Monthly Archive for June, 2009

Nat Troy sends along a selection of translations from Khiaban issues 7 and 8.  Thanks Nat!

Khiaban Issue 7

Bullet in Baharestan

According to human rights and democracy activists in Iran, after 12 this afternoon, on Wednesday 3 Tir, all the access points to Baharestan Square were closed and no underground trains were stopping at Baharestan station.  More special forces and anti-riot forces and even police had surrounded the Parliament building with their cars and motorcycles and ordered closed all the stores located on Baharestan Square, even stores along secondary roads terminating at the square.  They threatened to burn down any stores that did not close.  Despite strict control of all the approaches, a large crowd had reached the square by about 4:30 and was standing in silence.  The security forces had warned them not to gather and to disperse.  A number of people had black armbands on and a small number were holding proclamation signs above their heads.  Those with signs were attacks by guard forces and civilian dressed forces.  At about 4:40 guard and anti-riot forces surrounded the crowd gathered in the square and sprayed teargas to scatter the people, while the slogans ‘death to the dictator, people’ and ‘don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, we are all together’ could be heard.  The people trying to enter the square from surrounding streets were the target of baton attacks, and a number were also arrested.  The arrested were herded with batons to cars and beaten with batons inside the cars.  As the pressure from the crowd trying to enter the square steadily built, several shots were fired in the air to break up the people.  But as pressure built more, they began firing directly into the people, and cries of ‘we will protest, we will protest’ and ‘they killed my brother’ rose from the crowd.  For nearly an hour the sound of gunfire could be heard on Baharestan Square and the surrounding streets.  Every time a group of people would escape to surrounding streets under pressure from guard forces, they were chased down by men on motorcycles and assaulted with batons – moving the clash to surrounding streets.  According to reports, a number were killed in the clashes, and 30 people were arrested and more than 50 wounded.  As of yesterday, Basiji and guard forces positioned at the head of all the streets are stopping the people, especially, the young people, and searching photos and film taken on their mobile phones.  They are even stopping and searching cars.

Baharestan Has Awoken

Report from Baharestan

As expected, Baharestan was surrounded by security forces.  They were continuously dispersing the people, and the people gathering in another corner.  Everyone was expecting – and there were murmurings – that Mousavi would arrive, but no one saw him.  They had stopped the people and prevented them from moving towards the Parliament building.  Against the protests of people trying to reach their homes on that side, a security official was yelling: ‘We know that none of your houses are on that side.’  The security officials were openly filming the people.  One point worth mentioning is the weak presence of Basiji or plain clothes security forces compared to the police forces.  More anti-riot guard forces were intending to intimidate the people.  They were dragging their batons against the barricades or striking them against their shields to produce a frightening noise.  They are charging several people.  The crowd is large, and the protests more crowded than usual.  They are still openly threatening ‘If you go, the Special Forces will come and you will be beaten!!!!!!!!!’  They cleared out the pedestrian bridge in a savage way.  Men on motorcycles were moving through the protesters and threatening them with batons.  But the crowd, as if they had no fear, was constantly signaling to each other ‘don’t run, we are ordinary passersby.’  They released some teargas.  There was an odd apprehension among the security forces.  Even with violence it took about an hour to disperse the crowd.  The sound of gunshots arose.  There were clashes at several locations where the police quickly hauled people off to jail while beating and jeering at them.  There were searching the bags of black-clad boys, searching for a pretext or green gangs.  I heard that they killed a person.  The Baharestan subway station was closed – up to Sa’adi.  Helicopters were constantly hovering above the crowd.  The plain clothes police were not intervening a lot, and they were noticeably few, but there were armed, plain clothed individuals among the crowd, and it was not difficult to identify them.  Once or twice during the clashes they also struck onlookers.  They shoved the crowd and dispersed them to the surrounding streets. Continue reading ‘Khiaban 7 and 8: Baharestan Protest Account and More’

Nat Troy sends along the following translation of the short newsbriefs from Issue 7 of Khiaban. The image above is from their newly redesigned masthead. Of particular interest is the statement from the Iran Khodro workers association, which strongly condemns the government’s actions but stops short of mentioning a strike or work slowdown, in contrast to earlier reports. Thanks Nat! -WW

News Shorts

Arrest of 70 University Professors

Yesterday, the coup d’état government arrested 70 university professors. The professors were attending a meeting with Mir Hossein Mousavi. They were arrested by the coup d’état guards as they were leaving the meeting and taken to an undisclosed location.

