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Iranian
Fundamentalists: Flexibility toward the word, Harshness toward people
By M.Behnoud
Two months after the invasion of Iraq by the Coalition Forces, Iranian
opposition groups inside and outside the country overcame their
initial astonishment and by revealing cases of violation of Human
Rights by Moslem Fundamentalist, they intend to pave the way to
democracy, a demand that the ruling fundamentalists and ecclesiastic
tend to ignore.
Saiid Hajariaan, the theoretician of the reformation movement that
started six years ago by election of Mohammad Khatami as the President
and winning the majority both in the Parliament and the Cabinet
revealed last week that the fundamentalist are using US led military
invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq as an excuse to increase their
pressure on people and seize back the power from the hands of the
Parliament and Cabinet. Hajariaan has said that there is no reason
for reformists present in the government to hide the iron fists
of the fundamentalists from the world by acting like white gloves.
Hajariaan is one of the ex-leaders of the secret service of Islamic
Republic. Three years ago he miraculously escaped assassination
plotted by the extremist clergies, nevertheless as the result of
the brain injury incurred by the bullet shot he has been hemiplegia
living on the wheelchair ever since. Just before this fatal attempt
on his life, Hajariaan acting also as one of President Khatami’s
advisors was publishing a newspaper disclosing financial corruption
among ruling clergies and their role in murders carried out inside
and outside the country.
In an interview with the only remaining reformist newspaper last
week Saiid Hajariaan said that so far the reformist have shown a
great deal of patience and have endured the fundamentalists' pressure
in order not to give any excuse to Americans, but our totalitarian
rulers with the fanciful excuse of the presence of a hidden enemy
behind the frontiers are exercising a harsh dictatorship in the
country.
The reformists inside and outside the country hoped that president
Khatami's election would force the fundamentalist clergies to yield
to democratic changes and concede at least a part of power to the
people. Since the very first day after September 11, the followers
of gradual and peaceful reformation have been under great pressures
exercised by the fundamentalists who with the support of Ayatollah
Khamenei, the life long leader of Islamic Republic having all the
major powers in his hand, have obstructed the way of reformation
to the extent that in the last election of February 28, the overwhelming
majority of people showed that they will not be satisfied with anything
less than a total shift of power.
Refusal of 85% of people to participate in the election of city
councils occurred when the reformists had already warned the rulers
against the danger of loss of hope among people, but not only the
fundamentalists did not pay any attention to these warnings, but
referring to the US threats expressed against Iran after the fall
of Baghdad's regime, the religious leaders asked people and reformists
to stay quite and get mobilized against these threats and by participating
in demonstrations await the fall of American Imperialism. The fall
of America and spread of Islamic revolution throughout the world
is a promise that the clergies keep on assuring people in Friday
Prayers and consider it as one of the promises of Koran, the Holy
Book of Moslems.But these are slogans that are only used to keep
people quite, for in their negotiations with European and American
authorities behind the closed doors, they emphasize on their readiness
to surrender to the new world order and refer to their position
in regard to the establishment of Us led governments in Afghanistan
and Iraq as an evidence and promise not to hinder the establishment
of peace in the Middle East and the international struggle against
terrorism in the future. The positive reaction of European and American
authorities to the growing flexibility of Iranian government in
its foreign policy is encouraging the fundamentalist to continue
the suppression of the students, journalists, lawyers and liberalist
groups and by simultaneous increase of pressures, they do their
best to keep the world ignorant of the internal events.
The closing down of 82 newspapers, issuing of long term sentences
for political activists and even reformist MPs and journalists,
foundation of semi-fascist groups to attack parties and newspapers
and student gatherings are among the activities that the fundamentalists
carry out in order to maintain their sovereignty and to minimize
the possible consequences of events going on around Iranian frontiers.
This very policy is making political reformist groups to prepare
themselves for a collective resignation and leaving the government.
