Boycott Next Year's Majlis Elections

There has been much discussion among reformist circles whether there should be a totally boycott and non-participation in next year's Majlis Elections. It seems the prevailing view is that unless many reasonable demands such as the release of political prisoners is not met, then there should be a boycott. Since I believe it is clear these demands will not be met, I say that starting today there should be a boycott organized of the elections.

The fact that the June 2009 presidential election was competely fradulant means that we have no confidence in the electoral system. In the past, the Guardian Council had limited the choice of candidates, but the counting of the votes seemed to be pretty straightfoward. With this reality changed in the last election, why participate in something that we know will very well could be rigged.

Some may suggest that a boycott will hand a victory to the hardliners and allow them to continue to control the Majlis, but this would happen anyways given the vote rigging. There are some reformists in the current Majlis, but they do little and give a sense of legitimicy in the current regime. These members would be better served to work outside of the regime in order to bring change.

I have in the past been for participating in elections in the Islamic Republic because I thought they might do some good. The experience of the past 2 years has thought me that the regime has entered into a new phase and we too must enter into a new phase of opposition. Our energy should not be focused on fradulent elections, but rather on bringing radical change from outside the regime like the other revolutionary movements in the Middle East.

Yet going beyond this boycott, I think there should be the beginning of a parallel government set up and even elections set up through social media that I will expand upon in an upcoming post.

Regime Hypocrite Target UK Police

Faced with riots, the police in the UK have been rather reserved to the point that many citizens have asked them to be more forceful when dealing with the chaos. While the underlying reasons for these riots might be legitimate such as poverty and lack of opportunity, it is clear that the manifestation is not peaceful protests but rather random violence against mainly private property and fellow citizens.

Yet the regime takes this opportunity to ask the UK police to act with restraint against the rioters. This is the same regime who massacred peaceful demonstrators who wanted nothing more than simple reform and accountable government. It is the same regime that is supporting the murder of thousands of people by the equally repressive regime of Syria. The hypocrisy of the Isalmic Republic knows no limits.

Full story here:

Iran has called on the British government to "restrain" the police and stop the "violent treatment" of rioters.

 The foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said dialogue would calm the situation, and urged the UK to respond to the demands of the "protesters". He also asked human rights organisations to investigate the death of Mark Duggan, which led to the riots.

 As diplomatic tension continues between the two countries, officials in Tehran seized on the unrest as an opportunity to repay the British government for its criticism of human rights violations in Iran.
 Human rights groups say dozens of activists were killed and thousands detained after Iran's disputed presidential elections in 2009, and there are widespread allegations of torture and rape inside the country's prisons.

 This year Tehran was infuriated by British support for the appointment of a UN special rapporteur to investigate abuses.

 A prominent conservative MP said Iran was ready to dispatch a group of experts to investigate "human rights violations" in the UK.

 Hossein Ebrahimi, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said Britain should facilitate the visit "without making false excuses", according to the English-language state-run Press TV.

 "Ebrahimi said that the group of rapporteurs intend to interview political detainees and to give a report to international bodies on the treatment received by the protesters," the report said.
 Iranian media sympathetic to the regime have portrayed the recent rioting and looting across London and other cities as social unrest fuelled by living conditions and police mistreatment of the poor.

 Iranian MPs condemned what they described as police violence . "An Iranian majlis [parliament] national security and foreign policy subcommittee has urged the UK to immediately stop violent treatment of people protesting the killing of a black man," Press TV reported on Tuesday.

 According to Press TV, Mohammad Karim Abedi, the vice-chairman of the parliamentary committee "urged London to order the police to stop treating protesters violently".

 Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, which is affiliated to the elite revolutionary guards, has given extensive coverage to the rioting and looting across Britain. "We advise the monarchical regime of Britain to respect the rights of its people by avoiding savage behaviour," Fars quoted Seyed Hossein Naqavi, an Iranian MP of the parliamentary human rights committee, as saying.

