Adventures of Mr.Behi

Monsters Inc.

These days the hard liners, who believe in more social limitation and stricter foreign policy, cannot hide their happiness for the election of the new president of their kind. Rumours are everywhere anticipating the upcoming retreat to the atmosphere of early revolution. Ahmadi Nejad himself vowed for a moderate government in his news conference but his supporters are insisting that it is time to get back to principals!
Frightening people looks adorable to them, as it seems. Having foreign enemies for defending them we should stay united (that mean shut up if you have something to say against us otherwise you are a spy). They need enemies to survive. Suppose if one day we make peace with the US, many of them have little to say in their speeches. I hope they discover one day that bringing peace and letting other ideas to talk happily can make a better world firstly for them, themselves. They are humans anyway. Oil is in price peak so I hope they can make some economic difference as they claimed in their campaign.

It Happened!

It Happened! What I was afraid of. Look who is leaving, Khatami, the intellectual that we were proud of, and see who is coming, a hard line conservative, who makes it humiliating to be Iranian. If Khatami had a landslide victory as a result of youth and student supports eight years ago, now with a huge poor population, Ahmadi Nejad is surfing on the sear of poverty and in absence of many of reform supporters.

The most radical portion of the population with the most dangerous Islamic fundamentalist ideas are now in charge. Bad days to come. I do not want to see myself as war blogger. But these guys will make it easier to happen if they insist in having this nasty nuclear technology the way they want. I think those who like US to attack Iran are loving this most. The stupid ideas of these conservatives will make it easy to justify it. What I should do? I am going to keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise and who knows what the next tide can bring? Well, this time it has brought something very nasty! But anyway, Shit happens!

Waiting!

Desperate! waiting for election results. On my way back from my short trip, I am hearing many news now about extensive fraud in many election sites. There are unconfirmed news about winning of Ahmadi Nejad and I am hoping they are not true. Very anxious, very worried I am. Can not imagine the horrible outcome of such results for the future of my nation. I voted in a very small city today not very far from Tehran and I was the only in the queue! Tonight when we were driving into Tehran from northern highways, I found the city as crowded as mid-day rush hours while it was after midnight. Do not know why. The bad news that I read in a blog is that apparently "Kayhan", the conservative newspaper that belongs to hard-line conservatives, has prepared the title for Ahmadi Nejad's victory! In the first round last week, Kayhan also Knew that he will go to the second round even before the complete counting of the votes. I HOPE this time that this is just a propaganda. Waiting... 

Ultra-Conservatives Vs Haphazard

While the summer and election are uniting to make a heated atmosphere in Tehran, I am in a small city two hours drive from it to make myself a short "Escape to the country".

You can feel it here from many of the educated people that they are truly horrified with the idea that ultra-conservatives supporting Ahmadi Nejad may come to power. In the last few days, many different social and political groups are taking refuge from this anticipation to the circle of Hashemi's supporters. From the beginning of this week, mobiles phones were stormed by SMS messages mostly joking about Ahmadi Nejad's character. His facial appearance made it easy for many to make fun of him but they are actually trying to forget the fear they have for what it is there in his mind! Many are terrified of social limitations that he could introduce. Even some who did not vote in the previous round are now dubious about the idea of boycotting. The same is true for some who wanted Moeen to be president and now cannot bother caring about the finalists.

The hard-line conservatives in parliament, revolutionary guard and Basij armed militia, can not fit in their bodies that they are so close to dominate the whole hierarchy of power.
Ahmadi Nejad campaign has been doing a good job to attract economically in trouble people, aiming his attacks to Hashemi's most weak point; Economic corruption and love for luxury. His ignorance towards the divergence in income of rich and poor in his presidency time, made the room for the conservatives to hunt the lower-class Iranians with the warning that they will be still ignored under his rule.

Ahmadi Nejad appeared on TV in the last two nights and tried to appear as a technocrat who loves working for the economy and denied all the allegation regarding his will for more social pressure. His campaign was doing it's best to present him as someone who lives like poor people. On my way today to east of Tehran, I noticed many wall written supports for Ahmadi Nejad suggesting that he will fight the rich and support the poor.

Not to forget those who did not vote at all and will not anyway. I have heard from many who called the whole thing a plot to make a big turn out for Hashmi Rafsanjani. I was talking to a friend last night and was explaining why I think Hashemi shall be our choice this time to obtain at least a room for more push for our right. I was explaining why I think we shall not wait and see a set back for reform. He replied that he can not discriminate between Hashemi and Ahmadi Nejad as they are both within the system and for the idea of having more room for change, he gave a nice example: "Do not think that by grabbing your hair and pulling it up you can take yourself higher!" This is in fact very true if you want to look at the big picture.

