I am sad for both.  Both will live on.  And I hope that the people show’em how funky.

Neda, pictured above, killed in street violence, may be the face of the opposition.  A strong young woman, determined to have her voice heard, and killed in the process.

It has been just over two weeks since the presidential election that created an uproar in the Iran.  What has happened?  Well, protests, threats, accusations, bloodshed and tears.  Now the question is what will happen.  It is a difficult prediction to make.  The government is steadfast in its attempts to brush the massive public outcry of wrongdoing in the election under the proverbial Persian rug.  The opposition is determined to be heard and for concrete changes to be made.  Mir Hossein Mousavi has stated on his website that the government is threatening him directly, but has stated that he will not back down even under fear of death.  The government has taken the old stance that foreign interference is responsible for the unrest (even to the point of dismissing two British diplomats, which was reciprocated in Britain).  Opposition now needs recourse from powerful members of the government to succeed in their efforts.  One sign of growing divisions was visible at the recent celebration for Ahmadinejad’s victory.  Normally only the opposition reformers in parliament would not attend, however, this time only 105 of the 270 members attended and the powerful speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani was notably absent.  Mr. Larijani has also been a vocal supporter of transparency, though not a reformer himself.  He has called on the government run television station to give Mr. Mousavi air time to speak about his grievances, but this request has been denied.  It appears that a rally to be held by another opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi will not be held.  Who knows what caused Karroubi to delay the protest, but pressure from government officials should not be ruled out.  In a show of support for the Supreme Leader, the other conservative candidate in the election, Mohsen Rezai, has given up his claims of election discrepancies.  Time may be on Khamenei’s side.  If the protests peter out, then he will gladly sit back and enjoy his despotism and hope it was just a fluke.  If something is going to happen, resulting in real change, it must be in the near term.  Perhaps they have weeks, but at the most months, or we may not see any real changes in Iran until another round of botched elections.

Iranian history continued:

Ayotollah Khomeini promised hope, change, and freedom to the Iranian people, but what resulted was a period of intense difficulty for the new government and the Iranian people.  Hoping to find the country week and unstable, and in fear of his own Shia majority in Iraq, Saddam Hussein took the opportunity to try and grab Iran’s large gulf oilfields through war.  With a massive military assault, Iraq hoped to also gain support of Iran’s Arab Sunni groups located in Iran’s southwest.  Those Iranians did not in fact join forces with Saddam and instead helped slow the invasion.  In just two years, Iran had completely repelled the Iraq back to the the pre-war borders, but the war continued for six more years.   Much of the Arab world and even the U.S. sided with and aided Saddam.  The war culminated with the US downing of an Iranian civilian passenger airliner, resulting in the loss of 290 passengers.  Fearing open war with the US, Khomeini decided it best to end the war and a cease-fire was agreed to in 1988.  One million or more casualties have been attributed to the war, one of the deadliest since WWII.  Saddam used chemical weapons on Iranians and his own people, especially Kurds and Shias.  Ironically, the war caused Iranians to rally in support of the revolutionary government despite questionable domestic policies and the elimination of local opposition.  The underdog had won, but Khomeini was nearing death and big changes were about to happen.

Pictured above:  Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam in 1983 at the height of the Iran-Iraq War.

(Don’t miss the trailers at the end of the post!)

I haven’t done a review on themicrocosm in a long time, and I will not do that here, but I will give a little breakdown.  I can only honestly recommend three movies from 2009 so far.  But, those three I recommend to the hilt:

1. Star Trek – It was a great film, with great acting and finally Star Trek gets the special effects it deserves.  Sexy Zoe Saldana who’s into Spock, not Kirk.  Simon Pegg as Scotty.  Bring on the sequel!

2. Up 3D – Pixar can’t seem to get it wrong.  Seriously, 14 years and a gajillion dollars later, Pixar is still cranking out original winners.  Up was a tear jerker and laugher, especially with the added dimension.

3. The Hangover – My personal favorite, I watched this on a poignantly hungover day in New Orleans and it was little reminiscent of college.  Absolutely hilarious in every way possible, it is probably the best comedy I have seen since Knocked Up (please remind me if I am forgetting one).  The three male leads in this film were equally hysterical, but Zach Galifianakis takes the cake with his zany unforgettable performance.

And, here’s a few trailers from upcoming summer movies I won’t miss (that is unless they score lower than 60% on Rotten Tomatoes):

Transformers 2 – Because I’m male and Megan Fox is in the movie, there are some kick ass robots from my childhood, and Megan Fox is in the movie.

Public Enemies – Johnny Depp playing in a role where he doesn’t have to act as though he’s totally lost his mind.

Bruno – My look-a-like playing a gay fashion reporter.  It just doesn’t get better than that.

The Hurt Locker – Perhaps the first movie to come out of the Iraq war that will actually entertain.

