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The Iranian Blogosphere; a Reflection on Revolving Political Change
When considering the various dynamics in which social change manifests itself, it is not surprising that modern technology has been instrumental in playing a significant role in the current political demonstrations occurring in the Middle Eastern country of Iran. Many political observers have long predicted this uprising, including myself, as a direct result of increased communication between Persians and other nations due to the Iranian Blogosphere.
Persians want additional personal freedoms and contemporary changes to their current restrictive government that they can actually believe in. They are dying in the streets in an effort to see that change slowly manifest itself. It is a matter of time before their efforts can be assessed as having been in any way fruitful or simply another uprising squelched by Iran’s powerful military and police forces.
Since the 1979 Revolution, 30 years ago, a system of repressive government has presided over the oppressed of Iran. Despite numerous un-kept promises by the Ayatollah Khomeini, (after Shaw Reza fled the country to live in exile) promises the Ayatollah grandly offered of an unattainable utopia, in which rent, food and utility services would be free for all citizens, the nation remains a third world country, saddled with all the difficulties and hardship that a third world country is specifically noted for.
For thirty years, the extremist government run by radical Mullahs and religious zealots, (many considered by Westerners as nothing more than appetite driven Pedophiles and misogynistic murderers) along with the Ayatollah, have terrorized a nation with repressive laws governed by the Sharia Code. The current Ayatollah and what many believe to be his “puppet” president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are both strong supporters of traditional Persian culture and law as it has been maintained for over 30 years.
Sharia law strictly prohibits contact either gender may wish to have with the other, even if only public interaction. Women are not allowed to use cosmetics, (though they often openly violate this law) and homosexuality is forbidden. Furthermore, honor Killings are not truly considered criminal acts, punishable by reasonable prison sentences. Rather, they are tolerated, even sometimes justified by callous officials. The violent rapes of women held in prisons are also commonly reported, with no apparent change in practices.
Iran is reported to have a population of 70 million, with 12-13 million residing in Tehran, the countries capital. It is important to note however, that 70% of all Iranian’s are also under the age of 30, a reality which many political observers believe will have a profound impact on the countries future. With a population so young, and also quite influenced by global Internet, it has long been predicted that it is only a matter of time before this new generation of Iranian’s revolt against what has become a repressive dictatorship as riddled with flaws and corruption as the previous dictatorship was riddled with flamboyant personal freedoms and economic class distinctions. This appears to be what is happening in Iran right now, with the recent demonstrations and executions in Azadi Square and elsewhere.
The first blog in Iran hit the internet Sep 7th, 2001, created by Salman Jariri, using simple manual code. Within four years of that date, the number of blogs rose to well over 64,000. Currently, it is believed there are over 1000,000 active blogs in Iran. These various social networking devices also include Facebook, Twitter and of course Youtube.
This change in the way the internet is used is creating a monumental level of intellectual and social dissent among Persians, who hunger for more personal freedoms and human rights that are more than the paper they are written on. Human rights that are en-forced, protected and not subject to arbitrary dissolution by self serving, corrupt and hypocritical government officials.
Due to satellite cable and internet, Iran, which was previously a “closed country” limiting citizen’s exposure to Western nations, is now faced with a population who are willingly disseminating Western ideologies, Western family values, (which do exist by the way) and feminist concerns with a rapid and eager optimism.
As a result of this collective movement, government officials have stepped up an already notorious pattern of regular executions-and this before the current rash of public demonstrations. Usually by hanging, these executions are an effort to frighten and terrorize the general public and quell political dissent and social unrest. Since 2006, hundreds of Iranians have been executed for crimes as benign as drug addiction and/or use, homosexuality or “crimes against chastity” which include accusations of infidelity. Accusations which often lack any concrete evidence to back them up, other than highly questionable heresy and/or vindictive rumor.
Other justifications for execution include death sentences meted out to child prostitutes, forced into the sex trade against their will. As Westerners, there is little apparent rational or logical process to this manner of barbarity. Where is the logic behind these travesties of justice? How can a child, raped and beaten to the point of mental retardation be responsible for her actions, if she is forced into child prostitution by the reprehensible actions of degenerate and parasitic family members who use minor children for financial gain? How can these supposedly intelligent, socially responsible government officials be anything other than hopelessly deluded, if not outright uneducated to allow these comedies of human injustice to occur and reoccur to the befuddled amazement of more enlightened nations and political leaders?
These gross injustices occurring regularly to innocent women, girls and gay men represent some of the many reasons Iranians want political change, and not simply a repeat of the repressive tactics that Ahmadinejad has delivered with the Ayatollah pulling the strings in the background.
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In Iran, the “chastity police” roam the streets of any urban city, making certain that women are properly clothed, covered from head to toe in layers of clothing and devoid of cosmetics. Young people, specifically students must behave appropriately, which means no contact, even if only verbal, with the opposite gender. Unless young people are related by marriage, immediate or extended family or in the presence of a respected chaperone, casually speaking together can be considered a criminal offence. If an individual is in violation of any of these laws of Sharia, they can be viciously flogged, stoned to death or even hung in city squares from the now infamous cranes used for that morbid purpose.
