Persepolis the movie

The movie is simply a brilliant historical account of the events that struck Iran since the mullahs took over power in 1979; it is also a personal account of a woman who sincerely trying to portray a picture of a country plagued with dictatorial practices from Shah’s to the turban-led one.

The movies showed very accurate scenarios of revolutionary guards’ and Baseege (i.e. the young rottweilers of revolutionary guards) dogmatic belief, intrusive and aggressive behaviour and their obsession with controlling people lives.

The very funny episode is when the young woman was running in the street of Tehran to catch up with her university lecture where she was followed by revolutionary guards who at some point asked her not to run and wiggle her bum although it is fully covered with the thick and loose Islamic dress; I supposed they were quite excited and do not want to fanaticise about her since doing so is a great and unforgivable sin.

The people of this poor nation are still captured by the mullahs and their paranoid and brutal revolutionary guards and young rottweilers and this reality is well portrayed in the movie; it is a good portrayal of silent cry for help to be freed from the claws of this brutal regime.

Killing women in Iraq

Zeina Zaatari wrote an article in the Guardian CiF addressing the problem of a surge in killing Iraqi women and it starts:

“Iraqi women's organisations and international observers point to an escalating war against women in Iraq, aided by widespread chaos and lawlessness under the US occupation”

Link to the article:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/zeina_zaatari/2008/04/caught_up_in_the_whirlwind.html

First I don’t think killing women in Iraq is due to chaos and lawlessness but due to typical Arab and religious misogyny facilitated by chaos due to the occupation. After the fall of Nazi Germany German people did not go around killing each other or killing women but let the law take its natural course. So suggesting that killing women in Iraq is a direct by-product of occupation is an utter nonsense and what we need to look at is stories of honour killings in Iraq and in the rest of Arab and Muslim world even during the secular and brutal regime of Saddam.

One of the CiF commentators by the name Freewoman suggested angrily that Iraqi women need to learn how to protect themselves by even carrying a gun and shoot any man who tries to harm or kill them. I thought that is really good idea but it needs to be expanded more to stop those religious and tribal misogynists from killing women for whatever reason. I think it is the duty of US and others international forces to form local women groups, arm them and train them to protect women in neighbourhood. This is a similar exercise to arming local Sunni misogynists to protect their communities from attacks by the other misogynists of the Shiite militias.

Hillary Clinton and the obileration of the iranian regime

Hillary Clinton’s language of the US’s capacity to obliterate Iran if, in the next ten years, it chose to drop its home-made nuclear bomb on Israel is a language the Iranian regime understands/uses very well; it is called the language of intimidation; a language the Iranian regime is well-versed in and uses for the last 29 years in its daily oppression of its own people; Saddam used the same language for 45 years to stay in power, Mubarak of Egypt for the last few decades…etc. Also the Iranian regime love to push its luck to its favourite position “Being the victim of a superpower especially the US”. This political concept is part of what is called in psychological terms the self-destructiveness and is inline with Iranian mullahs’ push for every young soul to seek martyrdom the mullahs' biggest nonsense.

By no means to suggest that self-destructiveness is unique to the Iranian regime but a human phenomenon normally triggered by feeling unable to reach one’s potential as desired deeply. This fatal dynamics is due to the belief that something beyond us (can be others) stopping us from reaching our real potential. This feel normally plagues desperate young people and oppressive regimes take advantage of it to stay in power. But brutal regimes cannot stay misleading their people by simple games therefore seek varieties of clashes to avoid misleadingly the feel of its own and those of young people self-destructiveness via for instance developing nuclear bombs followed by real threats of dropping such bombs on other nations if the opportunity arises. To calm the spirit of the youth those brutal regimes play a major game of creating something that misleading injects some meaning into those young souls’ lives. One can see that clearly in how Palestinian brutal leaderships brainwash the youth to commit suicides through suicide bombing.

To save those young souls, Hillary Clinton and anyone else interested in stopping mad regimes like the Iranian regime from dropping nuclear bombs on Israel should be thinking of the democratisation of those brutal regimes through direct intervention rather than threatening to obliterate them.

