In Iran, this is the month of Bahman (the eleventh month in the Persian calendar), which means avalanche. It is the month in which the 1979 popular revolution overthrew the 2500-year monarchy and founded the Iranian theocracy.
The Bahman revolution of 1979 plunged on Iran like an avalanche and brought about the long freeze.
The ‘Glorious Islamic Revolution’ soon gave way to the ‘Divine System of Islamic Republic’ which today strives to create the ‘Islamic Caliphate’ on a foundation of blood and impose itself on history, and then ‘manage’ the whole world.
When the Bahman revolution plunged on Iran, you could hear calls for ‘independence and freedom’, whereas today, on the eve of the Caliphate, as he takes a photograph with released young prisoners of the ‘system’, former president Mohammad Khatami - himself a cleric - dryly yet with a heavy heart says, “They now lie from the mosque pulpits.”
On the first day of Bahman in 1979 (coinciding with January 11, 1979) no one predicted that in ten days the ‘Imam will come’ and in 22 days the ancient regime would be no more. The commanders of the Imperial army later wrote that they “melted like snow.”
On that day, an aged cleric ‘directed’ the ‘revolution’ as he sat under an apple tree near Paris, using cassette tapes and the BBC radio station.
Today, the symbol of the movement is the image of a young beautiful woman with a timeless smile, whose birthday Iranians will celebrate across the work by lighting a candle in her memory. Had she not been killed by the soldiers of the ‘system,’ she would have turned 27. There is a symbolic meaning in this which is that she, as the symbol of the movement, i.e. the call of Green Iran, was much smaller than the revolution.
Today, the leader of the revolution faces the successor of the leader of the Islamic Republic and the children of the revolution. They face each other through a wide divide: One holds a flower, while the other a bullet. At one end stand the majority of the Iranian people with a smile on their face and a piece of paper in their hand which history has painted green. There is a single question on the piece: Where is my vote, the summary of the 100-year democratic movement, as summarized by Dr Abbas Milani.
This majority, which over the past seven months has received nothing but unprecedented violence, bombshelled another ‘green card’: green silence; no telephone calls; no text messages, as a response to the official threats of ‘will arrest, will not spare.’
And amid this silence, the Iranian people go to banks quietly to withdraw their money. Hassan Rowhani says that $370 billion have poured into Ahmadinejad administration coffers, with no accountability even for a single cent to anyone. This week, it was announced that the price of red meat would go up by 50 percent. More astounding figures are published: 47 people Iranians live under the poverty line. Twenty percent of families and 15 percent of children suffer from chronic under-nourishment.
As the Central Bank Iran renounces any commitment to lower the rate of inflation, experts warn, “Iran is at the precipice of an economic earthquake.”
The Iranian Consul General in Norway who resigns from his post in protest to the killing of people in the country appears on television stations. News reports reveal that ten more Iranian diplomats join him. There are even reports that 4 more security officers defect to the US military in Iraq. Britain’s Guardian newspaper reveals that the Islamic Republic has lost the intelligence battle to Israel and names Dr Masoud Ali Mohammadi (the nuclear scientist who was killed 2 weeks ago in Iran) to be the last victim of this dirty intelligence game.
Iran’s annual theatre showcase launches in the absence of the Iranian and world leading artists. No prestigious artist is willing to be a judge at the annual Fajr film festival held in Tehran.
But the coup perpetrators who are continuously facing greater isolation are standing at the other side of history.
Speaking at the seventh scientific gathering of Order and Security held at the Police University, Ismail Ahmadi-Moghadam, Iran’s chief of police, says: The most important responsibility of the law enforcement agencies is to establish order and security in society. To accomplish this, we must be aware of the changes in order and security. We must understand the new conditions. The main course of power in previous centuries was muscle power, but today power does not depend on muscle power and independence of countries is not accomplished through military power. If law enforcement agencies want to maintain the security of citizens, they must be armed with scientific knowledge.” He recalls the words of the leader of the coup government. And to prove the words of the ‘chief’ regarding non-use of muscle power, his agents force the women photographers and reporters to first put on their full veils before entering the art festival.
Other scientific tools such as shotguns, tear-gas grenade launchers, mustard gas, electric batons, high-chassis trail motorbikes for the Basij official vigilantes and revolutionary guard plainclothesmen, while email intrusion software, jamming devices for television signals, and the programs to disrupt SMS text messaging are envisioned for outside the festival.