District 9 – Aliens as refugees stuck in South Africa.  Seriously, WTF?  But, with Peter Jackson attached and the mysteriously cool trailer who can’t get excited.

Inglorious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, and Nazis all rolled into a slick looking historical fiction in a Kick Ass, und nehmen Namen flick.

9 - The number that seems to be in every other movie title this year, stands alone numerically in this unusual post-Apocalyptic (one of my favorite genres as many of you know) animated extravaganza that invokes Tim Burton.

And finally, one for after summer that is just too cool to not mention – Shutter Island.  Watch the trailer and you will see what I mean.

I love when Disney is used for good!

It’s official:  Iran is experiencing a revolution!  The developments that have happened since my last full post have proven this to me and will soon prove it to the world.  Let me explain some of the major developments, in as close to a chronological order as I can (though it is hard considering the news is so limited and hard to verify dates and times).  These are the top ten events:

1. A Basiji (vigilante hardliners) base was destroyed two nights ago in Tehran.
2. Police, Basiji, and other security forces blocked the streets as best they could after Khamenei’s speech, to prevent any formal gathering in protest of Ahmadinejad and the government.
3. Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful pro-Mousavi government official and former president’s daughter and other relatives are arrested.
4. After Khamenei’s in which Khamenei declared that any protests would be considered illegal and would hold their organizers responsible, Mousavi made a formal statement in which he announces his clear support for the protestors and the calls for more protests:  http://iranfacts.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-translation-of-mousavis-latest.html
5. Video is released in which protestors used home-made tear gas and people power to push back riot police.  [http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/ *search for The Moment They Ran]
6. Shocking news is released from one of the highest groups in Iran, the Guardian Council, the top Judicial Review group (A Supreme Court of sorts), saying that in 50 cities, there were more votes than there were eligible voters.  A clear, government, renunciation of the validity of the election.  Perhaps an attempt to slowly distance themselves from wrongdoing.  However, the speaker of the Guardian Council, Abbasali Kadkhodai (yes he has the same name as me, much to my chagrin), declared that the discrepancies from those boxes was not enough to change the result; a laughable suggestion.
7. Mousavi declares that he is ready to die.  If the government arrests him, he calls for protests to continue.
8. The proof is in the pudding, video of vote rigging from someone in the voting establishment’s cell phone:  
9. Rumors are coming out of Qom, and other religious centers in Iran, that the powerful Marjas, Grand Ayatollahs, support a removal of Khamenei, whose elevation to a Marja was questioned at the time of Ruhollah Khomeini’s death.  Included in that number, is a high ranking Marja, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, whose name is familiar to many Americans since he is the religious leader of Shiites in Iraq.
10. Police throw tear gas bombs and shoot fireballs over the heads of protestors today in Tehran.

Chapter 4 – Iranian Modern History:

After the coup to remove Mossadeq and replace him with Shah Pahlavi, things in Iran got ugly over the next two decades.  The SAVAK, a Gestapo-like secret police force, arrested all suspected anti-Shah groups and leaders.  The SAVAK was known to have unlimited arrest power and opposition members and leaders would frequently disappear, sometimes tortured in the notorious Evin Prison, or simply never be heard from again.  People began to fear any degree of speaking out against the Shah.  Their attempts to lawfully impose restrictions on the Shah’s power had been undermined by foreign power, namely the CIA’s help in removing Mossadeq, and as a result they begin to turn to the religious clerics.  One of these, an exiled Sayyid, or descendant of the Islamic prophet Mohammad, Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, was having cassette tapes smuggled into to the country, and played at Friday prayers.  He spent 14 years in exile, most of them in Iraq, but was forced out by Saddam Hussein just before the 1979 Revolution.  He spent his last year outside of Paris.  From abroad he preached against the Shah and became the spiritual leader of a complex, building revolution.  In 1979, massive street protests, larger even than today’s protests, and work strikes, forced the Shah to flee the country.  The U.S. government was caught off guard, as was the world.  The CIA had announced only a few months before that Iran was not in danger of Revolution.  It has been rare in history for a revolution to garner even 1% of the population to mass in protest, yet Iran managed the unheard of 10% of the population marching against the Shah.  Khomeini who had been for months receiving journalists and reporters eager to hear his story at his humble apartment in France, boards a plane headed to Iran.  In a moment that epitomized his stern and unmovable character, Peter Jennings of ABC News, aboard the airplane headed to Tehran asked Ayatollah Khomeini, “What do you feel in returning to Iran?”  Khomeini’s respone, “Hichi (Nothing).”  On Khomeini’s arrival, he was greeted by millions of Iranians.  Only months later, the Islamic Republic would be founded.

Khomeini arriving back in Iran, 14 years after his exile.

As I type this message the news is coming in fast and furious:

Bomb at the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the of the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

• Questions as to who was the bomber.  Most are suggesting it was a government attempt to make the protestors look violent and against the first Revolution.

