by this corrupt regime continue their struggle with poverty and suffer from extreme human right abuses under this brutal and barbaric system.


Islamic government of Iran that has never shown any respect for humane values, by clinging to Islamic ideology as an excuse, has made it very clear through unorthodox behavior that it will not hold back of doing anything to protect itself against the will of Iranian people even if it is making a deal with devil himself!

Flood of petrodollars during the years after end of Iran-Iraq war has provided Islamic republic leaders with a big leverage to influence the affairs in the region and also attract many Iranians outside the country to work for the interests of their system. In a world that well reputed magazines and news paper sell their columns and pages to be filled with any kind of material that money can buy, lobbying for Islamic republic has become a very profitable business. Not surprisingly, some of highly educated Iranians have become actively involved in order to make it to the list of rich and famous, fast and with easy money!

Interestingly enough, Dr. Amirahmadi, a well known figure in one of these lobbying groups, in his website declares the source of all problems of Iranian society to be "lack of vision and leadership" while listing giant corporations like Shell, Exxon and Chevron as a sponsors of his lobby group to encourage "dialogue" with Islamic government in Iran! Apparently Total of France, Gazprom of Russia and Statoil of Belgium were not good in "encouraging anything" and we now need others to get working on this "innovative vision" to bring prosperity for some people and continuity for a brutal system which is barbarically suppressing the most basic rights and liberties of people in Iran! Comment


Dialogue Only Buys Them Time
By Sheema Kalbasi

After my recent blog post that was published on the Iranian Times I received e-mails some of which expressing their desire for a dialogue with the Iranian regime as a just cause. I am opposed to such dialogue on several grounds.The supporters of dialogue between the US and the regime have never shown, articulated, or even tried to articulate how such dialogue would benefit the Iranian people.

Attempts of this kind have been at best limited to vague references to change in countries where the US had diplomatic presence. Moreover, the crimes committed by the regime make any such dialogue unconscionable in my opinion.

I am opposed to dialogue with the regime because I find it incapable of addressing the fundamental issues that underlie the Iranian normalcy crisis in the past 28 years. The only thing that dialogue will accomplish is buying mullahs more time, especially giving them the best opportunity to pursue their nuclear ambitions.

The futility of dialogue was once proved in early 90’s where EU’s “critical dialogue” with the regime was terminated following the Mikonos verdict in Germany. As a matter of fact regime took advantage of this “dialogue” to consolidate its power through mass assassination and jailing of dissidents, writers, and intellectuals inside and outside Iran. This period also coincided with growing divide between the rich and the poor which brought nearly half of the population below the poverty line. Inhumane punishments and human right abuses continued unabated. “Critical dialogue” turned out to be nothing but a code word for Europe’s shortsighted interests in dealing with a murderous regime in Tehran.

Is this the type of dialogue that the supporters of dialogue between the US and the regime are looking for?I am also opposed to dialogue with the regime because I find it unconscionable. The “moral equivalence” camp on the other hand argues that since the sum of the evil around the world is equal to the evil of the regime, this regime is only as bad as the rest of the world. This makes the dialogue morally unobjectionable in their eyes.

The moral equivalence argument typically goes by breaking down regime’s crimes into pieces, finding a match (close or remote) to each piece somewhere in the world to draw its absurd conclusion. Let me sum up some of the crimes of this regime for those who need to be reminded.One warm summer day in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini who at the time was the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic wrote a letter to three of his confidants (the so-called committee of three) ordering them to "clean up" the Iranian prisons as the war between Iran and Iraq was drawing to an end. In plain words, Khomeini left it to the discretion of the three clerics to order the execution of any political prisoner who was not "converted".

The committee ordered execution of prisoners based on their answers to a couple of questions such as whether the person did his/her daily prayers or whether they still believed in their cause. Meat trucks carried the bodies of the executed prisoners at dawn to a place that was later named "the cursed-land" by regime thugs. The bodies of the executed prisoners were buried in mass graves in the "cursed-land".

Thousands are believed to have been executed in this way. Many of those prisoners had done their sentences and were awaiting release.It is not clear how many people have been stoned to death in Iran because the regime is particularly tight lipped about this style of execution. The number is large, at least tens, and according to some accounts, the regime judiciary has ordered and carried out the stoning of more than 1000 people.

