Our response to the Iranian election crisis

Campaign Iran has issued the following statement on the ongoing crisis in Iran.

Campaign Iran is an organisation which works solely with the aim of halting the threat of war and the continuing sanctions on Iran. Therefore, we clearly do not express an opinion on individual candidates within the Iranian election, nor any particular preference.

However, as an activist based campaign we always support the right of protest and condemn the repression of any demonstrations in Iran from the state. We support democracy and human rights in Iran and believe that the current movement which has taken to the streets vindicates our position that the Iranian people, and only the Iranian people, have the ability and the right to

make change in Iran as they best see fit. It is clear that the democracy movement can fight its own battles and we support their struggle.

Read the full article HERE

A deeper analysis from Counterfire is HERE

There are a couple of main points we must pay attention to:

• we must throw our full support behind those who have taken to the streets in Iran against their rulers
• At the same time we must also highlight the hypocrisy of our own governments and media organisations
  
• we must warn against the dangers of imperialist powers abusing the situation by continuing to our campaign against the existing suffocating sanctions and any catastrophic plans for war. That way, we allow the Iranian democracy movement to continue without foreign intervention or interference

Kiarostami's Shirin

As an avid fan of Iranian film I can't wait to go to see this film. For anyone who hasn't seen any of Abbas Kiarostami's films, or any other Iranian films for that matter, be prepared to be amazed.

Most Iranian films come in the epic 3hr long format (well, at least that's how long they feel sometimes!) so this one at a mere 90mins is short by industry standards. They have the most beautiful way of drawing you right into the story and you will leave feeling like you contributed somehow to the telling of it.

This one seems to be no exception. In fact the film is even about an audience of more than 100 women who are deeply absorbed in watching a film we never see. Based on an Persian poem as famous as Romeo and Juliet, Shirin is a love story and 'offers a feast for the imagination of a wholly unexpected kind'.

'What matters here is the art of screen acting, the perceptiveness of the camera and the power of cinema to manipulate. Moreover, Kiarostami confounds the fundamentalists by celebrating the expressive beauty of the female face in evocative close-ups ... As a powerful artistic experiment, this is near perfect.' Empire

The BFI offer what promises to be a feast for the eyes from 26 June.

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami with Mahtab Keramati, Golshifteh Farahani, Mahnaz Afshar, Niki Karimi, Juliette Binoche

Visit www.bfi.org.uk/releases for more information.

Stop the War statement on the crisis in Iran

20 June 2009 http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1310/1/

The crisis unfolding in Iran must not become the pretext for renewed intervention by the USA or Britain in the region, nor for a whipping up of further tension around Iran’s nuclear programme.

The responsibility of the anti-war movement is first of all to oppose the role of the British government in the region, and to prevent its posturing being used as a pretence to justify a US or Israeli military attack against Iran, an attack which would have catastrophic results for the whole Middle East, and the Iranian people first of all.

The Stop the War Coalition believes that resolving the crisis is the right and responsibility of the Iranian people alone, and that external interference can play no positive role – particularly interference by those powers which have laid waste to neighbouring Iraq in a lawless war and occupation, and which unfailingly support Israeli aggression in the region.

It would be wrong for us to take any position on the disputed outcome of the Iranian presidential election. We do, however, support the right to demonstrate peacefully, just as we support the Iranian people’s right to political, trade union and other civil freedoms and to struggle to achieve them. We unequivocally condemn the shooting of protesters and other violations of democratic liberties by the Iranian government.

We note the anger displayed by many Iranians against the British government. These sentiments reflect Britain’s shameful history in the country, from overthrowing the democratic regime of Mossadeq in 1952, to its stalwart support for the Shah’s despotism and its support for Saddam Hussein in his aggression against the Islamic Republic in the 1980s.

This anger can only be exacerbated by British interference in the present crisis. The British government remained silent when its ally Hosni Mubarak falsified election results in Egypt, and it has refused to deal with democratically-elected leaders in the Palestine Authority and in Lebanon. The government supports the Saudi kleptocracy, which does not need to manipulate elections because they are never held there.

