Iranian Election 2009
- Thread starter LooseCannon
- Start date
It is, Google complies with China's rules and requests, as a US based company they are not having their arms twisted.
pilau
Nomad
Okay, I haven't been following lately, (it's hard when you're pre-occupied with military work) - From what I managed to gather I understand that the elections were rigged - So as for now 'the other one' 
p) is still the president in Iran? Are there any news of second elections? What's the situation of the riots in Tehran now?
p) is still the president in Iran? Are there any news of second elections? What's the situation of the riots in Tehran now?
pilau said:Okay, I haven't been following lately, (it's hard when you're pre-occupied with military work) - From what I managed to gather I understand that the elections were rigged - So as for now 'the other one'
Yes, Mahmud is still president of Iran.. with an unrealistic percentage of 62.6. The Ayatollah said on Friday that there will be no new elections, he only offered a recount of the votes. There were heavy clashes in Tehran yesterday, with several deaths, although accurate news are hard, if not impossible, to get.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Yes, Obama´s speech was featured shortly on Swedish news yesterday and I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with what he said. Ultimately, it is the Iranian people that will hold judgment over their government. As it stands here in Sweden, the Iranians that have been interviewed that live here all are very convinced that there was cheating, and there was a very convincing report of an Iranian who went to vote here in the embassy in Sweden and took pictures with his mobile phone to prove that they changed the registration numbers of the candidates halfway through the voting day. Sweden seems to be quite up to date on the situation with new information (although limited) every day on the news. Sweden probably takes an interest because we have alot of immigrants from places like Iran.
I hope that this situation will end in a different way than it did in China, but honestly an end to the violence looks like its far away...this could end up being a long drawn-out conflict between those living in the cities and those living in the rural areas.
I hope that this situation will end in a different way than it did in China, but honestly an end to the violence looks like its far away...this could end up being a long drawn-out conflict between those living in the cities and those living in the rural areas.
Nigel Tufnel
Ancient Mariner
The election is nothing more than a rubber stamp. I am glad to see so many brave, young Iranians risk their lives to show up for the protests. People over here in the States don't have any reason to bitch. We have taken for granted many rights and liberties, with the most important of which is to be able to openly criticize our government without the fear of being put to death. We have the luxuary of being able to say election results are fraudulent (like 2000) and it is resolved peacefully, without the presence of stormtrooping police.
I know, Michael Jackson's funeral is more important right now, but here's a small update on Iran anyway.
Ahmadinejad hails 'free' election (BBC)
Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran had entered a new era with its election
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defended his June re-election as the world's "most free" despite ongoing opposition claims that it was rigged. In a televised address, Mr Ahmadinejad blamed foreign powers for trying to sabotage the vote. He said "significant" changes would be made to his government, in the fields of employment, housing and culture. Earlier, opposition leaders criticised the heavy security response to mass protests after the disputed election.
Runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi's website published what it said was a joint statement backed by fellow defeated candidate Mehdi Karoubi and former President Mohammad Khatami, calling for the release of people detained during the post-election protests.
More than 1,000 opposition supporters and prominent reformists were reportedly arrested in the aftermath of the election. Although many have since been released, it is possible hundreds remain in prison. Mr Ahmadinejad called the vote "the most free election held anywhere in the world" and said Iran had entered a "new era". He said: "The structure of the government should change based on the requirements of today... The changes in the government will be significant."
Mr Ahmadinejad looked unperturbed by the ongoing election dispute, but he knows he soon faces the challenge of presenting his new cabinet to a parliament quite likely to be hostile, says the BBC's former Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne.
The Guardian is currently collecting the names of Iran's dead and detained:
Iran's dead and detained (Guardian)
Hundreds, probably thousands, have been arrested in Iran since the presidential election on 12 June. Human rights and campaign groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Reporters Without Borders have been collecting and publishing the names of those dead or detained.
We have brought those lists, and reports from trusted media sources, into a database that we are asking readers and those elsewhere on the internet to contribute too. All information is assessed before publication and we will be both visualising as an interactive graphic and making it available as a spreadsheet. Click on the link below to get the spreadsheet.
A prediction of what is coming up this week:
The significance of 18 Tir
By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 5 July 2009
[TEHRAN BUREAU] The many tools implemented by the Islamic Republic to sedate its populous are the same ones now being used as detours around restrictions of public assembly. I’ve often wondered, over the years, how Iran gets anything done with its endless series of public holidays honoring the births and deaths — mostly deaths — of important figures of its history, both ancient and modern.
