Sunday, May 29, 2005

"Asylum"

To help raise public awareness of the plight of refugees to Europe, the young journalists of Faktum (Truth), a TV program by Sweden’s SVT, have created a web-based computer game called “Asylum”. By assuming the role of an unfortunate asylum seeker, the player observes the unnerving stages such persons have gone through, and the courageous decisions they had to make, just to reach the point of applying for asylum in a country like Sweden.

The players can play either of two characters. One, a man from Liberia, the other a woman named Parvin from Iran.

Asylum

Latest victim of a "Haji"

Here's a picture of the young Iranian murdered last week in the city of Karaj by a Mullah named Haji Asgar Najafi:

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Who is the voice of Iran's "third generation"?

As someone who often listens to Manoke Khodabakhshian’s programs on KRSI, I could not believe my ears, last Saturday, as I heard his comments on that Islamic Studies professor, Reza Aslan. This, readers will recall, is the same Moslem professor who in order to further strangle the voice of discontent rising from occupied Iran, was promptly provided a platform by the New York Times, during anti-regime protests in July 2003, to make the claim that the Islamic Republic is a “democracy” (One could fill up a volume on how Aslan uses every trick in logic imaginable to make his case). These days Aslan is busy trying to sell another claim, namely that Islamic Republic “plays a big role in maintaining peace and stability in Iraq,” but let’s get back to Saturday’s show.

Click here, Saturday May 21, fast forward to 37:25, and be prepared for a bucket of ice-cold water.

“Vaghti aghaye Aslan ro mididam,
khosh-hal shodam.
Didam nasl-e sevom-e Iran darad miyayad.
Ama omidvarim davan davan biyayad!”

Bravo Mr. Khodabakhshian! Apparently after enduring 26 years of occupation, after enduring 26 years of barbarism against our nation, identity and culture, Iran is supposed to abandon Her aspirations and give way to Aslan and his “reformist” ilk, whose---given their unyielding opposition to any revolutionary change--- model for reform today, admittedly, is the first Muslim community in Medina, established by Muhammad 1,400 years ago! This is sure to please the children of Cyrus and Reza Shah the Great.

It is to be noted that although the comments on Aslan were immediately followed by an interview with Aryo Pirouznia, Mr. Pirouznia voiced no objections. I would have expected Aryo to at least object to the designation of Aslan as representative of the “third generation”, whose true representatives, Mr. Pirouznia knows perfectly well, are rotting in the republic’s jails.


Oh, and the meaning of the book's title, which Manoke does not understand:

"La elaha el-allah", what else!

Iran's democratic voice?

Iran's "democratic" voice?!

A few weeks ago I asked on a bulletin board whether any of my compatriots had written to Time Magazine protesting its designation of Abdolkarim Soroush, the lunatic Islamist hand-picked by Ayatollah Khomeini to butcher the Iranian culture by "cleansing" it of Pahlavism and other sins, as one of its 100 “thinkers” of 2005 and “Iran’s democratic voice”.

As the head of Shoraye Aliye Enghelab-e Farhangi (The High Council for the Cultural Revolution), whose charter he had himself co-authored, he was put in charge and trusted by Khomeini to purge Iranian universities of ideas, and persons, deemed dangerous to the Islamic Republic and Islamist ideology.

Below I’ve translated the charter of the High Council for the Cultural Revolution. I ask again, should he be recognized as “Iran’s democratic voice”, or should he be tried for crimes against humanity? To those who know Soroush, and most Iranians do, Time Magazine’s recognition of him as a prominent “thinker” would be equivalent to the recognition of Joseph Mengele as a prominent doctor. To read the original go to the Islamic Republic of anti-Iran’s “iranculture.org”. Incidentally, some 75% of this charter on “reforming” Iranian culture, written by Soroush and other anti-Iranians after they had toppled the Iranian government, is composed using Arabic words and terms!


Charter of the High Council for the Cultural Revolution

(Manshoor-e Shora-ye Ali-ye Enghelab-e Farhangi)

Goals:

1. Expansion of Islamic culture and its influence, invigoration of the Cultural Revolution and elevation of public culture.

2. Purification of scientific and cultural environments of materialistic thought, and banishment of signs and manifestations of westoxification from the cultural atmosphere of society.

3. Transformation of universities, schools, cultural and arts centers in accordance with correct Islamic culture, and their expansion and empowerment, as much as possible, for the training of dedicated specialists, Islamic scholars, intellectual and patriotic minds, active and professional forces, professors, trainers and teachers committed to Islam and the country’s independence.

4. Expansion of literacy, and the empowerment and growth of the spirit of thinking, scientific learning and research, and utilizing the beneficial achievements and experiences of human knowledge in order to achieve scientific and cultural independence.

5. Preservation, restoration and sponsorship of Islamic and national works and sites.

6. Dissemination of the cultural ideas and effects of the Islamic revolution; creation and consolidation of cultural ties with other countries, especially with Islamic peoples.

Duties:

1. Compiling the principles of the cultural policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and setting goals and policies in the areas of education, research, culture, and the social arena.

2. Analyzing the world’s cultural circumstances and currents, explaining the effectiveness of institutes and other important devices in this area and the adoption of appropriate policies.

3. Examination and analysis of cultural, ethical, and social currents in the nation in order to determine points of strength and weakness and suggest appropriate solutions.

4. Examination of models of development, evaluation of the cultural effects and ramifications of programs and policies of political, economic and social development, and suggesting reforms to respective authorities.

5. To Clarify and determine the quantitative and qualitative guidelines for the assessment of the cultural condition of the country.

6. Evaluation and assessment of the country’s culture, education and research.

7. To compile and ratify the country’s basic policies of propaganda.

8. Preparation and collection of university rules and regulations proportionate to the Islamic regime and designing plans for its achievement.

