Friday, July 14, 2006

Unity in Action

I have just come back from BBC Bush House, where more than 20 Iranians are staging a hunger strike in solidarity with Iran's prisoners of conscience. Its early hours of the morning and I am tired. Sorry if I am not writing well.

Prior to going to Bush House, I went to Ganji's lecture at SOAS. The hall was completely packed with many people standing up or waiting outside the hall. Luckily a friend took me back stage and I managed to hear the questions and answers.

There were a lot of people in the hall shouting and making accusations against Akbar Ganji. One person had draped a sun and lion flag over him and I have to tell everyone about this person. He calls himself Arshid, but his real name is Mohammad Hossein Moti Ghavanin. In Iran he was a member of the Baseej and the revolutionary guards. He came to London claiming he has a group called Red Faravahar and he leads a unit of 700 people against the Islamic Republic. No such group exists in Iran and the stupid Home Office which refuses genuine Iranian refugees but accepts all sorts of bogus claims quickly gave this person political asylum.

Since this person has been in London, he has embezzled and conned many innocent Iranians and non-Iranians. He is a busy body that goes everywhere collecting information and comes from a very religious family himself. He is one of the lowest of the lowest you will ever come across. I have no doubt he is definitely an Islamic Republic lackey operating in London. Now this same person had draped a Sun and Lion flag! He got up during question time, started talking against Islam, opened the Koran and read out verses from it in what sounded to me like perfect Arabic, which only proved his Baseej background, then he ripped out the page from the Koran that he was reading. I want you all reading this to see through the plot. Here was something similar to the Berlin conference which resulted in the arrest of Ganji when he returned to Iran. In Berlin a man and woman got completely naked, and another one partly took her clothes off while Ganji was speaking, supposedly in "protest".

The one who partly took her clothes off was a known member of an Iranian Workers Communist Party. The other woman who took her clothes off completely, no one knew and nor has anyone ever heard about her since. It was as if she was planted from nowhere and disappeared into nowhere. The man who got completely naked was found dead in the Sistan province of Iran one year or so later. While these stooges were carrying out their "protests", Islamic Republic cameramen were filming the event and this was later shown on Islamic Republic state TV and resulted in the arrest of all the panel members. Today, Islamic Republic had their stooge draped in a Sun and Lion flag ripping a page out of Koran. Put two and two together and see through the plot. Islamic Republic wants to tell the people, look what those people who wave the Sun and Lion flag do, they rip out pages of the Koran.

I am no Islamist nor do I pretend to but I have always said a book is for reading not for burning and not for tearing up.

Ganji answered him very well. He said, I have spoken tonight about specific topics, I expected the questions to be about what I have spoken. If we want to discuss Islam or Marxism then we should do this in another meeting, but even then if I am in a meeting to criticise Marxism, I would not rip Marx's books. I would say my criticisms. By ripping a book you prove nothing and you dont convince anyone with your arguments. You only offend people.

Next a member of the Iranian Communist Workers Party accused Ganji of being a torturer and having executed people. Ganji replied by saying what he has done since the Islamic revolution and how himself was nearly executed in the 1988 massacre. He said recently judge Mortezavi turned up in Switzerland, some organisations rightly called for his arrest because of his role in murder and torture of Iran's political prisoners. Those who accuse me can also call for my arrest. Let me be arrested by international bodies and then tried but don't just hurl baseless accusations against me without a trial.

I must admit, I heard no convincing arguments, no substantial evidence that Ganji was involved in murder or torture of Iranian dissidents at any stage of his life. He was of course pro revolution in 1979, but so were a lot of misguided Iranians.

Yet I am also very critical of Ganji's statement of what Iran's future form of government should be. A republic is not necassarily synonymous with democracy. Saddam Hossein was a president of a republic and Kim-il-jung also is the head of People's Democratic Republic. These are/were terrible regimes. There are also monarchies throughout Europe were democracies flourish. It should be up to the people of Iran to decide the form of their state in a free Iran after the present theocracy. To be adamant about the form of the future government in Iran at this stage, is only devisive and not productive.

I have also witnessed some serious attempts by some of Ganji's hosts in London to marginalise his call for a hunger strike or make it go unreported. I will write about all this later, but luckily we have managed to out manouvere these people and made sure the hunger strike went ahead and the voice of Iran's prisoners of conscience is heard throughout the world.

When I left Bush House tonight there were more than 20 Iranians out there on hunger strike. I knew most of them, they were Iranian monarchists, Leftists, republicans and all sorts. They were not discussing the form of the next government, they were not trying to impose their views on each other. They had one purpose only, they wanted the world to talk about Iran's prisoners of conscience. This was unity in action and not in hotel conferences. Thanks to our efforts, there were also many reporters covering the event. This is how unity for the overthrow of the theocracy in Iran comes about.

More later....

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Post. Thanks a lot and keep it up. We are in hunger strike here too.

Aryamehr said...

Thanks for the update.

Winston said...

Good report!

