Posts by Nima:
How Iranian journalists abroad are censoring us on the nuclear issue
January 3rd, 2014By Nima C.
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cc !Be Quiet, Please The Government Is Negotiating |
I don’t believe in the possibility of independent journalism. But most of Iranian journalists I know, don’t even try to reflect our opinion, even though we are big number of activist and bloggers with many readers. So, to say that our number is not big enough would be an incorrect excuse. We exist, but they reflect only their “own” people.
Many of famous Iranian journalists abroad, try to give a black and white picture of Iran’s new foreign policy. They also reflect only the black and white opinion over Iran’s Foreign policy. According to them, there are two fanatic groups opposing Zarif: Islamic hardliners and extremist opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The rest shall support Zarif and Rouhani’s policy without any criticism. That is a bullshit!
We are big number of people (also if not the majority) supporting Zarif only as long as his policies improve the relations with the west. We don’t see uranium enrichment as our right. We don’t care about uranium enrichment, since we have more important but ignored rights. We want sanctions lifted and it is up to Iranian government to negotiate for that. We don’t let them to play with us. And they better know that. We want to live normally.
Like in many other countries. We want to have good relations with the west and the rest of the world. We don’t let our government play with us: To say, we tried to negotiate, but the west was stubborn. We can not forget, that it was their policy over years that led to our current situation. People in Iran are suffering directly or indirectly under sanctions. Many have died, many got sick homeless. We are sick of this. Now, it is our governments opportunity to end this sorrow. It is why millions of people voted for Rouhani.
Special thanks to those journalists who didn’t let us alone.
Iran’s upcoming presidential election; a chance to make a new discourse?
June 5th, 2013
By Nima Ch.
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| Iran Election Protest 2009 |
“The green movement” supporters, me included, believed and believe that Iran’s presidential election of 2009 was rigged . Now, the next Iran election is coming. It is scheduled to be held on 14 June 2013. What do we plan to do?
Will we boycott the election or will we try to make another protest after another election fraud?
We will surely make different decisions! It’s the only answer one can give at the moment. I don’t even know what I am going to do. If I can give you any advice: don’t take those who say “I don’t vote at any case” seriously! Many changed their decision short before the election time in the years 2009, 2005 and 2001. And this could be the case this year too.
Let’s start with “what is the different between 2009 and now?“.
1. At 2009 both the Guardian Council and the executive wanted Ahmadinejad to come out as the winner. At the moment Supreme Leader’s Guardian Council (the observer) and Ahmadinejad don’t work with each other, since Ahmadinejad is in a fight with Khamenei. Knowing the tricks of 2009, it is not as easy to manipulate the upcoming election.
2. Young people of Iran have more experience. It means also mistrusting many reformers.
3. New groups have grown together. They may be able to rise up without reformers.
4. Guardian Council will be more strict.
Next question: Why don’t I know what I am going to do on June 2013?
The answer is that you cannot know what is going to happen tomorrow. May be you wake up one night and read that there was a coup in Iran. Or may be a small accident causes a big revolution. The political system of Iran is a little bit chaotic: Ahmadinejad’s old friends are now his enemies. Ministers of today could be prisoners of tomorrow, as some ministers of yesterday are jailed now. And it seems that the people of Iran love to surprise themselves. And westerners! Remember the green revolution. No one had counted with that.
Is the upcoming election only about election and political power? Or can it be used to make a new discourse in the long term?
To answer this question it is enough to talk about Hooshang Amirahmadi! We will see what is possible to be done in Iran.
Hooshang Amir Ahmadi is an Iranian American politician. He is ready to answer your questions on reddit. But let’s talk about it later.
Not only at reddit, but every where else people are asking him how he is wanting to go through the filter of the Islamic Republic, the Guardian Council. And some people are talking about his role behind the curtain: How could that guy come to Iran and go out of Iran without any problem? Amirahmadi is a guy who talks to BBC Persian, Voice of America Persian and other in Iran forbidden Persian language media openly. At the same time, also the conservative media interviews him.
