How ironic! Iran is becoming the most transparent regime in the world. Websites and papers are filling with accusations, counter-accusations, exposés, calls for arrests, and sometimes vulgarity. We owe a big part of this to Ahmadinejad who started the trend in his televised debates a couple of months back. He named names and accused the present and absent, and now a part of the fight he started is unraveling through all the finger-pointing and mudslinging. In the best of them yet, Ahmadinejad was called a “bastard” yesterday by Ayatollah Sane’i, and Sane’i was threatened by Raja News to eighty lashes and a one year prison term according to Iranian law, should he fail to “prove” his claim. I’m not sure if I signed up for this though. I really don’t want to hear about the proof.
Although expected, I was sorry to see Mr. Karroubi’s reformist newspaper, Etemad Melli, banned on Sunday, and I did go to Karim Khan Avenue to “defend” him yesterday. But before writing about that I’ll give some background information to show a little bit of what Iranian politics has been reduced to.
Mehdi Karroubi is a “Lor” – he is from Luristan – and the Lors are known as a bold and hotheaded people. He led the accusations of torture and rape in the prison system last week and lodged a complaint through a letter to Rafsanjani. Karroubi claims that he has solid evidence, and Ali Larijani, after “investigating” the allegations and declaring them false in less than 24 hours, responded to him by saying he could come forward and present the evidence. During the Friday Prayers, flyers were apparently distributed among the good members of the Neanderthal Club calling on them to gather in front of Etemad Melli’s offices and voice their discontent (read: smash everything to smithereens and beat the employees). In response, people planned to be there as well to defend the paper. Karroubi welcomed the Neanderthals and their criticism, requested police protection, and called on people not to show up on Saturday and instead invited them for a gathering on Monday at Etemad Melli, when he would be present as well. The Saturday mayhem never happened and so Karroubi called the Monday gathering off as well. On Sunday evening, Etemad Melli was closed and the Monday issue never hit the stands.
One of the problems with the Monday protest was confusion. Many people interpreted Karroubi’s move as a confirmation of the Monday gathering as he would be risking arrest if he confirmed it. By calling it off, he was really calling it on. Others thought they would ignore everything and go there just to show that people stand behind the man who stands behind the people. And yet, there were others who said no one should go. In addition, there was the news. The paper was not published, that was clear, and at first it was announced it had been shut down because of printing an offensive letter. Next, a denial by Mortazavi’s office was published in the media, including Press TV, claiming that the reason was technical difficulties with the printing press. And later in the day, Mortazavi denied the denial, which was viewed by some as a ploy to prevent people from gathering.
I got there late, at 6 PM, and during the hour I was present, there wasn’t much of a protest. Reports and videos that came out must have belonged to earlier. Traffic was unusually high and the sidewalks were somewhat crowded with people walking around, occasionally bunching up, leaning on railings or stopping on the pedestrian bridges and then moving along. Honking had changed form. I heard short staccato beeps from here and there. One car would beep twice, and another would answer back. The same was true about shouting slogans. I heard small groups of people shouting single Allah-o-Akbars while facing a tree or the windows of some shop to avoid being identified. There was a heavy presence of security forces and on two occasions I saw militiamen taking in a couple of young men, one of them with a torn T-shirt.
There were plenty of plainclothes mercenaries everywhere. Their strategy is to blend in with the crowds, hang around for a while, and then pounce on people who are deemed suspicious. With the exception of members of the intelligence apparatus, it is not hard to identify them. They wear dull light-colored shirts over dark pants, and most of them have large hanging love-handles. “If it looks like a pig, it’s a Baseeji” is the motto and people point them to one another. So I have a warning to issue: if you’re not a member of the militiamen, but look like one, you risk being taken as one, which means that at the very least many curses follow you to your home. Please change your looks.
In a discussion with someone about how to punish these mercenaries after we become president, I was suggesting we give them six months in prison each, with the following regiment: shower and shave in the morning; introduction of color to their dress code; wearing a suit and a tie or a tuxedo on weekends; etiquette classes; and empathy workshops. They won’t survive this.
Etemad Melli is closed until further notice. Others will most likely follow. But no matter, we’ll just wait for a new one to open, or for one of the current newspapers to defect to the other side. My bet is – ironically – on Jomhoori-e Eslami (The Islamic Republic).