Sea of Green

Day 5 and indeed the protest is picking up steam. People have asked me, since I have friends in Tehran who (surprise, surprise) are highly political and were around for the 79 revolution if this protest is different then the last round in 99 which eventually fizzled. Indeed it is. It is not just students and it is not just the highly educated. It is spreading to everyone. Women in Chadors join Iran's opposition.

Boorghani is typical of the young reformists who initially backed Mousavi — but that support is growing to include grandmothers, government employees and hotel clerks.

The last time Iran was engulfed in similar anti-government action was a decade ago when a deadly raid on a Tehran University dorm sparked six days of nationwide protests. At the time, they were considered the worst since the 1979 revolution that toppled the pro-U.S. shah and brought hard-line clerics to power. But the student-driven movement eventually fizzled, leaving many people more bitter but the system intact.

This time, though, the protesters are not just affluent students and youth. The middle class is also flooding the streets and even conservative religious Iranians are joining the Mousavi supporters.

.......

"This (the Mousavi opposition) is completely different to 1999. That was between the students and the government. This is between the people and the government. This time it is all of Iran. This is a historic movement," Boorghani said.

Today at 4pm Tehran time there will be a silent march in honour of all the fallen protesters of the uprising. (That link gets updated with names as they become available. Dead bodies are taken from hospitals and thrown into the back of trucks and driven away before names can be taken so there are many unknown.)

A letter from an Iranian medical student:

Hello,

It’s painful to watch what’s happening.

I don’t want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events.

I only want to speak about what I have witnessed. I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don’t even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they’ve asked everyone to stay and help–I’m sure it will even be worst tonight.

What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?

This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflected on the people. They’ve put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of “the bunches who are less than dirt” (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds) .

This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots are in opposition of the government and presidency!! No! The people’s complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people.

Today the Iranian football team wore green wristbands in a show of solidarity. They were forced to take them off at half-time.



Persianq is broadcasting live & recorded footage from the streets.

Tehran Bureau is an excellent source of information on what's going on in Tehran. You can also follow them on twitter at @TehranBureau.

If you're tweeting make sure you check Twitspam for a list of bad accounts, liars, gov't spooks, and people posting goatse in the #iranelection and #gr88 channels.

If you read Farsi better then I do here's a list of reliable bloggers and news sources in Farsi that are updating semi-regularly.

Youtube has finally buckled to pressure from the masses and relaxed it's standards in re Irani protest videos and has organised a channel dedicated to videos coming out of the Irani protests.

The Pirate, excuse me, Persian Bay has created a secure forum Why We Protest for Iranians and supporters to gather and talk.

Another pretty good site rounding up info and info on solidarity protests in various cities.

Reliable sources say that the Basiji are randomly attacking people in the street now and that they can be heard speaking Arabic and not Farsi. Rumours that the police and the militia will not attack their own people are true. Only foreign calls are allowed from gov't monitored landlines - will probably not get to talk to my friends, at least not about what's going on.

On Friday Khamenei will preside over Friday prayers. Iranians are calling for global day of solidarity. There will be a march in Tehran with Mousavi.

"Loyalty to one's country, always. Loyalty to one's government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain.

Let the revolution be here and the 30 year reign of terror in Iran be ending.

SEA OF GREEN! SOLIDARITY WITH IRAN!

(I'm too tired to continue - I was up to see the Iran/S. Korea match at 0400 my time this morning. UGH. More as I come upon it.)

This blog has gone green for Iran

So everyone should be aware that the protests in Iran are not stopping and in fact in many ways have picked up steam. At the protests on the 15th flyers were being circulated with a list of demands:

7 point statement distributed among the protesters in Tehran today:

Dismissal of Khamenei for not being a fair leader
Dismissal of Ahmadinejad for his illegal acts
Temporary appointment of Ayatollah Montazeri as the Supreme Leader
Recognition of Mousavi as the President
Forming the Cabinet by Mousavi to prepare for revising the Constitution
unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners
Dissolution of all organs of repression, public or secret

Ayatollah Montazeri has released a statement saying that no sane person should accept these results. There have been several reports from trusted sources that the night before Ahmadinejad's victory announcement Mousavi was called and told that he had won with a 57% majority.


