I hope Iranian people will wake up before ''Nobel Peace Prize laureate'' start to spread them freedom along with phosphorus bombs.
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Israeli President Shimon Peres applauds Iranian street protesters
Israeli President Shimon Peres has applauded pro-reform protesters in Iran, saying he hopes for an end to Iran's hard-line leadership. Sunday's comments from Israel's ceremonial president are among the highest-level expressions of support for the protesters so far from Israel, Iran's bitter enemy.
Speaking to a Jewish group, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate called on young Iranians to “raise their voice for freedom.” Peres said he hoped Iran's “poor government will disappear.” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested Israel should be “wiped off the map.” Israel has long been concerned that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. Elsewhere in Damascus, Iran's regional ally Syria said the Persian country's disputed elections were an internal affair. The state-run Al-Thawra newspaper also said it would very difficult if not impossible to “break” the Iranian regime. Sunday's editorial in Al-Thawra marked the first Syrian comment to the political upheaval in Iran. Key Arab nations have so far kept silent on developments in Iran, seemingly reluctant to antagonize the powerful nation that sponsors militant groups like Hezbullah and Hamas. Al-Thawra described Iran as a cornerstone in the region's security and said the elections were “democratic”
regardless of the outcome.
22 June 2009, Monday
AP JERUSALEM, DAMASCUS
When something is being said, what do you notice at first? The context or the one who's uttering it? Judging what's being said by "the one" who's saying it is like judging Islam by the Muslims. I'm sure you'll be offended if someone bases his judgment about Islam on Taliban.
bombing shrine, burning mosque don't help the cause.
People don't bomb shrines and mosques. They might cause damages in streets, shops, buses, etc but they don't kill ordinary people. From the very first days of the protests in Tehran, the government started calling the millions of protesters "some unimportant and unworthy rioters who are financially being fed by The US and Israel". Take a look at these people; Do they really look like some rioters who have been fed by the US to bomb shrines and mosques?
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This was an email sent to one of the many blogs updating the latest from Iran, regarding the chants of Allaho Akbar at night time from the rooftops:
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I cannot in any way claim to know what people are thinking or meaning on the ground, but for centuries, 'Allahu Akbar' has been in the Muslim world a battlefield of meaning and ultimately of political legitimacy. They are five syllables pregnant in meaning, mutability and richness, not simply a ritualistic or fundamentalist dogmatic trope. Nor is 'Allahu Akbar' simply a prayer. In fact, despite all its negative, violent connotations in the West, 'Allahu Akbar' has been uttered by Muslims throughout history as a cry against oppression, against kings and monarchs, against tyrannical and despotic rule, reminding people that in the end, the disposer of affairs and ultimate holder of legitimacy is not any man, not any king or queen, not even any supreme leader, but ultimately a divine force out and above directing, caring and fighting for a more peaceful, rule-based, just and free world for people to live in. God is the one who is greatest, above each and every mortal human being whose station it is to pass away.
The fact that 'Allahu Akbar' is echoing through the Iranian night is not only an indication of the longing of people there to find a peaceful and just solution to this crisis. It also points to how deep the erosion of legitimacy is in whosoever acts against the will of the people, in whosoever claims to act on God's behalf to oppress his fellow human, including in this case some of the 'supreme' Islamic jurists themselves. This all goes to show that Islam, far from being merely an abode of repression and retrogression, has the capacity of being a fundamentally restorative and democratic force in human affairs. In the end, so it seems, at least in the Iranian context, 'Allahu Akbar', God is greatest, is a most profoundly democratic of political slogans. So deep is this call, that what is determined out of this liminal moment may very well set the terms for (or against) a lived, democratic Islamic reality for decades to come.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/18/iran-election-live-bloggi_n_217747.html
Sorry to disappoint you here Tahir, but no one cares about the meaning of "Allahu Akbar" when he/she chants it from the rooftops at 10 in the nights. It, for us, is not
a cry against oppression, against kings and monarchs, against tyrannical and despotic rule. It doesn't remind us
that in the end, the disposer of affairs and ultimate holder of legitimacy is not any man, not any king or queen, not even any supreme leader, but ultimately a divine force out and above directing, caring and fighting for a more peaceful, rule-based, just and free world for people to live in. We actually doesn't have enough time to think about this much of meanings. We're also not in the right mood to do it.
Iran's Islamic Revolution won by the cries of Allahu Akbar which were being chanted from the rooftops 30 years ago. These concepts you pointed out might be applied for that time. People overturned Shah of Iran and celebrated the biggest victory of Iran's history. They became disappointed only two years later when the mullahs regime who had revived the Islamic basics, teachings, and "chants" for the people who truly loved Islam, a regime who was supposed to bring people freedom, started to establish a dictatorship. A regime who was supposed to defend the lives of people started to kill them. Started to ban everyone who was opposing them. Started to execute communists and anti-Islam groups. Started to imprison everyone who was criticizing them. All of this happened, in the holy name of Islam. Allahu Akbar might be such a meaningful chant for my parents but not for me.
There are two simple reasons for people chanting the same "Allahu Akbar" these days:
1- It's the sign by which our parents overthrew the dictator of their time.
2- It's an Islamic chant for God's sake. By yelling it on our rooftops, the government can't jail us. We're yelling "Allahu Akbar" after all. It's the safest chant we can use these days, to show our unity. We can't chant "down with Ahmadinejad", you know.
media toys the lot of you, still waiting for something worth discussing
People were robbed and it's not media. One day after the results' announcement, cell phone lines got blocked. All the opposition's sites, facebook and yahoo mail got filtered. ONLY one day after the announcement of results, the close supporters of Moosavi and Karoobi were arrested. Two newspapers which were supporting the candidates other than Ahmadinejad were banned. It's not media. They attacked Tehran University three days after the election's results being announced (
+,
+,
+). It's not media. 5 student were killed (
+,
+). It's not media. Twenty of my university friends have been arrested since a week ago. It's not media. Tear gases, batons' hits, bullets, screams and blood are not media. Stones and rocks are not media. This is all being done by a government who supposedly has got 24 millions votes.
Iran is a country being governed by funny rules. There's a council (Guardian Council) which is certifying the qualification of the candidates. This council along with the interior ministry (the minister has been chosen by Ahmadinejad) is controlling the justness of the elections. They're observing if some fraud is taking place before, during or after the elections. Four of this council's members clearly supported Ahmadinejad before the elections (the council is consisted of 12 members). Six of the council's members are being chosen by the supreme leader of Iran who's claimed himself that he's supporting Ahmadinejad. Now that people are being sure of the fraud, do you know which legal authority is gonna make the final confirmation? The Guardian Council.
You all might think that we were fools to have the slightest hopes to see a fair election and I'll tell you yes, we were fools but we were also sure that our amount is extremely larger than the Ahmadinejad's fans' and we believed that this would require the government and the council a blatant fraud and we honestly didn't believe they could get that shameless to make such a fraud.