Hold the line Hobbits! Let's save the precious

Wired events are going on here. Mehdi karrubi, one of the candidates (moderate semi-reformist) wrote a letter to the leader criticising him, his supporters and his son for illegal support and fraud in favour of Mahmood Ahmadi Nejad (The ultra-conservative radical candidate). His letter is surprisingly new in style as it is the first time as far as I can recall that someone from within the system of power is complaining about the leader in such an open way and makes such straight criticism especially because he has been the leader’s nominee and ad-visor, the position he announced his reassignment for in the same letter. The crazy thing is that daily papers were ordered not to publish his letter and his offending on the leader and those did, are now closed. Eghbal daily is one of those and is close to supporters of Mostafa Moeen the defeated reformist candidate. There is a hope as it is in the news site that the ban will be short.

There are fears for extreme radical Islamic ideas to steer up in high-level management if Ahmadi Nejad and his supporters get elected. He as it is apparent now, has the support of revolutionary guard and in thus the leader. They have horrible plans for every aspect of our lives. So ridiculous that people know are making jokes about what will happen if he become president. They are so strict socially and will clash a lot with the youth who are already having problem with existing moderate government for the limitations it applies on their way of clothing and social mingling with opposite sex.

In economy, they are so horrible that today I read in a website quoting Ahmadi Nejad that stock exchange is not a good thing because it is like gambling and gambling is not permitted in Islam! Unbelievable! For a progressive nation like Iran with so many intellectuals, he is suggesting a damn plot of Taliban like system.

Now, hey out there. Those who boycotted with whatever idea (I respect all) We all know the flaws in the system, how unfair it is. We know how we hate Rafsanjani and his corrupted team. But this wall is our last to protection. If we show up little, they will cheat again and make the most logically impaired people to become the owners of our destiny and they will cut all the trees we raised in these years with our words and ideas so that under their shadow we can have better living and a more free society despite the barren desert of dictatorship around us.
They are powerful and prepared and use all illegal means to get what they want despite his claims of being religious and Islamic. We do not know what tactic they may use this time. I just remembered “Gladiator” the movie when they were all in the Colosseum waiting for their rivals to come and then the Spaniard said: “Whatever comes out from those doors, we have a better chance of survival if we work together!”

The Crunch Came

Very upset. It is hard to write. Everyone is in ultimate shock of these unprecedented, unbelievable and horrible results. When I voted yesterday, I would never imagine such outcome. Cannot comment about rumors of fraud in election but this is just wrong. Everywhere people are talking about this, biting their nails. This could really be avoided if those reformists who supported the boycott would have not done so. I received calls from friends who boycotted the election; they are now desperately calling for vote for Rafsanjani although they all dislike him (I can imagine his ear to ear smile if it happens) They are escaping from imagining the hard line, ultraconservative Ahmadinejad as president, busy with jeopardizing all of our passion for democracy within the past few years, ruining our desire for being a republic buy turning the cabinet a puppet for the non-elected individuals. Again, the clerics cornered us in a dead lock and it’s very unfortunate that we locked the last door behind us and surrendered our little chance to have our say and do some action to those who were ready to vote by the order from the conservatives. The game that conservative supporters are playing is not fair but they are prepared, instead their rivals decided to watch the massacre of their rights. Most of the undemocratic characteristics of the election were also present eight years ago but we made the conservatives believe that we can deny them and have our say. We voted for Khatami and what a day it was! Compare the two days. If we acted same as yesterday eight years ago, no reform would have been possible at all.
More: I have found this community in which this post is being disscused and there are negative comments I liked reading. I wish they would comment here. The comments are open and all welcomed!?

The anti-democrats

Link: Gains for Democracy Could Jolt Iran's Theocrats and America's Neocons

This fantastic article by Norman Solomon is a must read for many Iranians who love Bush to come and rescue them. It is really sensible here in Iran and the last case was yesterday when the national TV was so excited about Bush recent speech against the election (I am not implying that the content of his speech was wrong) but it was the biggest gift Bush could give the conservatives who are always waiting for such speeches to call the United States a number one enemy of the nation by heating up and misusing the sense of patriotism among the people.
See Norman's blog
See the post I sent some months ago about this.
Update: I have just read this article in Rooz online also about this issue.

Initial results

6:a.m: just got up. Still not sure about official results. Hoder suggests in Iran Scan that he heard good news from Moeen campaign but Shargh online is not suggesting a good place for Moeen country wide but the news is from 2:00 a.m this morning. I am suprised how Karubi could have fooled the small cities. He has been promising to give around 50$ to every one monthly if he goes to office. Many other persian websites are suggesting Hashemi and Moeen for the second round. More later.
14:30: Moeen votes is still very low. :-(

Election Day- Behi Coverage

10:20 p.m: The election is extended till 11:00 p.m. This is always happens regardless the number of voters so make it look big. The national TV has started in a silly way, the propaganda against the "enemies of Iran". It is like kids play. They make it in a way that all the reporters if international media are respecting Iranian regime! This is very stupid. There is a very nasty discrimination as if if you vote it means you are endorsing all the bad things in the system and if you have some words against the system you should not vote. It is hard to be in the middle.

