Video of December 27, 2009 protests in Tehran.
Demonstrators take over a police station, they set it on fire, and then they fly a resistance flag from the roof, to the cheers of the crowd.
Click on the video here:
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
"The Peace Prize goes to the commander-in-chief of invading armies in Afghanistan and Iraq"
http://www.tlaxcala.es/pp.asp?reference=9491&lg=en
Is this the best the world can deliver?
A hypocrite who unsuccessfully tries to justify war and aggression on the starved and brutalized people of Iraq and Afghanistan?
In a silent America, Obama is unchallenged and does all he can to strengthen U.S. ties with Israel (as the rest of the world contemplates boycotts of various kinds to deter Israel from committing more crimes). A year into his presidency, not only are the wars against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan going strong, but Obama is sending 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan.
The American brand of "peace" has surely made a mockery of the word. No one in the Middle East is foolish enough to believe, for a second, that America wants "peace" when all that America, and her handsome new president, does is to reinforce its devastating military presence in countries where they are not welcomed.
More troops for Afghanistan, by Carlos Latuff
An Iraqi mother who lost every child she had (4 boys) as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003 said: "don't utter that word, it has brought us nothing but death and destruction".
She was referring to the word "peace".
No doubt Palestinian, Lebanese, and Afghan mothers have similar sentiments about this peculiar word that is on the lips of every invading army and colonialist power. But those who live under the brutal occupations of the U.S. and Israel, or those of us still unoccupied (Iranians, Pakistanis, etc) still suffer the political and economic brutality of this "world order" in the form of unemployment and political repression. For us, the word "peace", as spoken by Americans, is void of credibility.
In the Middle East, everyone knows that the U.S. has been involved in covert actions to destabilize the area and control the political arena for decades. In Iran, the 1953 CIA coup d'état has been well documented and disseminated, but still many in the U.S. do not know that the hated dictator of Iraq (Saddam Hussein) was in fact a trained U.S. puppet until he fell out of favor with the State Department.
Even fewer Americans know that the U.S. has been nurturing the most genocidal militias, people who destroyed the nation, from the 1970's until this decade. Colonialist campaigns to dominate the local population, and to install puppet governments to serve the interests of the West, is a familiar scenario for all who live the reality of life in the Middle East. Even in Iran, which has never been militarily occupied, thanks to the resistance of its neighbors to invasions and occupations, the society has continuously been suffering under U.S. covert actions to destabilize the civil society and to stifle democratic development (i.e., the U.S.-instigated war with Iraq and the fueling of this war for 8 years, and constant economic pressure in the form of sanctions).
Mainstream media constantly warns Americans about the wrath that may come to them from their victims. If you ask me, what really "threatens" American is its indifference, as it devastates humanity.
Think about it. Overall, 300,000 American soldiers and private security personnel (heavily subsidized by U.S. government) rampage through every street in Iraq, and no clear statistics are available on how many armed Americans roam the streets of Afghanistan. Life's necessities (electricity and clean water among other things) are often lacking, and deadly bombings kill the occupied population almost daily.
The common denominator to all this is the American military and private security presence.
With no serious "anti-war" movement in sight, in America, what most Americans contemplate is not the miserable reality they have created for people under U.S. occupation; Americans wonder why Iraqis and Afghans are so "ungrateful"!
"Before stabbing your neighbor with a knife, stick a needle in your OWN arm", says the old Iranian proverb. Would YOU be grateful to an invading force whose presence has meant massive violence and wholesale robbing of your resources?
If Obama is given ten more prizes for his "peace" efforts, it would make no difference to those who can clearly see he is just a more attractive invader than Bush Jr. ever was. Unfortunately, the liberal "peace-loving" America seems to be OK with that brand of world war. Obama is the commander-in-chief of invading armies in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his record shows that he has no intention of ending American colonial wars. Believe him when he says it, and shows it.
This being the case, local resistance to unjust wars and corrupt U.S.-installed governments, that only function to siphon oil and other resources to Western companies, will continue unless Americans see through the constant smokescreen and realize that complacency and disinterest, regarding the people they help to subjugate, is literally threatening survival of our species.