The Shamelessness of the Government

The Wallstreet Journal reported that the government demanded that the family of slain Kaveh Alipour pay them $3,000 for the bullet before handing over his body.

Shiva Nazar-Ahari under the Most Harsh Torture

It is reported that Shiva Nazar-ahari, a student and human rights activist, was severely tortured. Government efforts to bring heavy charges against some of the activists, not from the reformist camp, are intended to provide the opportunity for more killings in the prisons.

More Than 60 Newspaper Correspondents in Jail

The arrest of 25 news correspondents employed by a Mousavi newspaper has brought the total number of jailed Iranian newspaper correspondents to over 60. Iran is the largest prison in the world for newspaper reporters.

Khodro (largest automobile producer in Iran) Workers Issue Proclamation

Worker Friends and Dear Co-workers:

In recent days, scores of our compatriots have been reduced to dirt and blood in savage attacks by the capitalists’ protection forces. Scores of people have been wounded and killed. Was their crime no more than a desire for freedom and a better world? The government of Ahmadinejad proved again that it remained dependent only on the use of suppression, deception, and lies. Never in history have people been killed in such a savage way – even Hitler did not commit such a crime. Attacks with knives and daggers; the murder of a 16-year-old right in front of his mother’s eyes – is there a precedent for this in history? Workers of Iran Khodro will not forget these crimes. While we workers of Iran Khodro condemn these savage attacks on the people, we remember with reverence those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom and we praise them and their families and all freedom-lovers.

The eternal praise for those struggling to open the way to freedom from a group of Iran Khodro workers. . .

I wanted to give a shout out to “Translate 4 Iran,” a new collaborative project working to translate and publicize important Persian documents related to the Iran protests. Their blog is here, and their wiki (screenshot above) is here. So far they have translated parts of Khiaban issue 4 and also a statement from the Combatant Clerics Society. They are looking for Persian-English translators but also editors to help with the effort, and bloggers to help get out the word.

Meanwhile, Meedan remains hard at work covering the Iran elections from the Arab point of view, and translating all comments and content between Arabic and English using their hybrid machine-human translation model. If you are keen to lend a hand with the translation, or explore reactions to the events from across the Arab world, give it a spin!

Continuing with our translation of the underground newspaper (PDF) currently circulating in Iran, here is my translation of the untitled poem by popular poet Hadi Khorsandi that appears on the bottom of page 2:

The thief has come
The thief has come, armed with sticks and knife
The murdering bandit has come, armed with the leader’s order

The thief has come
More eloquent than the rest; better-connected, fuller of shit
Mean and unjust, wearing a halo of his booty

A thief more fearsome than this, with a terrible sweat
Not timid to drink blood cause he got less of the take

The thief has come
With a hundred hopes and masterkey in hand
His new scheme brought a new mob for the land

The thief has come
The thief has come, armed with sticks and knife
The murdering bandit, armed with the leader’s order

Here’s an English dub of Khamenei’s speech at Tehran University’s Friday prayers today in which he directly challenges Karroubi, Mousavi, and Rezai to stop the protests. While the dynamics of the current protests most closely resemble the 1979 revolution, there is one key difference I don’t think I’ve heard others mention yet. Khomeini was able to wait out much of the revolutionary protests in Iraq and later France, returning to Iran about two weeks after the shah had abdicated. Today, Mousavi has nowhere near the charisma of a Khomeini, and, crucially, he is inside Iran and most likely under constant surveillance and threat of arrest. There seems little chance that the state will shy from trying to force Mousavi into line following today’s unambiguous message.

I am still looking for a link to the full speech if any of our readers has it handy.

PS: No sooner had I dissed Twitter when it produced something interesting. Here is a full English trans of the Khamenei speech. I have not got the original so can’t vouch.

-WW