According to Fars, Naqavi said: "The British people have come to the streets to protest at the security forces' deliberate gunfire at Duggan."

 Press TV said Naqavi had also condemned what he called the UK's "double standards towards human rights".

 Iranian opposition and reformist newspapers have distanced themselves from the official reaction to the UK riots.

Karroubi Letter From House Arrest

Mehdi Karroubi's son releases a letter sent by his father under house arrest:

For the past six months I have been deprived of seeing my father if only for a few minutes. During the holy month of Ramadan, I found myself reminiscing about my father, a father who much like Mir Hossein Mousavi and all other political prisoners is enduring the hatred and hostility of security agents. I am hopeful that during this holy month, political prisoners such as Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mohammad Davari, Adollah Momeni, Isa Saharkhiz, Bahareh Hedayat and so many other anonymous prisoners who have been unjustly oppressed are finally released from prison so that the perpetrators of this injustice can repent during this holy month, asking for mercy and forgiveness from God and once again embrace rationality and humanity.

The following is a letter I received from my father a few months ago when the pro-government media outlets were spreading false rumors that I had left Iran and had taken refuge in a safe country. My father was misinformed by the security agents and as a result of his concern that the ruling powers were creating an atmosphere of fear and abuse, wrote me a letter expressing his concerns. The content of the letter is as follows:
In the name of God,

To my dear and beloved son Hossein Karroubi,

I ask God for the health and well being of your honorable family and your beloved children zahra and Ahmad. May God keep you safe and protect you of all dangers. You can be certain that these difficult and challenges days will eventually come to an end and what will remain is the ugliness and embarrassment of the authorities who oppress and unlawfully violate people's rights.

Have trust in God and take care of your family and your children. When it comes to visiting with me your father, do as you deem appropriate, but please refrain from leaving the country for it is not in your interest and will undoubtedly lead to irreversible remorse and regret.

Mehdi Karroubi

نزدیک به شش ماه است که هنوز موفق به دیدار پدرم نشده ام تا وی را حتی برای دقایقی ببینم. خواستم تا در آستانه این ماه رمضان از پدرم یادی کرده باشم . پدری که مانند مهندس موسوی و همه زندانیان سیاسی دچار کینه و عداوت ماموران امنیتی قرار گرفته اند. امیدوارم در این ماه، زندانیان سیاسی همچون احمد زیدآبادی، محمد داوری، عبدالله مومنی، عیسی سحرخیز و بهاره هدایت و بسیاری دیگر از زندانیان و نیز گمنامان در بند که به ناحق دچار ظلم ظالمین شده اند هرچه زودتر آزاد شده و مسببان این ظلم در این ماه رحمت و توبه از درگاه خداوند طلب بخشش کنند و به عقلانیت و انسانیت بازگردند.ا

این متن نامه ای است که پدرم چند ماه قبل برای من نوشته بودند. متاسفانه در آن ایام، رسانه های جریان حاکم با شایعه پراکنی، خبر خروج من از کشور و پناهنده شدن در کشوری امن را منتشر کرده بودند. این خبرها توسط ماموران به گوش پدرم رسیده بود و ایشان چون نگران جو سازی و سوء استفاده جریان حاکم بودند، طی نامه ای به من در این خصوص ابراز نگرانی خود را اعلام کردند.ا
بسمه تعالی
فرزند عزیز و نور چشمم حسین کروبی

سلامتی شما و خانواده محترم و فرزندان عزیز زهرا خانوم و احمد جان را از خداوند منان خواستارم. انشاله از همه خطرها مصون و محفوظ باشید. یقین داشته باشید این دوران سخت و دشوار پایان خواهد یافت. زشتی و شرمندگی می ماند برای افراد و مسئولینی که ظلم می کنند و بر خلاف قانون و شرع حقوق مردم را پایمال می نمایند. با توکل به خداوند بزرگ در کنار خانواده و فرزندان باشید و در خصوص ملاقات با پدر، هرگونه صلاح می دانید عمل نمایید و از مسافرت به خارج از کشور حتما پرهیز نمایید زیرا مصلحت نیست و مطمئن باشید ندامت و پشیمانی جبران ناپذیری دارد.ا
مهدی کروبی

