July 8th - All Eyes on Iran

[RonOnGuitar]

Today marks an anniversary in Iran: links mentioned in the article can be found at the original webpage:

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July 07, 2004, 3:30 p.m.

All Eyes on Iran

In pursuit of freedom.



By Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi & Elio Bonazzi



As July 8 approaches, Iranians all over the world are preparing to display — as they do each year during this week — their hatred for the mullahs dominating Iran. This year, the annual demonstrations mark the fifth anniversary of the brutal university massacres of 1999. That was the year President Khatami showed his true colors, abandoning both his promised reforms and the people who voted for him. What started out as a reaction to the utter brutality of the fossilized establishment by young Iranian students has turned into a freedom movement the world should acknowledge and encourage. And yet, no Western politico has embraced the annual protest, a sign of a people's love for freedom, human rights, and democracy, within the confines of a tyrannical, dangerous regime.









On June 17, Hassan Abassi, head of the Revolutionary Guards' Center for Doctrinaire Affairs of National Security Outside Iran's Borders stated: "We [Islamic Republic of Iran] have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon civilization." But the West (particularly the E.U.) continues to depend on the dangerously inadequate foreign policy of, say, Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary. Straw was expected to become transport secretary after the 2001 election, but wound up as foreign secretary instead and was immediately forced to face the 9/11 attacks and subsequent war on terror. As the architect of a policy of dialogue and engagement with terror-sponsoring Iran, Straw fails to realize that in the eyes of the mullahs, dialogue, engagement, and forgiveness mean weakness. In the wake of Abbassi's threat — and the recent parading around of captured British sailors on Iranian television — you'd think Straw and the like would have learned that. But when Iran refused to promptly return the naval equipment to Britain, Straw fought more with Tories and Liberal Democrats than with the mullahs.



Meanwhile, Iranians have done their part to break the mullah's stranglehold, telling their stories when they can (see here and here, for instance). And when demonstrators in cities and towns and villages throughout Iran make their voices heard on July 8, Iranians and freedom lovers in some 32 cities outside Iran will demonstrate in solidarity with them.



Inside Iran, that is no routine — or safe — endeavor. Reports indicate that the regime has banned July 8 gatherings. Plans for mobilizing thousands more troops and foreign mercenaries in order to quash any popular action or uprising have been in the works for months now. Reports from sources inside the regime's revolutionary guards and ministry of information say orders have been given to use lethal force against anyone opposing the Islamic state's directives. Checkpoints have reportedly been created in Iranian cities and militiamen have been ordered to search cars and arrest "suspicious-looking" residents under various charges in order to create a climate of fear. Residential satellite dishes and receivers have been confiscated. Rumors of a sweetheart economic deal the mullahs made with Castro to jam radio and TV programming by dissidents are running rampant. (The fact that Iran's foreign minister was in Cuba last week certainly has helped that rumor along.)



With or without the West, the Iranian people are determined to fight this tyranny, as they have demonstrated before, and will demonstrate again this week. There is, of course, no sensible reason for freedom-loving countries such as the U.S. not to support their struggle.



— Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, a native of Iran, is an activist and writer. Elio Bonazzi is an Italian-born political scientist. Husband and wife, they are based in New York.



www.nationalreview.com/vo...071530.asp

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(My browser is acting up right now, so can't use the easier EZBoard "link" button to add "normal" link)

[bbchris]

Please tell me more about the brutal university massacres of 1999?

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup |

[RonOnGuitar]

Chris, the "18 Tir 1378" (July 8th, 1999) day in Iran is along the lines of your recent democracy for HK day. But more along the line of Tiananmen regarding the government response.



One of the many cool things about the internet is that residents and bloggers (mostly young people & students)across the world can write about local situations. Of course, that's something that does not sit well with some governments, like Beijing or the Mullahs who rule Iran. There are lots of bloggers in Iraq now, too. The one you once posted about and who became famous during the battle to oust Saddam - "Salaam Pax" - is now a pro writer for a Brit newspaper. I believe he also lives in England now, but I'm not sure.



Here's a few links that may be of interest, since Iranian sources both inside and out of Iran can better explain the July 8th student uprisings and the government's reprisal:



Amnesty International's page about it



Persian Journal - Women Bloggers In Iraq



On the First Anniversary of 18 Tir 1378



Democrarcy For Iran - 18Tir/8 July Demonstration Information



Scroll down on that last page link for an address that begins "My fellow Iranians".



Hope that provides something in the way of background!

[questionnaire]

... Tiananmen Square was a disgrace.



Stalinist governments must come to an end.



Chris - now ask Ron about the young American students from Kent State University murdered by National Guards when they demonstrated against the Vietnam War.



Let's see how many links and articles he has to hand about this. Such as this one:Murders at Kent State University



I'd like to see regime-change and true democracy in both China, the USA and everywhere that needs it.



Well, Ron?



Chris, one of these days it's going to sink in round here that Ron is just a rabid propagandist for the American way of life. There will be no balance, true discussion or education around here unless we get informed points of view from other cultures.

[RonOnGuitar]

Quote:

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Stalinist governments must come to an end

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I'll be interested in reading your posts denouncing any Marxist governments, Steve!

Quote:

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Ron is just a rabid propagandist for the American way of life

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Yeah, I'm just foaming at the mouth for folks in Iran and Hong Kong to have a say in their own destiny.



BTW, I think you'll find it helpful to move away from the "me vs. he/them/they" line of thinking and rhetoric. That is, in learning to detach personalities from issues and debate on the merits of(or lack of) the given topic at hand.

[RonOnGuitar]

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Why didn't I hear about it before?

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My guess is because most of the world's attention (including the US) had been focused on Iraq and so many other issues were "put on the back burner". Or is that just an "Americanism"? lol Or - as Seismo might say - "Iraq was the biggest fish the world had to fry."



Hopefully, Iraq will slowly, but surely, stabilise and other things that need attention will get notice. It is a big world, with many problems!!

[bbchris]

A good guess. I am only human and cannot absorb everything that happens in this world. Sometimes the information causes me overload....

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup |

[bbchris]

Steve, is it a challenge for you to give others respect?



Thanks Ron for those links! As you know I'm partial to AI so I will read that now.



Just read it and it's very similar to what happened in China on June 4th. Why didn't I hear about it before?

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup |

Edited by: bbchris  at: 7/9/04 15:44

[questionnaire]

"Yeah, I'm just foaming at the mouth for folks in Iran and Hong Kong to have a say in their own destiny."



But Ron, under the brutal authority of the free-market Americans don't have a say in their own destiny. Are you telling me that you chose the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the Depression in the 1930s and the collapse of manufacturing and the huge rise in the violent crime rate in the 1980s? Talk sense, man!



And I just have criticized a communist government - on this thread and others!!



Chris, Iraq will not 'stabilize', but because it is a bigger prize than some of the other nations that America has overpowered the Americans will put more effort into funding its puppet government and maintaining a military presence for the forthcoming decades. We're looking at a Northern Ireland or Balkan scenario here - centuries of trouble and violence. Invaded countries rarely stabilise, and if they do it takes a long time - it took 700 years for the violence rate to come down in England after it was invaded in 1066.



Ron, limit your posts, give the younger people a chance to discuss things amongst themselves, stop this ignorant right-wing spamming and I'll leave you alone. In fact, I'll go. I've already offered you this deal.

[RonOnGuitar]

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Sometimes the information causes me overload

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Yeah, info-overload is one of the mixed blessings of the internet and 24/7 media stream. It's like sitting down at a meal consisting of a thousand dishes 3 times a day, we humans can only digest so much! :: burp ::