Iran arrests very often journalists and Politicians for “having foreign contacts” (read for example this one). What makes Amirahmadi different? His connection to the US? Is he a kind of ambassador of United States? Yes, he kind of is. But is he working for American government? We don’t know. So let’s not talk about it. I have heard lots of rumors about famous student activists who were jailed and tortured for many years. So I cannot trust everything I hear about Amirahmadi. What I don’t like about him, is his openly saying that the problem of Iran was not the Guardianship of the Jurist or Providence of the Jurist (Wilayat al Faqih). But he is a Politician and probably he is saying that out of pragmatism. Let’s say there is no ideal Politician in the world. I don’t want to defend Amirahamdi. My point is much more important than a person. It’s not about Amirahmadi at all. He is only the perfect example!
And now back to reddit.
One guy has asked him:
“Wikipedia says you have been disqualified by the Guardian Council. Is that true, and if so, would you call your campaign a protest? Is there any polling in Iran? Any way of estimating support? Would it be dangerous to vote for you? Are absentee ballots allowed? Are you allowed any kind of platform in Iran? Can you give speeches, distribute literature? Or are you inhibited in your campaign? What is your long term goal, and how do you estimate your chances of achieving it?”
I don’t want to answer or ask this question, since I think it is wrong to play the role of the Guardian Council. But here is Amirahmadi’s answer for the book:
“At this point, no candidate (not me, not Messrs. Ghalibaf, Velayati, etc.) is allowed to publicly campaign in Iran. In that sense, all candidates are in the same boat. No candidate can publicly campaign until he gets the approval of the Guardian Council, which will be delivered in late-May. So far, my campaign has been very active campaigning in the United States, Dubai, and the United Kingdom. We will be travelling to Iran in March, but not for public campaigns. With your help, we want to take our message of peace around the world. The fact is that there are two necessary factors for successful campaigns: ideas and money. We are hoping to build a grassroots movement with broad based support. By donating, you are not only helping fund our campaign organization (incorporated under Amirahmadi 1392, Inc.), you are investing in Iran’s future. None of this money goes to me personally; it all goes into our small political organization.”
And here is another answer of him which I dislike very much since it is not true:
“It is not dangerous to vote for me. In fact, no Iranian citizen has been penalized for simply voting for or supporting a legal candidate.”
Knowing all this and knowing that I am not a big fan of Amirahmadi, I can talk about my main point.
Chance to talk about the Issue instead of Persons?
Let me keep quoting some of Amirahamdi’s answers:
“As for action, I will give them their citizen rights. I do not look at them as Bahai’s, Jew, Muslim, or anything. I look at them as citizens, and as such, you will be equal in front of the law. As President I will make sure you get your rights. Nobody under my administration will be prosecuted for their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, political orientation, ideological standing, or any other characteristics.”
“Under my administration, homosexuals will have the exact same rights and obligations that any other Iranian citizen will have”
One Redditor asks: “- Fuck, this guy’s not gonna get elected, is he? :(”
Another Redditor answes:
Probably not. But just by running (or, I suppose, asking to run) he’s bringing forth the issue. More than that, he’s forcing someone (either the council or competing candidates) to respond to the issues.
For me, any candidate who is able to talk about such issues, is worth campaigning. The results will be seen one day. More important than short time political games are the contents getting discussed.
Muslims that we Like
September 16th, 2012
1. There are Muslims, who watch parts of a film to see how their prophet is insulted. Later, they punish people who had nothing to do with the movie. The radical Muslims are probably the only reason that more than 2.5 million people have clicked on the video till now. The 13-minute portion of the movie “Innocence of Muslims” was so scandalously reported that it made me curious enough to watch. However, I couldn’t even finish the short clip. Why? It was low budget, poor quality and boring.
2. There are also Muslims who are actively on the street to fight against the fanatical, violent Muslims. They want to present their Islam. In the photo above we see a woman with a scarf, one without. They want to tell the world that their Islam is a peaceful Islam — an Islam that doesn’t represent “killing”. And they want to stop “killing” in the name of their religion. We like such Muslims.
The Dictator Lets 90 Political Prisoners Out
August 16th, 2012By Nima Ch.
Released Political Prisoners of the Section 350 of Evin Prison
Seyyed Ali Khamenei the dictator pardons 90 innocent political prisoners. We are looking forward to his decision. We know that he has not acted out of compassion.
