Today the fake government of Iran held their own rally, and they could only find up to 20,000 people to show up. They bought them food, made them signs, told them what to chant, and took them home. Oh yes, they had to bus them in from outside of Tehran, so they were not Tehranis. Pretty slick, eh? Notice one thing, they did not have police shooting at them, they did not have the basij and the irgc fighting them. No riot gear. Yet the Green Movement, which is many times more popular, had about over one million people in July after the fake election and many hundreds of thousand people facing these thugs with no weapons, no protection, no nothing. All they had is disgust and courage. They want a peaceful, secular Iran. They don't want to fight, and they were not fighting. It was the basij and irgc who started the fighting. They pushed them past the point of peaceful protest. They restrained their anger for so long. Sunday was the 7th day after the death (they mourn the dead of Mohammad's grandson and family after 7 days on the day of Ashura, very holy day) of one their reformist Clerics who had criticized this regime ever since the 80's. He was one of the original people of the revolution in 1979. He soon became disenchanted with the way the government was taking shape. Many people in Iran are saddened at his loss, so their is a little division because the protest started on that day. Otherwise, they generally agree with the Green Movement. It is true that not all the people agree or want Iran to change. You will find this in any party, any country, any state, etc. So please don't misquote me as saying everyone! *heh* Even though I have been praying for the Christians in Iran and trying to talk to Congress about human rights issues, I still do not know as much about the Persian history as I would like to know. That is why I have three people I would like to introduce you to that are Iranian bloggers. First I would like to introduce to a friend of mine who we share a blog with, his name is 'Korosh' and his blog is DEMOCRACY FOR IRAN دموكراسي براي ايران. He is a very peace-loving man, and he keeps up with the news pretty well. I met Winston next. He has a site over at The Spirit of Man. He is a rather funny guy. (He has a great sense of humor.) He also desires a regime change. He has been following this history as it happens, so you should really check out his site. I just found this site a couple days ago, but it is very good also. The name of it is The Daily Nite Owl and his latest post is ‘Millions’ Out in Support of Government in Iran? Think Again. This one covers the state run, state owned, state bought people to rally as if they are pro-government. Ha. If they loved the govt so much, why did they have to go out of town to gather people...starting yesterday! I don't want to report anything I cannot confirm, and unfortunately I can't even be sure of this. All of them have relatives and friends in Iran, so I have a tendency to rely on their versions. They coincide with what I've been reading in the papers and seeing on Twitter's #iranelection. Also unfortunately, that's all I have for now. I hope to learn more for tomorrow. Until then, everyone stay safe and pray for our brothers and sisters who are fighting for their own Life and Liberty. Thanks. Update: I have just read a marvelous article at Muslims Against Sharia by SP. The name of the article is Amil Imani: Is Regime Change Coming To Iran? Well written and more in depth than I could write. Great job. May you walk with the LORD always, and when you cannot take another step, may He carry you the rest of the way until you can walk along side Him again.
Before we become engrossed in the facts of today, I would like to ask you to join me in prayer not only for their success, but also for their safety from the basijis and IRGC. May they all turn their arms against the government and join the revolution.  Today the fight continues. Most countries have stepped forward and condemned the violent repression by the Iranian government. There are many photos, videos, and articles about this atrocity. I shall provide a list of articles written by others at the end of this post. I will also be updating, so remember to come back. The Iranian TV and newspapers (that is, the ones that are still open) are reporting that 8 people were killed yesterday (I heard it was 10 civilians and 5 basijis) and 300 plus were arrested. Ali Habibi Mousavi, nephew of Mousavi who lost the election this year (we'll never know), was also killed by these creeps. He was shot after being run over and then shot in chest. It was no accident. There are reports that his (Mousavi's) nephew's body is missing. Let me just add one note of importance here. I do not like Mousavi. He is the same as Ahmadinejad. If he was not, he would not have been allowed to run for office. Just so we are clear on this issue. I support the Iranian Green Movement, not the elitist government officials. One of the interesting items I read about was Coup in Iran?. If this is true, we may be a witness to the history of the collapse of the Iranian tyrannical regime! I just pray that they do not turn out to be oppressors. I read something about the December 22nd. Many people and relatives freed two men who were to be hanged, and they were shot dead. The creeps caught the two men which made the crowd even angrier. Eventually, the two men were hanged. AtlasShrugs has this to offer: IRAN REVOLUTION: MASSIVE PROTESTS, DEATHS REPORTED, CHAOS.
