Haiku 062409
morning glories
lie still on the grass...
summer sunset
***************
Recently, we read the following:
NPR: “Iran Supreme Leader Vows Not To Bow To Protests”
“Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not give in to pressure over the disputed presidential election, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition.
" ‘Neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with lawmakers Wednesday….
“In his remarks on state television, Khamenei was adamant. ‘On the current situation, I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law. That means we will not go one step beyond the law,’ he said…
“Mousavi claims that hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 election through massive fraud. He has called for annulling the results and holding a new vote.
“Mousavi supporters have flooded the streets of Tehran and other cities on a near-daily basis since the election, massing by the hundreds of thousands in protests larger than any since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Security forces initially stood by and permitted the demonstrations.
“Khamenei said in a stern sermon broadcast to the nation Friday that Ahmadinejad was the legitimate winner. He told opposition supporters to halt their protests and blamed the U.S., Britain and other foreign powers for instigating unrest.
“The government then ramped up both the use of force and its rhetoric, beating protesters, firing tear gas and water cannons at them. State media say at least 17 people have been killed in the postelection unrest. Amateur footage of a woman bleeding to death from a gunshot on a Tehran street unleashed outrage at home and abroad….”
***************
And we thought:
… You’d think that Iran’s mullahs would at least try to provide a safe forum to hear out the protesters. Or do Iran’s laws actually prohibit dialogue between its leaders and its people? Scores of protesters have since fallen in the streets – some killed, a lot more injured. But the protests continue. Obviously, "threats, beatings, and imprisonments" -- and blaming other countries -- will not resolve the issues protesters have raised. A good-faith dialogue might just help start the process....
Showing posts with label election protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label election protests. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Haiku 061809
dense clouds
masking the sunrise...
long faces
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Clerics May Be Key to Outcome of Unrest” By Neil MacFarouhar
“With Iran’s political establishment at war with itself, a central question lurking behind the postelection tumult is which side the country’s highly influential clerics will back.
”So far the mullahs — a potentially critical swing vote — have remained largely silent, with the notable exception of a few prominent grand ayatollahs, including one who has attacked the vote count as ‘a gross injustice.’ And few religious leaders have joined the tens of thousands of Iranians expressing their fury by marching through the streets of Tehran and other cities.
‘The clerics and their thousands of pupils, concentrated in the holy city of Qum, are a generally conservative lot who have been known to jump into the political fray en masse only when a clear winner starts to emerge….
“One of the mysteries behind this week’s mass demonstrations is who is coordinating them. Some suspect that the hidden hand is the powerful political organization of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. His daughter Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former member of Parliament famous for opening sports to women, was spotted at a march for Mir Hussein Moussavi, who the Interior Ministry says came in second in a landslide for the country’s incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“One of the country’s most influential clerics, Mr. Rafsanjani has been notably silent since Mr. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner last week, and there has been speculation that Mr. Rafsanjani is in Qum trying to muster clerical opposition to the country’s leaders. But those reports are difficult to confirm with any authority.
“Mr. Rafsanjani leads the 86-member Assembly of Experts, whose duties include endorsing the performance of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Saturday called the election’s outcome ‘‘a divine blessing.” In theory, the group has the power to remove him, but that has never been done and any attempt to do so would probably further inflame the situation, analysts said….”
***************
And we thought:
….Is there a good number of Iran's clerics inclined to ride Moussavi’s green bus? For now, this seems like a long shot....
dense clouds
masking the sunrise...
long faces
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Clerics May Be Key to Outcome of Unrest” By Neil MacFarouhar
“With Iran’s political establishment at war with itself, a central question lurking behind the postelection tumult is which side the country’s highly influential clerics will back.
”So far the mullahs — a potentially critical swing vote — have remained largely silent, with the notable exception of a few prominent grand ayatollahs, including one who has attacked the vote count as ‘a gross injustice.’ And few religious leaders have joined the tens of thousands of Iranians expressing their fury by marching through the streets of Tehran and other cities.
‘The clerics and their thousands of pupils, concentrated in the holy city of Qum, are a generally conservative lot who have been known to jump into the political fray en masse only when a clear winner starts to emerge….