The "crimes" that justify this cruel and barbaric punishment under the regime's "justice" code range from acting in home-made porno movies to accusation of adultery. Soraya M. whose hours before stoning has been portrayed in a book entitled "The Stoning of Soraya M." was accused of adultery because she was cooking for a male family friend. The punishment is carried out by first giving the inmate a "dead wash" (ghosl-e-meyet) in early morning hours before being taken him/her to the killing field where he/she is buried up to the neck/chest. The size of stones is DELIBERATELY chosen in such a way that they don't kill the inmate immediately but rather prolong the suffering for at least 15 minutes, delivering an excruciating death.

It is very common that the condemned is alive and aware when their eyes pop out as the mob is carrying out the execution. Stoning is typically overseen by the ordering cleric. Although the barbaric act of stoning may rarely happen elsewhere in the world, this form of punishment is specifically sanctioned by regime's "justice" code, unlike in other places where the act is more of a mob-revenge nature.Atefeh was only 16 years old when she was arrested because of immoral acts. According to some accounts, she had an affair with some members of the moral police and they asked for her execution to preserve their "honor" and "reputation". During the hearings, Atefeh became momentarily upset and took off her clothes in protest. Shortly after, her execution was ordered and carried out personally by the mullah judge in public.

Even the executioner refused to carry out the sentence and plead for reversal.Several years ago a woman was accused of looking at nude males. Her blinding was ordered by a mullah judge. The wrists and fingers of people accused of theft are cut IN PUBLIC. Hundreds of people are executed by hanging IN PUBLIC every year.In 2005, a cleric shot and killed a young man in broad daylight in Tehran-Karaj metro. The young man was apparently "hitting on" a girl in the metro. According to regime's laws, clerics can be tried only by a special tribunal, which of and by its own is a clear example of an apartheid judicial system.

The cleric was later acquitted and released.Hundreds of dissidents were killed in exile by regime's agents. The preferred method of killing was slashing throats. Some of these dissidents were lured to meeting with regime's agents by the promise of finding a peaceful political settlement. In 1997, a German court named regimes' top leaders in ordering the assassination of several Kurdish dissidents in Mykonos restaurant in Germany. In addition to all these human right abuses, the regime has brought economic misery on a massive scale to the Iranian population. Nearly half of Iranians live under the poverty line. It is estimated that one in every 18 Iranians is addicted to illicit drugs. Scores of young Iranian women are sold in Pakistan and the Persian Gulf states as sex slaves.

Despite its oil riches, Iran imports nearly 40% of its gasoline domestic consumption.Finally, in regards to Dr. Haleh Esfandiari it should be noted that I was one of the first Iranian bloggers who posted a piece and brought attention to the danger of her being accused of apostasy in an article published by Keyhan. Despite my opposition to what Dr. Esfandiari has been working hard to promote, I believe we should all join forces to seek safe return not only for her but for all those detained against their will by the regime. My piece tried to show the futility of calls for dialogue with a regime which cannot even tolerate Dr. Esfandiari’s of this world.Giving the benefit of doubt has always been my shining light.

I want to believe that the supporters of dialogue are truly fearful of an imminent attack on Iran. Let me tell you what I am fearful of. As the game of cat and mouse is being played; as the mullahs take advantage of diplomatic signals and flirtations to buy time pursuing the bomb; and as the US fails to stabilize Iraq, an unholy alliance of regional Arab powers begin investing heavily in creating local insurgencies among ethnic minorities with tacit or direct support from the US. The regime has time and time proved its strategic foolishness and tactical genius. This time strategic foolishness may lead to Iran’s disintegration.

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"Why do the Iranian People not revolt against the regime?"

Yellow Dog, a blogger from Iran:

... There are people in the west who still say: "Why do the Iranian people not revolt against the regime?" I want to ask these people: When will western oil companies stop buying oil from the Ayatollahs and when will your governments stop making deals under the table with the Islamic regime? Islamic republic of Iran is the most advanced dictatorship in history. The Ayatollahs have taken their lessons from Niccolo Machiavelli, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and made violent governance into a science.