Public art in Iran, the naming of streets and squares, and its political discourse are all wrapped up in a package laden with heavy doses of mourning. Ironic, as Iranians are notoriously lovers of all things living and lively.
What has become a dominant part of the social landscape is finally being co-opted by the people of Iran. Mourning rituals, once thought of as arcane practices of the second class, are now being used to mobilize the masses.
Over the past month and a half many of these moments have felt historically convenient. Perhaps it’s just that Iran has so many flashpoint dates in its old Islamic, as well as revolutionary history book. Regardless, these anniversaries keep popping up.
The next one, and perhaps most pivotal to the current movement, happens to fall on Thursday of this week: the 18th of Tir (or 9th of July.)
On that day in 1999 students protesting the closing of the reformist newspaper Salaam were attacked in their dormitories in Tehan and Tabriz. Six days of protests ensued, which began with several hundred students and blossomed into thousands of people from all walks of life supporting the demonstrations. They were the biggest display of anti-regime sentiment in the Islamic Republic’s then twenty-year history, and they were put down by the regime with a mandate by the threatened leadership to stop the unrest “at any cost.” Sounds familiar.
The difference between then and now is that ten years of small victories and heavy setbacks for reformers have left them disillusioned, but also hardened and more fearless. I have been in Iran on the 18th of Tir several times over the past eight years, and have seen firsthand that security is always heightened that day. The regime knows that in its love for anniversaries, they’ve created a volatile beast that may need taming. It’s interesting to note that I’ve also twice witnessed the same security increases on the anniversary of September 11.
Through the events of the past month it’s become very clear that deep cracks within the establishment exist, and they are now visible to everyone. A group of influential clerics in Qom have gone so far as to use the imagery of loss and mourning to begin to compare the recent death of protestors to those killed in the revolution and the war with Iraq. In a statement issued on the 4th of July, they asked to save “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.” While such comparisons may seem early to some observers, the authors of the letter fully understand their intentions in making such a bold proclamation.
So far it’s unclear how this 18th of Tir will be marked. I’ve heard from friends still in Tehran that “something big” is in the works, but no one has any details yet. This is partially because they don’t want to broadcast their hand to the security forces, who will undoubtedly be prepared to defeat the crowds. Perhaps more troubling though is that, as with the original 18th of Tir protestors, so many of the current movement’s leadership has been detained or otherwise silenced.
Mass emails have begun to circulate, and I know of Iranians abroad planning to return to Tehran to participate in the protests. This is a marked difference from anti-regime protests of the past, many feebly fueled by calls from disreputable satellite channels beamed in from Los Angeles by self interested, self-proclaimed exiles.
No, this is something else entirely, and it will help separate those with the genuine goal of constructing an Iran that simultaneously respects its ancient past but also its goals for the future, from those callous opportunists who differ little no matter on which continent they perch.
Kudos to Marjane Satrapi for perfectly encapsulating what many have wanted to say for the past 30 years, but few have had the conviction or eloquence to do so.
“Once you leave your homeland, you can live anywhere. But I refuse to only die in Iran. I will one day live in Iran… or else my life will have had no meaning.”
Now the question is how many people making these pronouncements from abroad are ready to follow through, by making the simple gesture of returning to Iran.
The protests in Iran of the past month have become an issue of global importance to Iranians and non-Iranians alike. Thursday may prove very telling as to whether future generations will look back on the 18th of Tir as a day of celebration or just another in the long list of mourning.
Ahmadinejad hails 'free' election (BBC)
Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran had entered a new era with its election
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defended his June re-election as the world's "most free" despite ongoing opposition claims that it was rigged. In a televised address, Mr Ahmadinejad blamed foreign powers for trying to sabotage the vote. He said "significant" changes would be made to his government, in the fields of employment, housing and culture. Earlier, opposition leaders criticised the heavy security response to mass protests after the disputed election.
Runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi's website published what it said was a joint statement backed by fellow defeated candidate Mehdi Karoubi and former President Mohammad Khatami, calling for the release of people detained during the post-election protests.
More than 1,000 opposition supporters and prominent reformists were reportedly arrested in the aftermath of the election. Although many have since been released, it is possible hundreds remain in prison. Mr Ahmadinejad called the vote "the most free election held anywhere in the world" and said Iran had entered a "new era". He said: "The structure of the government should change based on the requirements of today... The changes in the government will be significant."
Mr Ahmadinejad looked unperturbed by the ongoing election dispute, but he knows he soon faces the challenge of presenting his new cabinet to a parliament quite likely to be hostile, says the BBC's former Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne.
