Diaries of the Iranian Revolution: Week of 15–22 Jan
Voices Distorted, Crimes of Media
Voice Unheard, Crimes of International Organizations
We are 16 weeks into the revolution of woman, life, freedom. A revolution that aspires to bring about liberal values such as (gender) equality, secularism, and democratic change. However, it seems the movement is already getting stripped of its core values by authorities who draw the map of the world and decide the fate of the people in the backrooms of power in far corners of the world.
It is a dark truth that middle eastern nations are slaves to modern colonialism and “guardian states” enforce authority upon them by manipulating socio-political structures in order to exploit natural resources and markets.
During times of transfer of power, tools of soft power such as think tanks and media outlets funded by foreign governments play a historic role in shaping unfolding events through promoting agendas set by international powers. This week two major foreign-based Farsi language channels namely Iran International Sattelite Channe, and Manoto TV channel were at the forefront of a campaign to introduce the exiled son of the former shah as the leader of the Iranian Revolution, despite a lack of consensus from the public. Both channels are based in London, the first one is funded by Saudi Arabia and the latter gets funding from the monarchists. These funds are made available to them by the US foreign office.
They highlighted and amplified the voices of supporters of the monarchy as a campaign in support of Reza Pahlavi swept through social media.
The campaign calls Iranians to delegate prince Reza Pahlavi to lead during the transition period as a representative of the people. It was launched with posts and hashtags from several popular Iranian celebrities. Ali Karimi, exiled footballer turned into a political activist, who has more than 14.5 million followers launched the campaign. Soon after several other well-known Iranian actors, actresses, and artists based abroad joined in, along with some influencers on social media and members of some think tanks and research institutions.
However, the campaign was faced with a backlash and the petition failed to reach enough supporters. It has been four days since the campaign was launched and it has managed to attract less than 400,000 signatures on the voting platform called change.org. It is while petitions revolving around topic of protests have fared way better in the past months. For instance, the petition for stopping the execution of Amir Nasr Azadani, a footballer who was arrested during protests and condemned to death, has gained more than 1 million and 800 signatures.
Iran is a diverse country with people from different ethnicities and various political orientations who hope for forming a coalition committee that includes opposition leaders from various political parties.
Reza Pahlavi is the oldest son of the former shah of Iran. His father was toppled in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution in 1978. He is the heir apparent to a throne that was built and broken several times with the influence of the British, Americans, and Russians since the 1970s. Rezakhan, his grandfather, was a military officer who came to power and became Shah King) with the help of Americans in early 1925. He was removed and exiled following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. His son Reza shah replaced him. The American prodigy reigned for about 30 years during which time he gained the confidence to stand up to his western benefactors. He became a dominant figure in OPEC, promoting a surge in oil prices that crippled western economies. So he had to go. An indigenous revolution overthrew him.
The next leader was chosen by the British. During the Islamic revolution, a variety of political groups including Mujahedin, the Tudeh Party of Iran; the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas and so many others fought together against the Shah of Iran. When the monarchy was toppled, Islamists highjacked the revolution and left their former comrades to death squads.
Khomeini as the leader of the Islamists had the particular support of Britain. He gained a footing as BBC played an important role in promoting him as a charismatic leader. Cassettes of his sermons and leaflets of his teachings were produced in Britain while he was in exile in the suburbs of France. And unknown countries provided artillery for two armed organizations under his supervision.
Now history is repeating itself as the son of the former shah of Iran enjoys a privileged position against all other activists and political parties as advantages like the support of think tanks and media outlets funded by foreign governments, are made available to him. The U.S. has banked on him for more than 4 decades for a day like today, so it is up to people to give voice to alternative leaders who are either in prison in Iran or marginalized in exile.
The power struggle is a bit premature as the Islamic regime is still in power. This week, Iranians’ revolutionary efforts reached a milestone as Iranians succeeded in urging European Parliament to vote for the listing of IRGC as a terrorist group.
It took tens of rallies by Iranians in European cities, hundreds of hashtags, and hours of lobbying by activists and politicians at the European parliament. Darya Safaii, an Iranian-Belgian politician who is a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and Alireza Akhondi a Swedish-Iraanian politician for the Center Party at the parliament travelled across the EU to liaise with their counterparts to gain support for a revolution in their motherland.
On Tuesday, thousands of Iranians travelled to Strasburg and gathered in front of the European Parliament as the voting took place. Members were called upon to assist Iranians to bring about democratic change by undermining the IRGC group.
However, so far only a non-binding resolution has been passed. European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell, says the EU cannot brand Iran’s IRGC as a terror group until an EU court determines it.
In Iran, unrests continue. On Sunday official employees of numerous oil companies went on strike. The employees of the Fifth Refinery of the South Pars Gas Complex of Asalouye, Qare Qeshm Plateau Company, Fajr Jam Bushehr Gas Refinery Company, Ilam Gas Refinery, Ahvaz Oil Industry, oil operational units in the Siri Hormozgan region, Aghajari Oil and Gas Exploitation Company of Khuzestan, were among the participants. On Tuesday 40th day memorial service for the death of Mohsen Shekari, the protester executed by the regime, was scheduled to be held. However, severe security measures hindered the ceremony. Regime forces broke his tombstone ahead of the ceremony and banned his family from placing a new one.
The gas crisis added to the unrest. Iranians in the northeastern Torbat-e Jaam city held a protest rally in front of the governor’s office to protest the government chanting anti-regime slogans, saying “We don’t want incompetent authorities!”
In some counties, cars queued for miles outside gas stations and schools and government offices were forced to shut down due to energy shortages and air pollution caused by burning mazut in powerplants.
Gold price and dollar exchange rates rocketed again this week marking a new high as the monthly inflation stands at 45 per cent.
The whole country is in a state of absolute mess and people are getting angry and more frustrated every day.
We try to remain collected in the face of onslaught of propaganda, bad news, and difficult living conditions.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for listening and please return next week for you weekly dose of revolution news.
