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Briefs 2/13 II
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LAT: 22 Bahman protest yields new lessons for bruised opposition She said though opposition activists were walking around, they couldn’t use their numbers to chant slogans because of the huge presence of security officials. “Even though the greens were large in number and didn’t repeat the slogans broadcast over the loudspeakers, they couldn’t gather together and do anything or deliver slogans,” she said. “The police and Basiji were just too many, and because the greens did not wear any paraphernalia, they were afraid and didn’t know who they could trust.”
The movement’s lack of a clear organizational structure is beginning to prove a disadvantage.
“The greens’ percentage in the crowd was between 40% to 60%,” the journalist said. “But the leaders should have been more clear. We should find ways to connect to each other more efficiently. We should better orchestrate our actions.”
The opposition movement has already begun reconsidering some of its moves, including the “Trojan Horse” strategy promoted on websites in which people were asked to hide their green ribbons and attend pro-government demonstrations and then pull out their gear and chant opposition slogans.
“It was a big mistake because greens couldn’t trust anyone or find each other and there were a lot of security officials around,” the journalist said.
“I don’t think that the regime won, because they themselves know that how much energy they had to expend to suppress people,” she said. “There were lots of Basijis in the streets. They brought so many police, special guards. They brought so many people from different small cities to just show off that, ‘We are a lot.’”
Though attacking opposition figures like Rahnavard and Karroubi was likely meant to humiliate them, the fact that they took a licking on the streets along with the rest of the protesters probably will improve their credibility among supporters and make them even more determined to continue their fight.
National Post: David Frum: Don’t start bombing Iran just yet But maybe the most important question to consider is: What effect would air strikes have upon Iranian public opinion? The ideal outcome for Iran is a regime change brought about by the Iranian people themselves. Many Iran experts claim that the Iranian population is the most pro-Western in the Muslim world. Would an air war alienate them?
The difficulty of military operations raises the question: Where are the “crippling sanctions” promised by the Obama administration almost a year ago? Iran imports more than half its gasoline. Ending those imports would bloodlessly squeeze the Iranian economy, embarrassing the government and strengthening government protests.
Gasoline sanctions, not war, are the true alternative to the present do-nothing policy. When do they start?
P2E: Report: Three Labour Organizations Send Letter to UN IND: The Green movement needs to be all over this. Support the unions. Make common cause with them. Bring in their leadership. DO IT already!!! Three independent labour organizations sent a letter to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. They asked that the council review the demands of these organizations for a humane and dignified life, far from all forms of suppression, intimidation, and fear.
The council is scheduled to review the human rights situation in Iran in a conference to take place in Geneva from February 15-17, 2010.
The Bus Workers Syndicate of Tehran and Humeh (in the province of Lorestan), the Workers Syndicate of Neyshekar Hafttapeh and the Free Union of Iranian Workers protested the harsh pressures inflicted on them by the Islamic Republic in recent years.
These three independent worker organizations wrote the following in reference to the arrest of activists and workers: “The Islamic Republic’s security officials have announced their adherence to international protocols. Despite this fact, they have banned unions from forming in the country. Anyone active in a union will be labeled an enemy of the Islamic Republic and prosecuted.”
The three unions added that conditions for workers in the country have deteriorated in the last three decades since the 1979 revolution. Each day conditions are worsened and levels of poverty and the denial of their rights increases.
The letter stated that minimum wage is four times less than the poverty line and added, “Millions of families are desperately trying to survive in the most inhumane conditions because their wages are not being paid on time.”
Homylafayette: Khamenei and Khomeini in the trash: And that’s what their ’supporters’ think of them A video filmed on the anniversary of the revolution, February 11, shows numerous official signs and posters bearing photos of Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini lying in the garbage thrown on the ground around Azadi Square, Tehran, even before the end of the regime-organized ceremony (video at the end of this piece).
Planet-Iran: Demonstrations at University College of London event
ICHR Iran: Asylum in Turkey: futile hopes and dreams?
RAHANA: Families Spent Revolution Anniversary Night outside Evin
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