Never Doubt the Sea of Green
The Sea of Green has risen once more. Numbers range in the millions and it completely took the regime by surprise.
I debated on updating my last post since I knew I couldn't get an early am post mod accepted in time for it. I decided to wait. It was probably the better decision.
This morning at 3 something am my local time and around noon in Iran, Ayatollah Rafsanjani took the pulpit. On Twitter it was the second highest trend, since HP was top. And the one blog that gave us translations of the sermon crashed, repeatedly. Nico Pitney found an online radio stream of the sermon and so a good majority of us were able to listen to it (there was also fear of crashing it so a good portion stayed off).
It was incredible to hear the people's chants and it was frustrating as hell when connection would get loss and we would listen to the radio host (a Monarchist) speak before we would be reconnected. This radio station was the only way that we could listen to the sermon as it happened. The sermons are usually televised live but they forgo that this morning. Instead it will be shown at 22:00 after all the hooplah.
This is basically what Rafsanjani said:
Rafsanjani stated in his speech that he wants:
* The journalists back doing their jobs.
* Protestors out of jail
* Media to be run openly and honestly
* The right to protest i.e. the law upheld
* Politicians and clerics to listen to the people
As usual, Nico has TONS of vids and material.
July 16, 2009 post | July 15, 2009 post | July 14, 2009 post | July 13, 2009 post | July 12, 2009 post | July 11, 2009 post | July 10, 2009 post | July 9, 2009 posts | July 8, 2009 post | July 7, 2009 post | July 6, 2009 post | July 5, 2009 post | July 4, 2009 post
I really, really, really need to fix the format of these three sections. Also, you should be aware that I will be leaving town Monday night until about Wednesday so I don't know if I will be able to do a Tuesday post.
Mods, I got a question. Do you want me to continue to do these daily posts? We have no idea how long the unrest/uprising/protests will lasts. A lot of people are saying months to years. But then there is also the deal that Rafsanjani is supposed to be having in the works...so I don't know. Should I continue?
Blogs
Keeping the Change | Flash Mobs: A New Twist on Solidarity With Iran by Maryam
Nite Owl's live translations of the Sermon
Pedestrian | Friday Sermon | Pictures & Stories | "I was there"
Tehran Bureau: Friday Prayers Update (July 17, 2009)
Peace With Iran <- Blog
Iranian Leftists Report of a female protester 'possibly' gang raped and murdered
Demotix <- The mighty photojournalism site Iran election page pictures of demostrations outside Iranian embassy in London
Mightier Than
ABC reporter jim sciutto's twitblog
LA Times - Babylon & Beyond First images to emerge of July 9, 2009 protests large crowd gets dispersed by teargass on July 9, 2009 protests
iran.whyweprotest.net 18 Tir / 9 July forum thread <- lots of vids and first hand account by a protester in Iran
goftaniha.org Ex-Basij Founder's Blog being used to ID Basij - in Farsi
Ayatollah Watch <- Information on Ayatollahs
Ahmedi's takeover has been planned since 2004
Out the Basij
ID the Basiji
twit blog about how another Ayatollah has gone against the regime
Lara Setrakian - ABC News reporter's blog TEHRAN UNREST: "IT WAS NOTHING LESS THAN WAR. PRAY FOR US."
National Iranian American Council's Blog July 9, 2009 protest coverage <- vids and pics
NY Times - The Lede Blog July 9, 2009 protest coverage | Young election protester buried in Tehran <- a new Martyr
PERSIA.ORG "Struggle for a Free Iran" <- Has dedicated their front page to information on those who have been killed and detained
Iran Negah "Ezclusive views into Iranian politics & society"
University of Texas - Austin "Power of Protest: University experts condemn violence, but urge diplomacy toward Iran"
Keeping the Change | Keeping the Change FB | Nooroz News: Tehran's Morgues Reportedly Holds the Bodies of Hundreds of Dead Protesters
Ndn.org: July 15: Twitter Iran and more impressions from the front lines of the global media revolution
Mohsen Sazegara | explaining what to do and how to do the protests
1- where to go
2- how to do it
3- things to bring
4- what to do at nights
5- slogens to write
6- which marker to write with (green neon marker in this case)
~*~
Retweeters to watch
@LaraABCNews <- Reporter out of Dubai who's been in contact with Iranians
@Pray4FreeIran <- retweeter who spreads messages about Iran
@AustinHeap <- The genius behind ProxyHeap and Haystack (says that Node 1 is a go?)
@StopAdmedi <- twitter account for Mousavi supporters
@nicopitney <- I didn't know he had a twitter account
@Iran_Translator <- NiteOwl
@iranriggedelect
@tehranbereau
@bistoon <- IRGC already actively hunt him b/c of student revolt in 1999 so I can rec him
@nextrevolution
@IranAnon <- Yes it is the Iranian Anonymous crowd
@niacouncil <- National Iranian-American Council
@votersunion
Useful Resources
News: NIAC Insight | Kodoom
Translations: Google Translate | TehranBroadcast.com | Translate4Iran
Helping Iranians use the web: Haystack | Tor Project (English & Farsi) | IranHelp.org (Farsi) Demonstrations: Facebook | sharearchy | WhyWeProtest
Activism: Avaaz.org | National Iranian American Council
Mousavi's main website | Mousavi's backup/English | Mousavi's FB
Haystack's how you can help digg page
Haystack <- The all powerful proxy (still in testing) Want to help? Don't know anything techwise? Then donate some cash and keep this revolution going, you may just save someone(s) life! Haystack is needing donations! Donate Here.
Haystack Network wesbite | Haystack Twitter page | Haystack needs help! |Twitter | FB
Protest Advice
Brainstorm Ideas
Torrent/dl list of videos showing police brutality in Iran
Blog that has links to LA Protest that 35-50,000 people turn out
the pictures
Want to know how the power check system in Iran works? The Wall Street Journal has an excellent graph.
