Iran news and discussion

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wjfox
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Significant unrest happening right now.











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caltrek
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Elon Musk Greenlit to Activate Starlink Internet for Iranians
September 24, 2022

Introduction:
(Al Jazeera) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been given the green light by the United States government to activate the satellite internet service Starlink to help Iranians protesting against the death of a woman in police custody.

Access to social media and some content is tightly restricted in Iran and significant internet outages were reported across the country on Saturday, with one of the biggest mobile phone operators disrupted, leaving millions of Iranians offline.

The US Treasury Department on Friday issued guidance expanding internet services available to Iranians despite US sanctions on the country.

The move follows deadly protests around Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained by “morality police” who questioned the way she was wearing her headscarf.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators have been arrested with crowds taking to the streets of major cities across Iran for eight straight nights. State television said the number of deaths in “recent riots” had risen to 35, up from 17 previously, including at least five security personnel.
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/ ... -internet
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Breaking Silence, Iran’s Khamenei Blames Israel and U.S. for Protests
by Barak Ravid
October 3, 2022

Introduction:
(Axios) Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei without evidence on Monday blamed the U.S. and Israel for a wave of protests that has rocked the country.
The big picture: It was the first time Khamenei has publicly weighed in on the protests, which began last month after the death of a woman in police custody.

Conclusion:
• “They made the streets unsafe, burned Qurans, removed hijab from veiled women's heads, set fire to mosques and people's cars," Khamenei said.
• He defended the Iranian police and the Basij paramilitary militia for cracking down on the protests. “If it wasn't for this young girl, they would have created another excuse to create insecurity and riots in the country," Khamenei added, referring to the U.S. and Israel.
• He said that the fact the U.S. provided internet services to the demonstrators so that they can communicate easily is proof that “there is a foreign hand behind these events." He was referring to the U.S. move to ease some sanctions to allow tech companies to expand internet access in the country.
Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/10/03/iran- ... israel-us
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wjfox
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Disturbing video - NSFL.

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An Iranian Journalist Who Reported on Mahsa Amini’s Death Is Now in Solitary Confinement
by Samantha Michaels
September 28, 2022

Introduction:
(Mother Jones) An Iranian journalist who reported on the death of Mahsa Amini has been thrown into solitary confinement, with no information about the charges against her, amid a major crackdown on the press in the country.

Niloufar Hamedi, a reporter at the Tehran-based Shargh newspaper, was among the first to write about Amini, 22, who fell into a coma and died on September 16 after Iran’s morality police apprehended her and brought her to a “re-education” center for not wearing her hijab properly. Authorities say Amini died after a heart attack, but her family says she had no prior health problems and accuse the police of beating her.

“When we shouted and protested inside the room, they started threatening us that if we didn’t keep quiet, they would rape us.”

The 22-year-old’s death ignited massive protests across Iran, organized primarily by women, whose rights have been heavily restricted since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Her name has also gained global recognition, with world leaders condemning her death and the subsequent violence toward protesters. “We call on the Iranian authorities to hold an independent, impartial, and prompt investigation,” experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said in a statement last week.

Hamedi took a photograph that went viral of Amini’s grief-stricken parents hugging in the hospital, according to the news site IranWire, which wrote about the reporter’s incarceration on Monday. At least 18 journalists have been arrested in Iran since the demonstrations began, according to the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists. Press freedom groups have called for their immediate release. “They were doing their jobs,” the Association of Iranian Journalists said in a statement. The country has also experienced a near internet shutdown and disruptions to phone and social media networks that have made it more difficult to share news. “[T]he Iranian authorities are sending a clear message that there must be no coverage of the protests,” the Middle East desk of Reporters Without Borders, another nonprofit, said in a statement. “We demand the immediate release of these journalists and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on Iranians’ right to be informed.”
Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... rackdown/
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The Tragedy of the Islamic Republic and the Progressives’ Dilemma
by Sasan Fayazmanash
October 14, 2022

Introduction:
(Counterpunch) In 1979, when I returned to the US from Iran to continue my studies, I gave a talk to a group of progressive Americans about my impression of the Iranian revolution and emergence of the “Islamic Republic.” Among the things I said was that the revolution to overthrow the monarchy, which began with tremendous popular support, became Islamized. I also stated that the term Islamic Republic (IR) is an oxymoron, since the concept of a state ruled by a representative of people, such as a president, is incompatible with the notion of the guardianship of an Islamic jurist or the Faqih. In addition, I mentioned that the concept of the IR is in many ways not compatible with the modern-day capitalism. For example, I said, usury is forbidden in Islam, as in many other religions, so to have interest-bearing capital and modern-day banking system, you must either change religious teachings—as, for example, Christianity did—or call usuary by something else, which the IR did. Given this, and some other incompatibilities, I predicted that the IR would not last for too long.

In retrospect, I was dead wrong in my prediction! 43 years later the Islamic Republic lives on. But my analysis was not incorrect. The IR was, and still is, an oxymoron. It is also, in many ways, incompatible with modern-day capitalism.

In the so-called Western democracies, as Karl Marx once noted, every few years people decide which member of the ruling class is to misrepresent them. So, voters oscillate between this or that party, or this or that individual, hoping that one day they will get lucky and their lot will improve. Even though such hopes are almost always dashed after the election, the concept of choice gives the illusion of legitimacy to the system of governance. In these democracies dissidents are usually small in number and mostly ineffectual, so they are tolerated. The only time massive force might be used against them by the state apparatus is when legitimacy of the state is questioned, and the existing social order is threatened.

The IR tried to emulate Western democracies, but in combination with the rule of the Faqih, the “supreme leader of the revolution.”
Read more here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/10/1 ... s-dilemma/

caltrek's comment: Sasan's conclusions remind me of a quip attributed to Winston Churchill: "Democracy is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others."
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Biden 'stunned' by Iranian protests: 'It's awakened something that I don't think will be quieted in
Source: CNN

President Joe Biden said Friday he was “stunned” by how Iranians have reacted to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, saying the nation has been “awakened” by the women-led protests and won’t be quieted for “a long, long time.”

While visiting Irvine Valley Community College in California, Biden made brief comments on the ongoing protests in Iran following ahead of his formal speech, saying that the US stands with the women of Iran. Southern California has traditionally had a very large population of Iranian immigrants.

“Iran has to end the violence against its own citizens simply exercising their fundamental rights,” Biden said.

“I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran, for real, for real,” Biden said, “who right now are demonstrating to secure their very basic, fundamental rights.”
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/14/poli ... n-protests
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A large fire spread in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison Saturday evening as gunshots and blasts were heard, with hundreds of political prisoners among the inmates.

Center for Human Rights in Iran said that it received reports of a “gun battle” in Evin prison Saturday night that was continuing at 22:00 local time (14:30 Washington DC time and 19:30 London time).

The human rights monitoring group said that gun shots were first heard in Ward 7 of the prison, housing inmates convicted for financial crimes, and then the confrontation spread to other parts of the prison.

At this early stage, this information cannot be verified and it is not clear who was firing weapons inside the prison.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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