Let Them Eat Gold Ice Cream

Welcome to today's Islamic Republic of Iran where inequality is the norm. Gone is the goals of the revolution to create a just and fair society. Now those with powerful connections get to eat gold ice cream while everyone else gets what the rich don't want. Full story here:

Gold-flecked ice cream wasn’t part of the picture that Shiite Muslim clerics painted during the Iranian Revolution, when they promised to lift the poor by distributing the country’s vast oil income equally across society.

But more than three decades later, record oil profits have brought in billions, and some people here are enjoying that decadent dessert. The trouble is, it’s just a small group of wealthy Iranians. Despite the promises of the revolution, many here say the gap between rich and poor has never seemed bigger.

Iran’s new wealthy class has succeeded in tapping the opportunities provided by a vast domestic market, sometimes aided by corruption and erratic government policies. It includes children of people with close connections to some of Iran’s rulers, as well as families of factory owners and those who managed to get huge loans from state banks at low interest rates. The trickling down of the oil windfall — nearly $500 billion over the past five years — has also played a central role in establishing this small group that is visibly enjoying its profits.

Both supporters and critics of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say some of his economic policies designed to counter inequality are actually making things worse for many. And although some statistics show the gap between the Islamic Republic’s rich and poor has been stable over time, scenes of the rich flaunting their wealth have left many Iranians complaining.

The new wealthy are buying Porsches, getting caviar delivered to late-night parties, and eating $250 ice creams covered in edible gold at what’s billed as the highest rotating restaurant in the world.

Remember What We Are Working Against

A new interview with Ahmadinejad in which he completely ignores questions about the imprisonment of Mousavi and Karroubi.

An Iranian Spring?

7 Reasons from an acquaintance of my why there has not been an Iranian Spring. Read the whole article for an in depth explanation of each. My thoughts are here and feel free to put your own down in the comments section.

1. Iranians rose up in 2009
2. Fear of revolutions
3. Western-backed dictators are easier to topple
4. Power is more dispersed in Iran
5. Religious propaganda
6. Oil money
7. The Supreme Leader

Iran Aides Crackdown in Syria

Not content with supressing their own people, the thugs in charge of the regime are now helping the Syrian regime kills its own. Instead of giving Assad and his cronies a $5.6 billion loan, maybe they should use that money to help the Iranian people instead. More on the story:

Unfortunately, if Iran has its way, Assad won't be going anywhere anytime soon.


Iran has reportedly provided an emergency financial lifeline to the regime in the amount of $5.6 billion as billions pour out of Syrian banks by nervous depositors seeking safe haven in Beirut or Istanbul-based banks.


As I reported earlier, intelligence analysts have irrefutable proof that Iran has dispatched advisers from its domestic secret police forces (The Law Enforcement Service or LED) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) to take over direct supervision of anti protest suppression.


The savage repression being committed by the joint Syrian-Iran strike forces is being directed by leadership elements of Iran's so-called volunteer marauders squad known as the Basij (those civilian clad thugs who roamed the streets of Tehran beating Iranians senseless and kidnapping protesters).


Confirming the Iranian intervention, the European Union imposed sanctions against the leadership of the IRGC and certain Syrian security forces, charging IRGC commander Mohammad Al Jafari and Al-Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani and IRGC deputy commander for intelligence Hussein Taeb for directly providing command and control as well as logistic and equipment support to aid the Syrian regime suppress demonstrations. Not too long thereafter, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped further sanctions on key Iranian commanders aiding and abetting the crackdown against Syrian civilians.