There are multiple layer security apparatus and intelligence gathering organizations keeping taps on Iranians all across the world by assassination, execution, disappearance, torture, rape, intimidation and use of death squads inside and outside of Iran .

Execution and torture is widely used in prison facilities in every corner of the country, many facilities built during Khatami's rein have capacities of 70,000 and more prisoners each, it has been witnessed that the prisons are similar to slaughter houses with corridors wide enough only for one person to pass at a time to and from cells. Now in Iran there are thousands of cameras, monitoring the movement of people in most important cities. I want to ask the people of the west what has happened to moral imperative?

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May 21, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Prominent Iranian *Sufi leader Nurali Tabandeh (aka Majzub Ali Shah) was detained today by security forces on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Gonabad.Tabandeh loyalists claimed that several of his supporters were beaten and detained along with him.

The reason for the arrest of Tabandeh, the leader of the Nematollah Gonabadi order, is unclear.
In October, 300 security forces surrounded Tabandeh's Gonabad residence after he refused to leave his city of birth.

Gonabad is the birthplace of the leaders of the Nematollahi Gonabadi dervish order, many of whom lived and were buried there.

Tabandeh's arrest has upset many supporters, who have said they will peacefully protest his arrest and call for his release.
One of Tabandeh's loyalists in Tehran who asked not to be identified told RFE/RL that this arrest followed calls by authorities for him to leave Gonabad.
"Some time ago, intelligence officials in Mashhad said [Tabandeh] should leave [the city], but he said, 'I will remain in Bidokht' -- because there was no legal reason for him to leave the city and go to Tehran and because they had asked to do that forcefully and illegally," the supporter said. "It's been15 days now [since the warning] that he had stayed in Bidokht. But they acted like thieves -- they arrested him on the road [to Aliabad] -- they didn't come to Bidokht."
The same source said some supporters have considered far more serious acts to draw attention to what they regard as official persecution.

"By tomorrow, all the [dervishes] will depart for Bidokht -- they're going from different provinces to Bidokht," the source said. "Two of the dervishes had wanted to immolate themselves in front of the governor's office because none of the officials have provided a response. But other dervishes prevented that from happening because it could have a negative impact. But they cannot end this story like this. What the government has done is illegal."
Increasing Pressure On Religious Minorites High-profile cases like Tabandeh's suggest that pressure on minority religious groups, like Sufis and dervishes, has increased in Iran.
Last year, a Sufi house of worship was destroyed in Qom, and hundreds of Sufis were detained.

The U.S. Commission On International Religious Freedom said in a May 2 statement that an already "poor" government record on religious freedom had deteriorated in the past year -- particularly for religious groups like Sufi Muslims and Evangelical Christians.
Critics are likely to claim that Iranian authorities' latest move against the leader of the Nematollahi order is another sign of intolerance toward those who do not practice Islam as it is promoted by the political and religious establishment.

Several conservative clerics have in recent months described Sufism as a danger to Islam.
Tabandeh's Nematollahi Gonabadi order is reportedly among the largest Sufi groups in Iran.

From Wikipedia:

*Sufism is a mystic tradition within Islam and encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to divine love and the cultivation of the heart.
"Sufism" has been defined as a type of knowledge by the great Sufi masters. Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq, a 14th century Sufi who wrote "The Principles of Sufism" defined Sufism as, "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God.” Ibn 'Ajiba, one of the best known Sufi masters defined Sufism as "a science through which one can know how to travel into the presence of the Divine, purify one’s inward from filth and beautify it with a variety of praiseworthy traits."
The Tariqas (Sufi orders) may be associated with Shi'a Islam, Sunni Islam, or other currents of Islam. It has been suggested that Sufi thought emerged from the Middle East in the eighth century, but adherents are now found around the world.[1].

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Iranian Blogger: "I'm afraid of my Country's Police"!