The British and US governments wish to see regime change in Iran in order to dominate the Middle East and its resources and leave Israel as the region’s unchallenged military superpower. And a government which ignored millions of its own people marching against its planned war against Iraq is in no position to lecture others on democratic attitudes.

In expressing our solidarity with all the Iranian people striving for a democratic outcome to the crisis in their country, the Coalition will support demonstrations and initiatives which reflect these principles.

Note: This is a draft statement by the officers of Stop the War Coalition, which will be put for endorsement to Stop the War's National Steering Committee on Saturday 27 June 2009.

Facebook and Twitter blocked in Iran over Hossein Derakshan's case

Some of you have tried recently to open some pages of our campaign site for the release of Hossein Derakhshan http://www.freetheblogfather.com

The company wich hosts our sites has reported last tuesday that the server where our site where located has been hacked and shut down and the place where the pages of our site where recorded has been also errased during this major attempt.

We are trying to recover situation. 

This morning some facebook users in Iran reported also that they are no longer able to access this site. You'll find this CNN report even tough we need more information on this. 

- http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/23/iran.elections.facebook/index.

Twitterers in Tehran reported early Saturday that Facebook wasn’t the only social network banned. Twitter was apparently down as well, though it has since returned.

Hossein Derakhshan is still detained in an unknown place in Iran, without a due process and the charges against him are not clear. 

More than ever, he needs our support. 

Ahmadinejad asks for defense rights for Hossein Derakhshan

 http://ping.fm/NFn5t

Iran’s 1979 revolution

A protest during the Iranian revolution

 

Thirty years ago Iran’s revolt struck a blow against US imperialism and showed the power of workers in the Middle East, writes Simon Basketter

The US government hates Iran. One reason for this is that when the Iranian people overthrew a brutal dictator in 1979 they also inflicted a massive blow to US imperialism in the Middle East.

Up until the revolution, Iran – alongside Saudi Arabia and Israel – was central to upholding US policy to ensure the stability and safety of Western oil supplies in the region.

Iran’s ruler, the Shah, was a despotic monarch brought to power in 1953 by a coup organised by the CIA and British intelligence.

Read the middle bit HERE...

The left’s failure to organise independently among workers and the poor to fight for socialism allowed Khomeini to consolidate power.

But the 1979 Iranian revolution sent shockwaves around the world.

It showed that Western-backed dictators could be overthrown by a revolution from below.

It also showed the power of workers in the Middle East and raised the possibility of workers’ control of society.

---

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Syria Iran mtg at UCL

After the Bush era who are the forces for stability in the Middle East; Iran, Syria or the U.S? 

With the Bush administration coming to an end, this lecture looks into what the future may hold in the regional political, economic and social stability of the Middle East, and examines whether or not the balance of power will shift to regional states under the new Obama administration, or continue with the current Status Quo.

The lecture will look in particular at the roles Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran can play in rebuilding stability in the region, and also looks into the potential ideas of how these changes can be executed.

Panelists:

Mr. Jihad Makdissi, Spokesman of the Syrian Embassy in London.

Mr. Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, Director of SZ Intelligence and Specialist in Intelligence and International Security.

Chair: Mr Pól Ó Géibheannaigh, Central Asia and Middle East Analyst.

After the main presentation, there will be an opportunity to present questions to the panel, and the floor will open for discussion.

Christopher Ingold Lecture Theatre,

UCL Chemistry Building

20 Gordon Street

London WC1 6BT 

http://maps.google.com/map

s?f=q&hl=en&q=20+Gordon+St

reet%2C+WC1+6BT%2C+London%

2C+United+Kingdom

Generation Tehran

Posted from our Campaign Iran blog

Directed by Sara Bavar. Running time 24 min

Synopsis

Women in burkhas and bearded men in turbans–is this what you think when you hear Iran? Or is it uranium enrichment and dictatorship? What if you traveled there and saw young men and women dressed in the latest fashions carrying the latest technology? What if you heard Iranian rap and saw people dancing in the streets? Would you still perceive Iran in the same way? Generation Tehran is a documentary short that will change your mind about Iran, its people, and its future.

