"Give Me LIberty ..." Iranian People Demand Democracy

[Michael Collins]

"Give Me Liberty ..."

Iranian People Demand Democracy

Iranian citizens charge police with courage, their bodies, and a few rocks to secure their rights to self determination and clean elections. Image

Also published here

Michael Collins

Neoconservatives and other con artists are now claiming to support the Iranian people. Some are the same people who pushed to bomb Iran preemptively just a few years ago. Others, who stood on the sidelines to see who would "win," are now defenders of clean elections. It doesn't matter to the Iranian's demanding respect and self determination. For them, the real victory will be to emerge as a free nation that's outside the "great game" of the major powers.

The actions of the Iranian people against the stolen election June 12, 2009 serve as an object lesson for oligarchs in nations around the world, including the United States. The people are sufficiently engaged and intelligent to notice blatant political manipulations. They're willing to take to the streets and risk their lives for the absolute right of self determination.

The Iranian people know that their situation is far from hopeless. They learned that being told "there's nothing you can do" is a lie and they are demanding their rights with an adamant presence in the streets of Tehran and other cities throughout Iran.

Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, spoke at Tehran University Friday to a staged crowd, one he ordered up from the countryside. He said that the election was just fine with him. That makes sense. His "guy" won in a landslide despite the clear historical trends of Iranian presidential voting over a twenty year period.

This year's results were so clear to the vote counters; they were able to announce the tally in just hours. In past elections it took three days to count a similar number of ballots for the presidential elections. But the oligarchs knew the results in advance so why bother with counting? A Queen of Hearts move was all it took.

The people of Iran were disgusted with this. They did what men and women all over the world do after years of oppression. They took to the streets. But these were very mean streets.

The price of freedom and dignity is paid in the blood of Iranian demonstrators. If Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, would allow the slaughter of citizens, what's a little election fraud? Image

The local police and a host of paramilitary groups were waiting to "keep order" ("order" meaning the suppression of free speech by any means available).

Here one of the government thugs gets ready to stab a demonstrator in the back for simply asking for a fair vote count. Image

There's one less voter for Ali Khamenei and Ahmadinejad to worry about. Despite the threats and the assaults by government agents, the people persevere. Image

The demonstrations started the day after the announcement of the vote total. On Friday June 19, the supreme leader gave a speech at Tehran University. He threw down the gauntlet. He ordered citizens to stop all protests. Then ominously he told them directly that "they will be responsible for its consequences, and consequences of any chaos." June 19, 2009

The election fraud doubters seem to rely on a common but unstated assumption: the Iranian people lack the intellect and judgment to have made once again the free choice they've been making since 1989 -- voting in the majority for reformist candidates. The notion that the atavistic Ahmadinejad won implies that there is something very wrong with Iranians.

Quite the contrary, there is something very right about the Iranian people standing up to a fascist regime that routinely devalues the lives and well being of its citizens. Where else but Mexico 2006 have we seen a sustained independent protest of a stolen election? Where else have people put their lives on the line through an independent movement that shows such respect for their natural rights?

The bravery and sincerity of the demonstrators undeniable.

Baton wielding Iranian paramilitary forces mounted on motorcycles charge citizens forced to run for their lives. These thugs are thorough. One of them captures a young woman in a strangle hold (marked section). Image

Take special note when you see fires like this. They are the captured and burning bikes of the forces of maximum leader Khamenei. Somehow, citizens dismounted the paramilitaries, stacked the bikes and set them on fire.

But the regime's paramilitaries have more than dirt bikes to get them around. Image

Here they are arriving in buses to do their dirty work. Image

But brave Iranian demonstrators disabled their escape route. Image

The tactics of the Iranian rulers can no longer deny the popular will. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians assembled, as is their right, demanding that the fraudulent election be overturned. Image

As the crowds grew the oligarchs realized that this was not just a whim by the people. Deaths from demonstrating has risen to 150 Friday and Saturday according to some sources. Image

But the will of the people cannot be suppressed indefinitely or even for a few hours. The act of defiance is the true victory. Nothing is the same after that. Image

There are reports of a divide forming in the government. The conservative speaker of Iran's legislative body, the Majlis, just said that there are serious doubts about the election.

Even worse for the oligarchs, the movement of the people has a symbol - Neda, an assassinated Iranian woman - that is spreading around the world today.

Here's the Iranian citizen Neda, to the left, before being shot. She's walking next to her father in the blue shirt. YouTube June 20, 2009

Here's Neda after being shot by a paramilitary sniper. She's comforted by her father and people in the crowd. After someone said, "don't give up" she died. Cries of grief can be heard in the background. YouTube June 20, 2009

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, his puppet Ahmadinejad, and their apologists who claim that this was a fair and representative election now face their worst nightmare. That nightmare is an examination of the facts of the election that point directly to election fraud and a rigged outcome (See Iranian Election Fraud 2009). Their success follows the efforts to those who fought the theft of the 2006 Mexican presidential election, those ridiculed for doubting the 2004 U.S. election, plus all the others who defy the election fantasies produced by oligarchs and their minions.

Why was there a purge of reformists and moderates at the election ministry before the election? Why was there police intimidation at the polls? Why were results announced within hours of the close of voting showing an Ahmadinejad victory? In past elections, it has taken three days to count votes. Why the hurry? How did the votes get counted in just a fraction of the normal time?

Just a simple review of past elections shows solid majorities for reformist candidates from 1989 through 2001. Even the 2005 election of Ahmadinejad, boycotted by reformists, showed their underlying strength. After four years of a failed economy and isolation in the region and the world, we're expected to believe that reformist supporters defected in droves to elect the author of the nation's suffering, the pretender president Ahmadinejad.