Bearing Witness In Iran Weighs Heavily On Cohen: Roger Cohen on NPR
Voice of the Voiceless
YekIran <- Worldwide Protest Map
Wiki on 18th Tir Protests 1999
Wiki of Iranian Election Protests
Reporters Without Borders <- List of how many reporters are in prison in Iran
Sea of Green Radio <-an 'anon' Iran blog twitter radionomy anonymous Sea of Green radio
Eng Trans of Mousavi FB that has protest instructions and routes
mowjcamp <- Mousavi/Opposition website in Farsi
Mightier Than Iran: The Rooftop Project <- Site trying to find vids of the roof top shoutings for every single night since the protests began.
Iran News <- One Stop Source
for News/YouTube/Blog/Political Cartoon links about Iran's Election and the aftermath (massive library of information)
The Guardian's list of dead and detained
Voice of America News
Iran 360 <- Photojournalism site
Slate's stash of Iran political cartoons
Green cd hour long video from Iran <- Split up into nine parts on iran.whyweprotest.net
Where is My Vote.org <- List or/way of organizing world wide protests
Iran Human Rights
Human Rights Activists In Iran The Latest Update on the Detainees of July 9 and a List of 90 Confirmed in Prison
fivethirtyeight.com: Iran <- Nate Silver "the guru of statistics" input on the validity of the Iranian election outcome
Google News: Iran Election - 30, 700 articles in the past month
Austin for Iran <- Site for organizing protests in Austin Texas
Map of Tehran
Petition for the release of American-Iranian Kian Tajbakhsh
OnlyMehdi Youtube page <- Lots of vids on Iran
United 4 Iran <- Protest page | @united4iran
iran.whyweprotest best articles and links
~*~
Live Blogs on Iran
The Guardian: July 17, 2009 - Iran Crisis Friday Prayers
Revolutionary Road... <- Live from Tehran UPDATES
Andrew Sullivan's blog <- Political blog but he has a lot of coverage on iran. Andrew Sullivan's blog "Iran Erupts Again" Counter Targeting the Protesters Abbas Kiarostami's "10" <- Andrew Sullivan has a feature of exhibiting artists and music
Enduring America blog
Nico's Pitney's live blog on HuffPo The most excellent live blog out there. Has an absolute ton of information dating back the very first day. Filled with pictures and vids.
Nico's Iran Page (it seems he deleted off the info from July 7th but it can be found here)
Nico moved offices on Friday...I don't think there's a Saturday update
Week of July 13, 2009
July 10, 2009 | July 9, 2009 | July 8th | July 7th | July 6th | July 5th | July 3rd | July 2nd | July 1st | June 30th | June 29th | June 28th | June 27th | June 26th | June 25th | June 24th | June 22nd | June 21st | June 20th pt 2 | June 20th pt 1 | June 19th | June 18th | June 17th | June 16th | June 15th
NiteOwl's Green Briefs <- Anonymous teamed up The Pirate Bay (before they sold out) to provide logistical help to the Iranians in a safe anonymous forum - the vids of Anonymous declaring 'war' on Iranian govt are interesting to watch. NiteOwl's Green Briefs are compilations of news reports straight from Iranians.
Nite Owl's live translations of the Sermon
#30 (July 16)
#29 (July 15) | #28 (July 14) | #27 (July 13) | #26 (July 12) | #25 (July 11) | #24 (July 10) | #23 (July 9) | #22 (July 8) | #21 (July 7) | #20 (July 6) | #18-#19 (July 4-5) (NiteOwl's net didn't let him access the archives of twitter (?) so it's late) | #17 (July 3) | #16 (July 2) | #15 (July 1) | #14 (June 30) | #13 (June29) | #12 (June 28) | #11 (June 27) | #10 (June 26th) | #9 (June 25) | #8 (June 24) | #7 (June 23) | #6 (June 22) | #5 (June 21) | #4 (June 20 | #3 (June 19) | #2 (June 18) | #1 (June 17)
Newspaper Articles
CNN
Rafsanjani calls for release of post-election prisoners (July 17, 2009)
New York Times
In Tehran, a Symbol Is Ready to Reappear (July 16, 2009 - ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI)
Clerics Fault a Mute Iran as Muslims Die in China (July 13, 2009 - Robert F. Worth)
7 Photographers detained in Iran (July 16, 2009 - AP)
Cleric Says ‘Crisis’ Has Caused Loss of Public Trust (July 17, 2009 - ROBERT F. WORTH and ALAN COWELL)
Police fire tear gas outside Friday prayers in Tehran (July 17, 2009 - Robert F. Worth and Alan Cowell)
Op-Ed: And if Iran doesn't want to talk? (July 15, 2009 - MICHAEL SINGH)
NYT Blog - The Lede - Latest Updates on Post-Election Protests in Iran (The Friday Prayer) (July 17, 2009 - Robert Mackey) | vids | pics | slideshow
The Guardian
Martin Amis: the end of Iran's ayatollahs? (July 17, 2009 - Martin Amis)
US-educated scientist to lead Iranian atomic energy drive (July 17, 2009 - Ian Black)
Rafsanjani speech provides another electrifying moment in Iran's history (July 17, 2009 - Ian Black)
Rafsanjani condemns Iranian regime's handling of post-election unrest (July 17, 2009 - Mark Tran)
The opposition packed the university prayer hall in a show of strength at the weekly Islamic prayers - one of Iran's most important and symbolic political platforms. Rafsanjani's first sermon since the election was broadcast live on radio in Iran.
The vast crowd of mostly opposition supporters and some government supporters packed the prayer hall and shouted competing slogans. Hardliners chanted "death to America" while opposition supporters countered with "death to Russia", referring to the Iranian government's ties to Moscow. Many pro-reform worshippers wore green headbands or wristbands or had prayer rugs in green - the colour of the opposition movement.
~
During Rafsanjani's sermon the crowd inside the hall in Tehran University could be heard via state radio chanting, "Mousavi, Mousavi, we support you."
