Meanwhile In Israel.

People across the Middle East are annoyed at their rulers and Israelis are no exception, Dissent explains why:

“WHAT IS happening in Israel? As usual, no one expected, no one predicted, the massive uprising of Israel’s young people—joined last Saturday night by large numbers, amazing numbers, of their parents and grandparents. What started as a demand for affordable housing has turned into something much bigger. I can only watch, and cheer, and try to figure out what’s going on. Here are four “takes” on the uprising.
…”

Update 1: I had, naturally, assumed that the Guardian coverage of these events, which started about three weeks, would be given the expected negative spin, but the coverage is fairly good, that is in between non-stories and piffle like this, Israeli spy claims over Christchurch earthquake and Israeli orchestra to perform Wagner in Germany at Bayreuth opera festival.

All the same rather surprising, given the Guardian’s clear anti-Israeli bias.

Israelis set up tent cities in protest at housing costs.

Israelis take to tents in housing protest – in pictures.

Government alarm at citizens’ revolt as tent protests spread.

Update 2: Lisa Goldman had been following things and saw this:

Update 3: According to the JC, Netanyahu forms panel to tackle tent city unrest.

Politicians across the world are so similar, major problems, form a committee, fob people off. I can’t see that working with younger Israelis.

Tibet And Language.

China, like many colonial powers and dictators, is forcing its language on those it rules over, but some Tibetans have had enough, according to Free Tibet:

“The protests are sparked by Chinese educational reforms which stipulate that all subjects will be taught in Chinese and all textbooks will be in Chinese.These reforms have already been implemented in other areas across the Tibet Autonomous Region, including in primary schools.”

Executing A Stone Thrower.

The Torygraph reports:

“Mohammad-Amin Valian, a 20-year-old Islamic studies student, was arrested on the basis of a photograph taken at a mass demonstration against the rigged presidential election last year. He was among six people convicted of the Islamic crime of moharebeh, or waging war against God.”

Mourning Mothers.

Rather disturbing, please read the post at the Poor Mouth.

The Cattle Prods Of Anti-imperialism?

The proud anti-imperialist regime of Ahmadinejad and the theocratic ruling classes are bludgeoning Iranians again.

Their crime? Protesting against a brutal regime, their own.

BBC radio news suggested that they were even using cattle prods against the demonstrators. I’m not sure that is true, but it is certainly possible, we know how they act.

They will employ the militia on motorbikes with truncheons, they will run people down in the street. They will occasionally shoot them. All to keep themselves in power.

The current rulers in Iran do not look terribly different from any number of dictatorships, which have come and gone in the world.

Their modus operandi is similar. Ban anti-government protests, send in the security forces, shoot a few people, and batter many others into submission. Make some arrests. Torture people in jail. Murder a few dozen in jail. Tried to break the will of the protesters. Organise show trials. Lock people up on trumped up evidence, and keep the security apparatus on your side with plenty of bribery. Etc., etc.

That is what the anti-imperialist regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does.

Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad is really just a front man for rather unsavoury types within the Revolutionary guard, allied companies, the militia and part of the theocracy. Their role is to keep power, for themselves and they will happily bludgeon, rape, murder and exercise the full power of the State against the Iranian people, when it suits them.

The Observer has more:

”Iran today faces the prospect of a bloody Sunday after opposition supporters clashed violently with security forces yesterday at the start of a key religious ceremony that had been identified beforehand as a dangerous flashpoint.
…
Government forces were said to have smashed the windows of cars whose drivers honked their horns in support of the protest. Security forces chased protesters into the premises of the student news agency ISNA, off Enghelab Square, and beat them with chains and batons, Rah-e Sabz reported. The Iranian Human Rights Activists news agency said there had been at least 10 arrests.”

Read the account of a member of the Basij militia, horrific, as he discusses the rapes and murders carried out by State operatives in Iran.

More from CODIR, the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights.

Update 1: We shouldn’t forget that this is against the background of protests, last week, at the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri.

Update 2: The Guardian has whole section on Iran, which is rather good. The page on the detained and disappeared in Iran makes grim reading.

Update 3: AFP also reported clashes earlier on:

“TEHRAN — Iranian riot police fired teargas in clashes with thousands of opposition supporters who shouted anti-government slogans during a Shiite mourning event on Saturday, witnesses said.

The skirmishes broke out in north Tehran despite authorities having warned of a crackdown on attempts to use processions marking the solemn Ashura rituals to stage more protests against the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Update 4: rahesabz.net has more up to date information, this is a Google English translation.