من از پلیس کشورم می ترسم (I'm afraid of my country's Police force)

By Azadeh (An Iranian woman blogger)

.وقتی از پلیس کشورم پرسیدم:
چرا موقعی که شب، وسط اتوبان تهران-کرج، بدون بنزین توی پیکانمون نشسته بودم، با بنز الگانس از کنارم گذشت و به من کمک نکرد
فحشهایی بهم داد که خیلی هاشو تا حالا نشنیده بودم. آخرش هم می خواست منو به خاطر اینکه خستگی یه روز کارو تو تنش نشونده بودم ببره کلانتری، که با غلط کردن های من دلش به رحم اومد.پلیس کشورم وقتی می خواد یک کارگر افغان رو از ساختمون بیرون کنه، اونو از طبقه پنجم پرت میکنه پایین و مهم نیست که بعدش میمیره.پلیس کشورم منو دستگیر می کنه اگه بخوام که سرپرست بچه ای باشم که به دنیا آوردمش.پلیس کشورم اگه از حجاب من خوشش نیاد به من فحش میده و با باتوم میزنه توی سرم.ولی من نمی تونم به پلیس کشورم فحش بدم، چون دایی من یه پلیسه و من داییمو دوست دارم.اما دلم می خواد به اونایی که هر قدرتی رو مقدس کردند و به من اجازه ندادن که هیچ وقت راجع بهشون حرف بزنم فحش بدم.همون وقت که رییس جمهورم دروغ گفت.همون وقت که نماینده مجلسم از حق معلمم دفاع نکرد.همون وقت که پلیسم یک انسان رو به جرم افغان بودن کشت.و همون وقت که در کوچه پس کوچه های شهرم پدری دخترش رو سنگسار کرد.پس نوشت: اینجا می توانید نتایج یک تحقیق روانشناسانه در دانشگاه استنفورد را ببینید که چقدر راحت انسان های عادی ای مثل من و تو می توانند در عرض دو روز به بی رحم ترین زندان بان ها تبدیل شوند.

Translation:

"When I asked from my country’s police:
“"Why that night when I was stranded in the middle of Tehran-Karaj freeway without any gas inside our Peykan (cheap Iranian made car), he passed us by in his elegant Mercedes Benz and he refused to help me.”"

He cussed at me and used foul language and expletives, many of which, I had not ever heard of before until that night. At the end, he wanted to take me to the police station but when I started to apologize profusely, he took pity on me and did not take me.

My country’s police, when they want to evict an Afghani worker from a building, they throw him down from the window of fifth floor building and it’s not important for him if he dies soon after.

My country’s police, arrests me, if I want to be the parents of a child that I gave birth to.

My country’s police, if he doesn’t like the way I have put my hejab on, cusses at me and beats me on the head with his baton.

But I can’t curse at my country’s police, because my uncle is a policeman and I love my uncle.

…but I want to curse those who have sanctified arbitrarily every which authority and power and have never allowed me to talk about them.

When My president lied.
When my parliament representative did not defend the rights of my teacher

When my police killed a human being because of his crime of being an Afghani
And when a father in the narrow alleyways of my city stoned his own daughter to death.

P.S. You can read the study by Stanford University and see how ordinary human beings like you and I can potentially become the most merciless prison guard in a matter of two days." --End Translation

Many thanks to Azadeh. Please visit her English Site here. You'll be glad you did. I promise.

Azadeh jan: اگر اشکالی داشت پوزش مرا قبلا بپذیر

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Tehran Detains 4th Iranian American Before Talks

Washington Post:Iran has imprisoned a consultant for philanthropist George Soros's Open Society Institute programs, according to sources who work with the Columbia University-educated social scientist. Kian Tajbakhsh becomes the fourth dual U.S.-Iranian national to be incarcerated, detained or put under house arrest in recent weeks.

In another sign of U.S.-Iranian tensions, Tehran has refused visas to several Americans invited to two conferences in the Iranian capital next week, Iranian officials and U.S. academics said. Others had visas in their passports revoked.
Analysts suggested that the new tensions may be related to talks Monday in Baghdad between U.S. and Iranian diplomats on Iraq's future.

"There is a clique of powerful officials who have entrenched financial and political interests in Iran's status quo isolation and don't want to see any improvement in the U.S.-Iran relationship," said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Tajbakhsh, 45, has worked with the Open Society Institute in Iran since 2004 and also has done work for the World Bank in Iran, colleagues said. An Iranian government official said yesterday that Tajbakhsh had also advised Iranian ministries and was widely respected as a social scientist.