The chants died away after the cleric quietened the crowd, urging them "not to contaminate the position and the sanctuary of Friday prayers by comments and slogans".
Rafsanjani is one of four senior clerics who lead Friday prayers, though he had not done so for two months.
Outside Tehran University police fired teargas at Mousavi supporters who were demanding the release of detainees in the biggest anti-government protest since the mass demonstrations that immediately followed the contested election.
At least 15 people were arrested, witnesses said. The ceremony in central Tehran attracted greater numbers than usual. Worshippers can listen to the sermon through loudspeakers outside the university grounds. A senior cleric had earlier called for calm during the prayers, state radio said, in a sign of the religious establishment's concern about possible unrest.
Marin Amis's Iran fantasia (July 17, 2009 - Abbas Barzegar)
Amis obviously shouldn't take up political forecasting as a second career. Consider his phrase " … what we seem to be witnessing in Iran is the first spasm of the death agony of the Islamic Republic." But haven't we had this "first spasm" before? When the Mujahideen-e Khalq blew up the offices of the Islamic Republican party taking out the entirety of Khomeini's vanguard? Or when the old fellow finally died? Or the student protests in 1999? No, really, this is it. Rafsanjani is leading prayers alongside Mousavi - it will all be over soon.
Amis makes the same mistake as countless others have done about the nature of the mysterious Mousavi: "Had Mousavi won, Obama would have rewarded Iran." Is that the same Mousavi who before the election answered "the west should stop asking for the impossible" in response to a question about halting Iran's nuclear energy programme? The same Mousavi whose website's header boasts a portrait of Khomeini and whose every communiqué calls for a reclamation of the Islamic revolution?
~
Among the more sinister schemes in Amis's essay is his narrative history of the soul of "one of the most venerable civilisations on earth … divided between Xerxes and Muhammad." Nothing could sound worse than an English writer in the 21st century defining the essence of a foreign people in this monolithic way. With the same impulse for reduction and sheer negligence he manages to completely mistake Khomeini's participation in a centuries-old Sufi poetic tradition that analogises spiritual ecstasy with material intoxication for some kind of repressed Persian angst. Even my own undergraduate students don't make that mistake.
But more troubling than the follies of a novelist turned pundit is that Amis's hyperbole represents the sad way in which the liberal intellectual tradition reacts to the challenge of a viable alternative to its secular humanist hegemony. In that vein, Amis's comments on Iran must be seen as part of a growing intellectual reaction that in the face of decades of rising Muslim political power seems capable only of producing stomach-churning multicultural apologists or Islamophobic ideologues.
~
ny attempt at getting it right would also require recognising that Muslim projects in Islamism are being carried out not by medieval zombies turned contemporary robots but by real, breathing people who happen to be motivated by the same feelings of fear, dignity, rage, and hope that stir the rest of humanity. I, perhaps naively, ask at least this minimum from anyone in a position of influence who wants to talk seriously about Islam and the Muslim world.
That Amis shares the paranoid alarmism of Netanyahu and his foreign minister and is one of many suppliers of the discursive fodder needed for 21st century Euro-American imperialism is not the truly disturbing issue here. Nor is the fact that Amis has given us nothing more than false consciousness with which to understand the truly frightening world around us. More troublesome is that at this profound juncture in human history, one of liberalism's greatest sons can do no better than to respond in this fearful, superficial way.
Iran crisis: Rafsanjani attacks regime (July 17, 2009 - Live Blog)
Los Angeles Times
Eric Holder makes quiet visit to mosque to meet with Muslim Americans (July 17, 2009 - Paloma Esquivel)
Tehran's streets erupt after a key cleric speaks (July 17, 2009 - Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim)
In Iran, thousands gather for Rafsanjani sermon (July 17, 2009 - Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragah)
Black boxes recovered from doomed Iranian airliner (July 16, 2009 - Borzou Daragahi)
Babylon & Beyond blog - Iran: Human Rights Lawyer Shadi Sadr Arrested (July 17, 2009)
Babylon & Beyond blog - Iran: In Video, anger boils over at Friday Sermon (July 17, 2009)
Babylon & Beyond blog - IRAN: Full text of Rafsanjani's lengthy speech (July 17, 2009)
The Washington Times
Iran's fatwa for freedom (July 16, 2009 - op-ed)
The spirit of Thomas Jefferson is alive and well and living in Iran. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the most senior Iranian clerics, published a fatwa on July 11 that reads as though he had been perusing the works of America's Founding Fathers. The document is a revolutionary call for action against a government in Tehran that has forfeited its right to rule.
The grand ayatollah believes that government is instituted by man as a social contract, with rights and responsibilities on both the part of the people and the government. "The state belongs to the people," he said. "It is neither my property or yours." Compare this to our Declaration of Independence, which states that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed."
This contract is revocable, something that Mr. Montazeri says is grounded in "both religious law and common sense," or as Jefferson said, the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." When the government behaves in a way that contravenes the people's rights, it forfeits its legitimacy and may be dissolved. "In the event of a breach of any article of the contract between the two sides," Mr. Montazeri writes, "namely that between the position holder and the people, who appointed him -- the people may remove the position holder from his post." Or as Jefferson put it in 1776: "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
Tehran Bureau
How Geeks (and Non-Geeks) Can Help Iranians Online (July 17, 2009 - CYRUS FARIVAR)
Friday Prayers Update (July 17, 2009)
Jamming Devices? (July 17, 2009)
Rafsanjani’s Sermon, Split in the Leadership (July 17, 2009 - MUHAMMAD SAHIMI)
Something to Eat (July 17, 2009) <- A point of view of a participant before things began, worth reading
The Man in the Shadow: Mojtaba Khamenei (July 16, 2009 - MUHAMMAD SAHIMI)
No Revolution (July 14, 2009 - Setareh Sabety)
Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's Fatwa (July 12, 2009 - MUHAMMAD SAHIMI)
Bloomberg
Iran’s Rafsanjani Challenges Post-Election Crackdown (Update1) <- Report of Karroubi being attacked.
