Soundtrack of a Revolution (pt. 2)

Before we continue our talks of how to unhinge the regime, it's time for some articles and music.

United 4 Iran translated the list of institutions that the government accuses of waging a "soft" war with Iran. The usual suspects are present: Radio Farda, Zamaneh and BBC, Freedom House. But also HIVOS and Yale?
http://united4iran.com/2010/01/the-enemies-list-institutions-that-frighten-the-regime/

An interested argument of how acting without thought, even outside Iran, can hurt what's happening inside:
http://www.dailyniteowl.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/01/05/if-you-cannot-help-iranians-please-dont-hurt-them/

And as I promised you music, here's a video from a United 4 Iran event, starring Branko Galoic's Skakavac Orkestar, guest starring Stefanos on the violin and myself on the darbouka:



But to think that only the good side can make clips, here's some gangsterrap starring the President himself. MTV, when are you going to call this guy?:

Some Thoughts on the Road Ahead (pt. 2)

Yesterday I wrote about various goals of actions abroad. Today I will specifically add some thoughts on: spreading the message of Iran’s struggle to non-Iranians.

First off there’s a very important question we need to answer. Why should non-Iranians care about what happens in Iran?

Is it only because of the injustice? Surely there are countries to find that are worse off. In Iran the Nobel prize of Ebadi is confiscated, in Birma the Nobel prize winner has been under house arrest since forever. In Iran tens of people have been killed since the protests started. Compare that to Guinea where according to Human Rights Watch the military dictatorship one day in September killed between 150 and 200 people, wounding and hurting many others. (quote from http://www.hrw.org/node/87254 “Dozens of women described being subjected to individual and gang rape and sexual assault with objects such as sticks, rifle butts, and bayonets, while other witnesses described seeing at least four women murdered during or immediately after being raped; one shot with a rifle through her vagina while laying face up on the stadium's field begging for her life.”) The list of countries deserving our attention and support goes on and on.

What I've often heard from well-meaning westerners in political debates is that wanting to help out in Iran's struggle for freedom and democracy is imposing Western norms that we might want and might even be harmful for us. Time and time I've encountered the surprise of people when they hear that the desire to rule by vote of the people rather than monarchy/military/theocracy is over a century old in Iran. A process that was inspired by the West for sure, but also seriously derailed by the West in the fifties.

Regarding the world's concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions, what better way to make the world a safer place than to rid ourselves of Doomsday cultists (look up Ahmadinejad's particularly insane interpretation of Shi'a Islamic teachings)?

But not to forget, the revolution of 1979 and subsequent rise to power of Khomeini is a story that inspired many countries to revolt. It was a movement neither Western, nor Communist, and especially citizens of Muslim nations who had suffered from either one great power or the other now aspire to create a similar theocracy. A very important reason why the green revolution in Iran should succeed is that it will inspire the seculars and moderate Muslims in other Islamic nations to raise their voices and be heard.

In the past few months we have shown ourselves to be incredibly creative in organising demonstrations and events. Especially the Netherlands had a great line-up of speakers rallying the troops. But how many Dutch know Ahmad Batebi, MC Shahin Najafi or even Shirin Ebadi? Why not also get Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein or Michael Moore involved, or stars from the music and sports scene?

But above all, tell a clear story: not just what is happening, but to whom, in what context, and why it matters beyond the lives of the poor souls being destroyed that we stop this injustice.

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Some links for the day:

Sadly, we might see the first executions soon.
http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/01/threat-execution/

After blocking internet, short-wave radio, SMS-services even sattelite communication will be hindered:
http://www.satellitetoday.com/st/headlines/BBC-Iran-Blocking-Hot-Bird-Satellite-Signals_33115.html

Chinese show support of Iran's protestors:

Some Thoughts on the Road Ahead.

These are chaotic times for Iran. Every week seems to bring more unrest, without an apparent strategy on behalf of the protesters. This is a good thing, as no strategy means no leadership that can be arrested or killed to stop the demonstrations.

Also the Iranian community outside of Iran seems to be active without a strategy or even a clear goal. This is odd, as we don't suffer from violence and arrest. In fact, we are allowed to work in complete freedom, yet we have no debate about the type of events we organise or even why we organise them. There isn't much communication between groups that are active, which results in a long time passing without anything significant happening, only to have multiple actions taking place in a few days. We don't even have a site which has a complete list of actions so that the few people who want to get involved know where to go.

I personally think going on like this only serves to make us feel good about ourselves and less frustrated about being powerless to influence even in a small way what happens in Iran.

My own reasons to be active from abroad is to:

- Show solidarity with anyone brave enough to hit the streets and face the bullies of the regime.
- Educate non-Iranians about what's going on in the country and why they should care.
- Give a strong signal of condemnation to the government of the Islamic Republic.
- Create unity in the Iranian community which is splintered in various political groups.