Update 5: Previously, I correlated together Links of Iranian Links, many of them, particularly the ones to news sites, may have more up to date information on unfolding events.

Update 6: The FT on these recent events:

“Central Tehran turned into a rare conflict zone on Sunday when security forces clashed with hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters.

The opposition used Ashura, the day that Hossein, the third Imam of Shias and the grandson of prophet Mohammad, was killed in the 7th century.

Demonstrators marched a 10km stretch from Imam Hossein Square in eastern Tehran toward Azadi Square in the western end. They held victory signs and wore green wristbands and scarves, the symbolic colour of the opposition. Streets leading to the main route were also packed, according to eyewitnesses.

Police used tear gas, batons and gun shots in the air to disperse the crowd. Jaras, a reformist news website, claimed three were killed. The report could not be independently confirmed and a senior Iranian police official denied the report.

”So far there have been no reports of killings and no one has been killed up to now,” Tehran police chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh told the news agency ISNA.

The Sunday rally was the biggest since June 20, the bloodiest day when at least 10 people were killed. After that incident protest numbers shrank from hundreds of thousands to thousands.”

Show Trials And Protests in Iran.

I have been meaning to blog on the Show Trials going on in Tehran, but haven’t found the time, so in the interim here’s some information about Iranian students protesting against the theocratic regime:

“TEHRAN — Police fired tear gas on Monday at Iranian protesters gathered in central Tehran chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, witnesses said, as the nation marked Students Day.
The clashes came as a group of Iranian students issued a call for mass protests against Ahmadinejad to coincide with the annual event.

“Police fired tear gas at groups of protesters chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Vali Asr intersection and Enghelab Street,” a witness told AFP, referring to prominent locations in central Tehran.

The protesters were chanting “Death to the Dictator” and “Do not be scared. We are all together,” the witness said, adding that some protesters also beat up a policeman.”

Iran police ‘clash’ with opposition protesters.

Iran acts to curb planned protest.

Mothers Arrested Before Opposition Rally in Iran.

How Iran’s opposition inverts old slogans.

Mousavi Protests Iran Crackdown on Opposition Rallies.

Iran slows Internet access before student protests.

Iran Tehran University Protest – Death to Dictator 7th December 2009.

November 4th.

Whilst I think about things, take a look at Coatesy’s coverage of events in Iran.

Update 1: I will aim to cover this topic in more detail in the future, but it seems that there are continued demonstrations going-on in various Universities in Iran.

On this particular YouTube channel there are at least 5 video clips seemingly from the 3rd Nov. 2009.

Update 2: The blog, Revolutionary Road, has plenty of good material, especially the Bridge Journal.

No Plugs For Nazi Nick.

Well, that’s what I have been told:

A protest has been organized for Thursday, 22 October 2009, between 17:00 – 19:00, at BBC Headquarters, Wood Lane, London W12 7RJ (White City tube).

For more info see the Facebook group, Say no to the BNP on Question Time

Links On Steroids.

Bob has an amazing set of Iran related links.

Update 1: Elsewhere on the web, Tendance Coatesy has a good piece on the Labour Party:

“Behind the scenes stuff, and the ‘policy-making’ forums, had at least some role. His goal, modest in the extreme, was to have a word in the ear of Ed Balls. About an alternative to a planned Academy take-over in Felixstowe. Which just about sums up life as a humble petitioner in the Court of Brown.”

Mean While In That Theocratic Dictatorship.

No TUC motion on Iran? Nothing about the fiddled election?

Nothing about the anti-Jewish racist, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Nothing about neo-nazi shindigs in Tehran?

Nothing about the attacks on Mansour Osanloo and other trade unionists?

Nothing about the street protests in Iran?

Nothing about the very nature of the dictatorship in Tehran?

Still, brave Iranians took their fight straight to Ahmadinejad as he was spouting more Holocaust denial, the Guardian reports:

“Iran’s opposition Green movement put on a powerful show of strength today against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the hardline president repeated his notorious claim that the Nazi Holocaust was a “lie” designed to justify the existence of Israel.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Tehran to shout “death to the dictator” despite a heavy security presence and official warnings to the opposition not to hijack the Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, the regime’s annual display of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Rebellion In The Air

According to a radio report they had to hide the precise location of Ahmadinejad’s confirmation for fear of protests, but they still happened, as the Washington Post reports:

“The sober ceremony, in which Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accepted an awkward kiss on the shoulder in a show of fealty from Ahmadinejad, was notable for the absence of prominent political and religious figures, as well as relatives of the country’s late revolutionary leader and opposition presidential candidates, who continue to dispute the results of the June 12 election.