Pandemonium as clashes continue in Tehran for 2nd day as protesters defy Islamic Government (more) Eyewitness reports and opposition websites say Security forces fired on the crowds in several places, wounding many, killing at least four that we know of. [Read more.] Many pictures are included. Winston was also watching closely as the riots broke out. They didn't have to turn into riots, but the thuggish government just has to start firing at innocent people (my assessment). I think he may have taken his leave. He does need to sleep, and he liveblogged all day and night. From reading the tweets at #iranelection, it appears that there is much fighting going on between the freedom fighters and the anti-riot goons. It seems to be an uprising all over Iran, but we must wait and see. One thing I know for sure, they want to accomplish this victory by themselves. Do they want our support? Of course they do! They want everyone who is a freedom-loving person who loves peace's support. I shall return in a while, but I must go for a while. Have a nice day, and don't forget to pray for the safety of the freedom fighters and the demise of all tyrants. Update: Here is a cartoon found through twitter's #iranelection. He hopes one day the Iranian people will actually see this! Update II: This is an article I read last night (or was that this morning?), and it is very good. It covers news, photos, and videos. Please be careful though, some of these videos are graphic. Are you brave enough to watch what is really happening in actual life in this world, or are you too cozy? Hmm. Update III: Here is some more live blogging from EnduringAmerica. Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat, the main reformist Student Alumni Organisation, also issued a statement: What a regret that a government that considers itself to be risen from religious teachings and a national revolution, on the noon of Ashura opens fire on innocents and does what even the most notorious rulers of this country throughout the history [e.g. the Shah deposed in 1979] had not dared to do. 2055 GMT: Taking Sides? We’ve posted the video of President Obama’s statement (see 2020 GMT) and it’s even harder-hitting than we thought:”History will be on the side of those who seek justice. [Read more.] If you want to see what has happened so far today, this is a good source. This next articles asks if this is the beginning an Iranian-style anti-fada. The opposition has proven it has the resolve and resilience to sustain its risky challenge, despite the regime’s ruthless use of force, mass arrests, show trials and reports of torture and rape in prison. In the escalating political showdown the opposition has the momentum.
Just as important, the emergence of people power is also setting a new precedent in the last bloc of countries ruled by authoritarian regimes. Thirty years ago, Iran’s revolution redefined politics throughout the Middle East by ending dynastic rule and introducing Islam as a modern political idiom. Iran’s uprising is doing it again — this time by taking to the streets to demand an end to dictatorship as well as calling for fundamental rights such as free speech, a free press and respect for the individual vote. [Read more.] The London Times Online seems to think the opposition people have many different reasons that don't necessarily mix. I disagree to a certain point, but that is their right. I won't chop their head off over it. /sarc Source(s): TimeOnline: Seven opposition leaders arrested as Mousavi nephew's body 'missing'. EnduringAmerica: Iran: A Point of No Return? Free Republic: Coup in Iran?. AtlasShrugs: IRAN REVOLUTION: MASSIVE PROTESTS, DEATHS REPORTED, CHAOS. The Spirit of Man: Khamenei is a donkey. Political Cartoons: Iranian Revolution Color. IranNewsNow: Live-blog: Ashura in Iran – December 27, 2009. EnduringAmerica: The Latest from Iran (28 December): The Regime’s Arresting Strategy. TimesOnline: Is this Iran’s Berlin Wall moment? The Spirit of Man: Khamenei is a donkey.
 FACING an uncrushable opposition and imploding economy, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is playing the nuclear card in an attempt to rally his fractured nation. By defying the West, rejecting talks and issuing scarcely credible promises to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, he is hoping to whip up a nationalist fervour that will distract attention from Iran's deepening domestic troubles. It is a high-risk strategy, not least because Iran's opposition politicians are as committed to the nuclear program as he is.
Iran's nuclear program is popular, even among the country's Western-minded urban elite, though the question of whether it is for civil power or weapons is seldom discussed openly.
To most Iranians, the program is a source of national pride and a sovereign right that offers reassurance to a nation that feels isolated and vulnerable.
Iran is a Farsi-speaking Shia Muslim state in a region dominated by Arab countries with Sunni majorities. It is surrounded by US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf and threatened by Israel's nuclear arsenal. Above all, it recalls vividly how the West backed Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, despite his use of chemical weapons. Internal competition over the nuclear issue is in grave danger of escalating Iran's confrontation with the West. It may backfire domestically, too. Circumstances have changed dramatically in Iran this year and the nuclear card may well have lost its domestic potency. Iranians are questioning the cost of the program as unemployment and inflation are soaring, factories are closing and industrial unrest is spreading. Their economic hardship will become much worse if Ahmadinejad proceeds with his plan to save $US100 billion ($109.7bn) a year by cutting subsidies on petrol, electricity, water, food, health and education. Some, including Ahmadinejad himself, argue that imposing sanctions over Iran's nuclear program will serve only to unite the Iranian people. The Australian 
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Iran Lashes Out After NGO Cites Abuses in U.N. Rights Council
Geneva, September 16, 2009 — The government of Iran slammed a Geneva human rights organization after it testified before a UN panel about Iran's "fraudulent elections in June, brutal arrest of peaceful protesters, murder of Neda and other innocents, and rape of female and male detainees."Following UN Watch’s speech today before the UN Human Rights Council exposing Iran’s abuses, the Ahmadinejad government fired back, accusing the rights group of “unsubstantiated allegations” and lacking “accuracy and decency.” See UN Watch statement, delivered by Iranian human rights defender Nazanin Afshin-Jam, and Iran’s reply below.