My personal opinion is that the international pressure and public opinion are showing effect.
Until now the names of 77 of the pardoned prisoners are known. The released list contains less prominent political prisoners.
The most prominent of them is Dr. Sholeh-Saadi (pictured above, in the center wearing a tie), the former Parliament member and law professor at Tehran University.
Tehran bureau introduces some more released political prisoners.
When BBC Coverage of the Earthquake in Iran is Better Than Iranian State TV
August 14th, 2012By Nima Ch
At least 180 people have died in northwestern Iran because of an Earthquake. Iranian State TV does not report very much about the earthquake. Instead of presenting this disaster, they broadcast Ramadan Prayers and other religious stuff! BBC English seems to be more interested about a person’s life in Iran. Shame on Zarghami and his crew.
People outside Iran cannot help the victims of the earthquake because of the sanctions! Bank transfer is not possible.
Picture from Genocide of Muslims or Tsunami?
July 17th, 2012By Nima Ch.
Two Iranian websites have (re)published heart breaking pictures of supposedly Muslim genocide in Burmese. I stress that this shall only show how the propaganda machines of Islamic Republic of Iran are working. It has nothing to do with the existence or non-existence of such genocide in the last days (since it is not my field of reporting).
1. You may look at the brutal pictures, which supposed to show the genocide of Muslims in Burma here: Tabnak or here: Iranabad.
2. These pictures are from:
– Monks doing Puja & cremate earthquake Victims
– burned Christians in Nigeria
– Thailand holds 55 Myanmar migrants
Unpopular Sanctions’ Effect on a Pro-American Country
July 8th, 2012By Nima Ch.
Are sanctions breaking the backs of the poor? … Or is it the mismanagements of Iran’s government? And … wasn’t it the Iranian foreign policy which caused the west to impose sanctions against Iran? Yes, undoubtedly it was.
But … “Why the hell is the west sanctioning the medicine, and how can such sanctions help weaken the Iranian regime?” You probably have heard this and similar questions posed. And such questions lead many to ask, “Is the U.S. really expecting to help the Iranian people through this?” One might get the impression that the west was anticipating that the bad economy would put people out on the streets.
Recently I had an unexpected conversation with an Iraniain businessman, a sales manager for a certain fabric. He was explaining how the sanctions have affected his workers. He told me that the U.S. produces some of the basic materials for his fabric, and that those products haven’t been delivered since the last embargo. If he buys the same materials from an Iranian supplier, it costs three times more than the original products. His fabric cannot be sold any more because of its high price. Many of his workers are unemployed now. His workers’ answer to my initial question above is probably that both are at fault: the sanctions and the mismanaged Iranian government. In order not to break his anonymity, I did not seek specifics about the product. It was unexpected enough to encounter such a tough story first-hand. Just hours after being introduced to him I was asking myself, “Is Iran still the most pro-American country?”
The manager continued, “Imagine if the U.S. would remove all the sanctions. No one could say any more that the miserable economical situation is because of the hostile U.S. policy. It would be obvious that they (if one is talking about they, he is talking about the Iranian government) are ruining the workers’ lives. Then they couldn’t beat down the demonstrations so easily by labeling them as pro-American demonstrations. It would at least make the gaps inside them (the government) much bigger than they are at the moment.”
When I suggested that at present it is impossible for the U.S. to remove all the sanctions, he agreed with me, but continued, “Yes, but guess what would happen, if they cut some important sanctions and the regime wouldn’t change its current foreign policy? And guess what would happen if the U.S. would remove some sanctions and Iran would change its policy?” His point was that in both cases it would be the end of the regime. He concluded, “You will see in the future, how a part of the regime will try to break the upcoming nuclear talks.”
Politics is not as simple as this manager tried to explain it to me. But his words were part of a true reality. More importantly: many people in Iran think like he does. Some may be neither managers nor workers, but they would be unhappy if they couldn’t download android apps for their smart phones.
I don’t want to end this note too black and white. I believe that most of the Iranians still like the U.S. and that living in the United States is a dream of theirs. With some valid reasons they are now just a little bit more suspicious about its policies.