Harry's Place

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s sundry theocrats and politicians have treated the Iranian people appalingly in the wake of the fixed election. That said, the behaviour of one of the world’s most repressive regimes does not excuse the various commentators and self-styled experts crawling out of the woodwork to exploit this girl’s memory for political purposes. Any use of the death of this naive other than to remember her for who she was, is clearly unconscionable; I want no part of it.

That is a really moving interview. I really wish we would help them topple the regime but I don’t know how feasible that is. Good post.

I expect that Ayatollah Khamenei will pay about as much attention to the protesters in Iran as Blair did to the millions who marched peacefully in London to protest about the plans to invade Iraq.

I first saw the video of Neda Soltan’s death last Saturday, it must have been minutes after it got out of Iran. I didn’t even have a blog then. For this retired (for 15 years) socialist, it was one tragic injustice too many for me to remain silent. After exchanging some anguished emails with an old friend, we set up our blog on Monday.

I feel for her family; the transformation of Neda into the tragic personification of the struggle in Iran, the world over, must be hollow indeed for them. We who express our horror at her death, the regime who murdered her and the apologists of that regime are of course taking sides, but to stay silent or sit on the fence on this issue only serves the political purposes of her killers.

Yeah. That’s a really cutting blow in favour of moral equivalence, Aaron. Because in now way was Blair democratically elected, in now way did the British state refrain from beating up, murdering and disappearing anti-war protesters, in no way did Parliament vote for war and in no way did people have the chance, which they politely rejected, to vote Blair out at the following election.

Fuck off, please. Leave the discussion to the big boys, eh?

I expect Khamenei will repress the protesters in an orgy of blood and violence much like Blair did Aaron

What a courageous and great hearted man. So modest about his own actions and reactions. I only hope his family will be safe. I heard a shortened version of this earlier today on R4, and I’m really grateful that you’ve embedded the whole interview here.

I’m sure he’s right about what the regime will lay on him. Here he is, based in the UK, publishing and being interviewed on the BBC. So that’ll make him a tool of the evil imperialist British under the evil genius leadership of Gordon Brown.

This young man seems to be a very decent type, it is a shame that he can’t go home, and I only hope his family face no repercussions.

I suspect that the next move may well be a general strike. But there is another aspect which we mustn’t lose sight of. Iranians don’t trust the regime with their money. In the past, Iranian investors have sent vast sums of money offshore. That will already have happened again, on an even greater scale than four years ago.

Ruhollah Khomeini famously said that he had no love for Iran, it’s people, or it’s culture. He cared only about the islamic cause.

But I don’t think the population will tolerate being treated as a project anymore.

How strange?

According to the New York Times “It was hot in the car, so the young woman and her singing instructor got out for a breath of fresh air”.

According to “a very decent young man” who is non-political and was a GP in Iran and now claims to be a postgraduate student in publishing in Oxford Brookes University, a novelist, fiction writer and translator, Neda Agha-Soltan died for a cause, she was fighting for basic rights.

Somebody seems to have got the script wrong, don’t they?

Neda’s body is dead, but her spirit will never die.

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg, Pennslyvania
November 19, 1863

Aaron, perhaps you might care to look at Arash Hejazi’s own web site. It is possible to have been a doctor, a novelist, a publisher and a postgraduate student of publishing. You’ll see that he’s had his own experiences of being censored, notably after having published a Primo Levi short story in Iran.

If you listen to the interview, you’ll see that she was not an active fighter, but the fact that she was out there was part of wanting to be in freedom.

Why not reserve your sneering for someone more worthy of it.

I would not be at all surprised if quite a lot of the protesters would not have regarded themselves as freedom fighters at all prior to the election. Many, especially the young, were seriously unhappy about the economy, the unemployment, the despair at finding themselves unable to afford even the most modest accomodation so they could get married and maybe raise a family. They have even had to withstand fuel crises because of the regime’s failure to invest in refining capacity.

It seems that they voted for change, and were sorely provoked by the cavalier behaviour of the regime. The dissatisfaction turned to rage at that point I think. People can be patient, and tolerant of hardship, but expecting them to do that, then insulting their intelligence, is not a smart move.

Aaron

Be careful or you will be hunted down by Blairites and beaten almost to death in the cellar of a grim jail for political prisoners before being raped and drowned in your own blood.

Me I’d just like to hunt you down and put you on a one way flight to Tehran you creepy little arsewipe.

“Me I’d just like to hunt you down and put you on a one way flight to Tehran you creepy little arsewipe.”

Agreed.