Protesters dispersed by riot squads of military, Basij, and police.

Mousavi trying to reach protestors.

Unfortunately, I have obligations today, so that is all I can write, but more later.

This morning in Iran, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lead Friday prayers.  The government bussed in many supporters of the Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad to the speech, held symbolically at Tehran University (the site in which dorms were vandalized only a few days prior; but was also responsible for the wave of support for the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago), and called for an immediate end to protests.  He declared that the responsibility for any future violence on the streets would be placed on the candidates whom the protestors support.  He also decried the United Kingdom, saying they appeared to be meddling in Iranian politics, but strangely left out any name calling against the U.S.  This is probably a reflection of a new detente approaching between the U.S. and Iran, with the olive branch placed within reach by Obama (who has kept quiet on the issue of Iran’s elections).  Ahmadinejad was present for the speech and was amongst his most ardent supporters.  The Supreme Leader took the opportunity to vocalize his similar approach to the President’s foreign policy and social policy.  The election protestors did not gather this morning as in the previous days with Mousavi calling for them not to gather for fear of violent clashes.  Perhaps tomorrow will be a day of importance, for if the protestors gather, there is the possibility that Mousavi could be held responsible and even arrested.  Only time will tell.

Pictured above:  A young Khamenei.

Just for perspective:  Khamenei was a supervisor of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq War as pictured above.

I would just like to point out an interesting discord in the Iranian elections. One of the somewhat forgotten candidates and easily the most vocal, is a man by the name of Mehdi Karroubi. A semi-popular figure in Iranian politics who is a little over the top, his is arguably the most critical of those vested with power in Iran.   Just four years ago, in round one of the elections, in which 29,400,857 people voted (versus this year’s 39,165,191 people), Karroubi garnered 5,070,114 votes. That equaled 17.24% or third place, right behind Ahamadinejad who came in second (before the eventual runoff) with 5,711,696 votes or 19.43%.   Now, just four years later and with no serious change in his position, politics, and with no scandal associated with his name, Mr. Karroubi got 333,635 votes or 0.85% of the votes. Remember, this year there were 10 million more voters. However, Karroubi was the most critical of the establishment in the tv debates. Food for thought.

Chapter 3 in the summarized brief history of the modern Iranian history:

After being installed in power by the British and Soviets in 1941, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was to rule for many years.  But very little of his reign was not riddled with controversy.  In the early 1950’s a popular leader by the name of Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq was elected by the Majles (Parliament) to the post of Prime Minister on the platform of reforming government, bringing about a constitutional monarchy, and taking back control of Iran’s major resource, its oil, from British control.  He was immensely popular amongst Iranians and inacted his most important promise, nationalizing Iranian oil and stripping control from the British.  The British, lacking the resources to solve the problem themselves, due to WW II setbacks, called on the new world power, the U.S., to help them.  Winston Churchill, influential in much of the first half of the 20th Century World Politics, persuaded the U.S. that Mossadeq was turning increasingly towards Communism, at the height of Communist fears, despite Mossadeq’s vocal disgust with Communist policies.  The Shah was convinced to go into exile, fearing the popular power of Dr. Mossadeq.  Operation Ajax was undertaken by the newly created CIA and helmed by the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt.  Kermit, funded with a million U.S. dollars, paid rural tribesmen to protest in favor of the Shah.  300 people died in those protests and at the right moment, the CIA convinced military commanders and local underworld leaders to join in  a coup to bring down Dr. Mossadeq.  This was the first U.S. involvement in Iranian politics, but the third major involvement by foreign powers in Iran’s modern era.  This secret U.S. funded coup would later be a significant grievance held by protestors in the Iranian Revolution.   The U.S. refused to acknowledge its role in the coup officially for many decades but in 2000, near the end of the Clinton Admnistration, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a groundbreaking statement:

“In 1953 the United States played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Massadegh. The Eisenhower Administration believed its actions were justified for strategic reasons; but the coup was clearly a setback for Iran’s political development. And it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs.”

Above:  Mossadeq pictured at his trial after the Shah’s return from Exile.

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1951 (the first Middle Easterner), Dr. Mossadeq spent the rest of his years under house arrest until his death in 1967.

I thought about explaining a lot of things in this post, but after reading a fantastic BBC article I decided I would simply post the link:

BBC Iran and protests of the past.

However, let me discuss some important developments:

1. Mohammad Asgari – the head of IT security for the Interior Minister and the man responsible for supposedly leaking the real election results and claiming that the government used software to rig the election, has been reported as having been killed in an “automobile accident.”

2.  Today, at least 100,000 people marched with Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s main rival in the elections, in a mourning procession for eight people killed in the protests the day after the election.

Mousavi is the man with white hair rising above the mass of onlookers dressed in black.