Each of these goals (or a combination thereof) requires a different type of event. For instance, you can organise an event to get non-Iranians involved in the struggle without a single Iranian participating, but that doesn't do much to create unity amongst Iranians themselves.

Tomorrow I will write a few lines about each of these goals. In the mean time, here's a couple of articles to wrap your head around:

Star students in Iran are denied an education (or worse), to keep out undesirables out of the school system:

http://www.bahairights.org/2010/01/02/iranian-regime-continues-to-scapegoat-the-bahais-for-recent-unrest/

Baha'i are being arrested in connection with the unrest. This is especially worrying as Baha'i, more so than Jews and Christians, are considered infidels, so it's not "wrong" to execute them:

http://www.bahairights.org/2010/01/02/iranian-regime-continues-to-scapegoat-the-bahais-for-recent-unrest/

Soundtrack of a Revolution

So, what's a revolution if there's no songs to go with it? Here's a few good songs to get you in the spirit. Here's the first videoclip of Mohsen Namjoo, recorded in Amsterdam and dedicated to those who got killed in the June protests:



Next up is a little song called Freedom Glory Be Our Name, featuring lyrics by Shamloo:



Fight For Freedom:



More to follow!

A New Year, a New Beginning

In the past few days many of my (non-Persian) friends have told me they are a bit confused about what's going on in Iran. What are good sources of news if you are not connected to a well-informed web of Facebook and Twitter users? Here's my list of some of the English language sites I frequent.


http://www.radiozamaneh.com/enzam/
Radio Zamaneh has started translating about 3 stories a day for its English site.


http://www.tehranbureau.com/
Tehran Bureau is a well informed and important site and especially in the weeks after the June elections served as a source for CNN and other news networks.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/iran
Very good up-to-date site with many articles and videos.


http://united4iran.com/
United 4 Iran and Vote 4 Iran are activists sites, but frequently update with newsstories. United in English, Vote in both English and Persian


http://persian2english.wordpress.com/
Persian 2 English collects stories about the struggle and translates them into English.


http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/
Andrew Sullivan doesn't exclusively post about Iran, but it's good to take note when he does.

Collecting Stories

A Dutch journalist friend of mine has asked of me to forward the following message. He doesn't mention his name as he's still planning on visiting Iran.

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Dear fellow citizens,
By the end of this year I just would like you to know that I find it difficult to celebrate freely, knowing the burden of all these Iranians in search of freedom and justice.

For 7 times already I have had the joy to spend time in Iran and got to know Iran in many ways. Right now the paradox is that it's almost better to follow Iran from a distance. I'm constantly following all the news I can get my hand on and will be writing some articles about it as well. For this I need the help of you, the Iranians.

I will be focussing my reports on storytelling. This because most of the articles are about numbers, figures, shocking images, and wild speculations about the moves of the government and the opposition. What is lacking, in my opinion., are the stories of Iranians and the analysis and expectations of those who are in the middle of it all.

- What do you see/hear in terms of Iranian media (state and opposition-based)?
- Where do you see the next phase in this evolving story heading to ?
- What are people's motives for participating in rallies (either pro- or anti-govt.)?
- Do you see a trend towards a 'broader' opposition, in terms of normal people seeing the crackdown on protesters and the arrest of dissidents, starting to back the dissidents?
- What can you see about the internal structure of the Opposition? Is the 'Green' Generation working alongside the older, more divided generations? How much unity is there between religious and non-religious dissidents?
- Who - next to Moussavi and Kharroubi - are currently leading the opposition?
- What is the atmosphere among people on parties, meetings, etc.? Is the political drama the main element or is regular daily life asking attention as well, nowadays?
- Do you feel the amount of people moving out of Iran is growing?
- What do you know about the fate of prisoners and prisoner's families?
- What did you see in terms of police, basij, army clashing with protesters?
- What is that you want to share with the world concerning the fate of your country?
- Do people in Iran hear about the international support for protesters (including Obama's remarks)

In order to safely tell stories we have set up a new e-mailadress: storyran@hushmail.com .

It's very safe, especially if you make a Hushmail-adress yourself and encrypt the e-mail messages you send. Please be assured I intend nothing but the best for Iran and will guarantee to you that nothing against your will with happen with the inside knowledge you share with me.

You can be sure I use the provided information as coming from an anonymous source, unless you wish it differently. If you can, please spread around this message in circles of trusted people and sources. I trust you will know best who to contact.Again, if you reply: please reply to storyran@hushmail.com.

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I hope you guys can help him out

I'm BACK!

Honestly, when 3 months ago I signed off on this blog, and said I'd be back after new year, it was just a wild guess. I really had no idea if and when I'd return. However, the past few days me fingers have started to itch. I feel I need to write with a vengeance. And while before I wrote about whatever took my fance, I feel I need to write about the madness and the pain of Iran.

So here it is. I'm back. 2 days before I promised to. And to start off, please read this link about the violence in the air:

http://germantoenglish.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/some-thoughts-on-violence/#comment-134