David All, Im not defending the Iranian government, but Abraham Lincolns address while eloquent was a fine peice of propaganda, it was the Confederates that were fighting for self government and freedom from oppressive government, not the Union, Lincoln, or the North.

Citing that piece of tripe, is in poor taste.

“That said, the behaviour of one of the world’s most repressive regimes does not excuse the various commentators and self-styled experts crawling out of the woodwork to exploit this girl’s memory for political purposes. Any use of the death of this naive other than to remember her for who she was, is clearly unconscionable; I want no part of it.”

Slow Hand Clap makes a subtle, nuanced distinction. Was Neda murdered for demonstrating or was Neda murdered for standing by as others demonstrated?

If there’s a posse formin’ to git that sonofabitch Aaron then I’m a joinin’ it!

Ben, Maw, Judy, mettaculture, Anaximanders other sandal and Django – where were you when SAVAK needed you? Your trailer trash mommy had probably not yet had the one-night stand with the hill billy that brought you forth into the world.

How many of you red-necks kicked up the same fuss when the good-natured British Bobby beat Ian Tomlinson to death?

The image of the red necked Ben, Judy, mettaculture et al the spawn of one mommy, all living together in a trailer in the dustbowl of London is a startling one, to say the least.

The examples of doctors who are also writers are legion, Johnathan Miller and Danny Abse being but two.

Aaron!

I know you’ve just finished your GCSEs, but for God’s sake that doesn’t give you licence to behave like a tit.

Now get downstairs and finish your breakfast!

Do retired Savakers get a pension?

Restore the Monarchy now!
Pahlavi and/or Qajar!

What a courageous and humane man. He is a great ambassador for the Iranian people.

Aaron, perhaps you might care to look at Arash Hejazi’s own web site.

Not any more you can’t.

:-(

His report on censorship and producing books in Iran is worth reading.

A must read……

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=1729132

“I expect that Ayatollah Khamenei will pay about as much attention to the protesters in Iran as Blair did to the millions who marched peacefully in London to protest about the plans to invade Iraq.”
And I assume that the irregular forces who gunned these protesters down were Tribune Millitants?

My what a hate a feat?

The oh what a lovely revolutionaries engaged in a circle jerk without taking into account the reality on the ground and actualities.

A- Been to Tehran, and love that place, so any offer of a ticket there would be gratefully accepted.

B- The Gucci crowd in search of thrills, and spills hanging around the streets, and engaging in a Saturday night out tradition, albeit in broad daylight are not the representatives of any sector of the Iranian society other than their own clique much like that Michele Malkin the boom boom girl.

C- This Neda story wreaks of the hints of “Jessica Lynch” the GI-ess “left behind”, or the Sargent Schumann in Wag the Dog movie; good ol’ shoe!!! Also reminiscent of the Iraqi soldiers throwing babies out of incubators to take these incubators back to Baghdad, as told to congress under the tutelage of the PR firm; Hill & Knowlton.

//I can still recall my brother Sean’s face. It was bright red. Furious. Not one given to fits of temper, Sean was in an uproar. He was a father, and he had just heard that Iraqi soldiers had taken scores of babies out of incubators in Kuwait City and left them to die. The Iraqis had shipped the incubators back to Baghdad. A pacifist by nature, my brother was not in a peaceful mood that day. “We’ve got to go and get Saddam Hussein. Now,” he said passionately.

I completely understood his feelings. Although I had no family of my own then, who could countenance such brutality? The news of the slaughter had come at a key moment in the deliberations about whether the US would invade Iraq. Those who watched the non-stop debates on TV saw that many of those who had previously wavered on the issue had been turned into warriors by this shocking incident.

Too bad it never happened.//

http://tinyurl.com/fqyt

If you were to pull your collective heads out of your butts, where you have buried these for comfort, you may start smelling a rat instead of the veritable scent of the indols you are so accustomed to, by just asking;

What are the probabilities of an individual being present in an incident which is filmed in country A, and then given world wide coverage, winding up later in country B to be interviewed by a major broadcasting outfit (BBC) about the filmed incident? Well must go and put the lottery on, it is getting a lot more likely for me to win the millions this week!

Coincidentally; this said individual happens to be a Medical Doctor (albeit a none practicing MD), giving his “informed” opinion about the girls’ condition, along with the tales of the survivors guilt, although he is now a publisher, whose website is filled with hate against the Islamic Republic, coincidentally getting interviewed by an outfit which has been having major cuts in their BBC World Service, yet miraculously have found the money to launch a brand new TV service in Persian just in January gone!!!!

Well sorry to have pissed on your hate parade, now you can all get back to the hate fest with even more vigor, there is my post to rave on about too.