_________ UN Watch Statement
UN Human Rights Council, 12th Regular Session
Item 2: Update of High Commissioner for Human Rights Delivered by Nazanin Afshin-Jam Thank you, Mr. President. Madam High Commissioner, thank you for calling attention to victims of torture. My father was tortured, by a vicious regime. I know what it means. Thank you for spotlighting discrimination in Tibet; the violation of women’s rights in Sudan; and the shooting of human rights defenders in Russia. Thank you also for putting a spotlight on the Islamic Republic of Iran: its fraudulent elections in June, brutal arrest of peaceful protesters, murder of Neda and other innocents, and rape of female and male detainees. Detailed evidence of these horrific crimes was released this week by opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi. This is the government that tortured my father. And sitting next to me is Ahmad Batebi. They tortured him for 9 years, for attending a student protest. This is the government that has at least 160 juveniles on death row, in violation of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The evidence is documented in this new report by Stop Child Executions, entitled “From Cradle to Coffin: A Report on Child Executions in Iran.” Madam High Commissioner, you spoke of human rights, courage and political will.
Mr. Batebi and I here today to present this appeal by 50 Iranian human rights defenders.
We urge you to call for an immediate Special Session of this Council, to investigate Iran’s gross violation of all basic human rights, and to take action to protect the victims. After June, the world knows: President Ahmadinejad does not represent the people of Iran. The people of Iran want freedom, democracy, and human rights. The abuses are getting worse and worse by the day. There’s no time to spare. Please, we need your help. Thank you, Mr. President.
________________ IRAN — Right of Reply ... Read further here: http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1316871&ct=7496321
Iran Revolution Day 30: Mullahs Arrest Prize winning journalists, Obama releases Associates of Revolutionary Guards to Mullahs Taraneh's fate over at Iranian Leftists: (hat tip Diane) Taraneh M. is a 28 year old trainee beautician who was arrested more than two weeks ago by security forces on the fringe of the rally on 7th tir (28th june). Reports indicate that her family were told that she was in danger due to damage to her anus and womb. According to reports, this young woman was arrested by plain clothes security forces at 6 pm after participating in the 7th tir ceremony at Ghoba mosque. While after interrogation all other detainees were brought to Nobonyad police station by basij and intelligence agents, the plain clothes agents kept Taraneh in a building near Hosseinie Ershad. According to witnesses, while most of the participants in the ceremony were dressed in normal clothes and trainers, Taraneh was wearing chic clothes and high-heeled shoes, and caught the interrogators’ attention because of her hairstyle, make-up and beauty. When Taraneh’s family, who live in Jeyhoun Street in West Tehran, went to look for her at Nobonyad police station, the officers at the station said they didn’t know anything about her. But the other detainees told the family that Taraneh was in custody with the Basijis and hadn’t been turned over to the police station. This made the family even more worried. The probability the she had been gang raped increased when a couple of days later an unidentified person telephoned the family and said that after an “accident” Taraneh had been admitted to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Karaj because of tears in her womb and anus. After several days of searching, her family at last found Taraneh’s car, which had been parked near Ghoba mosque, and they went to inquire at Imam Khomeini hospital in Karaj. One of the nurses confirmed that an unconscious girl matching Taraneh’s description had been brought in by plain clothes forces and had been removed again after a couple of hours. This girl’s particulars hadn’t been entered in the hospital records. This increases the suspicion that Taraneh M. may have been raped by the Basijis and security forces and may even have died. But her family won’t yet accept this and hope that if they follow the advice of the police, i.e. to keep quiet, they will be able to trace their daughter
Read the rest here. 3:53 pm: Names of the 13 people executed in Zahedan today: Manucher Shahbakhsh, Mohammad-Hasan Shahouzehi, Faezeh Abdol-Razzagh Rashidi (woman), Yaqub Gomshadzehi, Abdol-Vasat Shihak, Idris Navatizehi, Abdol-Qiyass Naroei, Abdol-Sabur Rakhshani, Asadollah Vafaei, Abdol-Khalegh Mir-Baluchzehi, Tareq Abadian, Yahya Rigi, Khalil-Ahmad Rigi May the all rest in peace (hat tip Banafsheh) AND SHAME on the Christian Science Monitor for towing the LIES of the Mullahs by describing these innocent Iranians as "Sunni rebels". Christian Science Monitor has ALWAYS been a little TOO FRIENDLY to the Islamic Republic and it has turned out to be one of the most useful idiot tools of that filthy regime. SHAME on them. Yes, I did not run the stories the media was running - and the mullahs' Sunni lies. Shame on the world press. Savages. 