In addition to its shock troops, Iran has also provided Syrian commanders with sophisticated road-side bombs to take out any defecting Syrian military vehicles (which Iran has also provided to Shiite militias in Iraq to be used against Americans), as well as Iranian-built sniper rifles.


According to other Middle East media reports, Iran also constructed in Syria an advanced Nokia Siemens Network (NS) devices for disrupting internal internet communications which permit Syrian forces to identify activists using social media - the same type of telecommunications interception equipment Nokia was forced to admit in 2008 that hit had sold to Iran.


Given the magnitude of Iran's direct intervention in Syria and Assad's deference to his Iranian riot-control masters, it would not be too much of a stretch to assert that Iran, rather than Syria, is largely overseeing the repression given the extensive role Iranian forces now have in putting down the revolt.

Shahroudi in the Middle

In light of the new body created to resolve disputes, Shahroudi does his best in Arabic to say "Stop Fighting"

Khamenei Ignores Expediency Counsel and Constitution

Given the ongoing conflict between Ahmadinejad and the Majlis, Khaemenei has created a body to help resolve disputes:

Iran's top leader has appointed a mediator to resolve an ongoing dispute between the president and parliament that has also challenged his own authority.


The official IRNA news agency says Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named his ally and former judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi to head an arbitration body that will tackle controversies within the ruling system.

The only problem with this new body headed by Shahroudi? It completely ignores the existing Expediency Counsel and by extension its role in the Constitution which is to resolve disputes. Instead of turning to an existing body mandated by the Constitution to deal with a problem, Khamenei under his own authority simply creates a similiar body headed by his cronies.

The reason is obvious since Rafsanjani heads the Expediency Counsel and he has been marganialized for not completely falling behind Khamenei's power. This is just another example of how Iran is being run by the decrees of men and not by the letter of the law.

What Is to Be Done in Iran?

It has been over two years since protests rocked the very foundations of the Islamic Republic of Iran really for the first time since the 1979 revolution that created it. In that time period, the regime has brutally suppressed all internal dissent including the house arrest of the two main leaders of the Green Movement that led the protests, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Yet even in this dark hour for those who want to change Iran for the better, flickers of hope are seen through the so called "Arab Spring" next door to Iran in which the people of the region have exploded in revolutionary change that is transforming their countries.

Now to be blunt given the lack of change towards substantial change in the Islamic Republic, the question turns to what is to be done in Iran?

It is easy to sit back and argue that the regime will eventually collapse because of its own internal conflicts and contradictions. Indeed the recent conflict between Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad makes it seem that the regime will destroy itself. Yet it seems that conflict within the regime has sprung up only because all internal threats have gone away. Now that the ruling elite have consolidated power, they are fighting for the spoils themselves. Once the regime faces a threat, these adversarial currents in the regime will quickly unite once more to secure their power.

Thus as tempting as it might be, we cannot sit around waiting for the regime to destroy itself. Unfortunately, I feel like that is the prevailing mood among those who are understandably frustrated at the lack of progress in changing Iran. At a certain point, we must all live in normalcy and cannot devote all our time and energy to one cause when we do not see much progress. All this is understandable, but we must also live with the consequences as I have predicted that the regime will not simply collapse on its own.

If we recognize this fact and determine to once again try to bring about change, there are two options.

One is to continue on the path started in the aftermath of the June 2009 presidential election that led to such massive protests. While this movement was able to unite disparate parts of the Iranian opposition and challenge the very foundations of the regime, we cannot pretend it is the same as 2009 after two years of little change. 

I believe the fundamental problem with the state of things is that the current move in to change Iran that emerged in June 2009 was created in opposition to something. Opposition to the current manifestation of the Islamic Republic and in opposition to the the stolen presidential election. This all makes perfect sense, but it was more of a spontaneous outpouring of anger at the regime as opposed to a movement to truly change Iran for decades to come.

The time has come to recognize this fact and stop thinking that we are continuing what has started in June 2009. We must start something new to truly change Iran for the better. We must not simply be in opposition to the regime, but we must also be for something else: an Iran after the current regime.

