Iran Election 2009

This small blog was only about some technical info and some small updates about the Iran Election and its fallout.

I have stayed quiet too long.

While many other sites have some great resources about the aftermath of the Iran election, repeating updates and information serves no purpose here. Plus I have so little time, I'm sure I couldn't keep up with the flow.

Under the guise of relative anonymity here, and amidst the massive flow of information from Iran every day, maybe I can state an opinion without fear of physical recourse.

Here are some random thoughts, not necessarily written in any professional way. Just some thoughts, hopefully to make you think too.

For a moment, forget the cause. Forget the election fraud and the government's outright lies and propaganda since. What gets me most angry and sad is the outright brutality of the current regime. People become playthings to suit their nefarious ends.

So many tributes for those who have died in Iran, for those who've been brutally assaulted, for those who've been bludgeoned on the streets, in the prisons, let alone the violent interrogation methods and forced confessions. For what? For walking the streets in protest, for wanting a fair election? For wanting what they believe to be their right?

It's Tienanmen behind closed doors and behind a closed country. Try as they might, the news is still getting out.

The victims of this regime are HUMAN BEINGS! Every single one has a life, family, and friends. In Iran, there is zero value on human life. It's as expendable as throwing away a piece of paper.

What are these supposedly religious people thinking?????

Imagine if you will, in our relatively comfortable and free life in the west, that just a single one of your best friends or a member of your family, were beaten, raped and forced to confess, or maybe they were shot in cold blood right in front of you. Or perhaps, for some flimsy reason, they were sentenced to hang by a kangaroo court.

Would you be outraged? Of course you would! Think about Rodney King and the outrage that followed. This was just ONE person. Think about this multiplied hundreds of times every day, thousands of times every year! Why aren't we outraged by every single one of those incidents?

What would you do? How would you feel? How long would you mourn that one person, friend or family, who died or was beaten senseless? What effect would it have on your life, for the rest of your life?

It's completely beyond my imagination to think that this one person's fate is multiplied thousands every day in Iran. Even without the election arrests, this is still happening every day in Iran.

Did you know that in 1988, more than 30,000 political prisoners were wiped off the face of the earth in Iran? Imagine that number... 30,000. Can you imagine 100? Can you imagine 999? Can you imagine 9,000? Now try to think about 30,000 separate lives being ended by a repressive and brutal regime! Who was held accountable? NO ONE!

Iran's regime has maneuvered itself into a somewhat untouchable corner. They're not accountable to anyone. And what's worse, they're mostly doing this in the name of religion and revolutionary credo!

Have you got to know any ordinary Iranians yet? Have you read about them yet? They are amongst the kindest, most hospitable, most gentle people on the planet! Yet, those in power, some of whom were not born in Iran (do your homework), still call themselves Iranian. I think not!

It occurs to me that in Nazi Germany, so many young people were brainwashed for so many years, until Hitler had an army of people who truly believed that they were of a superior race. They believed fervently enough that killing millions of people was nothing to them. How did that come about? Several reasons, not the least of which was that before the war, things were not good in Germany. There was lots of unemployment and many people didn't have a good life. Couple that with brainwashing that others were responsible, and that if these others were removed, there would be more jobs, more money, and a better life. People followed like sheep. It's what their friends did. It's what their family did.

The rich were getting richer, and the poor helped them because they were being promised a better life, while being brainwashed.

How many people believed the earth was flat? Why? It's what they were told to believe. It's that easy!

Power and money corrupt some people. Power, money and adherence to some ridiculous credo, makes people inhuman. Power, money and violence teaches people obedience. Really, it's that easy. It's from the 'Repressive Regime' handbook. Right out of knowing what works. But it's not working all that well in Iran right now.

There is no doubt that in Iran today, there are certainly followers of the regime. Why? Think about it. Amongst many reasons... the poor, the hungry, the people who've not had a good life for years and years, or people just swayed by the rhetoric. And on the other end of the scale, rich people getting richer and can (or have to) close their eyes to whatever else is going on. It was mostly the poor, and the opponents of the regime, who suffered under the Shah. The revolution changed that for a while.

Under the guise of religion and revolution, here are a bunch of people in power now in Iran - mullahs, ayatollahs and other clergy who who teach as authorities of their religion, and have done so for the last 30 years. These very people teach obedience under whatever guise they can - religion, philosophy, connections to what happened in the past, repression, threats of violence, all with occasionally believable rationalisations.