100's of dead bodies are piled up in south Tehran cold stoamilies wander around, looking or their loved ones,from hospital to prison, prison to courts, courts to police stations & so on. No one gives them answers or those contacted are given no details & only told to show up somewhere; upon arrival they are told their loved one is dead & to sign release papers stating that the regime is not responsible for the death. Then the bodies are released to the families. The mother of one of those who lost his life explains that finally after days of searching officials took her to the cold storage that is normally used for storing dairy and fruits, and where the bodies are now being kept & told her to look through a photo album of hundreds of photos of bodies in order to pick out her son. She explains that though she did not find her son, that seeing those hundreds of dead bodies shoved on top of each other made her so ill that she passed out & when she regained consciousness, she was outside the cold storage, in the car. Obama released executioners of Americans to Ahmadinejad: Obama Frees Iranian Terror Masters (Andrew McCarthy): "The release of the Irbil Five is a continuation of a shameful policy." Five Iranian Associates of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Released by US in Iraq for 2 Years Return Home VOA An image grab taken from Iran's official Press TV station shows the five Iranians upon their arrival at Tehran. Five Iranians released from U.S. custody three days ago in Iraq, received a warm welcome Sunday at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport. The United States insists the five were not released as part of a political gesture to Iran.The five Iranians released Thursday in Iraq, were given a hero's welcome at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, as a crowd of well-wishers and family members greeted them on the tarmacIranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Muttaqi embraced the men, as friends and relatives carried them on their shoulders into the airport. Muttaqi later gave a press conference, surrounded by the five, complaining that the United States had detained them "illegally." Obama releases the executioners back into Iran, while sanctioning the genocide against the Iranian people by these very same savages.
Prize winning Photo Journalist Arrested Demotix It was on the morning of the 11th of July that the secret police forcibly entered the flat of Majid and arrested him in front of his wife and children. He was taken to a secret location and his flat was raided, with the authorities taking into custody tape recordings and other personal possessions. Majid Saeedi was the prominent photographer of Iranike and nine other publications since 1998. In 2001, in collaboration with Time magazine, Majid covered the war in Afghanistan and garnered 4 prizes with Japanese news source Asahi Shimbun. Satyar Emami, a fellow photo journalist disappeared sometime between the hours of Saturday and did not turn up for work on Sunday afternoon. His disappearance has been linked to that of Majid’s arrest. The photos are of Majid, taken on the 31st May 2009.
The lessons that Muslims must learn from the Iranian model: Islam is NOT the solution
Thursday, June 25, 2009 - posted by Dr. Tawfik Hamid
For decades the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated Islamic groups such as Hamas used the expression “Islam is the solution” as their slogan. They used it in a way to convince Muslims that Islam will bring solutions to all their problems. Many young Muslims became attracted to Islamism because they believed that using Islam in politics and implementing Sharia would bring a solution to the problems they face in their societies. The economic success of Saudi Arabia, which implements Sharia Law, and the success of early Muslims in building a huge powerful Islamic empire, were two powerful examples that attracted many of our young Muslims, myself included, to this “Islamic Solution”. Failure of many Islamic societies to succeed in several fields, including economic state, has fueled the feeling that adopting the Islamic solution is the only answer for our problems.
The Iranian Revolution was seen by many Muslims as a proof that Islam is the solution. On the contrary, the failure of the Iranian regime in bringing prosperity to its people can debunk this concept. The recent demonstrations against the Iranian regime are clear evidence that Islam is NOT the solution, as the government has not brought success and true justice to its people. not having brought success and true justice to its people.
The Muslim world also needs to look to other failures of the Islamic systems and regimes. Sharia laws have been implemented in Sudan, parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, parts of Nigeria, and in Somalia. This has not brought wealth and prosperity to people as many Muslims expected. On the contrary it has brought poverty and misery to their populations. The best evidence for this is that we see tens of thousands of young Muslims applying to immigrate the West but we do not see many of them trying to immigrate to Somalia or Taliban-controlled areas!
The Muslim world must face the reality that Islamic and Sharia-based solutions for countries have failed to bring prosperity to people in most parts where they have been implemented. The media has a role to play in showing the failure of many Islamic systems in several parts of the world. The Muslim world must wake up from its dream that applying Sharia will solve all their problems and recognize the reality that “Islam is NOT the Solution”. Source: http://www.tawfikhamid.com/ The Silent Holocaust: Why Humanity Must Achieve Victory over Islam
by Azam Kamguian What I am going to talk about is Islam; contemporary Islam in Iran. I will describe some episodes of Islamic carnage and pass you briefly through what happened and still is happening in Iran. I will talk about those who have nurtured Islamic movements or have tried to justify Islam. I will conclude by emphasizing the urgency of achieving the victory of humanity over Islam and the practical steps that should be taken to achieve this.