داریوش سعدین said...

thanks for your occuracy

داریوش سعدین said...

thanks for your occuracy

Anonymous said...

fantastic report Azarmehr! Its so revealing that Islamic Republic is willing to get her agents to take their clothes off and rip pages from the Koran in order to survive.

Siavash

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the thorough report. I am now going to see what's going on outside the UN. I was there yesterday and there was not much happening, just 20 or so people, who I assume were doing the hunger strike... We'll see.

Anonymous said...

من از آغاز تا پایان در جلسه دیدار با اکبر گنجی در دانشگاه لندن بودم. سخنرانی نماینده عفو بین الملل، ابراهیم نبوی و خود آقای گنجی در جو آرامی صورت گرفت چون اکثریت مطلق شرکت کنندگان که تعدادشان بیش از500 نفر بود با انضباط و متمدنانه رفتار میکردند. ویدئوی هر سه سخنرانی در سایت گویانیوز موجود است و میتوانید خودتان ببینید. عربده کشیها در بیرون سالن وقتی شروع شد که دو زن مسن وابسته به "حزب کمونیست کولیگری" که من اسمشان را "زهرا خانم" و "شاباجی خانم" گذاشته ام با تاخیر یک ساعته به محل برنامه آمدند. زهرا خانم که موهای سفیدی دارد و به لحاظ سنی میتواند مادر بزرگ بنده باشد از لظه ورود تا زمان خروج از ساختمان که سه ساعت بعد بود بدون وقفه جیغ و عربده میکشید و شعار میداد از قبیل مرگ بر کاپیتالیست، مرگ بر گنجی، مرگ بر امپریالیسم الخ. به قول یکی از دوستان ایشان باید حداقل در مورد مرگ بر کاپیتالیسم کوتاه می آمدند چون ماشاالله بیست و هفت سال است که در بریتانیا از محل سوشیال سکیوریتی مفت خورده و راه میروند و کسی هم کاری به کارشان ندارد. در واقع ما "کاپیتالیستها" هستیم که با مالیاتمان خرج عربده کشیی زهرا خانم و رفقایشان را تامین میکنیم. بگذریم. در جمعی که اکثریت مطلقش اهل داد و فریاد و دست به گریبان شدن با چنین جانوارانی نیست اینها میتوانند به آسانی جو را متشنج کنند و هنر بزرگی هم نکرده اند. در داخل سالن چند نفر سعی به ایجاد اغتشاش کردند که من محض نمونه به همان فردی که قرآن را پاره کرد اشاره میکنم. نام واقعی وی محمد حسین مطیع قوانین است و از اعضای سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی بوده یا هست. کسانی که این شخص را در لندن از نزدیک شناخته اند گواهی میکنند که در بهترین حالت قابل خرید است، حتی اگر با ماموریت ویژه به اینجا فرستاده نشده باشد. حضور هماهنگ این عناصر یعنی عربده کشهای حزب کمونیست کولیگری در خارج سالن و این برادر پاسدار نشانگر این بود که در ایران محافل معینی دست اندرکار پرونده سازی مجدد برای اکبر گنجی هستند. ضمنا در سایت گویا نیوز دیدم که تشکیلات مجهول الهویه ای به نام "سازمان ضد امپریالیستی ایرانیان در انگلستان" مسئولیت ایجاد اغتشاش در برنامه را پذیرغته است. هیچیک از دوستان بنده که در بیست سال اخیر در لندن و انگلستان زندگی میکرده اند تا به حال نام چنین سازمانی را نشنیده اند. اگر به سبک نوشتاری بیانیه توجه کنید خواهید دید که تقلید ناشیانه ای است از اعلامیه های چپی سالهای 60. چه بسا نویسندگان واقعی آن اربابان آقای مطیع قانون و حزب کمونیست کولیگری در واحد قدس سپاه پاسداران یا جاهایی نظیر آن باشند

Anonymous said...

دعوت کنندگان گنجی دانشگاه لندن، سازمان عفو بین الملل و انجمن سخن بودند. عطاالله مهاجرانی (نویسنده کتابی در دفاع از فتوای امام راحل برای قتل سلمان رشدی که چند سالی است در منطقه چلسی لندن رحل اقامت افکنده)در حدود یکساعت قبل از شروع برنامه بیرون ساختمان دیده شد ولی چون که از خشم توده ها خوف دارد در سالن حضور نداشت! بهنود را بین تماشاچیان دیدم ولی ظاهرا در برنامه ریزی هیچ شرکتی نداشت. مجاهدین اگر هم حضور داشتنداصلا جیک نزدند چون نگران وضعیت حقوقی شان هستند. بیشتر مایلند توسط اتحادیه اروپارسما از لیست گروههای تروریسیتی خارج شوند و این البته با هوار کشیدن و جلسه به هم زدن که پیش از این رشته تخصصیشان بود جور در نمی آید. تا آنجاییکه من دیدم برخورد فقط بین حدود ده تا شعبان بی مخ و قمر خانم منسوب به حزب کمونیست کاریکاتوری بود با بیش از پانصد نفر از ایرانیان مقیم لندن که برای شنیدن حرفهای آقای گنجی و نه جیغ و داد این ابله هاآمده بودند