The Ranting Persian

What to do with this blog?

Sep& — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:02:42 +0000

While I was at first excited to have this blog, school and work has kept me from blogging. Also, I’ve come to realize that the phrase ‘ranting Persian’ is not nice at all! So hopefully, in a month, I’ll spend a good $1000 buying three new domains, as I plan on having 3 separate blogs: one personal, one that covers politics (especially politics and news related to Iran), and one that is just for fun (I don’t want to give too much away but I think it’ll be an interesting blog).

So for now, that’s all folks!

Asshole of the Week: George Galloway

Sep& — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:16:30 +0000

I’ll be doing a little segment every week entitled “Asshole of the Week.” And this week’s winner: George Galloway, the fiery and controversial member of the British Parliament.

Since day 1 in the aftermath of the farce Presidential Elections in Iran, George Galloway has stubbornly defended Ahmadinejad’s win and once again blamed the West and the Western media for having the wrong grasp on reality, urging Western governments to recognize Ahmadinejad as the winner of the election:

western media largely did the usual thing – not straying far from their five-star hotels, talking to those who would happily talk to them and especially if they spoke English – it’s clear they mistook the plusher parts of the capital for the country at large. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad commands the loyalty of the poor, the working class and the rural voters whose development he has championed.

He lives like them, looks like them – he’s never worn a suit since becoming president – and there’s more of them than the English speaking more liberal elites now on the streets demonstrating.

It will soon fizzle out.

Well I got some news for Mr. Galloway. More than a month after he wrote this article, the protests have still not “[fizzled] out.” It’s hard to make predictions about the future, never mind about one that involves a situation as fluid and complex as this one, but if the Iranian authorities increase their crackdown on the protesters and turn down the green movement’s simple and most innocent request of having their votes fairly counted, the protests will only increase. The harder you come down on them, the thicker their skin will get. It’s like my friend from Iran told me on the phone the other day: “no one cares anymore if they’re caught drinking at a party or if they are not dressed appropriately.” Problem is, the Iranian authorities are very cunning. True, they’ve been very tough with the protesters, but so far they’ve avoided the outright use of guns and bullets. There has been a few dozen unfortunate deaths, but the regime has learned from 1978-79 and knows that if the # of deaths increase, it’ll only bring them closer to their demise as people gather for the dead’s burial, funeral, then the week memorial and finally, the 40th-day memorial. And as the 40s start to add up, instability starts to become the norm of the day.

But enough of history. Let’s focus on the douche that forced me to write this piece. Before we talk about anything else, let’s get this out of the way: Galloway’s article is titled “You can count on the fact election was fair,” arguing that “there are absolutely no grounds for the cats’ chorus of criticism and allegations now emanating from some quarters after the cookie crumbled the wrong way.” There has been numerous articles and analyses written on the elections results. The fact that none of the candidates even won the votes in their home towns and provinces, that the election results were announced within hours after the polls were close and around 5-10 times faster than the previous election (despite the higher turnout), the incredible consistency in the rate of votes won by the candidates as the votes were being counted (almost unchanged between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad after the first 5% were counted), the closure of Mousavi’s campaign headquarters as soon as the polls had closed, disabling text messages throughout the country, and many more observations strongly question the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and only a dimwitted ideologue would have the nerves to make objections against accusations of fraud and illegitimacy.

In one respect Galloway is right though. The protests have not been as widespread as most of us would hope for. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve been huge and people have came out in millions, Perhaps 10 or 15 million Iranians turned out on the biggest day of protest (roughly a few days after the election). No one really knows the exact number though. It could be less, it could be more, but it’s definitely not 50% of the population (around 38 million).

But it’s very clear who’s protesting and how they’re different from the ones crushing their right to voice their opinion. The demonstrators are mostly the younger generation, the 35 years old and under that make up for 70% of the population. You can also see the old, the religious and truly pious in the group as well. But the older generation aside, this is the unison voice of the young who are the future of this country. To shut the door on their demands, to say no to such basic and innocent requests, to beat them up while even the secularists are chanting religious slogans to convey the message that they’re not looking for a revolution that brings down the regime, is to be marked as the forces of injustice standing against the oppressed and the just.

Their numbers might not be the majority for now, even though I believe it will eventually come to this if no political compromise is made at the top, but it’s clear who is right, who is wrong, and whose voice should be heard. And for Mr. Galloway to come out with his usual arrogance and ideological blindness against this innocent voice, even lie about it and make up his own facts in public, is an unfortunate and repeated error that will only help to continue his legacy, a legacy that stands against decency, rationality, and democracy and places him with the likes of Chavez and Ahmadinejad, “fellating dictators ’til the bitter end” as my friend described today so poetically.