Video of the attack. Via Nico
2:40 PM ET -- Defending Karroubi. A reader sends along two interesting videos. In the first
Speakers announce Rafsanjani is going to speak, to which people respond: "Hashemi, if you remain silent you are a traitor!" Then at 0:40 -- Karroubi amongst people who greet him: "dorud bar Karroubi" (Hello) then praise him "Karroubi bagheyrat, beres be dade mellat" (Honorable/Brave Karroubi, come to the help of the people!"
Then:
The forces attack, people shout "don't shoot." Then they tell Karroubi who is in the front line: "Karroubi remain behind us!" Then they yell "death to the dictator!"
The Daily Beast
Friday Surprise in Iran? (July 16, 2009 - Reza Aslan)
Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the second most powerful man in Iran (after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and one of the principal figures behind the anti-Ahmadinejad movement that has rocked the country over the last month, will deliver the Friday Sermon in Tehran this week, the first time he has been offered the prestigious pulpit in years.
Even more surprising, sources in Iran have confirmed that both the main reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and former president Mohammad Khatami will also attend the sermon. In fact, Mousavi’s Web site is encouraging all of his supporters-that is, the hundreds of thousands of protesters who flooded the streets of Iran in the wake of the disputed presidential elections-to come along, too. Both Reuters and the Los Angeles Times report the rumors of Mousavi and Khatami attending.
~
The truth is no one knows what to expect from Rafsanjani on Friday. But the fact that the man known in Iran as “the Shark” has now become the reformist camp’s best hope for political change has left many in Iran scratching their heads. For years, no one was more emblematic of the hatred and anger that many Iranians, particularly the youth, feel toward the clerical establishment than Rafsanjani. Indeed, Rafsanjani is the clerical establishment. As one of the architects of the Islamic republic, he’s held almost every major post in the country. President from 1989-1997, he is now chairman of both the Expediency Council-meant to be a neutral body that arbitrates disputes between the parliament and the forces of the supreme leader-and the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to choose and to dismiss the supreme leader.
Rafsanjani is also staggeringly rich. A few years ago, when Forbes magazine published a special report on “Millionaire Mullahs,” it was Rafsanjani who made the cover. Since the revolution in 1979, Rafsanjani has managed to rise from his humble origins to build an empire worth more than $1 billion-this in a country in which the average adult income is less that $2,000 a month.
It is difficult to describe the fear and contempt with which a great many Iranians hold Rafsanjani. As the brainchild of the Iran-Contra scandal, Rafsanjani’s name is whispered at the head of every conspiracy. It is said he had a hand in the murder of Ayatollah Khomeini’s beloved son, Ahmad, so as to ensure his own promotion to the highest ranks of the revolutionary government. He has even been linked to a series of gruesome murders of dissident writers in 1998.
~
Still, Rafsanjani’s deep and unbridled loathing of Ahmadinejad, and Ahmadinejad’s ceaseless attacks on his character and his family’s questionable business ties, has made the two men bitter enemies. (In the election aftermath, five members of Rafsanjani's family, including his outspoken daughter, Faezeh, were arrested and detained by the government.) By all accounts, Rafsanjani has been the main force behind the scenes trying to annul the elections. What’s more, he has spent the last few weeks in Qom, Iran’s religious capital, ostensibly trying to convince his fellow clerics on the Assembly of Experts to dismiss Khamenei and replace him either with another ayatollah or with a committee of three or five ayatollahs (as Iran’s constitution allows). That is what makes his invitation to deliver the Friday Sermon so unusual. After all, the invitation could only have come from one man-Khamenei.
Former Iranian President Blasts Government (July 17, 2009 - Reza Aslan)
In the end, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani did not disappoint. For a man who has made a career out of mediating from the middle and playing both sides, Rafsanjani delivered an unusually pointed criticism of the Iranian regime’s handling of the election crisis. He explicitly condemned the Guardian Council’s haphazard investigation into claims of election fraud and demanded the immediate release of all the protesters who had been arrested and detained by the Revolutionary Guard. “We do not need people in prison for [demonstrating],” Rafsanjani said. “Let’s allow them to return to their families.”
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the sermon came when Rafsanjani hinted that progress has been made in his attempts to come up with some kind of compromise with the regime over the election crisis, though he remained elusive about what that could possibly entail. “I have some suggestions,” he said, in an oblique reference to his work behind the scenes with Iran’s powerbrokers. “I have spoken to some members of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts about them too.”
It was this comment that sparked the most interesting of the chants and slogans that repeatedly interrupted Rafsanjani’s sermon: “People didn’t get killed to make concessions!” the overwhelmingly pro-Mousavi crowd shouted, an indication that the opposition may no longer be in the mood for a political compromise.
Indeed, the slogans and chants of the crowd inside Tehran University were so disruptive that at one point Rafsanjani shouted “Stop chanting! I can’t make out what you are saying. I am saying what you want to hear but I am saying it better than you (man az shoma behtar migam).”
Photos snapped of the speech clearly show Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the audience, but it is the photographs outside of Tehran University that tell the real story of the day. Hundreds of thousands of green-clad protesters (at least two eye-witnesses told me that it may have been closer to one million) flooded the streets after Rafsanjani’s speech. The demonstrations engulfed the city, from Tehran University all the way to the notorious Evin prison, where most of the arrested protesters are detained. Protesters in front of the Interior Ministry-the ministry that oversaw the elections-shouted “Down with Dictator!” and “‘Our Neda isn’t dead; it is the government that dead!” Despite the widespread use of tear gas to disperse the protesters and sporadic reports of violence, it seems as though the demonstrations have overwhelmed the security forces.
Night has fallen on Tehran. The numbers of the streets have dwindled. For the thirtieth consecutive night since the elections the rooftop chant of “God is Great” is echoing through the city-a reminder to all that the revolution is far from over.