“One of the mysteries behind this week’s mass demonstrations is who is coordinating them. Some suspect that the hidden hand is the powerful political organization of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. His daughter Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former member of Parliament famous for opening sports to women, was spotted at a march for Mir Hussein Moussavi, who the Interior Ministry says came in second in a landslide for the country’s incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“One of the country’s most influential clerics, Mr. Rafsanjani has been notably silent since Mr. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner last week, and there has been speculation that Mr. Rafsanjani is in Qum trying to muster clerical opposition to the country’s leaders. But those reports are difficult to confirm with any authority.
“Mr. Rafsanjani leads the 86-member Assembly of Experts, whose duties include endorsing the performance of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Saturday called the election’s outcome ‘‘a divine blessing.” In theory, the group has the power to remove him, but that has never been done and any attempt to do so would probably further inflame the situation, analysts said….”
***************
And we thought:
….Is there a good number of Iran's clerics inclined to ride Moussavi’s green bus? For now, this seems like a long shot....
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Haiku 061609
horses perking
where hills rise and fall...
bugle call
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Defiance Grows as Iran’s Leader Sets Vote Review” by Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi
“Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance from a broad cross section of society, even as the nation’s supreme leader called for a formal review of results he had endorsed two days earlier.
“Having mustered the largest antigovernment demonstrations since the 1979 revolution, and defying an official ban, protesters began to sense the prospect — however slight at the moment — that the leadership’s firm backing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had wavered.
“The massive outpouring was mostly peaceful. But violence erupted after dark when protesters surrounded and attempted to set fire to the headquarters of the Basij volunteer militia, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, according to news agency reports. At least one man was killed, and several others were injured in that confrontation….
“Protesters were especially enraged that Mr. Ahmadinejad on Sunday dismissed them as nothing more than soccer fans who had just lost a game and as ‘dust.’ One demonstrator fired off a Twitter message, one of thousands of brief electronic dispatches that kept the outside world up-to-the-minute on the protests, proclaiming, ‘Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.’
“Earlier Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei … called for the Guardian Council to conduct an inquiry into the opposition’s claims that the election was rigged and then had that announcement repeated every 15 minutes on Iranian state radio throughout the day. It was a rare reversal….
“Nevertheless, his announcement could not calm the anger of the people…. Hours later, a broad river of people in Tehran … marched slowly from Revolution Square to Freedom Square for more than three hours … many of them wearing the signature bright green ribbons of Mr. Moussavi’s campaign and holding up their hands in victory signs….”
***************
And we thought:
....From "dust" to "sandstorm" -- after long-drawn-out, incremental changes, a sudden qualitative change....
horses perking
where hills rise and fall...
bugle call
***************
Recently, we read the following:
New York Times: “Defiance Grows as Iran’s Leader Sets Vote Review” by Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi
“Hundreds of thousands of people marched in silence through central Tehran on Monday to protest Iran’s disputed presidential election in an extraordinary show of defiance from a broad cross section of society, even as the nation’s supreme leader called for a formal review of results he had endorsed two days earlier.
“Having mustered the largest antigovernment demonstrations since the 1979 revolution, and defying an official ban, protesters began to sense the prospect — however slight at the moment — that the leadership’s firm backing of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had wavered.
“The massive outpouring was mostly peaceful. But violence erupted after dark when protesters surrounded and attempted to set fire to the headquarters of the Basij volunteer militia, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, according to news agency reports. At least one man was killed, and several others were injured in that confrontation….
“Protesters were especially enraged that Mr. Ahmadinejad on Sunday dismissed them as nothing more than soccer fans who had just lost a game and as ‘dust.’ One demonstrator fired off a Twitter message, one of thousands of brief electronic dispatches that kept the outside world up-to-the-minute on the protests, proclaiming, ‘Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.’
“Earlier Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei … called for the Guardian Council to conduct an inquiry into the opposition’s claims that the election was rigged and then had that announcement repeated every 15 minutes on Iranian state radio throughout the day. It was a rare reversal….
“Nevertheless, his announcement could not calm the anger of the people…. Hours later, a broad river of people in Tehran … marched slowly from Revolution Square to Freedom Square for more than three hours … many of them wearing the signature bright green ribbons of Mr. Moussavi’s campaign and holding up their hands in victory signs….”
***************
And we thought:
....From "dust" to "sandstorm" -- after long-drawn-out, incremental changes, a sudden qualitative change....
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