9:00 p.m: The time for vote is extended till 10 p.m and now the noise signal on satellite TVs are gone so I can also track other news channels. BBC Frances Harrison is reporting constantly from Tehran and he interviews a guy called Mr. Ghizilbash who is a political activist. I have never heard of him but he is indeed a fair observer of the election issues here. Bush recent speech made Iran leaders and TV to gain a clue to repeat the stupid slogans against the west. I do not mean he is wrong but will he please try not to support our people by any chance? update: see what Iranian Truth had to say about this.

5:00 p.m: We headed north towards Ershad cultural complex where most of the media coverage both from state television and foreign reporters are coming from. The place was really much more crowded than the one we voted in but still less than the amount you would expect from scenes of the TV. This is the line in front of men's entrance. My wife had the chance to spot Masih Alinejad (The brave parliamentary journalist who was forced out of the Parliament as she challenged some of the conservative MPs) talking to the famous CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour. Mrs. Behi told me later than Amanpour had a little clash with administrators in the voting site because she was asked not to do the interviews in English. How do they expect someone from CNN to do the interview maybe because they knew she is half-Iranian. I do not see any point of putting pressure on journalists like this but seems that the fellows wanted to know what was being said (Go and learn English you lazy goofs!).

4:30 p.m: We hired a taxi to get toward the northern parts of the city. The driver asked if we voted and when we affirmatively nodded, he showed his frustration and got angry. He said "I respect your decision but I do not think it can bring any change". "What will happen if we don't then?", we replied. He said "ok, but people are not important for the system and it is already decided that hashemi should  shall be president". So we shall let him down by our votes, I insisted.

4:00 p.m: Me and Mrs. Behi went to vote. We spotted a mosque near our place in a major square in Tehran city centre. There were not many people waiting in the line. Approx 20 and I could not really tell for whom they were about to vote apart from some young couples like us who had nothing to hide that they were voting for Mostafa Moeen. This is the vote my wife casted.

12:30 p.m: Internet connection is back.

12:05 p.m: I am still home. The national television is covering the election in the way it wants. We are experiencing Internet outage. I tried various different ISPs and they are all out. I called one of them and they told me that it is cut from the root by the telecommunications ministry. Outrageous! Surprise! PMC (Persian music channel) that is run from Dubai is among the few we can get when they impose noises on satellite TVs and it is now showing Hashemi's campaign movie. The kind of music they play is very prohibited by Iranian authorities so how shall I explain that. BBC world covers the election as one of the headlined and kind of suggesting that Hashemi will win which really disappoints me.

10:05 a.m: Just got up. Now browsing the Iranian blogs and the national TV. This IRIB is disgusting. They select people and ask crazy questions from them in voting site: "What is your feeling now?" and the guy says: "I am hitting a feast on America's nose!". They are very famous of telling what they think from the mouth of their supporters and call it people opinion. Since last night there has been a huge noise casting by the government on satellite TVs so the only channel I can get is the BBC world, the one that is broadcasting for India. There are many who are hopeful for Moeen to win. I hope the wise people of big cities win. From many of the bloggers there is a sign of hope but fear for fraud and misuse of armed forces. Will have a little breakfast and will go out as soon as I can to see what is out there. check back here.

Election Eve

Tonight, I was talking to Mrs. Behi about the decision we shall make for the election tomorrow; voting or not voting. We have been dubious about this since the start of the election campaigns we have been always having a good will for the reformists but still are not convinced about their capability to keep their promise in getting the non-elected parts of the country under control. This is a dream! We both thought. Then we decided to figure out why we like and why we dislike voting and what will happen if we do not vote as the other option (what will happen) is not very clear.
If I boycott, how shall I defend it? Well, I hate to see the leader to come to his balcony decorated with that ugly blue color and announces proudly "our beloved youth have voted for the Islamic republic and it's leadership and nailed the United states and enemies of the nations" and his supporters hooray. I cannot let that happen in my name. I may boycott because I no longer care what happens to the Islamic republic. Some friends say, let them get a president that fits them. Khatami was too educated for such people who think they are wiser than the entire nation. I shall boycott because there is rumor that Moeen has no chance so why I spend my vote to give credibility to this election? What happens if I boycott? Nothing, shall welcome Hashemi with his corrupted past who is hand in hand with the leader and is hard to question or to Qalibaf who is waiting with his military friends to deviate our days from normal, or for Larijani with the sniffing old clerics backing him. Will the Islamic republic wipe out if I boycott? Sure No so what?
Voting for Moeein, what do you think? I like the idea of reform and pressuring the totalitarian system from inside is one way of bringing change although it has been a very slow move in the last eight years. Preventing Hashemi from winning is by itself a very good reason. I cannot stand on this nightmare of seeing him as a president for four years. And if Moeen wins? We shall see how he can keep his promise but he is by far very different from other candidates and is best fit for my ideas and I see him honest. Mr.Behi is convinced and will vote for Moeen. Cheers for better days.