One of the most persistent complaints from young Persians is the fact that Iran’s theocratic regime with its core of institutionalized misogyny and legislated hatred of women and girls governs nearly all aspects of laws and social practices with a smothering and punitive absoluteness. This hatred of women and girls appears as much a part of current religious Islamic doctrine as it is a part of the ancient culture of Iran.
Girls as young as eight can be married to adult men in their 30’s and 40’s. Though this generally only happens in rural areas of the Middle East, it also happens in urban settings as well and in Iran.
According to archived documents, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Great Spiritual Leader, a man may marry a female child as young as five or six. He may live with her, provide for her but officially not be allowed to have vaginal intercourse with her, though he may sodomize her, fondle all regions of her naked body and engage in what is known as “thighing”, in which he simulates the sex act by using the small child’s thighs to pleasure himself. This practice is not considered pedophilia by the Ayatollah as it is in most civilized and enlightened countries.
When a man marries a female child as young as five or six years of age, taking that child away from the protection of family, there is no way to insure that any manner of restrictions regarding how the child is used sexually will be in any measure inforcible. This is obvious to anyone of average intelligence.
Naturally, to Western minds, who are generally well schooled in what constitutes sexual abuse and exploitation, these ideas and practices are considered repugnant and thoroughly abominable. How can a female child not menstruating or able to reproduce, even conceive of what it means to have sexual desire or any manner of sexual interest when her overall development is still grounded in nonsexual childhood play and learning the basics of reading and writing?
These issues of exploitation and abuse are only some of what is being discussed on the Iranian blogs. Honor killings in Iran and the Middle East are also grist for the collective blogging mill. Honor killings tragically continue to occur in surprising numbers in Iran, as do rapes of women and girls.
Women’s rights are not considered important by Iranian governmental officials and the contempt, hatred and condescension routinely directed at women as weaker, smaller and less mentally able than men is routinely passed down from one generation of confused, unhappy men and boys to the next generation of equally confused, unhappy angry men and boys. These examples of human rights violations form the foundation for why Iranian blogs have become so incredibly popular in recent years.
Blogging is a way for young Persians to hold discourse about political rumors, human rights violations, and executions and discuss what they collectively want changed in their country. With many expressing a genuine desire to usher in a new era of tolerance, freedom and a more socially balanced approach to life and living, more in keeping with the 21st century, blogging is changing the social landscape of Persian culture. Blogging is also directly related to the violent uprisings that have begun recently in Iran, in protest of the presidential election results.
The youthful Iranian masses want the tolerance and enlightenment that is so lacking in their governmental officials and judiciary system. They want the freedom to live and love as they choose without fear of execution or brutal archaic physical torture.
One frustrating social restriction for young Iranians is the forbidden homosexual lifestyles that are a documented, yet secret segment of their collective culture. When there exists an official denial of the existence of homosexuality, when common knowledge awareness of homosexual practices and Pedophilia are everywhere in Iran, the denial acts more as further illustration of the true hypocrisy of the religious Islamic doctrines that govern their lives so oppressively and with such comic transparency.
When any homosexual activity is forbidden and made illegal but certain contradictory caveats exist, such as who is penetrated and who is not, (the man who penetrates is not guilty of homosexual activity, while the penetrated man is guilty) then denial of homosexuality in any manner of context is merely a transparent comedy of socially conditioned self denial.
This pattern of stubborn denial of the obvious is most significantly representative of deeper levels of psycho-sexual trauma and homo-erotic homophobia, resulting from the rampant sexual abuse of male youth and small boys that occurs in Iran and has for decades. This manner of sex abuse is an unspoken daily reality in Iranian culture and Middle Eastern culture in general. Sexual abuse of children of both genders in Iran is as commonplace as it is in any other large nation, but its well known occurrence is denied more vigorously and with far less effectiveness.
Social commentators worldwide engage in regular Blogging about the backward manner that the government of Iran appears to contend with social issues involving sexual abuse of minor children. The execution of children for the unconscionable sexually based crimes of predatory men also appears to be part of this macabre process and is another reason young Iranians want change to their government.
Because of Blogging government officials, Mullahs and religious Clerics in Iran are being exposed and seen for what they are; primitive, brutal and burdened with a tribal system that is both unsophisticated, completely lacking in simple reason or logic, socially backward and inherently unjust to the most vulnerable of their society; being the women and children.
Once a closed country, with limited technology, Iran could carry out its systematic agenda of continuous femicide and other crimes against humanity with little or no interference, deterrence or exposure. With the introduction of the internet and blogging, that protection from spotlight social exposure was literally dissolved overnight.
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The current demonstrations disputing the presidential election results are a serious sign of the overall unrest that occupies so many young people in Iran. There have been others though, who had done their part to create an atmosphere in which social and political change may occur. One such martyr and hero, who should never be forgotten was a young man named Majid Kavosifar.
