A sober reality check

Once again, I am too late for my posts... Last week, Mrs. Ebadi was in Paris saying how US sanctions were bad and Mr. Ganji wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post finally explaining why US money was so bad. But then, a friend sent me this and it takes us away from all the rethorics of human rights to what day to day life means in Iran ... particularly if you try to stand up for your rights, whether you be a woman, or part of any other group that would make you less good than the average.

The hard way

Thanks to this blogger, I found out about the site in support of Ms. Haleh Esfandiary's release. Very quickly set up and quite sophisticated. I don't think I have seen such a high quality site put together for any Iranian prisoner of conscience before, not even for Mr. Ganji.

I once heard Ms. Esfandiary speak at Asia Society in New York, on women's rights. That evening she said that Iranian women are protected by the Constitution...

We all hope that Ms. Esfandiary will be released very soon, Evin is no place to linger in, and I hope that when she returns to the US safe and sound she will take on the defence of those who will (unfortunately) still be suffering from human rights violations in Iran and who will not have the benefit of such public attention.

Future... what future?

In the past few days, a couple of analysis or criticism of Iran and its political structure, taking a look at its not-too-bright future, have been published in Rooz. The first one was by Ahmad Zeidabadi followed by the report of a conference given by Akbar Ganji (the English translation skips parts of the original Persian version, so I recommend that you read them here and here, respectively, if you can).

Interestingly, one states that "the real solution is in the hands of the country’s leaders" while the other "called on the people not to sit in their houses and expect changes, which otherwise would only make matters worse" but I agree with both articles.

Leaders?

I had been waiting for a couple of days, in fact since Thursday when the article appeared in Persian, for Rooz to translate it into English and then ... it announced that the whole staff was taking a week-long holiday! I am all for holidays, so no complaints here... but that was also the signal to the absence of translation to come.

Mr. Abbas Abdi was asked to give his thoughts on Mr. Ganji and the Reformists, and basically saying that he did not think any of the two had any real programme in order to bring about change in Iran. In a nutshell, he said that if Mr. Ganji's programme could take place in Iran, it would mean that there would be a government with which no one would have a problem to begin with. And then he added that this kind of actions eventually resulted in some form of violence, whether you liked it or not, and the Iranian people did not want that. As for the Reformists, he said that rather than pretending they have a programme, they should first take stock of their previous actions.

In conclusion, when he was asked what should be done he said: nothing. And then went on to say that Mr. Ahmadinejad is doing the right thing, taking the country to a place where nothing could be done for it.

(Apologies for the approximate translation, the Persian is here.)

It sadly reminded my of a book I read about Iraq -- probably the best book on the subject that I have come across -- and the dramatic lack of capable and earnest (I know, it's a strange word for politicians, but allow me to use it) leaders to take over the country once Saddam was ousted.

I know I wrote a hopeful post about Mr. Ganji a while ago, and yet, and much to my regret, the more he travels, gives interviews and makes speeches, the more I find myself agreeing with Mr. Abdi, not to say disappointed.

Abdi gave an interesting interview to the New York Times last April -- it is no longer accessible for free, but if you have a few dollars to spare it's here.

Ganji and other Iranians

Akbar Ganji delivered the most remarkable speech on the occasion of the 2006 Golden Pen Freedom.

And somehow I wonder how many Iranian journalists, politicians, even human rights activists would totally and publicly associate themselves with all of its content.

And then, aside from those who were in Moscow and a few others, who heard it?... who read it?... Payvand published it in its entirety, Rooz and RFE/RL only quoted parts of it...

Oh! How I wish Mrs. Ebadi had given a similar speech when she received the Noble Prize! She had the whole world as an audience and yet, it was, as mentioned then, quite an "anti-climax".

And Mr. Abtahi only speeks of Mr. Khatami and how if he would "candidate" himself in Palestine, he would "win almost the majority of votes". ???

(sigh)

To google or not to google

I have been thinking about this for some days now, and yet, frankly, I couldn't be bothered with the thought of having to move my newly created blog to some other site, find a new name, work on the design, etc. Then also change my email address, and go where? to Yahoo, not a better choice!

Apathy on one side and a sense of helplessness on the other. The remaining dilema, however, is how can we move our advocacy for human rights beyond mere words. It reminds me of a leftist old lady who used to boycott South African oranges during Apartheid, and I remember asking myself whether this would have any effect beyond depriving her of her daily dosage of needed vitamin C.

I am still convinced that google does not need my blog or my email address, and yet, I feel I am letting the Chinese down, as if I forgot about Ganji or Soltani or let the Basiji beat-up some poor guy next door and turn away, because he was a little different, after all...