It's these very people (think China, Burma and other places) who shun and take steps to ban contact with the outside world. Why? It feeds into their credo of blind obedience through a number of methods including philosophy, violence and repression. It makes others turn a blind eye, mostly because they have to. In many places in the world, these 'followers' have no choice, whether they believe or not. Protest and you're dead. Whether you protest on the streets, by blogging, by talking to the wrong person - try it and you're dead.

In Iran, it is said that the ordinary people have two faces. One for inside the home, and one for the street. And these two faces differ vastly. Behind closed doors, life is different. For many people, life isn't so different from the west. They have parties, music, drink, fun, computers, mobile phones, makeup, fashion and more. Not everyone, but many - I'd even hazard a guess and say most - but it's definitely there and part of the culture.

On the streets, people are mostly obedient to Sharia Law. It's so brutal that there's no choice, really.

The recent elections have somehow unhinged ordinary people. It has made what ordinary people have been thinking for so many years, spill over into the streets. This is such a mortal danger to the regime that they are now acting desperately to hold on to their illusion. Money, power and politics.

As an aside... if you think that the regime is not in ongoing relationships with the USA and Britain, think again. What you and I don't know about that, would fill volumes.

Why have people taken to the streets, when they KNOW what will happen to some of them? People are willing to give their lives for truth and freedom! Your best friend, your brother or sister - these are the people taking to the streets, putting their lives, their health and their sanity in mortal danger. Why? What would make you take to the streets like this, under such a repressive and violent regime?

What gets to me is that the rest of the world thinks that it can solve this problem with a few sanctions here and there, or with a letter or two to the UN.

And it IS our business. Human beings are our business, no matter where they are.

The regime is acting this way because it thinks it's untouchable. And really, it has been untouchable for 30 years! What has the rest of the world done in 30 years, apart from a few trade sanctions? NOTHING.

How on earth can so many hundreds of thousands of people be killed, tortured, hung, beaten, and we do NOTHING. Why? Because there's nothing much we can do without causing complete chaos in the region.

Sure, the press writes good articles. People blog with evidence all the time. What else have we done? NOTHING!

One life taken for the regime's cause, is one life too many!

People who've been able to escape Iran - and there were millions who left around 1979, and more since - have been lucky in many ways. People with money in Iran, can go on in their businesses, making more money, and can buy their way out of many problems. They travel relatively freely and they carry on with their lives.

Imagine if you will... could you get together the money for airfares for say 6 of your family, plus money to establish yourself in a new country?

Do you have any idea how many people in Iran go to the embassies every day, trying to get out. Many countries won't have them, or visas take 2-3 years to process, if you have money. If you only eek out a meager living, you have no hope of getting out. And really, most Iranians love their country and their culture. It's the government they can't stand.

Iran is a rich country, with plenty of resources, yet the economy there has been getting worse and worse over the last years. Where is the better life and sharing of wealth that Ahmadinejad promised? Who is lining their pockets with that money? The British freezing bank accounts with more than $1.6 billion, should speak volumes. And yet the people with this much money still want to stay in power, despite all the protests, despite having to rig elections. Why? They and the next several generations would never have to lift a finger and still live very well.

Something happens to people in power when that power also means money. I don't claim to fully understand it. I do, however, know the phenomenon of people in this position who have no integrity.

So what can we do? Keep writing to Amnesty International, who essentially have almost zero legal clout? Appeal to our governments, most of whom have already stated they don't want to publicly interfere? Remember, I said 'publicly'. What legal recourse do we have? NONE

Repression of all kinds... beatings, torture, arrests, interrogation with forced confessions, Basij bursting into your house in the middle of the night, and so much more, will keep people off the streets. DO NOT mistake that for Iranians not caring and not wanting change. Unfortunately, the regime is succeeding in part. And this conflict will take much longer to resolve, I fear.

I urge you to think of one single person who has become a victim of this regime and multiply that by thousands. Then think about us as human beings caring about other human beings. Then think of a way of making the perpetrators accountable.

Hey, why don't we make them accountable under exactly the same laws (real or made up) that they are exerting their power and violence over ordinary people now? No, that's not the way. It makes us as bad as them. But who can make the perpetrators accountable? Which international organization can go into Iran and enforce that?

We need to make people accountable for what's happening now and what's happened in the last 30 years in Iran, and for that matter, anywhere else in the world that these atrocities are being committed.

How do we do that? I don't know. Do you?

International organizations need much more power than they now have.

All I know is that it MUST be done somehow, and the sooner the better. One more innocent life becoming a victim of this or any regime, is ONE TOO MANY!