Neoconservatives and other con artists are now claiming to support the Iranian people. Some are the same people who pushed to bomb Iran preemptively just a few years ago. Others, who stood on the sidelines to see who would "win," are now defenders of clean elections. It doesn't matter to the Iranian's demanding respect and self determination. For them, the real victory will be to emerge as a free nation that's outside the "great game" of the major powers.

The people of Iran are just like people all over the world. They have a fundamental desire for freedom and respect. They are both outraged and aggrieved when they see these desires thwarted by oligarchs with power and wealth as their only objectives. Guilt and paranoia by the oligarchs led to cheating and then attacks on those who protest to loudly.

In Iran, the wages of a brave people fighting for their freedom are injury and death. For them, the alternative is simply unbearable. They deserve our support.

END

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[Mouse]

Last year I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears a representative of the United States on BBC2's newsnight boasting to the interviewer that there was a US presence in Iran successfully organising sabotage. It seemed one of those off the cuff remarks as the interview was drawing to a close.
Didn't catch the name, didn't write it down, but I remember gasping.

What is happening today in Iran is a classic example of a CIA destabilization operation and has absolutely nothing to do with democracy as many even on the so-called left believe. Iran has a lot of oil and its strategic location for US imperialism can simply not be overemphasized.

Iran , Amnesia, Ignorance and Stupidity by Gary Sudborough on Dandelionsalad.

[Michael Collins]

They're everywhere, the argument relies on nonstop meddling in key hot spots around the world. They've been able to do very little effectively except since the "color" revolutions, which had heavy US involvement along with NGO's e.g., the "Orange" Revolution. The fact that there's meddling doesn't make them the causal factor or even a significant cause of the current unrest in Iran. What eer happened to "the people" as the object of our political attention. They're the ones getting beaten and murdered. Because the CIA is meddling are we supposed to ignore this? The war among the oligarchs, the outside meddling, those are the secondary factors to the will of the people and their safety.

[BO]

Dem Iranians are kind of inspirational, really. Looks brutal for sure. But at least they're optimistic enough to try change things. Haven't seen that in the US for a long time. And our Oligarchs are twice as bad.

[Michael Collins]

Makes you wonder? We had inspiration in 2000 when Bush stole it outright. There were 50,000 people in DC raising Hell but it much not have happened because there was no news coverage, except by Indy Media. I mean Indy Media alone. The control mechanisms here are frightening. People complain about the corporate media not doing its job. It does its job quite well, which is to select and distort news.

The vultures are circling, well they've been circling, over Iran for some time. The hat trick for the people is to evict the current rulers and replace them with a government of the people. That's probably harder than the defiance in the streetes that we're seeing.

Got pretty ugly yesterday there yesterday. Paramilitaries in the streets with 2 by 4's beating citizens. What could we expect by a "supreme" ruler who fixes and election to put a lunatic in charge. Wonder who our "supreme" leader was who put Bush in charge twice?

[BO]

"Wonder who our "supreme" leader was who put Bush in charge twice?"

I believe it was America's favorite dead guy...Jesus Christ..who got Bush elected. And of course, corporate personhood. Oh, and American narcissism...our national character disorder.

Them's the big three in relative order to the destruction of our own democracy.

[curt]

"Give Me LIberty ..." Iranian People Demand Democracy
"They deserve our support."

The people of Iran have my full support which includes the smarts to stay out of and away from other people's business. The USA is not the World Police, it is the World's Bully and rapist. Iran will do just dandy without US,

[Michael Collins]

That's what I was thinking. I see how someone could say that means active support, which is not my intent.

We have the reverse midas touch, it seems. For those who see the US intel establishment as omnipotent and omnipresent, I'd have to say, look at the record. The "Orange," "Rose," and "White" "velvet" revolutions had a major US presence including the Bush administration, the Republican party cut outs, and the "pollsters" donated to the Ukraine who essentially called the "fraud" that overthrew the government for Western favorites. A few years later, it was all over in the Ukraine, the Russian friendly opposition was up to strength. The "Rose" revolution in the Republic of Georgia is on it's last legs after the product of that "revolution" ordered a disastrous attack on Russian troops in the Ossetia region by agreement. What happens when you attack the Russians? Never anything good.

So, just stay out. To show how turned around our was under Bush, some Iranian's in the U.S. are saying Obama is doing a great job. What do they mean? Obama is not openly threatening to bomb Iran and he's not calling the nation part of the "axis of evil." Those are standards that guarantee success. We're probably not leaving them alone but we're either timid or ineffective enough to count as an improvement over Bush.

What a deal! Here's my theory on the cause of almost all of our problems. With 100 Senators and 438 House members selected at random. Give them a two year term (with a life sentence for taking bribes and other corruption) and information baswed on facts and clearly identified analysis from a broad cross section of political approaches, that randomly selected panel could deal with implementing most of the necessary solutions.

Source of our problems:

[pan]

Your pyramid works with almost all bureaucratic institutions. Certainly is what I have experienced in academia. Like a version of Catch-22: in order to rise to positions of power within an institution one must make that one's primary goal, however this myopic, self-interest is directly counter to the priorities that are essential to a good leader make decisions of benefit to the institution. Since the majority of the elite are there because they strove to be there, the majority are not fit to lead.

[Mouse]

The only people I've met lately who want to lead
cannot read.

[Mouse]

The Flag of the Shah.