During the last three years, and under the cover of an approved
parliamentary bill in relation to possession of satellite dish,
the military agents of the government have forced 400000 people
to pay fines, sometimes as high as $100000, while confiscating their
systems as well. Fed up with the tedious propaganda of Islamic TV,
the middle class looks at the satellite programs as a mean to learn
about what is really going on around the world by watching BBC and
CNN channels and the youth who make up the majority of the present
population watch MTV and films and programs never shown on the Islamic
TV. During the outbreak of war in Iraq the demand for satellite
dishes increased and in Tehran it was sold twice as high as its
normal price, for people had realized that the national radio and
TV only broadcast Iraqi and Aljazeereh censored news with commentaries
on resistant of Iraqi people. And they continued to behave that
way up to two days after the fall of Saddam and disappearance of
Saiid Alsahaf.
In addition, while the government agents were busy to prevent people
from watching satellite programs, Iranian youth were busy opening
their own sites and web logs disseminating the news of fundamentalist
attacks on the universities and lecture halls. Suddenly the internet
users quadrupled. And it was here that under the pretension of “protection
of security and morals of the society,” the leader of Islamic
Republic ordered the government to use filters for 110000 internet
sites to prevent access to real information.
Once it was revealed that the communication system of Iran is not
equipped with the required technology for this purpose, the secret
service pompously began to arrest young people who wrote daily in
their web logs and by throwing them into dark solitary cells they
created an atmosphere of terror to make other young people to close
down their web logs at least until the government manages to buy
the necessary equipment - costing over 10 million dollars –
that would make access to political and sex sites impossible for
Iranians.
While this mortal struggle is going on between the fundamentalists
and people particularly the youth, monarchists and followers of
Mojahedin Khalgh – the armed opposition force enjoying military
bases in Iraq, but forced to hand in their arms after the occupation
of Iraq – have been asking people to demonstrate in street,
promising them that if they rebel the people of the world will not
leave them alone. So far their request has been ignored by the youth
who perhaps still hope that the clergy and fundamentalists would
yield to peaceful and non-violent changes.
Another part of the four million people forced to immigrate in the
past 24 years have recently published a statement called ‘Manifesto
of Republicans’ in which they have asked people to insist
on a referendum by the means of demonstrations, strikes, civilized
non-violent resistance, violation of orders in order to spare themselves
from living under the rule of a religious government. Despite all
the dangers that publication of such a manifest could bring about,
the above manifest was rapidly copied and disseminated in student
campuses and posted on nameless news sites as it not only suggests
another alternative, but tries to spare Iran from foreign military
invasion. In the Manifesto of Republicans it is said that the fundamentalist
clergies are driving the country toward a dangerous abyss, similar
to that which Saddam drove Iraqi people to, that is to watch American
tanks and trucks, through their home windows, passing their streets.
These days the reformists and conservatives are referring to the
present period as the time of the ‘stillness before tempest,’
while the fundamentalists are still opposing people violently. By
writing letters to the leader of Islamic Republic, the reformists
try to make it clear that the danger threatening the government
should not be neglected and the internal state is rapidly moving
toward militarization.
By arresting those who had written such letters to Ayatollah Khamenei,
the fundamentalists tried to block this way of information dissemination
as well, but the publication of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi’s letter
startled every one. Ebrahimi used to work for fascist fundamentalist
groups who attacked women and students and cinemas and had killed
a number of intellectuals. He was sentenced after disclosing the
secrets of these pressure groups and their connection to the clergies
and the secret service in the office of an attorney and spent a
year in prison. Last week he received a letter from a terrorist
group informing him that the religious order for his murder has
been issued and his body will soon be found in the streets.
In a shocking letter to President, Amir Farshad Ebrahimi has written
that people have grown tired of the President’s intellectual
poses and his beautiful philosophical words and they have lost hope
in the President with his photochromic glasses. “It is quite
possible that by the time you receive this letter I am already dead,
but you would still be sitting idle.” This 27 years old young
man is one of the 21 million Iranian who were hoping to liberate
the country from religious despotism by electing a clergy who claimed
to believe in civil society and democracy, but as Saiid Hajariaan
has said, not only what people hoped was not realized, but Mohammad
Khatami and his reformist followers turned into ‘velvet white
gloves’ hiding the iron fists holding the last signs of Islamic
fundamentalism after Bin Laden and Taliban, continuing their ruler
through showing flexibility in regard to foreign policy and violence
in relation to people.
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