Translation: "We write Mousavi, they read Ahmadinejad"

All sorts of communication: SMS, cell phones, texts, internet (twitter & facebook & the like), etc, are all being blocked by the Iranian government. They are also searching for the IP addresses and locations of twitterers and bloggers. If you want to help by setting up a proxy go here for instructions in Windows and a link to instructions for Linux, and here for instructions for Macs. There's instructions to get your IP info to people tweeting/blogging from Iran. I used mine for my friends I met there when I visited way back in the 90s. Whoever they share it with I trust. If you do this do not publish it anywhere public. Also if you are on Twitter please change your location to Tehran and your local time to GMT +03:30. Flood them with targets to hide the actual twitterers.

To follow on twitter the hashtags are #iranelection (which we know is being monitored so be careful - don't RT using the names of any Iranian tweeters), and #gr88 (which we should assume is being monitored as well). I recommend following @persiankiwi as well.

Best of Tweets live round-up
Live-blogging the Uprising (huffpo) Best place to find videos and stuff
A comprehensive breakdown of the current situation in Iran including timeline
Pictures showing that candidates lost votes as the day went on
Why We Protest.net Links for rallies around the world, info, etc.

Rally in Tehran


Also people are pressuring Google to follow in the BBC's footsteps and go green in support of the protesting Iranians. Do what you can. If I have anything that I think is not publicised well enough I will post it here.

Protesters take on the police:



(now this is what you do. They were outnumbered, but they didn't let a few police stop them.)

Wear Green, show your support. The BBC went green (for some reason they have since reverted).

WARNING: This is a video of a man being beaten by the police.


Hopefully the genie is out of the bottle and the revolution and overthrow of Ayatollah Khomeni and his religious thugs will occur. To everyone in Iran: stay safe. To my friends in Iran who will probably not get to read this: you are constantly in my thoughts and in my heart I am there standing by your side on those streets.

NBC Protest in Burbank

Pictures can be seen here.


Take your sexist, one sided coverage and shove it NBC.


(I like the punk kid with the "Iron your own shirt" sign.)

Something smells fishy

First off, there's a great post (with video!) about Obama supporters campaigning INSIDE polling places, which everyone should know, especially them, is I-L-L-E-G-A-L. And a blog about the entire weirdness that is Indiana voting.

Watching CNN regarding the IN primary. Anyone who was watching should know that Lake County (the one next to IL) didn't have any precincts reporting until after 10PM PST. Average of several polls had her up by at least 5 points, yet it's all of the sudden a nail biter. Hmmmmm, I'm not exactly convinced that this is above board.


Good analysis from BDBlue:
He’s making it look worse.

The Mayor of Hammond says they knew what the machine votes in other cities were at 7:30. It’s midnight and we don’t have any information and it looks bad. This looks improper. I’m not saying it is, but it looks. We don’t need this kind of negative exposure in Lake County. He’s telling the Mayor of Gary to release the numbers.

Here’s a question, why does the Mayor of Gary have the ability to hold the votes.

Now the Mayor of Hammond is trying to get the Mayor of Gary to tell why he hasn’t released the machine votes. Mayor of Gary says it’s absentee counting. Mayor of Hammond is grilling him. Has no answer why it is taking so long to count the vote.

Now they’re reporting 98% of the vote in Lake County, Clinton still leads by 22,000 votes with 99% of the state reporting.

So maybe it’s not fraud, the Mayor is just an idiot. Or else it is fraud, they realized they were going to get caught and stopped it.

You know you've got a problem when the mayor of another large Indiana city is questioning just what the hell is going on with your ballots and you have no explanation whatsoever. Seriously. Why did they have to take them to the airport? That sounds super shady to me. The hold up was the absentee ballots? What about the electronic results? Is it really a "Chicago county?" Because that's not what you want to import from Chicago.