The final decades of the 20th century witnessed another Holocaust - an Islamic one, in which millions have been and continue to be shot, decapitated and stoned to death; in which people have been slaughtered and displaced by Islamic states, political Islamic movements and Islamic terrorists in Iran, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Central Asia, and now in America. The robe, turban and Koran continue to victimize people. Any voice of dissent or freedom has been silenced on the spot. The oppression maintained by Islamic movements primarily takes the form of opposition to the freedom of women, by crushing women's civil liberties, by curtailing freedom of expression in the cultural and personal domains, by enforcing brutal laws and traditions, and by the mass killing of people from young children to the elderly.
Essentially, Islam is a set of beliefs and rules that militate against human prosperity, happiness, welfare, freedom, equality and knowledge. Islam and a full human life are contradictory concepts, opposed to each other. Islam under any kind of interpretation is and always has been a strong force against secularism, modernism, egalitarianism and women's rights. Political Islam, however, is a political movement that has come to the fore against secular and progressive movements for liberation, and against cultural and intellectual advances. Violence and disregard for human dignity are inherent in the manifestos of political Islamic groups.
“The very statement that an Islamic republic exists somewhere means that brutal violence exists within it.”
After political Islam took power in Iran, creating an Islamic Republic, this movement came out of the margins in other Middle Eastern countries. It was in Iran that political Islam first organised itself into a government and thus turned into a considerable force in the region. In Iran, under an Islamic state, violence has had another dimension: one that is based on Islam. The very statement that an Islamic Republic exists somewhere means that brutal violence exists in it. The mere fact that people are forced to abide by laws based on something some god is believed to have said somewhere, or that some prophet has said, itself represents a form of violence. If anyone protests against such laws, they are subject to punishment and suppression. Islam means the worst and the most ferocious kind of violence. Iran is the most transparent picture of what Islam is capable of. I will try to pass you briefly through this period of violence, atrocities, and misogyny - a bloodbath committed by Islam in power.
In Iran, I lived through thousands of days when Islam shed blood. Since 1979, a hundred thousand men, women and children have been executed in the name of Allah. I have lived through days when I, along with thousands of men and women throughout the country, looked for the names of our lovers, husbands, wives, friends, daughters, sons, colleagues and students in newspapers which daily announced the names of the executed. Days when the soldiers of Allah attacked bookstores and publishing houses and burned books. Days of armed attacks on universities, killing students all over the country. Weeks and months of bloody attacks on workers' strikes and demonstrations. Years of assassination of opponents inside and outside Iran. Years of suppression and brutal murder of atheists, freethinkers, socialists, trade union leaders and activists, Marxists, Bahais, women who resisted the misery of hijab and the rule of sexual apartheid, and many others who were none of these, who were arrested in the streets and then executed simply because of their innocent non-Islamic appearance. And to the hundred thousand murdered in Iran must be added the millions who have died in Algeria, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. A silent holocaust about which the civilised world does nothing.
I, along with thousands of political prisoners, was tortured by order of the representative of Allah and Sharia; tortured, while the verses of the Koran about nonbelievers were played in the torture chambers. The voice reading the Koran was mixed with our cries of pain from lashes and other brutal forms of torture. They raped women political prisoners for the sake of Allah and in expectation of his reward. They prayed before raping them. Thousands were shot to death by execution squads while Koranic verses were recited. Prisoners were awakened every day at dawn to the sound of gunshots aimed at their friends and cellmates. From the numbers of shots you could work out how many had been murdered that day. The killing machine did not stop for a minute. The fathers and mothers, husbands and wives who received the bloody clothes of their loved ones had to pay for the bullets. They created an Islamic Auschwitz. Many of the best, the most passionate and progressive people were massacred. The dimensions of the horror are beyond imagining.
From that time, love, happiness, smiling, any free human interaction was forbidden. Islam took over completely. This is what happened to my generation. But it was not limited only to my generation, It had bloody consequences for our parents’ generation and for the next generation. During those years, millions of children were brainwashed and manipulated. The crimes committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and political Islam in the region are comparable to the crimes committed by Fascism in the 1930s and early 1940s, and to the genocide in Rwanda and Indonesia.
Yet these are events that humanity around the world has been largely unaware of. A Holocaust which, if humanity knew of its dimensions and intensity, would certainly cause it to weep. With the downfall of such regimes, the world will finally be given an opportunity to know the truth - victims will speak out, prisons and torture chambers will be exposed, torturers will make heart-wrenching confessions, Islamic prosecutors and judges will reveal what they did to their victims behind prison walls. Then people all over the world will see what a despicable phenomenon Islam is. They will finally find out the truth about those governments that backed the Islamic movements and the Western mainstream media that deliberately blocked people's access to the truth.
