tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33185322011-04-21T13:21:39.189-07:00Quarterly Journal on the Road for 'Democracy for Iran' - For all Iranians and Others who would support such endeavourSa'idhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15604769021870572990noreply@blogger.comBlogger41100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3318532.post-941506512003-05-11T08:11:00.000-07:002003-05-17T10:50:50.000-07:00<b>5 May 2003</b> <br /><b>Opinion: Abbas Amir-Entezam, Iran’s Nelson Mandela?</b> <br /> <br />Mohandes (Engineer) Abbas Amir-Entezam, 68, the longest serving Iranian political prisoner during 23 of the past 24 years of the reign of the Islamic Republic of Iran has once again been summoned in front of the Clerical Judiciary to account for his latest call for a genuine referendum and free elections in Iran. <br /> <br />Amir-Entezam, the deputy prime minister to Mehdi Bazargan’s first post-1979 revolution government in Iran was arrested when he returned from his diplomatic post in Sweden -after the siege of American embassy in Nov 1980 by a group of students calling themselves “followers of Imam (Khomeini)’s path� - and charged with treason on trumped-up charges of spying for the Iran’s then enemy, the United States of America. [for more information about Abbas Amir-Entezam, see http://www.entezam.org]. <br /> <br />The latest move by the Islamic judiciary, appointed by the clerical leader Khamenei (Khomeini’s successor), to “interview� the 68 year old ailing Amir-Entezam is a sign of desperation by a regime deeply concerned about his call for true democracy and free elections, a call also echoed by the most radical student organisations in the country, gaining momentum and becoming ubiquitous. <br /> <br />Currently, within Iran’s internal political landscape, there is talk of two other referendums. The reformists within the Islamic Parliament and President Khatami’s government are pushing for the ‘twin’ legislations to strengthen Khatami’s hand within the confines of the current Islamic constitution and to push back the right wing Khamenei appointed clerics of the so-called “Council of Guardians of the Islamic Republic Constitution� (CGIRC) who control every election and oppose any reform. The reformists have been threatening a referendum on the issue if CGIRC does not back down. Recently Khatami apparently stormed out of a meeting authorising the doubling of CGIRC’s budget. The conservative clerics are clearly not showing any signs of backing down. They know that such a referendum (to ask if people support the twin legislations) will never happen. This is because despite three major presidential and parliamentary elections and clear mandates for reform, nothing has changed. Therefore in the recent local elections (March 2003), a large majority of Iranian people especially in the large cities, chose to express their votes by abstention. Once again they demonstrated that despite what the reformists might have thought, people value their votes. The Iranians seem to be saying to their twice elected President they believe his twin legislations are “Nooshdarooye Pas az Marge Sohrab�, i.e. too little, too late! <br /> <br />A second referendum is being talked about by the powerful Rafsanjani (ex-President and ex-leader of Parliament and now heading the Expediency Discernment Council of the IRI) supposedly to ascertain if the people of Iran were in favour of the normalisation of relations with the USA. And all this only a few months after Abbas Abdi, a leading reformer and an ex-student follower of Imam’s path (who occupied the American embassy ‘nest of spies’ in 1980) was jailed and “confessed� under torture to being a tool of the Americans. Abdi was leading an Iranian ‘Pollster Organisation’ that conducted a poll showing an overwhelming majority of Iranian people supporting the normalisation of relations with the USA! Clearly, Rafsanjani, who stated that he had always been in favour of “relations with the USA on an equal basis�, has seen the writing on the wall after what has happened to the East and now West of Iran. His referendum will also never happen as to the sophisticated Iranian electorate it is merely a desperate ploy of a has-gone politician to expedite his regime’s survival. <br /> <br />But what are the chances of a genuine referendum, under the auspices of the United Nations, that Amir-Entezam has called for? A decade ago, another long-standing political prisoner was freed by his jailors under international and domestic pressure to lead his people into his country’s first genuine and democratic elections that made him a President. He was the legendary Nelson Mandela, a leader of African National Congress (ANC) and now an ex-President of the Republic of South Africa. <br /> <br />Such a predicament is probably far from Amir-Entezam’s thoughts as he is facing his tormentors again. His standing world-wide is no where close to Mandela, he may hardly be known outside Iran. The people of Iran, however, are proud to tell the world that they have political personalities such as Amir Entezam (leading member of Pro-Mossadegh “Iranian National Front� inside Iran) that are true democrats. A quarter of a century ago, politicians such as Bazargan and Entezam were derided as “liberals� or “compromising�. Now most of the ex-revolutionaries of the Iranian left and Islamic fundamentalism respect their moderation and conciliatory politics. In Today’s politics of West versus Islam and George Bush versus the ‘axis of evil’, politicians such as Entezam stand out for Iranian patriotism and independence while also representing Iran’s wish to draw a line against its Pro and then Anti West politics for good. <br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3318532-94150651?l=democracy4iran.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sa'idhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15604769021870572990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3318532.post-98127122002-02-17T04:32:00.000-08:002002-02-17T07:19:52.000-08:00<b>What does Iranian Secular Opposition make of US President’s State of the Union Address reference to Iran as part of ‘an axis of evil’?