As one of the youngest populations in the world (70% are under 30), Iran’s youth are helping to build a new country. The foundations they lay will not only affect the Middle East, but also extend out to the whole world.

Born and raised in the United States, Iranian-American director/producer Sara Bavar wanted to create a platform for Iran’s youth to speak their mind and to let the world know the truth about them–to give them a voice.

This film is that single, unified voice, crying out, demanding freedoms, and dispelling preconceived notions–all of which, we in the west sometimes take for granted. Using interviews and observational footage filmed entirely on location in Tehran over the course of three months in Fall/Winter of 2006, the film will surprise, shock and leave the viewer questioning everything they knew, or thought they knew about Iran.

Children of the Revolution

Women are now using their appearance and sexuality to fight the regime.

In 1979 Iran went through a major upheaval with the Revolution.

While this political and social transformation was just beginning the country was thrown into a terrible and costly war with Iraq, that would last eight years.

During these years, the revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, encouraged Iranians to have large families, to make 'Armies for Islam'.

At the time, Iran's population was 25 million: today the population is 68 million with nearly 70 percent aged 30 or younger - these are the Children of the Revolution, (also known in Iran as "the burnt generation").

Today unemployment amongs this generation runs at 50 percent. Officially half the population lives below the poverty line. Prospects for young people are not good and many graduates are lucky to get jobs as taxi drivers.

This generation of young Iranians has experienced real extremes - the turmoil of war, social and religious reform, and the conservatism and poverty that followed.

Zohreh Soleimani is not a journalist - but she sets out to give a picture of Iran that reflects the reality of day to day lives.

Read more at the BBC here

• 23 mins

• Download (mp3)

• Documentaries

Download or subscribe to this programme's podcast.

SOAS eulogises late Imperialist

On July 23 2008 SOAS (School of Orientali-ist and African Studies) pays homage to deceased academic who helped West steal Iranian oil.

Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton, OBE FBA, first came to SOAS as a student and later as a teacher.

Lambton’s interest in the Arab world was sparked in her teens – according to a friend, when she read T. E. Lawrence’s Revolt in the Desert!!!

She enrolled at SOAS in 1932 after meeting Denison Ross, the orientalist and director of the then still called School of Oriental Studies.

When Ross then persuaded her to concentrate on the Persian world, she registered for an honours degree course in Persian with subsidiary Arabic.

Historian Prof. Ervand Abrahamian in his book Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic records that:

"The British, determined to undermine Mossadeq from the day he was elected premier, refused to negotiate seriously with him ... Professor Lambton, serving As a Foreign Office consultant, advised as early as November 1951 that the British government should persevere in 'undermining' Mossadeq, refuse to reach agreement with him, and reject American attempts to find a compromise solution. 'The Americans,' she insisted, 'do not have the experience or the psychological insight to understand Persia.'" - Ann Lambton

So, whilst manangement claim that rumours that SOAS was set up as a training ground for miltary and colonial oppressors are false (fascist Enoch Powel did a degree in Urdu on the premise of becoming embassador in India/Palistan), they do not rule out the fact that they taught and trained generations of imperialists/orientalists. Some things never change.

Looking at Iran and Syria: Aggressors or Victims?

St Mary’s University College

Friday 8th August, 3pm-4.30pm

The West and much of its media have accused Iran and Syria as constituting a major threat to Israel and western interests. But who are the real aggressors? Iran suffered 1 million dead and wounded from Saddam Hussein’s attack when he was a Western client; Iraq is a broken country and Syria has acted as host to the millions of refugees created by war.

Speakers:

Dr Geoffrey King is an authority on Islamic architecture and a media commentator.

Shirvin Zeinalzadeh is an Iranian diplomat, a lecturer and a specialist in Intelligence and International Security.

Dr Sayed Safavi is a prominent Iranian cleric and philosopher. In 2003 he condemned suicidal bombings and called for negotiations as the means to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Jihad Makdissi is head of the Press and Media section, Syrian Embassy, London.

Contact Pol for more details

+44 (0)7504522042

pol_og@hotmail.com

facebook: Pol O Geibheannaigh