UPDATE: Don’t be fooled! Hugo Chavez knows what is going down:

“People are in the streets, some are dead, they have snipers, and behind this is the CIA, the imperial hand of European countries and the United States,” he said. “From my point of view that is what is happening in Iran.”

Bastard! He left out Israel!

Ned: Did you apply the same forensic rigour to the Al Durah footage at the time?

could those (aaron, ned, etc) who feel compelled to take the opposite side to that presented here, please present cogent and intelligent arguments, instead of the sneering, smug claptrap that we’re currently experiencing.
ned, your claims of a hate fest would get a better hearing if you didn’t indulge in some yourself: “gucci set” for example, displays your own class hatred. it is worth remembering that society needs those with tertiary education, they are the section that provide doctors, innovators, scientists, engineers, artists, writers, journalists, philosophers, managers, historians, lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians, and leaders. alienating them can only result in disaster.
i too am slightly suspicious of dr arash, and i recognise how events like this can be spun out of control, Neda is a very powerful symbol (jean d’arc anyone?). however at this stage we have no idea if, why or who. these events can be distorted out of shape for many reasons, not all of those reasons need the hand of the security services on them. you can also be sure that if our (the west) spies are involved, then so will iran’s be, and thus the water is doubly clouded. we can however be sure of one thing and that is that the islamic republic is suffering an existential crisis. this can’t just be dismissed as usual saturday night rowdiness from tehran’s “gucci set”. all levels of iranian society are involved in a struggle. clerics are divided, politicians are divided, and the public is divided.
my personal opinion is that, if the Neda story is a lever for those people in iran who want change, then i’m all for it. removal of the theocracy will be good for the people of iran, good for the people of the region and good for the people of the world.

Can’t say I’m too bothered by what Ned says or thinks. He supports theocracy, enjoys the death of a young woman. Hang ‘em high. Beside Aaron.

Django

you’re the man

I know there are plenty of mealy mouthed-apologists for this kind of stuff on the ‘left’ that give the rest of us a bad name, and that like to think of themselves as ‘anti-imperialists’ etc but they’re just spineless gobshites with no fucking heart.

the regime in Iran is vile and despicable and I hope the people have their way soon enough.

and can’t people understand that, if there is a valid case for developing countries fighting for a better deal vis-a-vis the West, they don’t need dictators to further their cause, but would be a lot stronger with real popular governments…

Yes, Ned you’re right the odds are slightly low that a single person is shot and there is someone next to her ready to film.

Therefor I conclude that the odds are extremely high that more than one person has been shot in Iran.

We can at least be heartened by the knowledge that what goes around comes around. Life will deal young Ned a heavy blow for the disgusting things he says and what he does. Such a pity I won’t be there to see it dealt.

Django -

you never know – it can happen quite quickly. Though in crap health I am confident that I will see my enemies confounded, and you’d be surprised how often it happens. That you and I are on the right side of history is undeniable.

Ben, Maw, Anaximanders other sandal and Django git over here right now

Judy, you too siss, just pull them critters of yah titties, give em to Mother dear you know how she lahkes to take em all to selfridges, and get over here.

Ah got em, yes indeedee,

yee hah! got em both that Ayron and that Ned caught em both tryin to cornhole each other in that anti mercan commie City speakeasy on cornhill.

Uh huh ah got em hog tied in the back of the Smart Car, sure have.

tracked em down by the judishous use of hillbilly cunning and the kind offer of the Pentagon, spy satelites, to track the GPS of theyr little commie cell phones.

We shoor ah gonna have some fun boys

on yer knees, thats it. uh huh what was that y’all was sayin bout hillbillies and yuppies uh huh we are the motherfucking hillyuppies you just met at the end of yer fuckin rainbow yer anti-imperialists just done gone and met yer nemesises ahm tellin yer

We are gonna have us some fun now aint we clan?.

come on thats raht Squeel lak a pig you seen deliverance aint yer?

According to this senior researcher
at the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University neither the bourgeoise, nor organized labour were out on the streets protesting:

Opposition members failed to enlist the support of two social groups that played a crucial role in past revolutions: Bazaar merchants, who always excelled in their highly developed organizational ability and willingness to fundraise, and labor organizations, whose strikes prompted the collapse of the Shah’s regime. The merchants, who tend to be religiously conservative, back the regime or maintain their neutrality, while labor groups hesitate to join the demonstrators as all their past protests were repressed with an iron fist.

So much for the poikilothermic Gucci thrill seeking protester conspiracy.
You need more sun Neddy boy. I say your blood is running cold son.