Indeed, what an asshole. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against him on every single issue. He does speak the truth when it comes a variety of issues, including the plight of the Palestinians, the status of poverty worldwide, etc. But even when he does that, it’s still through his ideological lens and his eclectic opinions are a mix of truth, lies, and inadequate knowledge. The next time he tries to come to Canada, if the government does not let him in, I won’t be one to voice my opinion against his censorship. If you support a government that denies the rights of its citizens to free speech and being treated as equals under law, it’s a good thing to make you shut up.

A review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Sep& — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:51:15 +0000

2 weeks ago my friend and I watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in cinema. I enjoyed it purely as an entertainment piece. The plot, the acting, everything else was pretty much horrible. A lot of things didn’t make sense, and I was glad to find this ’self-interview’ online about the movie. It’s pretty goddamn hilarious.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/bonus_robs_transformers_2_faqs.php?page=1

This blogger has some serious comedy skills!

Amoo Zanjeer Baaf, a song by Mohammad Reza Asrar (translated in English)

Sep& — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:00:05 +0000

عمو زنجيرباف
آثری از
محمد رضا اسرار

A friend of mine showed me this really awesome video of that I think was recently composed and released. It’s in Farsi with the singer, Mohammad Reza Asrar, playing a guitar. It’s really really hard to translate in English but I’ve done my best. It’s not a literal translation, and I’ve skipped a part or two and one section doesn’t rhyme but I got too tired with it. The lyrics and tune are *amazing* though. You decide what it’s about.

Enjoy!

Translation:

Hey, Mr. Chain Builder,
The merciless spider,
Anyone who against your injustice complains,
Don’t have them framed in your chains.

At midnight three women
start walking the street
They crawl all over,
of the dead bodies without heat.

Their black chadors,
and the fire in their lips.
Their dancing shadows,
make anyone tremble with this eclipse.

They bring news to you,
They’re good slaves for you.
They sleep on your bed,
drink blood from your lips, red.

Who says the world turns on your demand,
those covered in black to dance with your hand,
With the tired checkers in mess,
The game ends with the black dices.

You’ll be left behind from us,
You’re not one of us
Your fate, its end will meet.
Without a doubt, you’ll go down in defeat.

Mr. chain maker, the chain is done.
The prey is now on your table, you charlatan
You saw no evil from us yet we felt your evil might
Did you not say you dreamt God last night?

I say, ‘God is sleeping dead fast.’
One day, without questions asked,
I will ask the bricklayer,
to build me a god and answer my prayer;
a low thug with dark heart and eyes,
sent to your ship to capsize

Mr. Chain Builder… gone!
His secret doings become undone.
He’ll get the hell out along with his lies,
silently, quietly, without goodbyes.

He’ll disappear before our eyes,
our hearts, again, will rejoice in his demise.
And that promised day shall come,
his memory but a shadow in our freedom.

Hey Mr. Chain builder, you merciless spider
Don’t frame everyone to your chains,
who against your injustice, complains.

A Month On: Thoughts on Today’s Friday Sermon

Sep& — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:21:21 +0000

In a few hours Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a senior Iranian cleric and a former president of 8 years who backed the presidential campaign of opposition candidate MirHossein Mousavi, will finally make his first official debut since the election by leading the Friday prayers in Tehran. Every word that he says during this sermon will be carefully listened and analyzed for any political messages. This could be the most important moment in his political career. Indeed, from a strategic perspective, this presents an opportunity for “redemption” and creating a new and more likeable image. In fact, the same can be said about a lot of the leaders.

In any case, news websites and blogs are now filled with an anxious analysis of what Rafsanjani might say. Most seem to agree that it is Rafsanjani’s style to maneuver in between, to do back-door deals and try to please anyone. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine that he will come out criticizing the Supreme Leader and his followers, including Ahmadinejad. At least he won’t do it too harshly. His logic, which is purely based on keeping his own short and long-term position in power, will probably dictate him to find a compromise. But the only compromise I can think of is to say that he doesn’t recognize the official results and that it will be fought, one way or another, through legal channels.

But what’s important is not what Rafsanjani has to say but the presence of the supposedly-defeated candidate Mouasvi, the other presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, the mild-mannered former president Mohammad Khatami, and the predicted thousands, if not millions, of their supporters who will try to gather and show their presence at the Friday prayers. Ahmadinejad will not be present himself – his bitter rivalry with Rafsanjani is by now well known – but hardliners have called for their supporters to line up at the prayers as well. This could be a dangerous scenario. There could be verbal clashes between the two camps that will eventually lead to blood. This could definitely happen if Rafsanjani has made no deals with the Supreme Leader and if the hardliners suspect him to stand tough against them. The logical move for the hardliners would then be to cancel the Friday prayers in Tehran (has that ever happened?) by sending a few hundred or thousand thugs to stir up the emotion of the supporters of Mousavi in the hope up creating a massive brawl. It would make well for propaganda as well, with the hardliner thugs being shown as members of the opposition reformist camp instead on the state-run television and blamed for trying to cancel the good prayers of the pious attendees.