The aftermath of September 11 exposed some of the reality of what is happening to people living under the constant terror of Islam. It exposed something of the tragedy that befell women under the Taliban. It revealed, to some extent, the true substance of Islam. But it became plain to see that this carnage is Islamic. It became evident that it is all about Islam.
When I came to the West in the beginning of the 1990s, I was faced by the fact that the majority of intellectuals, the mainstream media, the academic world, and many feminists, in the name of respecting other cultures and religions, were trying to justify Islam by dividing it into fundamentalist and moderate, progressive and reactionary, Medina's and Mecca's, folksy and non-folksy, poisonous and edible. For people like me, first-hand victims of the Islamic Holocaust, it was suffocating to listen to and to have to refute endless tales to justify this terror, atrocity and misogyny. Parallel to this Islamic carnage, apologists for Islam try to divert people's righteous loathing for Islam and for the political Islamic movement, to limit it to a hatred of fundamentalism'. They attempt to reduce the anti-Islamic struggle to anti-fundamentalism. They keep telling us that what we loathe is fundamentalism, not the 'true', the 'real' Islam. They pledge 'reform in Islam' and the application of a 'positive interpretation of the Koran' to women's rights by ‘linguistic turn’. They raise the idea of Islamic feminism and try to attach a human face to the monstrous face of Islam against women.
“The rights of freedom of expression, equality of men and women, and a secular state apply to people in the 'Third World' too. Isn't it shameful that we have to argue about it?”
The truth should be spoken. We shouldn't let apologists for Islam play with people's lives any more. We should say clearly and loudly that it is all about Islam. What we have seen is the reality of Islam in power. The fact is that Western liberal and left-wing intellectuals feel guilty about past colonial history and are apologetic to the ‘Third World’. They consider the 'Third World' a given entity, where people are keen to suffer under the rotten rules of Islam, where people are happy to be deprived of the achievements of human civilization in the 21st century. According to them, women desire sexual apartheid, girls love to be segregated from boys, and people hate civil rights and individual freedom. In their view, people are the allies of Islamic movements and Islamic governments. This is indeed a distorted image of the realities. This is an inverted colonialism. In this picture, people who are fighting for civil rights, secularism and against political Islam do not exist. This self-centered mentality in which everything should revolve around the guilt of Western pseudo-intellectuals is appalling. The rights of freedom of expression, equality of men and women, and a secular state apply to people in the 'Third World' too. Isn't it shameful that we have to argue about it?
Contrary to this view, there is a fight going on - and it has been going on for over 20 years - between progressive movements in the Middle East and in the West on the one side, and political Islam on the other. The records of the daily struggle of people and the non-Islamic opposition in Islam-ridden countries, and the news of the daily resistance of the youth and women in Iran, demonstrate the reality of peoples' demands in the 'Third World'. Since 1979, Iranian society has changed dramatically and deeply. The movement for secularism and atheism, for modern ideas and culture, for individual freedom, for women's liberation and civil liberties has been widespread and deep. Disgust for religion and the backward culture of those in power is immense.
Secularism must be defended actively and resolutely in Islam - ridden countries. Universal human and civil rights must be the standard. Secularism is not only realizable, but also, after the experiences of Iran, Afghanistan, the Sudan and Algeria, is an urgent and pressing need and demand of the people of the region. The demand for secularism must push for absolute and complete separation of religion from the State; complete separation of religion from education; freedom of religion and atheism; laws free of religious content; and for religion to be declared the private affair of individuals. A conscious struggle must be conducted against the power of organised religion. All religious denominations and sects should be officially registered as private enterprises, subject to regulations and laws.
To realise these ideals and demands, we need a massive joint force. Despite the struggles of the non-Islamic opposition in the Middle East and in the West in the past decades, all that has been visible has been occasional reports of the barbarity of political Islam and the reactions of Western governments, media and 'intellectual' apologists for Islam. But, there is a third force, a sleeping giant who can turn the situation around. If this giant awakes, this era could see the beginning of positive changes and the realisation of ideals that were almost abandoned during the final decades of the 20th century. Humanity must rise up and defend itself against the barbarity of Islam.
The ranks of civilised humanity form a massive force that has, so far, sadly been silenced. It can come to the fore. For the future of humanity, it must come to the fore. If there is to be a future, it is in the formation of an active, progressive and freedom-loving policy at the forefront of the ranks of the people. Otherwise, the stage is left open to terrorism and barbarism. I finish my speech with the hope that in the coming years of the 21st century, we will witness the victory of humanity, of humanism, over Islam. All freedom-lovers and secularist forces around the world should come together in a joint effort to combat political Islam; to promote secularism, egalitarianism and freedom, in the societies that Islam oppresses.