Several attempts were made after the protests of 2009 to outline general principles that the opposition stood for and that could help shape a future Iran. However, the most important questions about overall regime change and secularism were largely avoided in order to create cohesion.

I was willing to go along with this approach because I believed and still believe that in that moment in history, a big tent approach was best. The ruling elite were shaken with the power of the protests and we needed to see if things could have changed at that moment in history. Sadly it seems that approach did not work and the regime has been able to survive.

You can only sustain people's opposition for so long before if that opposition fails, the people no longer continue opposing. In order to peek the people's interest and truly inspire them, there must be a positive vision for Iran and we must propose what we are for after the current regime is gone. That is what Khomeini understood before the 1979 revolution in which created a vision for a new Islamic state in Iran. He did not simply say that the Shah must go, but he also outlined what he wanted for Iran. He was able to capture the people's attention and lead a revolution even though his experiment ended horribly wrong.

We too must capture the attention of the people of Iran by outlining more radical change and presenting a better vision for Iran. The time for small steps and simple reforms is over because the regime has been unwilling to undergo any change. Had the ruling elite been open to compromise perhaps the reforming approach may have worked, but that is not the case.

First we must not let the people believe that they must suffer the sacrifice of a revolution simply to create an Islamic Republic-lite, largely the same but just not as harsh. As well intentioned as some of the creators of the Islamic Republic of Iran were and those reformers who believe in its concept, the current regime has failed on many counts.

A new Iran will respect Islam as a core part of society for millions of Iranians and it will never be hostile to religious freedom, but it cannot be the Islamic Republic of Iran. There should be a secular, democratic, constitutional Iran with no Supreme Leader or Monarch. Elections will determine the leaders of the state and there will be an independent judiciary to hear all complaints. No one is above the law and no one has authority from God or any other source. All power is derived by the people, all power is exercised for the people. Foreign powers are not welcome to run the affairs of Iran, but neither are internal dictators who only care about their own power and wealth.

A new economic model for Iran must also be presented in which corruption is rooted out and the trillions of dollars of Iran's oil wealth will not be squandered. Everyone will have the opportunity to pursue their economic goals without harassment from the state and everyone will be guaranteed a basic standard of living. The money in the state coffers do not belong to the rulers of Iran, but they belong to the Iranian people and should be treated as such. The idea that the poor of Iran will not support a secular regime will change when they realize that it is only through a fair and democratic system will their economic situation improve not by token subsidies, but by real economic transformation. 

We do not need the previous leaders of the reform opposition to approve any of these things. They must decide what type of Iran they want to live in and what side they are on. If they are not part of the future, then they must get out of the way.

All this will be hard work both to get rid of the current regime and to create an ideal Iran that we all want. We must use the internet and social media not just to vent and inform, but to organize and bring about real change. We have to create civic societies and work towards the Iran we want to create. Many have started this project with invaluable contributions, but it has felt as if we must work within the existing structure. We must remember that we create the structure of society and it does not create us. 

We must move forward as if this free, democratic, and prosperous Iran will become a reality and is not just a dream. If we start to organize our people and our society in parallel to the regime, then we will eventually get to the Iran we want. In other words, we do not overthrow the regime and then build a better Iran. Instead we build a better Iran and then overthrow the regime. This will also ensure that the ensuing revolution does not get hijacked like the previous revolution.

I do not have all the answers and the solutions will not come from me or any single individual, but from you. I simply am calling for action that will fundamentally transform Iranian society from where it is now to where we want to take it.

All this sounds easy of paper, but I recognize it will be difficult to put into action. But the alternative is to live a life that is devoid of any hope for freedom, a better economy, or a better future. Tyrants come and go in Iranian history, but it is always the Iranian people and nation that will remain. A Free Green Iran is no longer a fantasy, but it exists today and going forward if we are willing to work for it.