</b> <br /> <br />US President George W Bush in his Annual ‘State of the Union' <a href="http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2002/012902-SOTU.asp">address </a>to the US Congress on 29 Jan 2002, targeted North Korea, Iran and Iraq as “regimes who sponsor terror … and who seek chemical, biological or nuclear weapons� (hence) “threatening the United States and the world�. He said: “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.� <br /> <br />On Iran, Bush had stated: “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.� <br /> <br />It is interesting to note what a large part of Iranian secular Opposition make of Bush’s new policy and threat to Iran in the wake of US military role in the collapse of the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan. <br /> <br />In a joint statement by five Iranian political parties in exile*, dated 4 Feb 2002, Bush’s “irresponsible, threatening and war-mongering� remarks are considered “a threat not only to these three countries but to world security.� This is because of US unilateral stance and Bush’s complete disregard of the approach adopted by the United Nations and US’s European NATO allies. <br /> <br />The Iranian parties, however, reserve their strongest words for irresponsible policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). “IRI’s foreign policy as directed by the unelected ‘Vali-e-Faghih’, opposition to the peaceful resolution of the problems in the Middle East, hostility to America, and rhetoric of such IRI leaders as Khamenei and Rafsanjani … have led to Iran being considered as a legitimate target of the fight against terrorism�. <br /> <br />“Iran’s national interests as well as the requisites for safeguarding peace in the (Middle East and Persian Gulf) region dictate that Iran should persist on a policy of reducing tension in the region and (the Islamic) world. Iran should support the Peace Process (in Palestine), avoid enmity with the US, expand its (good neighbourly) relations with the other countries in the region, take a positive role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and avoid any adventurous policies in order to neutralise (Bush’s) warmongering intentions�. The statement concludes. <br /> <br />* The five secular Iranian political parties are: <br />1. <a href="http://www.jebhe.org/">Iran National Front </a>(Organisations in Europe) – The political party consisting of followers of late Mosaddegh, the Iranian premiere (1951-53) toppled by a CIA-sponsored coup in 1953; <br />2. <a href="http://www.fadai.org/">Organisation of Iranian People’s Fadaian (Majority)</a> – The mainstream majority faction of the ex-Marxist Fadai political party, now with democratic socialist and social-democratic tendencies; <br />3. Iran Nationalist Republicans – A reformist secular political party; <br />4. Democratic People’s Party of Iran – A social-democratic and reformist splinter group from the Tudeh (Communist) People’s Party of Iran; <br />5. Iranian People’s Party – A nationalist party led by the late Dariush Forouhar, a victim together with his wife of the ‘serial murders’ in 1998 of dissidents in the hands of the so-called ‘rogue elements’ from Iranian secret police**. <br /> <br />** See my previous postings at <a href="http://farzaneh.blogspot.com/">http://farzaneh.blogspot.com/</a> <br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3318532-9812712?l=democracy4iran.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sa'idhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15604769021870572990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3318532.post-97764322002-02-15T17:43:00.000-08:002002-02-15T17:43:00.550-08:00Editorial – Issue Zero (Farsi version to follow) <br /> <br />Why ‘Democracy for Iran’? <br /> <br />Too often you have seen groups and bulletins formed ‘for’ this and ‘against’ that. This time we would like to take a different slant on this. This quarterly journal, and the editorial group behind this project, is about finding solutions and educating its readers about the problem of ‘Democracy for Iran’ rather than promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Iran or campaigning against this or that regime, political party or personality that is considered as being totalitarian and undemocratic. <br /> <br />So, let me introduce to you our aim, objectives and the breadth of activities we hope to orchestrate in the years to come: <br /> <br />Mission – To help bring together the efforts of Iranians (and others) striving to define a democratic model suitable for Iran. <br /> <br />Objectives <br />1. Continuous assessment of challenges facing Iran’s Road to Democracy; <br />2. Information on the views of Iranian political parties and personalities on the way forward towards a democratic and prosperous Iran; <br />3. Education and cross-pollination of conflicting ideas on Democracy for Iran; <br />4. Broadcasting support from the International Community to this end. <br /> <br />Activities <br />1. Publication of a free non-specialist bilingual (Farsi-English) quarterly bulletin in pdf format downloadable from Internet; <br />2. Interviews and political dialogue sessions; <br />3. Brain-storming sessions; <br />4. Audio and/or Video programmes publishable on the Internet and/or through other media (e.g. Iranian Radio/TV Channels); <br />5. Public meetings <br /> <br /> <br />S Farzaneh <br />Friday, 15 February 2002 <br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3318532-9776432?l=democracy4iran.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sa'idhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15604769021870572990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3318532.post-94397132002-02-06T07:28:00.000-08:002002-02-06T07:28:44.800-08:00به ص�حه دموکراسی برای ايران خوش آمديد!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3318532-9439713?l=democracy4iran.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sa'idhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15604769021870572990noreply@blogger.com