Adapted from the speech delivered at the session on Humanism and Islam at the IHEU World Congress 2002. [Email: azam_kamguian@yahoo.com ] Source: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/isis/islamic_viewpoints/the_silent_holocaust_why_humanity_must_achieve_victory_over_islam/
In June 2009 millions of people came out on to the streets of Iran for freedom and an end to the Islamic regime. Whilst the June 12 election was a pretext for the protests - elections have never been free or fair in Iran – it has opened the space for people to come to the fore with their own slogans. The world has been encouraged by the protestors’ bravery and humane demands and horrified by the all-out repression they have faced. It has seen a different image of Iran - one of a population that refuses to kneel even after 30 years of living under Islamic rule. The dawn that this movement heralds for us across the world is a promising one – one that aims to bring Iran into the 21st century and break the back of the political Islamic movement internationally. This is a movement that must be supported. DeclarationWe, the undersigned, join Iran Solidarity to declare our unequivocal solidarity with the people of Iran. We hear their call for freedom and stand with them in opposition to the Islamic regime of Iran. We demand: 1. The immediate release of all those imprisoned during the recent protests and all political prisoners 2. The arrest and public prosecution of those responsible for the current killings and atrocities and for those committed during the last 30 years 3. Proper medical attention to those wounded during the protests and ill-treated and tortured in prison. Information on the status of the dead, wounded and arrested to their families. The wounded and arrested must have access to their family members. Family members must be allowed to bury their loved ones where they choose. 4. A ban on torture 5. The abolition of the death penalty and stoning 6. Unconditional freedom of expression, thought, organisation, demonstration, and strike 7. Unconditional freedom of the press and media and an end to restrictions on communications, including the internet, telephone, mobiles and satellite television programmes 8. An end to compulsory veiling and gender apartheid 9. The abolition of discriminatory laws against women and the establishment of complete equality between men and women 10. The complete separation of religion from the state, judiciary, education and religious freedom and atheism as a private matter. Moreover, we call on all governments and international institutions to isolate the Islamic Republic of Iran and break all diplomatic ties with it. We are opposed to military intervention and economic sanctions because of their adverse affects on people’s lives. The people of Iran have spoken; we stand with them. See first Signatures and sign here: http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk/iscommit/iscom186.php?nr=97158834&lang=en
 February 03 PRESS TV, the Iranian-government-owned English-language web and television broadcasting company, recently published a report contending Iran’s intelligence ministry had uncovered and publicly disclosed details regarding an alleged “’US-backed’ spy ring which had plans to topple the Tehran government.”
According to the report:
“Following the arrest of four Iranian nationals on charges of plotting to overthrow the government with Washington’s support, head of the counterespionage department in the Intelligence Ministry said Monday that the group intended to build social and political tension in the country.”
The official, whose name was not revealed, added “organizing anti-government public rallies and creating ethnic division in the country” were among the tactics to be employed by the network.”
In our ongoing conversations with Dr. Walid Phares – director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies who now also serves as secretary general of the Trans Atlantic Legislative Group on Counter Terrorism — we asked for his interpretation of any underlying message within the report.
We know what the report says. What are the Iranians not saying?DR. WALID PHARES:First, the Iranian regime has always conducted arrests among its opposition. It has done so since coming to power in 1980. The regime has – for all intent and purposes – physically eliminated Iranian citizens – thousands of them – by labeling them as being “U.S.-backed” and/or “Zionist” elements inside the country. If you look at the archives of the various international human rights organizations, or country reports in various foreign ministries; and of course, if you review the information collected from the many Iranian opposition groups, you’ll easily discover a continuous and systematic suppression of freedoms in Iran for the last 30 years. The arrest campaigns have covered nearly every sector of Iranian society: students, women, labor, artists, but also ethnic minorities such as Arabs, Kurds, Baluch, Azeri and others. Also, religious minorities such as Christians, Jews and Bahais have also been persecuted. The news regarding arrests of Azeri ethnics in Iran is not unusual. We’ve been reading open sources reports about Bahais arrests in recent weeks, as well as arrests of Ahwaz Arabs over the past several months, and women over the last year. So, the reports by the Iranian regime about a “U.S. conspiracy” is neither strange nor exceptional. W. THOMAS SMITH JR.:The Iranian press reported the unnamed intelligence official as saying “the group” had been successful in fomenting dissent among Azeri people in the Azerbaijan Province. Why the regime’s focus on this province? PHARES:This is very telling in that anti-Khomeinist sentiment is spreading in the northwestern part of the country and among the single largest ethnic minority in Iran. Azeris are the second group after the Persians, and they form a contiguous group settling the entire northwestern part of Iran in what is known as southern Azarbaijian. It is historically a part of the Azeri nation and they speak a Turkic language. Traditionally the Iranian Azeris have been loyal to the Iranian nation, and many among them have served in Iran’s military. But with the radicalization of the regime and the economic crisis now underway in Iran, many ethnic minorities are protesting bad socio-economic conditions in their areas. They mainly accuse the Mullahs in Tehran of concentrating wealth among their own elite in the center while letting the provinces decay. The Azeris aren’t happy with the state of affairs in the so-called ‘Islamic republic.’ Hence we’re witnessing the rise of local opposition movements in their areas. The regime responds with preemptive arrests, and of course labels any protest as a ‘pro-American’ conspiracy: Classical Khomeinist narrative. SMITH:Why would the Iranian press quote ‘Intelligence officials’ and not the justice ministry? PHARES:Because most likely when the opposition is widening, the regime unleashes its strongest arm, the intelligence services. If anything this is an indicator that the Azeri movement, and all other movements are getting stronger with time. SMITH:The report states: “Tehran’s Islamic Revolution Court sentenced the four suspects without announcing the length of their sentence.