Let’s just hope that irrespective of whatever Rafsanjani says or doesn’t say, there’s no violence and that the Green Movement shows up in the hundreds of thousands and sends their message across peacefully and with the dignity that they’ve had for the past month.

Good luck.

And the award for the leftist of the evening goes to…

Sep& — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:21:03 +0000

Two days ago I went to hear a panel on Iran; what happened, what are we doing now, and what should we do in the future. I was a bit late but upon entering the room I noticed that most of the people in the room were 35 and up and therefore by no means a correct sample of the Iranian population in Iran (which has a median age of 27).

Then the initial disappointments started to pour in. I could recognize some of the socialist/communist faces but I never thought that the program would begin with speeches of solidarity given by representatives of socialist groups. The first person I think wasn’t representing any group, but Mr. PhD had wonderful things to say about the nice progressive regimes in Latin America. Yup, Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, Kirchner and his wife, all those crazy bastards were portrayed as the heroes of the people. And our quest for democracy suddenly was framed as a “progressive” (read: socialist) people’s movement. The guy even praised Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president of Honduras who forcibly wanted to begin the process of changing the constitution. I haven’t read much about Honduras but apparently he didn’t even have the support of the people or even his own political party. Oh, and of course what kind of a “progressive” would our friend be if he didn’t lambaste the American government. Yup, we were told that the Honduras coup that happened yesterday was orchestrated and approved by the Americans. Of course there’s no proof of that but hey, it must be in America’s interest so America must be behind it, right? Goddamn idiots. I’m not saying the United States and Obama are saints. Obviously as a hegemon and as the leader of the capitalist world it has its own interests, but blaming everything that we don’t like on the United States without even a shred of evidence is getting old and tiring and is anything but constructive.

And now I hear both Obama and Sec. of State Clinton condemning the coup in Honduras. Of course words aren’t enough for the extreme left. Even hard evidence and #s wouldn’t be enough. And in another news, Argentina president suffered a major loss in yesterday’s Congressional election, losing the majority in both the upper and lower houses. His husband, former president Kirchner, even lost his bid for a Congressional seat. But oh wait, I thought the Kirchners embodied the “‘progressive’ peoples’ movement” that is sweeping Latin America and defending the victimized working class that represent the good of this world against the evil imperial United States?

The other thing that pissed me off was the insistence of some on removing the Iranian regime by force. A lot of people there, again all radical lefts, were asking how some could still argue for reform and peaceful demonstrations when the regime is committing such massacres? The only way is to fight back with guns similar to a population and terrain-based insurgency. During break one woman even accused one of the panelists – a friend of mine that still believes in reforms and peaceful demonstrations and is vehemently against a revolution – of being ignorant, repeating the phrase “shame on you.” I decided to meddle in and take some of the punches for him, and he quickly used this opportunity to start talking to someone else. These people got some nerves. She yelled at me “how can you remain peaceful and do nothing when they’re killing our brothers and sisters?” (and of course, “shame on you!”). Well, really it’s not that complicated. The demonstrators themselves are asking everyone to remain peaceful. They see and hear their brothers, sisters, daughters or sons being killed. They understandably react angrily to such bloody events but they come back the next day, their fingers up with the sign of peace, sometimes even protecting the anti-riot police against the rioters. THEY WANT TO REMAIN PEACEFUL, YET OUR BRAVE FRIENDS, SLEEPING COMFORTABLY 5000 MILES AWAY FROM THE CRISIS INSIST THAT WE NEED GUNS. Bravo, assholes, Bravo. Seriously, I’ve heard that most of the intellectuals during the 50s, 60s and 70s were leftists. The left that I see now doesn’t appear to be “intellectual” in any way. Dickishly reactionary is how I would describe them. The award for the leftist of the evening goes to these people.

Overall though, it wasn’t too bad of an event. For the first time I witnessed Iranians with opposing views sitting down in one room and except for 1 or 2 mild cases, discussing their points with one another rather than fighting each other. I’m hopeful that one day the culture of civil discourse will be hard wired onto the Iranian culture. And when that day comes, we can start enjoying a true democracy.

Michael Jackson: Rest in Peace but Leave Me Alone

Sep& — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:44:16 +0000

So MJ died. In a way it’s sad. Death is sad. Anyone passing away can be a sad event, at least for me. MJ was by no means my idol. I did grow up to his music. I can still remember where I was sitting when for the very first time I saw the video of “They don’t really care about us.” I remember I was obsessed with his jeans in that video (such a nice blue!).