Vids
The man with loud speaker screams: "death to US, Death to Isreal, Death to the infidels, Death to England" and so on, but the crowd answers "death to Russia"... EVERY time they scream "death to Russia"
I debated on updating my last post since I knew I couldn't get an early am post mod accepted in time for it. I decided to wait. It was probably the better decision.
This morning at 3 something am my local time and around noon in Iran, Ayatollah Rafsanjani took the pulpit. On Twitter it was the second highest trend, since HP was top. And the one blog that gave us translations of the sermon crashed, repeatedly. Nico Pitney found an online radio stream of the sermon and so a good majority of us were able to listen to it (there was also fear of crashing it so a good portion stayed off).
It was incredible to hear the people's chants and it was frustrating as hell when connection would get loss and we would listen to the radio host (a Monarchist) speak before we would be reconnected. This radio station was the only way that we could listen to the sermon as it happened. The sermons are usually televised live but they forgo that this morning. Instead it will be shown at 22:00 after all the hooplah.
This is basically what Rafsanjani said:
Rafsanjani stated in his speech that he wants:
* The journalists back doing their jobs.
* Protestors out of jail
* Media to be run openly and honestly
* The right to protest i.e. the law upheld
* Politicians and clerics to listen to the people
As usual, Nico has TONS of vids and material.
July 16, 2009 post | July 15, 2009 post | July 14, 2009 post | July 13, 2009 post | July 12, 2009 post | July 11, 2009 post | July 10, 2009 post | July 9, 2009 posts | July 8, 2009 post | July 7, 2009 post | July 6, 2009 post | July 5, 2009 post | July 4, 2009 post
I really, really, really need to fix the format of these three sections. Also, you should be aware that I will be leaving town Monday night until about Wednesday so I don't know if I will be able to do a Tuesday post.
Mods, I got a question. Do you want me to continue to do these daily posts? We have no idea how long the unrest/uprising/protests will lasts. A lot of people are saying months to years. But then there is also the deal that Rafsanjani is supposed to be having in the works...so I don't know. Should I continue?
Blogs
Keeping the Change | Flash Mobs: A New Twist on Solidarity With Iran by Maryam
Nite Owl's live translations of the Sermon
Pedestrian | Friday Sermon | Pictures & Stories | "I was there"
Tehran Bureau: Friday Prayers Update (July 17, 2009)
Peace With Iran <- Blog
Iranian Leftists Report of a female protester 'possibly' gang raped and murdered
Demotix <- The mighty photojournalism site Iran election page pictures of demostrations outside Iranian embassy in London
Mightier Than
ABC reporter jim sciutto's twitblog
LA Times - Babylon & Beyond First images to emerge of July 9, 2009 protests large crowd gets dispersed by teargass on July 9, 2009 protests
iran.whyweprotest.net 18 Tir / 9 July forum thread <- lots of vids and first hand account by a protester in Iran
goftaniha.org Ex-Basij Founder's Blog being used to ID Basij - in Farsi
Ayatollah Watch <- Information on Ayatollahs
Ahmedi's takeover has been planned since 2004
Out the Basij
ID the Basiji
twit blog about how another Ayatollah has gone against the regime
Lara Setrakian - ABC News reporter's blog TEHRAN UNREST: "IT WAS NOTHING LESS THAN WAR. PRAY FOR US."
National Iranian American Council's Blog July 9, 2009 protest coverage <- vids and pics
NY Times - The Lede Blog July 9, 2009 protest coverage | Young election protester buried in Tehran <- a new Martyr
PERSIA.ORG "Struggle for a Free Iran" <- Has dedicated their front page to information on those who have been killed and detained
Iran Negah "Ezclusive views into Iranian politics & society"
University of Texas - Austin "Power of Protest: University experts condemn violence, but urge diplomacy toward Iran"
Keeping the Change | Keeping the Change FB | Nooroz News: Tehran's Morgues Reportedly Holds the Bodies of Hundreds of Dead Protesters
Ndn.org: July 15: Twitter Iran and more impressions from the front lines of the global media revolution
Mohsen Sazegara | explaining what to do and how to do the protests
1- where to go
2- how to do it
3- things to bring
4- what to do at nights
5- slogens to write
6- which marker to write with (green neon marker in this case)
~*~
Retweeters to watch
@LaraABCNews <- Reporter out of Dubai who's been in contact with Iranians
@Pray4FreeIran <- retweeter who spreads messages about Iran
@AustinHeap <- The genius behind ProxyHeap and Haystack (says that Node 1 is a go?)
@StopAdmedi <- twitter account for Mousavi supporters
@nicopitney <- I didn't know he had a twitter account
@Iran_Translator <- NiteOwl
@iranriggedelect
@tehranbereau
@bistoon <- IRGC already actively hunt him b/c of student revolt in 1999 so I can rec him
@nextrevolution
@IranAnon <- Yes it is the Iranian Anonymous crowd
@niacouncil <- National Iranian-American Council
@votersunion
Useful Resources
News: NIAC Insight | Kodoom
Translations: Google Translate | TehranBroadcast.com | Translate4Iran
Helping Iranians use the web: Haystack | Tor Project (English & Farsi) | IranHelp.org (Farsi) Demonstrations: Facebook | sharearchy | WhyWeProtest
Activism: Avaaz.org | National Iranian American Council
Mousavi's main website | Mousavi's backup/English | Mousavi's FB
Haystack's how you can help digg page
Haystack <- The all powerful proxy (still in testing) Want to help? Don't know anything techwise? Then donate some cash and keep this revolution going, you may just save someone(s) life! Haystack is needing donations! Donate Here.
Haystack Network wesbite | Haystack Twitter page | Haystack needs help! |Twitter | FB
Protest Advice
Brainstorm Ideas
Torrent/dl list of videos showing police brutality in Iran
Blog that has links to LA Protest that 35-50,000 people turn out
the pictures
Want to know how the power check system in Iran works? The Wall Street Journal has an excellent graph.