"Iranians still oppose foreign intervention in the Middle East: U.S. / Israeli military aggression prevents any democratic development"
http://www.tlaxcala.es/pp.asp?reference=9492&lg=en Iranians demand no foreign intervention in the Middle East. If there is no change in U.S. / Israeli military aggression, then the region will continue to be ruled by a deadlock. That deadlock is imperial power fighting homegrown resistance. Iranians and others fight the empire directly, and also indirectly: by resisting the local dictators who are unable or unwilling to get the empire off of the people’s backs. Seven months after the start of the Green rallies in Iran, Iranian students are still filling the streets of their cities to oppose dictatorship and demand democracy. December 7th is a significant day in the history of Iranian people’s resistance against oppression. On December 7th 1953, just fifty days after the CIA coup d'etat, which had removed the democratically elected government of Dr. Mossadegh, and installed the dictatorial regime of the Shah, Nixon’s arrival was announced to the public. This gesture was perceived by an overwhelming majority of Iranians as putting salt on the wounds of a coup d'etat that had humiliated them a few weeks earlier. To oppose Nixon’s visit, public demonstrations were organized which were brutally put down by the U.S.-backed government of the Shah. Three students were shot and killed on that day. Since then, student organizations across Iran honor their fallen friends on December 7th while at the same time continuing their demands for a democratic Iran. Demanding a home-grown democracy is what these non-violent demonstrations are all about. Earlier in November 2009, millions had come out chanting "Neither East-leaning, Nor West-leaning, Regimes: A National Democratic State in Iran". The people of Iran believe that the current government has stolen the last election (June 2009) and that a repeat of the election is in order; this time with trustworthy observers, and with independent oversight to assure a healthy, honest election process, which will yield accurate results. No Iranian wants a "regime change" imposed by the U.S. and Israel ever again. Iranians know, full well, the devastating effects of war-- they were forced to endure an 8-year war with Saddam's Iraq, imposed by Saddam's ally, the United States. At the time, Saddam’s regime had full U.S. military and political support, while Iran was just emerging from a popular revolution which had overthrown the Shah's U.S. puppet regime. The Shah's regime, with full support of the U.S. and Israel, had brutalized and tortured the Iranian nation for almost 30 years. To weaken the new revolutionary Iran, the United States encouraged and supported an Iraqi invasion of Iran, and continued to support this so-called "Iran-Iraq war" for years. The U.S. offered Saddam chemical and biological weapons to use against people of the region, Iraqis and Iranians alike. The losers of this war were the Iranian and Iraqi people, who lost over a million lives and are still enduring massive public health problems such as cancers, loss of limbs, and psychological disorders inflicted on them by that U.S.-sponsored war. The Iranian people are also well aware of the fact that the U.S. (despite Obama's pretending to oppose the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan), and despite his "change you can believe in" rhetoric, is still imposing crippling sanctions on Iran. Furthermore, the U.S. has not made a single move to end the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. The people of Iran are encircled by deadly American military power, which has so far claimed millions of lives in the Middle East and made many more millions refugees. The people of Iran feel that the way to real stability and peace for their country, and for the whole of the region, is peaceful, nonviolent, democratic change that will allow functioning of the civil society without abrupt upheavals that would disrupt life and potentially invite unwanted foreign powers into their land. So, in answer to President Obama's "We have heard for 30 years what the Iranian government is against; the question, now, is what kind of future it is for": It must be said that: What the current government in Iran wants, and has been pushing for, is a prolonged verbal cat-fight with the U.S. and Israel, to create an atmosphere of crisis, so that the Iranian public will not protest its illegitimate power grab. This verbal cat-fight is a dangerous game, because the U.S. and Israel keep maneuvering to "obliterate" Iran, a land of 76 million people. After Hillary Clinton threatened to "obliterate" Iran, Obama chose her to be his Secretary of State. The Iranian people, however, want home-grown democratic rule, a demilitarized Middle East, and an independent Iraq and Afghanistan without U.S. intervention. This will guarantee that the people of the Middle East (Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan, etc.) will have the ability to organize their elected governments and build a future THEY see fit for themselves and their children. The best way that you, Mr. Obama, can help is by taking your hundreds of thousands of military personnel out of Iraq and Afghanistan, to give people breathing space. You can also help by halting U.S. funding of the violently racist state of Israel. Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons and a history of constantly bombing and invading Middle Eastern nations. Saying "change you can believe in" is a mockery, when you continue sending soldiers to sustain the occupation of millions of peoples' lands across the Middle East and Afghanistan. A change of perspective, an acknowledgment of past wrongdoings by the U.S., is essential if any change is to come to this violent world order that literally threatens life on earth. |
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