I seriously hope I'm wrong, but hey Mayor Rudy Clay what the fuck happened in Lake County? I'm not the only one who wants to know.

More at By the Left, and Talk Left has stuff here and here

I will add updates (like video/transcripts/etc) as the become available. First there was FL and MI, the the TX caucuses, now IN? Who are we? The republicans?

Sit down, shut up, and behave

EDIT: I have been calling people reminding them to go vote tomorrow and to go vote for Hillary. You should too.

Now back to your regularly scheduled post.

In the past several days, two distinct things have happened that, while I should not be surprised, are disheartening nonetheless.

I belong to a (kick ass) knitting website Ravelry, and there are of course topic boards for people to come together and talk. Someone came onto ours and made a comment and then went back to the Obama board and made a comment about someone "being off her meds." As a disability/mental health rights activist I had something to say about this.

OK, I don’t know or care who you are talking about, but making fun and using a mental health issue/disability as a slur is deeply offensive. It is just as bad as using a sexist or homophobic slur.

It implies that what someone who has mental health issue or disability has to say is somehow unimportant or not as important as “normal” folks. It is offensive to me personally as a mental health/disability rights activist.

I know that most people do not think of this, and I ask you to please not use mental health as a way to insult people as it is offensive and demeaning to people with disabilities.

I was replied to with this:

Sigh. Ok. First of all: I realize you do not know me at all, and therefore have no way of understanding the irony of the charges you have leveled against me, but seriously…you’re way out of line. There is such a thing as being overly sensitive.

But more importantly: I was not referring to you.
....
But that said, I will remove the offending post, although I do want to make it clear (since the post will be removed) that I did not actually mention anyone by name or make any sort of indication who I was referring to. (unless more can be deduced from this post, which is possible.)

Apparently because it was not directed at me and because it was a "harmless" ableist slur I should just shut up and sit down. I was also accused of making a stink about this oppressive remark because it was made by an Obama supporter and told that if I knew anything about the person making it then I would know that I was out of line. So I should not speak up when she does this? How about sexist or racist or homophobic slurs? Should I just let those lie as well since I support a different candidate which apparently makes it impossible for me to want to end oppressive and marginalizing behaviour? I would also like to add that Obama supporters on her own forum were chiming in saying that they agreed that those sorts of comments were out of line.

Apparently I should, because in another forum on the same site someone pointed to this Salon article called Hey Obama boys: Back off already! (A preview, for those who haven't read it:)

I am a loud feminist and a longtime Clinton skeptic who was suddenly feeling that I needed to rationalize, apologize for, or even just stay quiet about my increasing unease with the way Clinton was being discussed. Meanwhile, I was getting e-mails from men I didn't know well who approached me as a go-to feminist to whom they could express their hatred of Hillary and their anger at her staying in the race -- an anger that seemed to build with every one of her victories. One of my closest girlfriends, an Obama voter, told me of a drink she'd had with a politically progressive man who made a series of legitimate complaints about Clinton's policies before adding that when he hears the senator's voice, he's overcome by an urge to punch her in the face.

The discussion turned to the rampant sexism of the campaign and someone brought up Obama's comment “I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.” So the discussion turned into how any sign of emotion in President Senator Clinton is seen as a weakness because women are painted as being too emotional, especially too emotional to do anything as silly as run a country *cough*Thatcher*cough*.

Some *ahem* argued that it was a harmless statement to which I pointed out that it is loaded with sexism when used to talk about women. To which I was told to "stop it right the hell now" and that I have "no critical thinking skills" am "regurgitating what the patriarchy and media tells me" (since I had said that if we had no critical thinking skills that's what we would be doing and we weren't, natch) and "playing the victim." Because there is no logical or factual basis for our response that the "feeling down" comment was sexist. Then same person, and this is were it gets really good said "If feminists can’t allow for more than one interpretation of a comment..." HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA Because I guess that only applies to you, eh? The plethora of people who disagree, Clinton AND Obama supporters alike, are not allowed their own interpretation? We're just dumb people who can't think for ourselves and must be told what to do! I see! (Sound familiar to anyone else? Now I really want to move out of this country. These people fucking scare me.)

