A look at the 17th statement of Mr. Mousavi and what should be done
2010.01.12
Victoria Azad
www.victoriaazad.com
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The 17th Statement of Mr. Mousavi was released on the Persian date 11th of Dey month 1388 (1st January 2010). Not only was this statement not a step forward it was also an escape from the future and reaffirming of his previous demands, with the only difference that this time around he had implemented new tactics and adopted a new diplomatic way which aimed to get the ball to the opponents field totally unaware of the fact that the ball will bust before it reaches its destination. By adopting such tactics he has disarmed himself and legitimized his opponent and this action will be deemed as a victory for the government of Ahmadinejad.
The same government that was called illegitimate by Mr. Mousavi after the election is now the legitimate counterpart for discussions, referencing to what Mr. Mousavi said when he addressed the audience: “To call the majority of the people in the society for useless idiots and imbeciles and shedding the blood of those who mourned Hussein is a disaster that occurred with both specific people of the “Revolutionary Guards and the IRIB Media Community”. What kind of a speech is this that uses the people’s tribune and invites them to fight with each other, naming some of them for Hizbollahis and the rest for the devil’s party?”
He goes on stating the following demands:
1. Free elections
2. Releasing of the political prisoners
3. Freedom of (speech) the Press and Media
4. Emphasized the right of establishing political parties and having gatherings
what fighting man would not support these demands? But let get this straight, supporting these demands does not mean supporting that Mr. Mousavi, whom in a entirely populist way criticises the actions of the government so that the people like him but simultaneously he keeps legitimising and rewarding the government of Ahmadinejad and the supreme leader Khamenei in order not to pay the expenses that the Iranian people have to pay for his own self comfort. This game is not a sane political game. Within the statement of Mr. Mousavi there are cases that are impossible to support amongst others the remarks about Israel, calling Khomeini for the just and merciful one while in reality he was neither merciful, innocent nor just.
Mousavi describes his views of the green movement like this; “Before I find my way out of this situation of crisis it’s obligatory for me to stay loyal to my Islamic, national beliefs and state that I am against the ruling of foreigners and declare my loyalty to the constitution (the constitution of the Islamic republic) and the green movement. We are the followers of Aba-Abdolah Hossein AS. We are fascinated by the same freedom that our innocent Imam Khomeini was.”
In my opinion Mr. Mousavi is not a secular person, specially taking in regards his previous statements stated above. His statement is more agreeing with the religious reformist republican line rather than the secular programme.
The 17th statement of Mr. Mousavi and his standings was broadcasted by Press TV which is owned by the Islamic republic; his speech was translated into English and even though they never do broadcast any of Mousavi´s statement they broadcasted this statement very casual and the anchor who announced the statement interpreted it in the way that Mousavi is not distancing himself from this government and he is in fact legitimising Ahmadinjead´s government furthermore an interview was done with Mohsen Rezayi (One of the Presidential candidates also member of Expediency Discernment Council) whom remarked applauded the fact that Mousavi had made a “"withdrawal” on previous statements and legitimized the government.
If we are supposed to have religious views amongst us within this round it should be people like ayatollah Borojerdi Whom is imprisoned by the government now whom is much closer to the secular movement rather than the pro-Khomeini ayatollahs’ whom stand for the principles and ideas as their beloved Imam.
Ayatollah Borojerdi has the courage to stand up for a non-political Islam and the separation of religion and government, for this reason this executioner regime has incarcerated him.
In regards to the Statement I would like to draw your attention to the points below;
1. Mr. Mousavi´s position should not be exaggerated and he should not be portrayed in any manner that he is not. The position that he has adopted is based on the sermon of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani on the 17th of July 2009 which was held during the Friday sermons in Tehran whom emphasized the critical situation of the society, freeing and comforting political prisoners and restoring their dignity and honour. Pointing out the fact that these problems can’t be solved short-term and the importance of confidence building, freedom for the media and reforming of the law. I ask you, what is the purpose of this coordination? Let’s think about this one!
2. Its not the position of Mousavi to create a crack in the power block, the crack has been there for a long time, Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karroubi themselves are the product of such processes. The movement is not an overnight trend and was not created by a few statements. The statements of Mr. Mousavi do not have this miraculous effect.
3. 17th Statement is truly a political program and focused to meet the governments demands not the peoples. It is my firm belief that the current events in Iran were not the intention of the reformists its demands is what they utmost can accept, if not they should announce what they should present their intentions.
4. By the beliefs of many of the secularists of Iran and the statements of the colourful movement of the people of Iran the current dominating regime of Iran, in its integrity, has utterly lost its integrity. I believe the people will not settle with anything less than depowering this government and voting for a new government, selection of representatives and candidates and the future government of Iran through free elections, deforming the constitution under the supervision of international institutions and scrutinizing. Mr. Mousavi´s political platform it´s very easy to see that it is not compatible with the demands of the Iranian people.
5. In this statement Mr. Mousavi has shown that he is ready to negotiate with the current government. With what mandate does he enter public negotiations regarding the fate of our nation? Are these negotiations official? Where are the meeting protocols so far of all the meetings between the religious intellectuals and the government? Why aren’t these records official? Do you really think that while these rulers are crashing, they will take the side of the people? Does Mr. Mousavi enter negotiations with the “shemr” (devil) of his time for the people or for his personal gains? Aren’t we fed up with these games that only prolong this regimes lifespan?
6. The power of this statement lies in the fact that the five demands that Mr. Mousavi has demanded are rightful demands and none of these demands are new, we the opposition has repeated the same demands for 30 years, and hearing the same demands now from Mr. Mousavi´s mouth leaves some room for happiness that we in the end have joined the same fate, but analysing the statement I see the digress between what’s written and his true intentions. The truth is that he got involved in a bad power struggle and of course rightfully, came into battle with his nemesis Ahmadinejad and this incident with itself made the whole situation get out of hand and allowed the loyal followers of the Imam turn into the “opposition” of the government, however it´s clear to us that this has never been the case and it will never be either.
It should be noted that Mr. Mousavi has made his stand, from now on we will bear witness to broader spectrum of different attempts from his supporters (Khatami, Rafsanjani, Karoubi). In earlier articles I have already predicted this. But for us the seculars, including the liberals, lefts or religious or atheists where are we standing? We should not look to change our standing! His beliefs were not formed due to restrictions, he firmly believes in his belief and will defend it, he does not believe in anything less or more than the Islamic Republic of Iran. His aim is to facelift and stylize the façade of the government and idolising him into an acceptance from the international community will not only keep this governments ship floating otherwise it will drag everybody with it to the depths.
The poor pseudo seculars who follow him some with personal interest some without. Even though all of this power struggles might put the lives of these ladies and gentlemen in grave danger we the seculars who champion human rights and a just and independent justice system will defend his rights and will condemn and reveal these arrests to the world community.
Fighters!
The path of unity between the national religious and the secular democrats will meet at the intersection of human rights and secularism and the basics of democracy, all other indifferences are solvable in any other case the people will have the final saying in the separation of state and religion will rule over these parties.
The existence of a void of a joint statement from all the freedom seeking pluralistic democratic secular liberal forces, embedded in a minimum political programme the two latest statement of Mousavi and other religious progressive thinkers are quite straight-off meaning that it’s compulsory for us to react on their statement and clarifying for those who support the green movement what their future agenda might be and unite them all.
With best wishes for our beloved Iran
Victoria Azad
Weman rights and political Activist in Sweden