His arrest came about three days after the May 8 imprisonment of Potomac resident Haleh Esfandiari of the Smithsonian's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Esfandiari received funding from the Open Society Institute to sponsor Middle East programs in Washington.

The institute said yesterday that its activities in Iran centered only on humanitarian relief, public health and culture. "These activities were undertaken with the knowledge of Iran's government and in full compliance with the specific licenses granted by the United States Treasury," spokeswoman Amy Weil said. After the 2003 earthquake in Iran's ancient city of Bam, the organization provided humanitarian relief at Tehran's request. The U.S. government did not initiate or fund any of its activities, a statement said.

The institute confirmed that Tajbakhsh is serving as a part-time consultant, but it would not publicly confirm that he had been imprisoned.
Tajbakhsh worked on health and urban policy issues, most recently on AIDS prevention and drug addiction in Iran, said Laura Silber of the institute. His Web site, http://www.kiantajbakhsh.com, says he taught urban policy and politics at the New School for Social Research from 1994 to 2001.

"He has no political ambitions whatsoever," Sadjadpour said. "He's a U.S. citizen -- he could have chosen a comfortable life as a university professor in New York, but he chose to go back to Iran because of his love of the country."

Meanwhile, the House introduced a bipartisan resolution yesterday demanding that Iran free Esfandiari. It was co-sponsored by Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D), Elijah E. Cummings (D) and Wayne T. Gilchrest (R), all of Maryland, along with Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.).

"We want to send a strong message to the Iran government that her release is a priority," Van Hollen said in an interview. "If the Iranian government is truly interested in dialogue and improving relations with the United States, it should immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Esfandiari.""

This reminds of my mother's often quoted proverb: "When you don't use your brain, your body suffers".--Unknown (Ta Aghl Nabashad, JaAn dar azaAb ast)

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Ayatollah 'Crocodile' Might be Going to Canada!

Source: Potkin

The big headlines Read:

"Mesbah-Yazdi: If anyone insults the Islamic sanctities, Islam has permitted for

his blood to be spilled, no court needed either

Toronto star reports that Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi (AKA Ayatollah Crocodile) is apparently invited to Canadian University of Waterloo for a lecture on the subject of dialogue between Islam & Christianity from 27th to 30th of May 2007. This has the Iranian-Canadian community up in arms. Some excerpts:

A group of Iranian-Canadian academics and artists is vehemently protesting an invitation by the Mennonite Central Committee of Ontario to six Iranian Islamic scholars to take part in a conference at the University of Waterloo this month.

The Shia scholars, who are still awaiting visas, are from the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute. Its director is the controversial fundamentalist Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, spiritual adviser to Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This year, six representatives from the institute will present papers on the theme of spirituality at a four-day "dialogue on faith," co-sponsored by the Conrad Grebel University College, an affiliate of the University of Waterloo. "We're not against dialogue but the Mennonites are naive if they think they can open one with these people," says Haideh Moghissi, a York University sociologist who with 17 others signed a protest letter sent to the university.

She says Mesbah-Yazdi and his followers are "at the forefront of oppression in Iran," responsible for silencing all intellectuals who disagree with the regime.

"It hurts to know that while people are losing their lives over there, some people are opening the door to `dialogue' over here. Why doesn't the institute open it back there?"

It is the third symposium between the Mennonite committee and the Mesbah-Yazdi's institute since a relationship was established in 1998. The committee has also sponsored two of its post-graduate students to complete their PhDs at the University of Toronto.

"It's precisely because of the institute's closeness to Ahmadinejad that it's particularly important to cultivate a relationship," says committee director Rick Cober-Bauman.

He has responded to the critics, he says, offering a separate meeting to hear their views: "By no means do we want to minimize their concerns. Mennonites understand persecution."
But they also believe it is their calling to build peace, he adds.

"Maybe we are naive, but maybe things come from people who appear misguided or naive."
From his seminary in Qom, the holy city north of Tehran, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi espouses total isolation from the West and zero tolerance to any veering away from fundamentalist Shia interpretation of Islam.

Mesbah-Yazdi is a strong advocate of the death penalty, public flogging and the use of suicide bombers against "enemies of Islam." Although his institute has dispatched 15 students to universities in Canada, Britain, Austria and elsewhere, Mesbah-Yazdi himself seems to have mixed feelings. He has said that Iranians who question the regime after studying abroad do so because they'd been trained in "psychological warfare" by foreign universities.