But MJ was probably a child molester. No one can be completely sure of that but the evidence against him is heavy. For me, as well as for millions of others, MJ started to slowly die from the late 80s, as he turned to the freak show that he was. Everyone is to blame for what happens to them but perhaps we can put some of the blame on his fans, family, or American pop culture.

No one is a saint. We all have our dark spots. Some of us have it bigger, some of us have it more public. MJ was no exception. That, along with the fact that he made beautiful art, makes me sad that he passed away. But what makes me even sadder is people’s obsession over his death and the constant media coverage that this is getting, especially on cable. There’s a lot more important matters happening in the world that deserve our attention.

Andrew Sullivan spells out his thoughts on MJ, and I think he’s right on the money:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/thinking-about-michael.html

Michael was a great artist. He was disgustingly flawed, but he was only human. Most people feel sad that he’s gone, as did I.

But that’s it. Now let’s get down to other matters…

Pissing on piss

Sep& — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:48:12 +0000

Question: does anyone else find it a bit disgusting that the floor around urinals is always covered with piss, especially if the urinals are too low or too small or not designed/engineered well enough? It seems that more than half the time I have to step on the piss of 50 other people to piss. By the time I’m done, my piss has splashed around the urinal as well, and the guy behind me will stand on the piss of 51 other people.

Disgusting? Yes, a bit at the very least. Can’t something be done?

Iran’s Disputed Election and the People’s Uprising (ctnd): Another quiet day yesterday

Sep& — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:21:46 +0000

As far as my “Iran activities” go, I did little yesterday, mostly checking the news. No protests here in Toronto, although there was a demonstration scheduled for 3-5pm in front of the UN office in Toronto (UNAC actually) but for some odd reason it was canceled last minute. And nothing newsworthy really happened today. Obama said a few things that everyone’s obsessing over (omg, did he spoke too strongly? Should he get more involved in the crisis ? OMG What do we do what do we do omg what do we do?). Rafsanjani is still AWOL, probably working behind the scenes to remove the Supreme Leader from power.

I heard Mousavi, the fraudulently-defeated candidate, has called for everyone to make their way to the Bazaar (market) at 9a.m. without wearing green. If this is true, it’s a brilliant move. The police and militia will either have to stop anyone from getting in, which means the economically-important bazaar will shut down, or let people in (if stopped and asked, they sya they’re just shopping, only they aren’t really) which can lead to a huge demonstration. We’ll see what happens (if it happens at all).

….

12 hours have passed since and it seems that people were trying to gather in a couple of squares in Tehran. Tweet reports, along with a woman who was interviewed from Tehran by CNN, has it that there was a massacre-like clash with the protesters, who were never really given a chance to gather in one place. I hope these are just exaggerated claims.

Two days ago, Bernard-H Levy wrote for the Huffington Post:

Whatever happens, the emperor has no clothes.
Whatever happens, the regime of the ayatollahs is, in the greater or lesser long term, condemned to compromise or disappear.
We always forget that the other revolution–the first, which, 30 years ago, put this Iranian-style National Socialism into power–lasted almost a year: why would it be any different for this revolution, a democratic one concerned with what’s right, which has also just taken the stage? The earth quakes in Tehran, and it is only, I’m willing to bet, the beginning.

A nostalgic piece filled with a sense of optimism. Me like

Iran’s Disputed Election and the People’s Uprising (ctnd): Finally, a bit of calm

Sep& — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:04:21 +0000

Yesterday finally brought a guilt-ridden calm (everything enjoyable that I do these days makes me feel guilty). No graphic videos all day, didn’t attend any protests, etc. I did regularly check the news however, but compared to last week Iran was relatively calm. The only two things that we’re all waiting for are 1) how can Rafsanjani change the course of this crisis and 2) when will a general strike that targets the important bazaar and petrochemical industry happen. Rafsanjani could possibly remove the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei from his power through the Assembly of Experts (which he chairs). The strike can inflict considerable damage on Iran’s economy, and a sustained strike in the petrochemical industry can dry up Iran’s largest source of income, which is also used to pay the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (in Iran, known as the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution) and pro-government militias that have brutally attacked the Iranian protesters.

I did finally play basketball though, which was a welcome break from the Iranian crisis and the first time I was up and running since i sprained my ankle 3 weeks ago when I landed on some Asian guy’s foot. Goddammit, he wasn’t supposed to be under me!!! I probably should’ve waited another week though. My ankle is still far from 100% and I can’t rotate it outwards completely. And it’s sliiiightly swollen now. Time for some more ice and advil.

Tomorrow we’ll be protesting in front of the UN office here in Toronto between 3-5pm. Those are business hours so let’s see how many people actually show up.