Bearing Witness In Iran Weighs Heavily On Cohen: Roger Cohen on NPR
Voice of the Voiceless
YekIran <- Worldwide Protest Map
Wiki on 18th Tir Protests 1999
Wiki of Iranian Election Protests
Reporters Without Borders <- List of how many reporters are in prison in Iran
Sea of Green Radio <-an 'anon' Iran blog twitter radionomy anonymous Sea of Green radio
Eng Trans of Mousavi FB that has protest instructions and routes
mowjcamp <- Mousavi/Opposition website in Farsi
Mightier Than Iran: The Rooftop Project <- Site trying to find vids of the roof top shoutings for every single night since the protests began.
Iran News <- One Stop Source
for News/YouTube/Blog/Political Cartoon links about Iran's Election and the aftermath (massive library of information)
The Guardian's list of dead and detained
Voice of America News
Iran 360 <- Photojournalism site
Slate's stash of Iran political cartoons
Green cd hour long video from Iran <- Split up into nine parts on iran.whyweprotest.net
Where is My Vote.org <- List or/way of organizing world wide protests
Iran Human Rights
Human Rights Activists In Iran The Latest Update on the Detainees of July 9 and a List of 90 Confirmed in Prison
fivethirtyeight.com: Iran <- Nate Silver "the guru of statistics" input on the validity of the Iranian election outcome
Google News: Iran Election - 30, 700 articles in the past month
Austin for Iran <- Site for organizing protests in Austin Texas
Map of Tehran
Petition for the release of American-Iranian Kian Tajbakhsh
OnlyMehdi Youtube page <- Lots of vids on Iran
United 4 Iran <- Protest page | @united4iran
iran.whyweprotest best articles and links
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Live Blogs on Iran
The Guardian: July 17, 2009 - Iran Crisis Friday Prayers
Revolutionary Road... <- Live from Tehran UPDATES
Andrew Sullivan's blog <- Political blog but he has a lot of coverage on iran. Andrew Sullivan's blog "Iran Erupts Again" Counter Targeting the Protesters Abbas Kiarostami's "10" <- Andrew Sullivan has a feature of exhibiting artists and music
Enduring America blog
Nico's Pitney's live blog on HuffPo The most excellent live blog out there. Has an absolute ton of information dating back the very first day. Filled with pictures and vids.
Nico's Iran Page (it seems he deleted off the info from July 7th but it can be found here)
Nico moved offices on Friday...I don't think there's a Saturday update
Week of July 13, 2009
July 10, 2009 | July 9, 2009 | July 8th | July 7th | July 6th | July 5th | July 3rd | July 2nd | July 1st | June 30th | June 29th | June 28th | June 27th | June 26th | June 25th | June 24th | June 22nd | June 21st | June 20th pt 2 | June 20th pt 1 | June 19th | June 18th | June 17th | June 16th | June 15th
NiteOwl's Green Briefs <- Anonymous teamed up The Pirate Bay (before they sold out) to provide logistical help to the Iranians in a safe anonymous forum - the vids of Anonymous declaring 'war' on Iranian govt are interesting to watch. NiteOwl's Green Briefs are compilations of news reports straight from Iranians.
Nite Owl's live translations of the Sermon
#30 (July 16)
#29 (July 15) | #28 (July 14) | #27 (July 13) | #26 (July 12) | #25 (July 11) | #24 (July 10) | #23 (July 9) | #22 (July 8) | #21 (July 7) | #20 (July 6) | #18-#19 (July 4-5) (NiteOwl's net didn't let him access the archives of twitter (?) so it's late) | #17 (July 3) | #16 (July 2) | #15 (July 1) | #14 (June 30) | #13 (June29) | #12 (June 28) | #11 (June 27) | #10 (June 26th) | #9 (June 25) | #8 (June 24) | #7 (June 23) | #6 (June 22) | #5 (June 21) | #4 (June 20 | #3 (June 19) | #2 (June 18) | #1 (June 17)
Newspaper Articles
CNN
Rafsanjani calls for release of post-election prisoners (July 17, 2009)
New York Times
In Tehran, a Symbol Is Ready to Reappear (July 16, 2009 - ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI)
Clerics Fault a Mute Iran as Muslims Die in China (July 13, 2009 - Robert F. Worth)
7 Photographers detained in Iran (July 16, 2009 - AP)
Cleric Says ‘Crisis’ Has Caused Loss of Public Trust (July 17, 2009 - ROBERT F. WORTH and ALAN COWELL)
Police fire tear gas outside Friday prayers in Tehran (July 17, 2009 - Robert F. Worth and Alan Cowell)
Op-Ed: And if Iran doesn't want to talk? (July 15, 2009 - MICHAEL SINGH)
NYT Blog - The Lede - Latest Updates on Post-Election Protests in Iran (The Friday Prayer) (July 17, 2009 - Robert Mackey) | vids | pics | slideshow
The Guardian
Martin Amis: the end of Iran's ayatollahs? (July 17, 2009 - Martin Amis)
US-educated scientist to lead Iranian atomic energy drive (July 17, 2009 - Ian Black)
Rafsanjani speech provides another electrifying moment in Iran's history (July 17, 2009 - Ian Black)
Rafsanjani condemns Iranian regime's handling of post-election unrest (July 17, 2009 - Mark Tran)
The opposition packed the university prayer hall in a show of strength at the weekly Islamic prayers - one of Iran's most important and symbolic political platforms. Rafsanjani's first sermon since the election was broadcast live on radio in Iran.
The vast crowd of mostly opposition supporters and some government supporters packed the prayer hall and shouted competing slogans. Hardliners chanted "death to America" while opposition supporters countered with "death to Russia", referring to the Iranian government's ties to Moscow. Many pro-reform worshippers wore green headbands or wristbands or had prayer rugs in green - the colour of the opposition movement.
~
During Rafsanjani's sermon the crowd inside the hall in Tehran University could be heard via state radio chanting, "Mousavi, Mousavi, we support you."
The chants died away after the cleric quietened the crowd, urging them "not to contaminate the position and the sanctuary of Friday prayers by comments and slogans".