"He is the most dangerous mullah in Iran," says Saeed Rahnema, director of York University School of Public Policy and Administration, who spearheaded the protest.
Rahnema thinks that by co-sponsoring the May 27-30 conference, Conrad Grebel University College is giving legitimacy to Mesbah-Yazdi's ideology.

This man is Ahamdinejad's spiritual mentor and and a chief ideologue of the Hojjatieh sect.

This sect was so radical, vile, and extremist in their views that Ayatollah Khomeini ordered its dissolution and the Hojjatieh and the group disappeared for a while. After Khomeini's death, all of the main Shiite Grand Ayatollahs (Sources of Emulation for the Shiite faithful) rejected Khameni's theologian credentials as a Grand Ayatollah, essential for him to become the new Supreme Leader, except for two. One of them was Mesbah-Yazdi and the other, the now chief of judiciary, the Iraqi born, Ayatollah Shahroodi. Thus Mesbah came back again from obscurity and in return for his services to establish the new Supreme Leader, he asked for funds and facilities to run the Imam-Khomeini institute. On the surface, the role of this institute is to spread the teachings of Khomeini. In reality however, Messbah-Yazdi used the funds and the means at his disposal to once again strengthen the network of the Hojjatieh group.

I wonder how much money he has donated build a new wing for the University? Why is it that these universities and Churches never invite Ayatollah Taheri and Ayatollah Boroujerdi (he is still in prison , dead or still in the hospital; noone knows) to lecture on dialogue. There are hundreds of other Shia Ayatollahs who are much more learned and knowledgeable than these buffoons and murderers.

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Iranian blogger: "We are the Product of Totalitarnism"

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سرعت ما برای بازگشت به دوران گذشته شتاب بیشتری می گیرد. پس از آن که تمام تلاشمان را به کار گرفتیم تا چهره شهر را از زنان و دختران بدحجاب پاک کنیم حال نوبت به اراذل و اوباش رسیده است تا آدم شوند. البته نه به منطق و گفت و گو که با آفتابه و مشت و لگد و خشونت.
امنیت اجتماعی حق مسلم شهروندان است و بی شک کمتر کسی می تواند فقدان آن را مناسب بداند.اما مساله مهم این است که چگونه باید آن را تامین کرد؟ آیا با ضرب و زور می توان به امنیت اجتماعی رسید؟
چندی قبل شبکه 2 سیما تریبون آزادی را در باره مقوله حجاب برگزار کرده بود و در میان تمام آدم ها یکی حرف جالب زد که دردناک بود و تامل برانگیز.او گفت: اگر مردان ما مشکل اخلاقی دارند و نمی توانند چشم هایشان را نگاه دارند چرا جورش را باید زنان بکشند و زیر چادرهای سیاه بپوسند.
هنوز خاطره تلخ تفکیک اتوبوس و پیاده کردن مسافران خانم به خاطر حضور آقایان در مسیر تهران قزوین ذهنم را می آزارد که تصاویری از مبارزه قهرمانانه نیروی انتظامی که صورت مامورانش را پوشانده تا شناسایی نشوند با جوانانی که اراذل و اوباش نامیده می شوند سخت می آزاردم.
راستش سوالی که برایم برجامانده این است؛ که چرا نظام تحصیلی ما نتوانست نسلی را مودب تربیت کند و جامعه ای چند لایه ساخته است.
پوشش زنان ما در محل کار و تحصیل با لحظاتی که به همراه نزدیکانشان برای تفریح یا خرید بیرون می آیند چقدر تفاوت دارد؟
نوع برخورد ما با مسایل پیرامونیمان چگونه است؟ آیا جامعه ما ریا نمی ورزد؟ آیا ما ناچار نیستیم برای گذران امورمان گاه عقایدمان را انکار کنیم؟ این ها واقعیت های پیرامونی ماست. ما که از آشکار کردن خود هراسناکیم. ما که از بی پیرایه سخن گفتن در عذابیم و ما که تمایل نداریم تا آن چه که می اندیشیم را به زبان بیاوریم.
ویژگی های متضاد بسیاری داریم. هم مسلمانیم و هم می می خوریم. خاطرم هست هم کلاسی داشتم بسیار مذهبی و گاه سر به سر می گذاشتم در دوره ای که بحث نواندیشی دینی برایم جذاب بود. هرکجا که کم می آورد می گفت: عرق خورهای را ری از تو بهترند حداقل دو ماه محرم صفر را می روند زیر علم و سینه می زنند.حتمن راست می گفت. همین حالا کارناوال هایمان را نگاه کن. جوان های ......
از بحث دور نشوم. این ها واقعیت جامعه استبدادی و ایدئولوژیک است. هنگامی که می خواهد همه را همسان و همانند کند و به سان هم همه را شکل دهد تا همه مثل هم سخن بگویند،مثل هم لباس بپوشند و مثل هم فکر کنند. در چنین جامعه ای دگر بودن کفر آمیز است و دگر اندیشی گناهی نابخشودنی. مردم یا با مایند و یا برما. میانه نداریم. بر اساس همین منطق است که حاکمیت نه فقط معترضان که دختران و زنانی که نحوه پوشش شان به آن چه که دلخواه حاکمیت است را مخالف نظام و وابسته به خارج می داند.
جامعه استبدادی مردم را درو، ریا کار، دو چهره و سراسر تضاد می کند و خود تاب تحمل تضاد ها را ندارد. اما فراموش کرده که سرکوب و زور و تهدید راه به جایی جز انزجار عمومی و افزودن بر میزان نابهنجاری ها نمی برد.بد نیست مسوولین دولتی به آمار ارایه شده توسط پلیس خود توجه بیشتری کنند تا عمق فاجعه را دریافت کند؛500فقره تجاوز به عنف در یک ماه تنها آمار رسمی است موارد غیر رسمی را کنار بگذارید