The Guardian is currently collecting the names of Iran's dead and detained:
Iran's dead and detained (Guardian)
Hundreds, probably thousands, have been arrested in Iran since the presidential election on 12 June. Human rights and campaign groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Reporters Without Borders have been collecting and publishing the names of those dead or detained.
We have brought those lists, and reports from trusted media sources, into a database that we are asking readers and those elsewhere on the internet to contribute too. All information is assessed before publication and we will be both visualising as an interactive graphic and making it available as a spreadsheet. Click on the link below to get the spreadsheet.
A prediction of what is coming up this week:
The significance of 18 Tir
By JASON REZAIAN in Dubai | 5 July 2009
[TEHRAN BUREAU] The many tools implemented by the Islamic Republic to sedate its populous are the same ones now being used as detours around restrictions of public assembly. I’ve often wondered, over the years, how Iran gets anything done with its endless series of public holidays honoring the births and deaths — mostly deaths — of important figures of its history, both ancient and modern.
Public art in Iran, the naming of streets and squares, and its political discourse are all wrapped up in a package laden with heavy doses of mourning. Ironic, as Iranians are notoriously lovers of all things living and lively.
What has become a dominant part of the social landscape is finally being co-opted by the people of Iran. Mourning rituals, once thought of as arcane practices of the second class, are now being used to mobilize the masses.
Over the past month and a half many of these moments have felt historically convenient. Perhaps it’s just that Iran has so many flashpoint dates in its old Islamic, as well as revolutionary history book. Regardless, these anniversaries keep popping up.
The next one, and perhaps most pivotal to the current movement, happens to fall on Thursday of this week: the 18th of Tir (or 9th of July.)
On that day in 1999 students protesting the closing of the reformist newspaper Salaam were attacked in their dormitories in Tehan and Tabriz. Six days of protests ensued, which began with several hundred students and blossomed into thousands of people from all walks of life supporting the demonstrations. They were the biggest display of anti-regime sentiment in the Islamic Republic’s then twenty-year history, and they were put down by the regime with a mandate by the threatened leadership to stop the unrest “at any cost.” Sounds familiar.
The difference between then and now is that ten years of small victories and heavy setbacks for reformers have left them disillusioned, but also hardened and more fearless. I have been in Iran on the 18th of Tir several times over the past eight years, and have seen firsthand that security is always heightened that day. The regime knows that in its love for anniversaries, they’ve created a volatile beast that may need taming. It’s interesting to note that I’ve also twice witnessed the same security increases on the anniversary of September 11.
Through the events of the past month it’s become very clear that deep cracks within the establishment exist, and they are now visible to everyone. A group of influential clerics in Qom have gone so far as to use the imagery of loss and mourning to begin to compare the recent death of protestors to those killed in the revolution and the war with Iraq. In a statement issued on the 4th of July, they asked to save “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.” While such comparisons may seem early to some observers, the authors of the letter fully understand their intentions in making such a bold proclamation.
So far it’s unclear how this 18th of Tir will be marked. I’ve heard from friends still in Tehran that “something big” is in the works, but no one has any details yet. This is partially because they don’t want to broadcast their hand to the security forces, who will undoubtedly be prepared to defeat the crowds. Perhaps more troubling though is that, as with the original 18th of Tir protestors, so many of the current movement’s leadership has been detained or otherwise silenced.
Mass emails have begun to circulate, and I know of Iranians abroad planning to return to Tehran to participate in the protests. This is a marked difference from anti-regime protests of the past, many feebly fueled by calls from disreputable satellite channels beamed in from Los Angeles by self interested, self-proclaimed exiles.
No, this is something else entirely, and it will help separate those with the genuine goal of constructing an Iran that simultaneously respects its ancient past but also its goals for the future, from those callous opportunists who differ little no matter on which continent they perch.
Kudos to Marjane Satrapi for perfectly encapsulating what many have wanted to say for the past 30 years, but few have had the conviction or eloquence to do so.
“Once you leave your homeland, you can live anywhere. But I refuse to only die in Iran. I will one day live in Iran… or else my life will have had no meaning.”
Now the question is how many people making these pronouncements from abroad are ready to follow through, by making the simple gesture of returning to Iran.
The protests in Iran of the past month have become an issue of global importance to Iranians and non-Iranians alike. Thursday may prove very telling as to whether future generations will look back on the 18th of Tir as a day of celebration or just another in the long list of mourning.