Rafsanjani is one of four senior clerics who lead Friday prayers, though he had not done so for two months.
Outside Tehran University police fired teargas at Mousavi supporters who were demanding the release of detainees in the biggest anti-government protest since the mass demonstrations that immediately followed the contested election.
At least 15 people were arrested, witnesses said. The ceremony in central Tehran attracted greater numbers than usual. Worshippers can listen to the sermon through loudspeakers outside the university grounds. A senior cleric had earlier called for calm during the prayers, state radio said, in a sign of the religious establishment's concern about possible unrest.
Marin Amis's Iran fantasia (July 17, 2009 - Abbas Barzegar)
Amis obviously shouldn't take up political forecasting as a second career. Consider his phrase " … what we seem to be witnessing in Iran is the first spasm of the death agony of the Islamic Republic." But haven't we had this "first spasm" before? When the Mujahideen-e Khalq blew up the offices of the Islamic Republican party taking out the entirety of Khomeini's vanguard? Or when the old fellow finally died? Or the student protests in 1999? No, really, this is it. Rafsanjani is leading prayers alongside Mousavi - it will all be over soon.
Amis makes the same mistake as countless others have done about the nature of the mysterious Mousavi: "Had Mousavi won, Obama would have rewarded Iran." Is that the same Mousavi who before the election answered "the west should stop asking for the impossible" in response to a question about halting Iran's nuclear energy programme? The same Mousavi whose website's header boasts a portrait of Khomeini and whose every communiqué calls for a reclamation of the Islamic revolution?
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Among the more sinister schemes in Amis's essay is his narrative history of the soul of "one of the most venerable civilisations on earth … divided between Xerxes and Muhammad." Nothing could sound worse than an English writer in the 21st century defining the essence of a foreign people in this monolithic way. With the same impulse for reduction and sheer negligence he manages to completely mistake Khomeini's participation in a centuries-old Sufi poetic tradition that analogises spiritual ecstasy with material intoxication for some kind of repressed Persian angst. Even my own undergraduate students don't make that mistake.
But more troubling than the follies of a novelist turned pundit is that Amis's hyperbole represents the sad way in which the liberal intellectual tradition reacts to the challenge of a viable alternative to its secular humanist hegemony. In that vein, Amis's comments on Iran must be seen as part of a growing intellectual reaction that in the face of decades of rising Muslim political power seems capable only of producing stomach-churning multicultural apologists or Islamophobic ideologues.
~
ny attempt at getting it right would also require recognising that Muslim projects in Islamism are being carried out not by medieval zombies turned contemporary robots but by real, breathing people who happen to be motivated by the same feelings of fear, dignity, rage, and hope that stir the rest of humanity. I, perhaps naively, ask at least this minimum from anyone in a position of influence who wants to talk seriously about Islam and the Muslim world.
That Amis shares the paranoid alarmism of Netanyahu and his foreign minister and is one of many suppliers of the discursive fodder needed for 21st century Euro-American imperialism is not the truly disturbing issue here. Nor is the fact that Amis has given us nothing more than false consciousness with which to understand the truly frightening world around us. More troublesome is that at this profound juncture in human history, one of liberalism's greatest sons can do no better than to respond in this fearful, superficial way.
Iran crisis: Rafsanjani attacks regime (July 17, 2009 - Live Blog)
Los Angeles Times
Eric Holder makes quiet visit to mosque to meet with Muslim Americans (July 17, 2009 - Paloma Esquivel)
Tehran's streets erupt after a key cleric speaks (July 17, 2009 - Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim)
In Iran, thousands gather for Rafsanjani sermon (July 17, 2009 - Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragah)
Black boxes recovered from doomed Iranian airliner (July 16, 2009 - Borzou Daragahi)
Babylon & Beyond blog - Iran: Human Rights Lawyer Shadi Sadr Arrested (July 17, 2009)
Babylon & Beyond blog - Iran: In Video, anger boils over at Friday Sermon (July 17, 2009)
Babylon & Beyond blog - IRAN: Full text of Rafsanjani's lengthy speech (July 17, 2009)
The Washington Times
Iran's fatwa for freedom (July 16, 2009 - op-ed)
The spirit of Thomas Jefferson is alive and well and living in Iran. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the most senior Iranian clerics, published a fatwa on July 11 that reads as though he had been perusing the works of America's Founding Fathers. The document is a revolutionary call for action against a government in Tehran that has forfeited its right to rule.
The grand ayatollah believes that government is instituted by man as a social contract, with rights and responsibilities on both the part of the people and the government. "The state belongs to the people," he said. "It is neither my property or yours." Compare this to our Declaration of Independence, which states that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed."
This contract is revocable, something that Mr. Montazeri says is grounded in "both religious law and common sense," or as Jefferson said, the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." When the government behaves in a way that contravenes the people's rights, it forfeits its legitimacy and may be dissolved. "In the event of a breach of any article of the contract between the two sides," Mr. Montazeri writes, "namely that between the position holder and the people, who appointed him -- the people may remove the position holder from his post." Or as Jefferson put it in 1776: "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."
Tehran Bureau
How Geeks (and Non-Geeks) Can Help Iranians Online (July 17, 2009 - CYRUS FARIVAR)
Friday Prayers Update (July 17, 2009)
Jamming Devices? (July 17, 2009)
Rafsanjani’s Sermon, Split in the Leadership (July 17, 2009 - MUHAMMAD SAHIMI)
Something to Eat (July 17, 2009) <- A point of view of a participant before things began, worth reading
The Man in the Shadow: Mojtaba Khamenei (July 16, 2009 - MUHAMMAD SAHIMI)
No Revolution (July 14, 2009 - Setareh Sabety)
Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's Fatwa (July 12, 2009 - MUHAMMAD SAHIMI)
Bloomberg
Iran’s Rafsanjani Challenges Post-Election Crackdown (Update1) <- Report of Karroubi being attacked.