So lets recap shall we?
1) No matter how many oppressive slurs people use, especially against the differently abled and women, as long as they are Obama fans they are somehow above reproach. We should just lie back and think of England, because apparently if you ignore (dis)ableism and sexism they will just go away. (But not racism. We must call everyone on everything that can be considered racist, which I agree with, but it MUST ALSO be applied to all other oppressions. Including heterosexism *cough* Obama equal marriage rights *cough*)

2) If you do dare to see sexism (which is punching you in the face every time you turn on the TV or open a paper) you are somehow wrong. Just sit back and let the Obama people tell you how you are supposed to interpret these things. Remember, sexism is not a big-T Truth, but a little-t truth and can only be correctly interpreted by people smart enough to love Obama.

3) Any comments about oppressive remarks made to an Obama supporter are not valid if made by a Clinton supporter. EVER. Even when an Obama supporter agrees, if a Clinton supporter ever says something about an oppressive remark it somehow overrules what the Obama supporter says and thus invalidates the objection.

Everyone clear? If we all just sit back and behave (i.e. let them tell us what to do), maybe we'll get a cookie.

Here's where I ask you to do something

In my previous post I chided the democratic party and the Obama camp for not doing anything to publicly denounce the misogyny being flung at Hillary during this campaign. So I did something about it, because unless they publicly say something, they will lose me, and hopefully all other people who do not feel that it is ok to be silently complicit in allowing this blatant sexism to continue whether it's coming from the campaign staff, the pundits, or the media. Please join me to tell the party that we need this party to be the liberal one, the one that not only talks about change and equality for women, but actually walks the walk.

It doesn't matter who you support. This is supposedly the party that represents us, but you know that it won't until we make them.

Call or email the DNC and tell them to publicly denounce the sexism being bandied about so openly during this campaign.
Phone: 202-863-8000
To email: Go here and under issue select Election 2008.

Ask the Obama to make sure his campaign keeps in line. I know if he wants my vote in November (if he is the nominee) he has to take a stand against sexism.
Campaign HQ Phone: (866) 675-2008
Email: Go here.

Contact your state and local democratic parties. If you feel confident enough in this decision, tell them you will withdraw from the party. (I will, but I know that not everyone is OK with being party-less/3rd party.)

The more pressure, the more likely they are to publicly condemn the sexist overtones. When there have been racist remarks there has been public outcry from everyone all the way down to the feminist blogosphere. When there are sexist remarks, it is *only* the feminist blogosphere, since they are perpetuated by everyone above us. If it's ok on this scale they are saying it's ok everywhere. Tell them it's not. Make them make this a better country and a better party for women.

Also, as a sidenote, if you are upset and/or feel that the voters in MI/FL were treated unfairly, you can sign a petition here. There are examples of letters talking about the dienfranchisement of voters (and yes, sexism) that people have sent here

Even if you don't follow US Politics

and if you're a Buffy fan, I think that this short explanation of the GOP (Republican) presidential candidates as Buffy villains will be very enlightening and funny (or depressing).

It will really bring you up to speed on the scariness of who might be the next president (not if I have anything to say, but that didn't really matter the last two elections......)


And I have PROOF! that Ron Paul is Moloch. Seriously: The town I live in is super-super liberal. Last election we had the *largest* (not kidding) caucus for Kuchinich and now the people you see at the weekly protest and who I saw at the caucus last year have RON PAUL BUMPER STICKERS!

See...the Corrupter. Can we bind him in something, because before I knew he had Moloch's powers I just could not for the life of me understand what the hell was going on.




And doesn't Huckabee look insane in that picture?