‘They have confessed to trying to distance the people of Iran from the government and introduce the United States as their sole savior,’ the court said in a statement.
“Two of the detainees are internationally renowned doctors Arash and Kamyar Alaei, who specialize in HIV/AIDS.
“In the Monday press conference, the top Iranian counterespionage official said that the US intelligence agencies had resorted to ‘soft overthrow projects’ over the past decade, as there is no international statute law against such measures.” What are we to deduce from such arrests? PHARES:It means the middle class in Iranian Azarbaijian is fed up with the Mullah regime. When the Khomeinists begin striking out at citizens – doctors as in this case, or professors and bloggers as in other cases – we’re talking about a serious development. When educated people are accused of political ‘incitement’ against the regime – which translates to political opposition – it means that many more activists are mobilizing civil society, and that of course is a red line to the regime. SMITH:The report also mentions the U.S. having spent $32 million on “soft overthrow projects,” a means by which the U.S. could “infiltrate elite and expert circles” and therein gain access to information regarding national “infrastructure, microbiological achievements, and defensive capacity.” They also named names of Americans. Why? PHARES:It is an act of desperation. It shows the regime is angry and wants to send a message to the U.S. government, which by the way is preparing to open dialogue with Tehran. By naming names and agencies, the Iranian Pasdaran [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] and intelligence services are sending a message to the Obama administration telling them that if they want to open dialogue, they will have to shut all these ‘democracy operations.’ What is ironic is that the Bush administration was criticized for doing so little to help the Iranian democracy movement. If indeed the Iranian regime is complaining about $32 million spent allegedly by the U.S. on democracy activities, this is peanuts compared to the billions of dollars spent on the war on terror and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the war of ideas. This amount is ridiculous: Yet the Iranian regime wants Washington not to spend a penny on any program that would help democracy groups in Iran. This pressure is aimed at preempting the Obama administration. SMITH:The report said “Iranian intelligence operatives had been able to infiltrate the network and ‘launch an intelligence war with the CIA by leaking false information.’” It also said the UK and Israel were involved. PHARES:Typical of the regime to try to frame all three governments of the U.S., UK, and Israel in one giant conspiracy. For by linking alleged Israeli activities to alleged U.S. and British activities against the regime, they would create a ‘radioactive’ environment in the region. Again, Tehran is trying to build a big bargaining chip for the day of dialogue. Thus the Iranian negotiators hope to be in a position of strength: Hold the high ground and lead with other subjects before the discussion of the most relevant ones, i.e. the nuclear issues. SMITH:The report mentions the claim by Mohammad-Javad Zarif, the former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, that “the White House is taking essential measures to orchestrate a ‘Velvet Revolution’ in Iran.” PHARES:It is a reminder of the last decade of the Soviet Union when Soviet citizens invited to the West were eager to learn about open and free societies. They were often punished by Moscow for concocting revolutions against the Communist regime. The Iranian establishment lives in the paranoia of a similar situation. They spy on their own citizens when they travel and accuse them of being recruited by the West. When the Khomeinists start talking about a so-called ‘American support’ of a so-called ‘Velvet Revolution’ inside Iran, it means they are indeed afraid that seeds have already been sown for such a revolution. In fact, what worries the regime are not these scientific conferences but the narrative on many Iranian web sites talking about ‘democratic revolution.’ Ali Khamenei’s Pasdaran can feel the sentiment inside Iran’s civil society. Thus they want to suppress these sentiments by connecting them to an alleged American and Western activity. [Dr. Phares, who has provided similar analysis to U.S. government – and who regularly conducts Congressional and State Department as well as European Parliament and UN Security Council briefings – has been providing exclusive analysis to us for nearly five years.] [The Iranian Press TV report also states: “Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed in July that U.S. Congressional leaders had secretly agreed to President George W. Bush’s $400-million funding request for a major escalation in covert operations inside Iran.” Our sources coordinating with the Iranian opposition groups, have informed us that members of those opposition groups “are wondering why Hersh is leaking such information, which is in turn used by the regime against them.”] Source: Europe News
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