Afterward, witnesses reported unrest in central Tehran, and security forces deployed to prevent government opponents from demonstrating against a second four-year term for Ahmadinejad. Riot police and pro-government Basij militia turned out in force on main streets and squares, where groups of protesters attempted to gather and where motorists honked car horns in a show of opposition, witnesses said.

“I heard people honking in their cars, and security forces shot tear gas,” said one witness in a phone call from a shop on Vali-e Asr Street. “Everything became chaotic. There was shooting, and I saw them arresting an old woman.”

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that opposition presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi showed up at a demonstration against the inauguration, joining about 100 supporters at a street intersection before riot police broke up the gathering. Iranian state television charged that Karroubi, 71, a Shiite cleric and former parliamentary speaker, was “egging on the hooligans,” who chanted slogans such as “death to the dictator!” “

Over at HOPI.

HOPI has more videos of the struggle in Iran and a piece about Alireza Davoudi:

“Hopi activists have just received the sad news that Iranian activist Alireza Davoudi died yesterday from a heart attack resulting from the extreme torture he was subjected to in the Islamic Republic’s jails. This is a sad loss to our movement and our hearts go out to his family, comrades and friends.”

Shirin Ebadi Take On Events.

Shirin Ebadi has strong views on the forthcoming show trials in Tehran, the Times reports:

”
“The European Union should withdraw ambassadors,” said Ebadi, a lawyer, stabbing the air with her index finger, furious about the arrests that followed the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The election of Ahmadinejad, who is due to be sworn in this week, continues to be strongly contested. Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main opponent, claims the election was stolen. Yesterday, opposition activists arrested in the weeks after the elections appeared in court in Tehran for the first time, charged with conspiring against the regime.

Although most had been arrested at home, and were intellectuals or politicians whose offence can only have been criticism of the regime or support for Mousavi, they were charged with crimes such as attacking military sites and government buildings.

About 100 prisoners sat grimly in court, some dressed in grey prison uniforms, many of them prominent reformers allied to the opposition, including Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former government spokesman, and Mohsen Mirdamadi, the leader of the largest reform party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front. The press was banned from the hearing and there were no lawyers present.

Ebadi was out of the country on a speaking tour when the protests erupted. She has remained abroad on the advice of her lawyers at the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, which she founded.

They have told her that she is more useful to the opposition cause abroad, pressing the case of the prisoners.

Her absence from the country clearly rankles. “Tehran is my home,” she said firmly. Immaculately made up, with short, coiffed hair, she is determined to combat what she sees as injustice in her country. “I will go back to Tehran despite the fact that my family, my husband and my daughter, have been threatened.” “

She was a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2003.

Show Trials Begin.

The theocracy in Iran has started its prosecution of protesters in the wake of the fiddled election, the Guardian has more:

“The first trials of opposition political activists and protesters arrested after June’s disputed Iranian presidential election began today.

Up to 100 defendants were reported by Iranian media to be appearing before a court in the capital, Tehran, accused of violence following the 12 June vote.

The election sparked days of protests as thousands of Iranians took to the streets to denounce the official results, which declared victory for the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

This is a statement from the reformist camp, via Google translation, make of it what you will.

The Huff Post suggests that they are not allowed lawyers and there is no jury.

Locked Up Lawyers.

The repressive state in Iran made a preemptive move against Human Right’s lawyers according to HRW:

“(New York, July 26, 2009) – Iranian authorities continue to arrest prominent human rights lawyers in an attempt to prevent them from representing reform supporters detained following Iran’s disputed presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. Other lawyers have been threatened.

“Iranian authorities are trying to create an atmosphere of fear among all lawyers who agree to defend political prisoners,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. “Many reform supporters arrested after the presidential elections have been denied access to their lawyers, and now they’re finding the lawyers imprisoned with them.”

On July 15, 2009, plainclothes security forces seized human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr on the street while she was walking to attend Friday prayers. On July 21, security forces telephoned Mohammad Seifzadeh, another leading human rights defense lawyer, and threatened to take steps (which they did not specify) to prevent him from continuing his human rights activities.

Hadi Esmaielzadeh and Manijeh Mohammadi were among other human rights lawyers who were questioned by the security section of the Tehran prosecutor’s office a few days after the June 12 election. Seifzadeh, Esmaielzadeh, and Mohammadi are all members of the Human Rights Defenders Center (HRDC), a prominent human rights organization led by Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, which security forces have threatened to close on a number of occasions in recent years.

“They told me not to cooperate with Shirin Ebadi,” Seifzadeh, who is a board member of HRDC, told Human Rights Watch.”