9. Setting the policy for the country’s system of education and higher learning.

10. To draft and ratify appropriate plans in order to strengthen and promote religious propaganda and to support public activism, especially the revival and development of mosques.

11. To draft and ratify plans of finding means to create healthy and constructive social relations and to reform and to fix what is considered “unrefined”.

12. To draft and ratify the necessary policies and programs for developing and invigorating religious, spiritual, cultural beliefs and affiliations in society, and to expand the culture of chastity. [“Efaf”]

13. To set the policy and ratify appropriate plans to expand the spirit of commitment and cultural obligation in society, and to encourage people’s participation in the various cultural, political and revolutionary scenes.

14. Understanding vital intellectual needs and drafting the necessary programs for the activities of intellectuals, and utilizing the university and the Assembly’s [“Hoze”] research potentials to address those needs.

15. To draft and ratify appropriate plans to identify and expose manifestations, channels and methods of cultural assault by enemies against the foundations of Islamic and revolutionary thought, culture and values and to design the necessary methods and policies to repel them.

16. Design and preparation of special plans for the identification, attraction and intellectual exaltation of exceptional individuals, and the scientific and spiritual training and education of shining talents in order to exploit their abilities, innovations and creativity.

17. To prepare and ratify plans and projects involving cooperation between Assembly and university in science, education and areas of research.

18. To design appropriate policies to correct (on the basis of the sublime teachings of Islam) society’s perception of the rank and status of women, and to compile efficient methods to consolidate the institution of the family and exhibit the model of the Moslem woman.

19. To set the policy on the compilation of textbooks, and setting the criteria for the publication of book, and artistic and cultural productions.

20. Setting the policy on and bringing to order the country’s information dissemination system and its supervision.

21. To draft and ratify the cultural standards of policies regarding tourism and pilgrimage.

22. To ratify the general standards and policies regarding the expansion of scientific, academic and cultural relations with other countries.

23. To take positions, on the international level, regarding cultural distortions against Islam and the Islamic Republic.

24. Ratifying the standards for founding scientific and cultural institutions and research centers, academies, universities and centers of higher education, the constitution of each, and revision of the constitution of the identical institutions as the occasion arises.

25. Ratifying general standards for the selection of presidents, professors and teachers, and students of universities and academic and cultural centers, and the placement of each.

Note: The secretaries of the departments of Culture and Health send presidential candidates for universities to this Council for confirmation.

26. Setting the policy on the eradication of illiteracy

27. To determine the source of authority for the presentation, compilation and approval of cultural, educational, scientific and academic programs.

28. Supervision and continuous oversight over the enforcement of the ratified laws and regulations of the High Council for the Cultural Revolution, assessment of results and assistance in their enforcement, and also supervision over the correspondence of educational, academic and cultural plans and programs---implemented by ministries, institutes and organizations---with the standards set by regulations and guidelines.

Protests in Holland

About 4:15 am EST, Anjoman-e Padeshahi began another round of protests in Europe. This time in Holland, in front of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Many have been arrested (including Commander Rozita), some were roughed up and injured, a number of cars belonging to Anjoman members had their windows broken, and one of the protesters, an 80 year old Iranian female, has apparently collapsed with a heart attack.

Demonstration in Los Angeles

Anjomane Padeshahi in California has asked Iranians to join them in a demonstration on May 26th, 9 am PST, in front of the Belgian Consulate in LA (6100 WILSHIRE BL.). The demonstration is a protest against EU’s economic ties with the Shiite Taliban in control of Iran and last week’s violent treatment of Iranian protestors by the Belgian police in Brussels.

The May 18 protest in Brussels, organized by Anjomen-e Padeshahi and the first phase of an operation named Tondar-e Yek (Thunder One), was a protest against Islamist Terrorism and the EU’s close economic ties with one of the world’s deadliest terrorist regimes. Although not a single US news agency reported the story, Iranians involved in Tondar One managed to block the main entrance to the EU Parliament building with their cars (some 151 vehicles).

Tondar One in Brussels:





Few words to friends and compatriots

One evening, as the disaster in Iran was unfolding, the British Broadcasting Corporation, long despised by Iranians for providing Khomeinists a platform to air their venom against the Iranian government, aired a commentary which left a lasting impression on the minds of its more alert Iranian listeners. The British commentator observed that with the fall of the Iranian Monarchy, Iran would be placed in that category of backward Third World nations where she belongs, never again aspiring to embrace modernization and development.

The tragedy that befell Iranians was made possible by a long nurtured alliance of self-styled “communists”, “Islamic Marxists”, “Mossadeghists”, “democrats” and other opportunists with radical Shiite clerics led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Although the success of the Islamists in the takeover and subsequent control of Iran tends to overshadow the role of their “former” partners (other partners will presently be noted) in this ongoing disaster, the equal or greater role of the latter should not be overlooked; unless, that is, we’re looking forward to equal or greater disasters.

Questions as why the Islamic Republic came to be and how it has managed to sustain itself for the past 26 years, although different questions, require alarmingly similar explanations. The similarity of these explanations stems from the fact that the disaster and the failure (ours) they account for, respectively, are the natural consequences of, if not the same, then of similar determinants and factors, including social, political and cultural trends.

Finding explanations and solutions often requires that we look beyond the Mullahs and the Islamic Republic. Often, it is required that we look at ourselves. It has been my experience that with a broader, inclusive outlook, which will inevitably take the role and responsibilities of the exiled community (ourselves) into consideration, we shall grasp a better understanding of the factors and processes that pushed and have kept our civilization in the deep, black abyss in which it finds itself.
Disclaimer:

All ideas expressed and all statements made in this blog are opinions. These opinions are solely that of the author of this blog, who exercises his/her right of expressing those opinions under the protection of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.