Partial Translation:

...."If men have ethical and moral issues , why should women shoulder the burden?", someone said in the TV program...

What we have been witnessing is the reality of totalitarian and ideological society. When they want to make everyone the same, wearing the same things, thinking the same things and saying the same things. In this kind of society being “the other” is heresy and “thinking differently” is an unforgivable sin. People are either with us or against us.

Based on this logic, the government (islamic republic) views those who do not comply with the desired way of covering dictated by the government as dissidents and opponents of the regime and lackeys or agents of the foreign governments.

The totalitarian society makes people into two-faced, duplicitous, and dishonest full of contradictions and inconsistencies and then itself doesn’t have the capacity to tolerate these contradictions. But it has forgotten that suppression, brutality and threats except creating more public hatred and increasing chaos do not end up anywhere else. I recommend the government official to look at their own police statistics to realize the depth of this catastrophic calamity: 500 cases of violation of compulsory dress code. And that’s what’s been reported officially just this month and we’ll never know about the unofficial ones."--end translation.

Another Iranian blogger writes, May 21, 2007: The sound of the rod on the body of Iranian children has torn asunder the ears of heaven. But their fathers and mothers are only aloof spectators and pass their days. The heavy shadows of Whips go up and down everyday. And all of us are spectators behind the curtain...Indeed, "nations and people get the government they deserve".

Keep watching the whips until you feel it palbable on your bodies...and then that day you will realize that it's too late. Indeed, who is to blame. The oppressor or the victim that accepts the oppression?

ظالم یا مظلوم؟ کدام مقصرند؟21 مه, بوسيله ى
صدای ترکه ها بر بدن فرزندان ایران زمین گوش فلک را پاره کرده است اما مادران و پدرانش تنها ناظران خشک و روز گذرند. سایه ها سنگین تازیانه ها هر روز بالا و پایین می روند و ما همه بخیال خود پرده نشینانی تماشاگریم.... براستی چه زیبا گفت آن بزرگ مرد تاریخ ، علی (ع) که « هر قوم و مردمی حکومتی دارند که شایسته آنند»... باز هم تماشا کنید تا تازیانه ها را بر بدن خود نیز لمس کنید و آن روز می فهمید که بسیار دیر است..... براستی چه کسی مقصر است؟ ظالمی که ظلم می کند یا مظلومی که ظلم را می (...)

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