The unmatched arrests still continue. They arrest anyone they know. After all, they have promised to the leader: “It is all taken care of. No one is left to come out on February 11,” the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 revolution. This week alone some 500 people were arrested, and this included old-time politicians who are in their 80s and a young married couple who stood to take art photos together. Even the political prisoners of the 80s have been arrested. And in response to their cries that they are “no longer active and have nothing to do with these events. We are simply living our personal lives and so these arrests hurt our lives,” officials have said, “We know that you are not active, but these people are incited by someone and we are after those who are doing it! You have the experience of the Bahman revolution and the activities of the initial years. It is better that you stay with us, but it won’t be long.”
The Iranian state-run national television has banned images of the Bahman revolution and officials from the ministry of culture have requested prominent photographer Maryam Zandi to remove the revolutionary street photographs from her picture book. These photos have been republished hundreds of times till now.
And so as the Islamic revolution turns 32, its defenders and protagonists and followers of the Imam are now fearful of the photographs of the 1979 revolution! Some of its officials like Mohammad-Ali Ramin are today busy rapidly closing the remaining newspapers, and in a manner that has resulted in an outcry from Majlis members.
In the show trials of protesters, five individuals whose names have not been announced, are shown on TV from behind. They are charged with fighting God and are facing requests for execution by the prosecutor. Instead of publishing the photos of the defenders, images of judge Salavati are published, which are reminiscent of what Assadollah Lajavardi, the notorious Evin prison executioner, indicating that perhaps judge Mortezavi may be the next victim.
The threatening words of the leader of the Islamic republic cannot hide his fears. The final measures by the state are to round up ‘the weakest elements’ inside the regime, which even Mohammad Reyshahri, a former senior hardline prosecutor and minister of intelligence, showed sympathy for.
Under public pressure, the state-run national television had decided to air debates with an apparent Green movement supporter, which became clear this week was in fact the interrogator of prominent dissident Sahabi. But the regime cannot tolerate even this.
A previously popular program called 30/20 sets aside a few minutes for a program on some Green Movement activists outside Iran. But the images are similar to the language that state-run Kayhan newspaper uses regarding the dissidents showing how much they fear the Greens.
During the past week, the ‘domestic and foreign crises’ join hands. The response of the Islamic Republic to the work regarding its proposal to resolve the nuclear issue is a ‘No.’ One cannot help Israel and the US any better than this. The joint cabinet of Tel Aviv and Berlin meet immediately, and the outcome is none other than sanctions. The US has been after this sanction. Major international newspapers write about ‘dead-end in talks and move towards the military option.’
China, whose cheap products have flooded the Iranian market, is still resisting the desire of other major powers to enact ‘comprehensive and crippling sanctions’ against Iran.
In another type of avalanche, Volker Pertis, the director of the German Foundation for Politics sees the Islamic republic caught up in a domestic and nuclear quagmire, and predicts four scenarios and a nightmare for Iran, the latter being nothing but a civil war.
Express Daily reports on the rift inside the ruling Iranian institutions. Majid Mohammadi writes, “By losing the support of the majority of the people and the intensification of differences in the camp loyal to the Velayat Fagih (rule of the clergy), the Islamic Republic is now clinging to its last option: an invitation to the insiders to come to their senses, i.e. asking the opposition to ignore the crimes of the regime (a moral call that will not have any real impact), and a threat to execute them. Through these, an opposition to the Velayat Fagih will be interpreted as fighting God and those engaging in this will be executed.”
The group known as the National-Religious group sees the destruction of Iran in this new state policy and writes, “The consequences and costs of any disregard for the recognition of the new and reform-minded force in Iranian society and its crackdown will fall on the extremists who will one day be held accountable to their conscience, God and the people for this land for their deceitful acts and the destruction of the resources of this nation to pursue their group interests.” This group’s solution is the acceptance of the five demands that have been outlined in Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s statement number 17.
The next battleday is February 11th. The Greens are preparing for a peaceful march on the same traditional routes as the coup perpetrators are emptying Evin prison from non-political prisoners to open up space for those who will be arrested on that day.
Last week, this is the text message that arrives, signed by Zahra Rahnavard (Mousavi’s wife):
Wolves should know well that in this strange tribe,
If a father dies, his gun will be there.
Even though all the men in the tribe have been killed,
There is still an infant boy in the wooden crib.
If there is no water, don’t be afraid,
There is a sea in our hearts and tear drops in our eyes.