3.  The head of the Assembly of Experts, a man named Rafsanjani, who was president 12 years ago, has called an emergency meeting of this powerful group of clerics.  This meeting could have vast significance since Rafsanjani and his children are Mousavi supporters.   The Assembly of Experts is made up of 86 Islamic Scholars charged with electing the Supreme Leader and monitoring his actions.  Much of the protestor’s frustration is directed at Ayatollah Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, and he may be forced to soften his stance.

4.  Tomorrow Ayatollah Khamenei will lead the Friday prayers at Tehran University and it is widely believed that he will order protests to cease and desist.  However, it could turn into a big day if protestors move towards the university.  More tomorrow about this.

Finally, I will end with another tidbit about Iranian History:

After Sattar Khan and his defense of the Parliament and the Constitution, came many years of rule by a poorly educated military man Reza Shah.  He came to power in a coup in 1921 with the help of the British.  The British provided support for Reza Shah to prevent Russia from getting near its jewel, India.  During his reign there was a degree of modernization, with the building of Trans Iranian Railway, but under the auspices of his strict despotic rule.  Yet, as his rule continued he became more and more hostile to the British who had helped him come to power.  This culminated in a declaration of neutrality during World War II, which both the Soviets and British refused to accept.  They attacked Iran in a massive air, land and sea assault and took over without any great resistence, owing largely to the army’s lack of loyalty to the despot (reminiscent of Saddam’s army).  This marks the second great external interference in Iranian politics in the modern era.  They conquerors allowed the Shah to save face by forced him to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had no qualms about replacing his father.  Reza Shah was exiled and eventually died just three years later of a heart ailment in South Africa.

Above:  Reza Shah on the left, with his contemporary Ataturk of Turkey on the right.

I want to warn you this video is graphic, but it simply displays some of what is happening behind the scenes in Iran.  The cameraman here, a private citizen shows his own bloody hand in the scene, but still continues filming while running:

Tomorrow there will be a large protest that should have a huge mass of people all dressed in black to mourn those killed in the protests.  Though this is a very complicated situation, with a lot of different sides and facets, the people’s desire for transparency and change is undeniable.

As I post more info on the current protests I will give a tidbit of recent Iranian History to put things in perspective:

In 1906 merchants and clergy protested against an unjust monarch, called a shah in Iran, culminating in 12,000 man protest in which it was demanded that a constitution with a parliament be setup to limit the power of the Shah.  This group called the Constitutionalists was effectively led by Sattar Khan, a Persian hero of the modern era.  His forces helped restore the constitution after the shah suspended it.  He led a militia designed to protect Iran from the meddling of Russia and Britain, the two imperial powers that had stakes in keeping power vested in the shah.  This was the beginning, in modern times, of direct foreign involvement in this ancient country’s affairs.  When he was ordered to disband his troops by the government and the shah, he refused out of fear of losing any resistance to outside involvement in domestic affairs and was injured in a resulting conflict and died in 1914.  Russian troops, with the help of Bakhtiari tribesman, soon after swept into Iran and forced the Majles (Iranian Parliament) to close.  The next Shah, Reza Shah (father of the last Shah of Iran), brought the Majles back, but only as a rubber stamp organization, approving whatever he said.

Above Sattar Khan, Persian Hero, is pictured.

A protest picture of Esfahan, Iran in the historic Naghshe Jahan Square:

Websites abound in support of Iranian protesters, here are a few:

Twitter – Helping protesters communicate and organize.  Stayed open despite desperate need to repair site.

Pirate Bay – Protesting and pirating.

BBC – The same news organization that helped the revolution succeed against the tyrant shah are now helping to bring an end to the tyrrany of the current regime.

It is ironic how the current regime is railing against free media and underground organizing, which helped them exactly thirty years ago to do the impossible.  This may be the continuation of a movement for freedom in Iran begun in the 1950’s that is continuing today.

This is a spark that has been in the making for years.  It is like a “flame beneath the sands.  As soon as the winds blew the sand aside, the flames engulf the oppressors.”

Perhaps this will encourage more freedom, regardless of whether the regime topples or not.  Now the powers that be will think twice before closing a reformist newspaper or quelling student free speech or rigging an election.  The consequences of which could bring millions to the streets.

Check out these photos at TehranLive

I was away for the weekend and missed so much of the news.  I am back now and I have finally caught up.  To make a long story short, Iranians have spoken, and it appears that the government has decided not to listen.  In a very beautiful irony, the very children which the mullahs encouraged women to have so many of after the Iran-Iraq War that claimed one million Iranian lives, have taken to the streets.  Donning the brilliant green (the color of change around the world), they are fighting to have their voices heard.  This could be the spark that ignites the flame of freedom – AZADI!!!

Pictures of Freedom Fighters:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

She will have her vote heard:

More pictures:

http://picfog.com/search/iranelection