Monday, June 22, 2009
WITNESSES
Because of the technicologically interconnected world we live in, we are all witnesses to the violence being wreaked upon the Iranian people by the Khameni regime.
This video was uploaded to YouTube a few hours ago and was shot during an attack by the army, the baseji and the police on a protesting students in Tehran today.
There are gunshots, explosions and panic as the people try to deal with the injuries to their comrades.
I'm sick of the politicians who are using this for their own gain and agrandissement.
The fact that the very history of America's involvement in the establishment of the shah's brutal regime in a CIA sponsored coup d'etat has tainted any public statement of support for the protestors. The public support by Western governments is used by the Kahmeni regime to imflame the believers against the protestors.
The American involvement in the Shah's regime is taught to every child in Iran. It is one of the defining events that shapes this country. To say that the Iranians don't remember 1953 is sheer and deliberate ignorance.
I believe that the Kahmeni regime has already lost. The aura of the Supreme leader is blemished forever. The cycle of martyrs and mourning has started. This is a revolution.
I know that the images that will come out of Iran will only get uglier. I have a few questions:
What can we do in the west to help the Iranians? Do you think sharing information and images can help turn the harsh light of world comdemnation on the government?
How can we let the Iranian people know we are giving them our hope and support?
I believe the next step in Iran will be a general strike....
Any thoughts?
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5 comments:
I'm sorry to have to say this, but I think your expectations of where this is going to lead are way too high.
The government is strong. It has the national police, the army, and militia units fully behind them. There is zero indication from any source that any military or paramilitary iranian unit is siding with the protestors.
Rember Tiennemann sq.? Remember the demand for more democracy, the thousands in the streets chanting and waving flags against the regime? the image of their version of the statue of liberty? The lone protestor facing down the tanks? Surely it appeared that the masses had found their voice and that things were about to take a dramatic change. They didn't.
An all powerful and repressive gov't isn't going to be easily shaken. I fear we havn't seen anything close to the might they will employ if they feel their regime is threatened. And there is No country thats going to step in and do anything about it, nor should they. Thus is an internal affair.
Iranian protestors against the theocracy have been very vocal about not wanting US involvment. If the US appears to be actively backing the protestors, it weakens their position as a home grown internal uprising by the people, most of whom don't want to over throw the religious leaders, they just want more personal/social freedoms and more openness with the west.
I hate to throw a wet blanket on this, and I would love to see a friendlier gov't in Iran, but I think it's not only premature to expect such a thing...i think its a highly improbable scenario for the foreseeable future.
I hope I'm wrong.
Hump
Well, Hump, I hope you are wrong, but you could very well be right.
It's my nature to see possibilities snd expect victories.
This is not going to be over because the Iranian government chooses to take the most oppressive line.
This is more than an ideological revolution, this is inter generational war..and it's just begun and the majority of Iranians are young.
Hey Hump, for a people who want no help from the west, they sure are printing a lot of protest signs in ENGLISH for US to read as opposed to demands written in FARSI for their government to read!
While people in Iran were being beaten and shot in the streets (and tossed off a bridge in one case) by security forces, Obama made it clear that he was still "willing to work" with the Iranian govt and invited their diplomats to 4th of July festivities at the white house! I'm sure that spoke loudly to the protestors that America cares less about freedom and democracy than it does rocking the boat with the mullahs.
Only after some pressure did Obama come out and make a weak "condemnation" of "the violence".
I don't think we should be bombing Iran or invading but, at the bare minimum we should be lending moral support to a people who are doing something more American than most Americans are willing to do...take to the streets and demand a redress of grievences! And in their case, they're being shot and brutalized for doing it and still haven't been broken!
That takes determination and balls!
Those people deserve some respect and acknowledgment from us AND our government.
Microdot, find iranian bloggers, youtube posters, myspace and facebookers from Iran and you can show support for them there...I have and found them to be thankfull to have it! Hell, even Sarko came out before Odrama had his arm twisted and spoke out against the regime's thuggery against it's populace.
-Sepp
Sepp, I'm doing all those things.
I've been busy on other blogs linking info.
I'm absolutely certain that there is a lot going on behind the scenes of the public statements of the obama adminsitration.
Sarkozy was grandstanding and playing the same game that American conservative politicians are...trying to score cheap political points...At the expense of the iranian protestors.
What did Sarkozy's dramatic moment score in reality? Absolutely nothing except to give the Ayatollahs ammunition to howl about western intervention. He also gave you some cheap bricks to throw at Obama.
My friend, sometimes we must look behind the simplisticfacades to see the truth.
Emotionalism may play to the hicks in the peanut gallery, but pragmatic action is whatt accomplishes the task.
...and Merkel gave us cheap bricks...and Brown gave us cheap bricks...
No MD, Obama's first response was nothing more than weak at best. What the protestors and the world saw was his usual indecisiveness and entry level leadership.
Is it any less than pagmatic for the supposed "leader" of the free world to show moral support toward a people who are forging a democracy without anyone having to bomb them into embracing the idea?
Here was Obama's chance to shine and show everyone that "regime change" can be accomplished with a show of support rather than bounty posters and decks of cards.
...and he blew it!
Those protestors were probably looking for some words of praise from the free nations of the world while they're in the streets hoping to become a free nation also...only to be snubbed by the leader of the nation that calls itsself the freest on the planet!
Cheap bricks? Well, at least the European leaders took a stand and didn't need to be shamed into supporting those folks!
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