Video of the attack. Via Nico
2:40 PM ET -- Defending Karroubi. A reader sends along two interesting videos. In the first
Click to view
Speakers announce Rafsanjani is going to speak, to which people respond: "Hashemi, if you remain silent you are a traitor!" Then at 0:40 -- Karroubi amongst people who greet him: "dorud bar Karroubi" (Hello) then praise him "Karroubi bagheyrat, beres be dade mellat" (Honorable/Brave Karroubi, come to the help of the people!"
Then:
The forces attack, people shout "don't shoot." Then they tell Karroubi who is in the front line: "Karroubi remain behind us!" Then they yell "death to the dictator!"
The Daily Beast
Friday Surprise in Iran? (July 16, 2009 - Reza Aslan)
Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the second most powerful man in Iran (after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and one of the principal figures behind the anti-Ahmadinejad movement that has rocked the country over the last month, will deliver the Friday Sermon in Tehran this week, the first time he has been offered the prestigious pulpit in years.
Even more surprising, sources in Iran have confirmed that both the main reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and former president Mohammad Khatami will also attend the sermon. In fact, Mousavi’s Web site is encouraging all of his supporters-that is, the hundreds of thousands of protesters who flooded the streets of Iran in the wake of the disputed presidential elections-to come along, too. Both Reuters and the Los Angeles Times report the rumors of Mousavi and Khatami attending.
~
The truth is no one knows what to expect from Rafsanjani on Friday. But the fact that the man known in Iran as “the Shark” has now become the reformist camp’s best hope for political change has left many in Iran scratching their heads. For years, no one was more emblematic of the hatred and anger that many Iranians, particularly the youth, feel toward the clerical establishment than Rafsanjani. Indeed, Rafsanjani is the clerical establishment. As one of the architects of the Islamic republic, he’s held almost every major post in the country. President from 1989-1997, he is now chairman of both the Expediency Council-meant to be a neutral body that arbitrates disputes between the parliament and the forces of the supreme leader-and the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to choose and to dismiss the supreme leader.
Rafsanjani is also staggeringly rich. A few years ago, when Forbes magazine published a special report on “Millionaire Mullahs,” it was Rafsanjani who made the cover. Since the revolution in 1979, Rafsanjani has managed to rise from his humble origins to build an empire worth more than $1 billion-this in a country in which the average adult income is less that $2,000 a month.
It is difficult to describe the fear and contempt with which a great many Iranians hold Rafsanjani. As the brainchild of the Iran-Contra scandal, Rafsanjani’s name is whispered at the head of every conspiracy. It is said he had a hand in the murder of Ayatollah Khomeini’s beloved son, Ahmad, so as to ensure his own promotion to the highest ranks of the revolutionary government. He has even been linked to a series of gruesome murders of dissident writers in 1998.
~
Still, Rafsanjani’s deep and unbridled loathing of Ahmadinejad, and Ahmadinejad’s ceaseless attacks on his character and his family’s questionable business ties, has made the two men bitter enemies. (In the election aftermath, five members of Rafsanjani's family, including his outspoken daughter, Faezeh, were arrested and detained by the government.) By all accounts, Rafsanjani has been the main force behind the scenes trying to annul the elections. What’s more, he has spent the last few weeks in Qom, Iran’s religious capital, ostensibly trying to convince his fellow clerics on the Assembly of Experts to dismiss Khamenei and replace him either with another ayatollah or with a committee of three or five ayatollahs (as Iran’s constitution allows). That is what makes his invitation to deliver the Friday Sermon so unusual. After all, the invitation could only have come from one man-Khamenei.
Former Iranian President Blasts Government (July 17, 2009 - Reza Aslan)
In the end, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani did not disappoint. For a man who has made a career out of mediating from the middle and playing both sides, Rafsanjani delivered an unusually pointed criticism of the Iranian regime’s handling of the election crisis. He explicitly condemned the Guardian Council’s haphazard investigation into claims of election fraud and demanded the immediate release of all the protesters who had been arrested and detained by the Revolutionary Guard. “We do not need people in prison for [demonstrating],” Rafsanjani said. “Let’s allow them to return to their families.”
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the sermon came when Rafsanjani hinted that progress has been made in his attempts to come up with some kind of compromise with the regime over the election crisis, though he remained elusive about what that could possibly entail. “I have some suggestions,” he said, in an oblique reference to his work behind the scenes with Iran’s powerbrokers. “I have spoken to some members of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts about them too.”
It was this comment that sparked the most interesting of the chants and slogans that repeatedly interrupted Rafsanjani’s sermon: “People didn’t get killed to make concessions!” the overwhelmingly pro-Mousavi crowd shouted, an indication that the opposition may no longer be in the mood for a political compromise.
Indeed, the slogans and chants of the crowd inside Tehran University were so disruptive that at one point Rafsanjani shouted “Stop chanting! I can’t make out what you are saying. I am saying what you want to hear but I am saying it better than you (man az shoma behtar migam).”
Photos snapped of the speech clearly show Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the audience, but it is the photographs outside of Tehran University that tell the real story of the day. Hundreds of thousands of green-clad protesters (at least two eye-witnesses told me that it may have been closer to one million) flooded the streets after Rafsanjani’s speech. The demonstrations engulfed the city, from Tehran University all the way to the notorious Evin prison, where most of the arrested protesters are detained. Protesters in front of the Interior Ministry-the ministry that oversaw the elections-shouted “Down with Dictator!” and “‘Our Neda isn’t dead; it is the government that dead!” Despite the widespread use of tear gas to disperse the protesters and sporadic reports of violence, it seems as though the demonstrations have overwhelmed the security forces.
Night has fallen on Tehran. The numbers of the streets have dwindled. For the thirtieth consecutive night since the elections the rooftop chant of “God is Great” is echoing through the city-a reminder to all that the revolution is far from over.
Vids
The man with loud speaker screams: "death to US, Death to Isreal, Death to the infidels, Death to England" and so on, but the crowd answers "death to Russia"... EVERY time they scream "death to Russia"