In August 2005 Majid Kavosifar, 28 and his uncle, both armed with pistols, killed Judge “Hassan Moghaddas” in the middle of a congested business district in Tehran, as Moghaddas was entering his car after work. Moghaddas, who worked in the “Guidance Court” which handles cases of “moral Corruption”, was known as a ruthless and unfeeling cleric who ignored judiciary procedures, signing countless death certificates in an effort to ensure the swift executions of any opponents of the conservative Iranian regime. This included innocent women and girls accused of absurd violations of “chastity” laws, when in reality, they were the victims of heinous sexual abuse and rape.
One aspect of this case, not surprisingly is the manner that Moghaddas’s killer, Majid Kavosifar was martyred after his execution August 2nd of 2007, executed on the very spot that the ruthless Cleric Judge had died upon. Young, handsome, tall and confident, Majid strode up to the platform with a joyful smile on his face. He seemed happy, relaxed and not in any way frightened or sad about what was soon to happen.
He waved, (as well as he could, for he was handcuffed) to the crowd of several hundred. His story soon captivated nations worldwide. The smile was what did it. If Majid had not been smiling that triumphant smile of victory, the event would have gone unnoticed, but his smile had much in it that clearly fascinated onlookers, both at the execution and later via internet sites and blogs. It was clearly evident that Majid was very pleased to know that one less corrupt Judge would be killing innocent Persians for trumped up moral corruptions charges that made absolutely NO sense. Majid went to his death in a state of joy and his courage would be remembered by countless young Iranians, discussed, dissected and celebrated, all via the internet blogging sites. Majid’s smile would be remembered most of all. For in that smile he seemed to know that the future of Iran would include some manner of revolution, some new uprising that would eventually free the oppressed of Iran.
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If ever an individual may doubt the way in which Western nations effect the youthful population of Iran, let that doubt be forever put to rest with the newly documented trend of Persians adopting Western European Holidays like Valentines Day. In recent years, each February, shops, markets and bazaars become crowded with decorative Valentines Day cards, red and pink heart shaped boxes of chocolate candies and other assorted Valentines gifts to be celebrated and exchanged February 14th, Saint Valentines Day or as many Persians now call it, “The Day of Lovers”.
The manner in which Persians have gladly appropriated Valentines Day as part of their culture is a clear indication of the allure and happiness they derive from Western culture and traditions that appeal to them. This also is due to the manner that Western social values and customs have been disseminated as a result of the Blogosphere; Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
When as American’s we see violent, bloody and distressing images of executions and overall chaos occurring in Iran due to the recent waves of protests, we have to remember that this is one of the oldest countries in the world, with a rich culture that has more than only negative representations to define it.
Sirus the Great was probably one of the world’s greatest leaders and one of the greatest, most fair of all Persian leaders. He wrote the very first recorded declaration of human rights and also invented the modern postal system as we know it. He was compassionate and believed in protecting the rights of women and children. It is a sad commentary that the current leaders of Iran feel so disconnected from their collective history and connection to such a great man, as Sirus the Great clearly was.
As a helpless observer to the bloodshed that is occurring in Iran and as one who has only a rudimentary understanding of the many complex implications that exist in that region and culture I can merely offer my support, sympathy and understanding to those Iranians that I may know or have contact with. Hopefully, Iranians in both America and in the homeland will understand how saddened and helpless we Americans feel at the suffering and violence that is occurring.
But I do have this to say; due to the current debates and violent demonstrations over who actually won the presidential election in Iran, Ahmadinejad or his opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi, there will have to be some form of firm response or condemnation from the West and other western nations. We are all looking to President Obama for his leadership in this regard and it must be handled delicately. The risk however, is that if President Obama decides to impose sanctions on Iran, or to implore other nations to do the same, Iran will become isolated and further disconnected from good international relations with America and we will all lose.
As Time Magazine writer Joe Klein has stated, this may be “exactly what the current regime wants”. The supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah (the real power behind the presidential throne) with his rigid belief in all things conservative, repressive and punitive as the proper way for all Iranians to live, has had some time to sort out his countries problems with regard to the economy, resources and human rights and with not much apparent success.
“For the past 30 years, the supreme leader, first Khomeini, now Khamenei has--blamed all our problems on the Great Satan. If you take away the Great Satan and we still have problems, how does he explain it? Almost everyone here is in favor of ending this war with America. But no one has less incentive to make peace than the supreme leader”. This was told to Klein by a well known Iranian conservative man in Iran.
Clearly the majority of young Iranians do not regard Americans as the Great Satan, simply because we embrace a culture rich in tolerance and compassion. Exposure to the more positive aspects of American culture has led Iranians to feel a kinship with America and its people. The Blogosphere is the one common denominator in this new perception.
Sadly, until the people of Iran or other powerful political figures in that country are able to actually physically remove the Supreme leader from his position and all those connected to his leadership, demanding some form of political change that incorporates more than the throwing of stones and/or nonviolent demonstrations, in which the military cuts down innocent unarmed women like “Neda” and other victims, I don’t believe political change will occur any time soon. All any of us can do is watch and wait and hope for the best, praying for reform and justice to finally be something of value to Iran’s leaders, both seen and unseen, in that still great nation.
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