Iraq’s crack down on religious militias

What we need to consider when Iraq cracks down on religious militias?

Today’s Guardian reported US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice praising Iraqi government and Prime Minister Al Maliki for the crack down on the mad and the misogynous mullah Moqtada Al Sadr’s militias. As someone from Iraq would like to announce publicly my anxieties on such exercise:

1. We need to make sure that Saddam’s legacy and its deeply rooted Arabs’ culture of political elimination is out the equation or we will fall in “Only us know the rights and duties of Iraqis and let us kill whoever disagrees with us or opposes our brilliant progressive moves for being ignorant of the Iraqi people needs” old trap of Iraqi and Arabs’ politicians.

2. Like other Arab countries Iraq would easily slip into the oppressive and sick authoritarianism if politicians are not coached and monitored properly; therefore a continuous monitoring and coaching of Iraqi governments for the next three to four elections is vital and essential to the survival of democracy. People may think that I don’t have faith in my people…. not yet.

3. Of course disarming militias is one of the vital moves, but we need to educate people that it is ok for women to dress the way they like and speak their minds and to depart from religious and common misogyny.

4. Distrust between citizens and governments is an integral part of Arabs' and Iraqi history which stems from the lack of protection or support of dictatorial governments toward their citizens. This has been the disease of Arab world for the last century and it plagued Iraq for decades. Therefore building new ways of protecting citizens and showing that nobody is above the law would help to break this eternal antagonism between people and governments and build bridges of trust with Iraqi governments.

5. We need to show Motada Al Sadr and others Sunnis or Shiites that they are not above the law but protected by law if choose to protest on abuses or malpractices by Iraqi governments through political means not physical elimination.

Ali Eteraz writes about the treatment of Hidus in Pakistan

Ali Eteraz writes in today’s Guardian on the treatment of Hindus in Pakistan. Read this humane account and how Muslims should behave. Link: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ali_eteraz/2008/04/protecting_pakistans_hindus.html

I must thank people like Ali Eteraz for been brave and courageous to expose these kind of daily inhumane practices in Pakistan and other Islamic states or countries with Muslims’ majority....Thank again Ali for such important exposure and thank for being so precise in categorising human's prejudice in Pakistan and other so-called Muslims' countries. This delusion of feeling superior to other religions is a plague and a social and religious defect which struck Islam by the most ignorant people "the mullahs" who continually brainwashing general public to feel superior to cover a deeply rooted inferiority complex. One can find that happening in Egypt presumably educated people influence by ignorant mullahs teaching children as young as 5-6 years old that Koran mentions how the Jews are related to pigs and apes, how black non-Muslims are inferior to Muslims and how Muslims must wash their hands if accidentally touched a Jew, Christian, Hindu..etc. One would find these practices in Somalia, Saudi Arabia and other Muslims' countires.

I lived it myself in Iraq when I was a child. As a young boy I used to have a very dear friend who as it happened be Christian. We got on very well and used to play together, my family never objected about him but the rest of society look down to Christians as lesser than Muslims.

We need more courageous and brave people who lived such horrible experiences in their own Muslims' country to expose such horrifying public perception of Muslims toward other people of different religion or creed.

What Iraqis must do?

As an Iraqi I am very concern about Iraqis’ inability to truly love their country and very sad for not stopping the destruction of the country through their nonsensical sectarian fighting which is aided by social defects and tribal and religious narcissism. I would like to say to those destroying Iraq to wake up and start building Iraq rather exploiting the language of blame to justify their inability to love themselves and others. Arabs’ self-hatred has infected Iraqis and influences them to just pretend loving their country but it is deeply rooted pretension. It is high time to get out of Arabism and Islamism and related narcissism and move forward.

I really believe that it doesn’t matter what the intention of the Americans is and whether to stay or leave? Iraqis can, if willing, to force America not by fighting her but by solid and persistent negotiation and assertion to build Iraq and its flourishing democracy. We need people young and old who are confident and prepared to take on the rest of the world and take the necessary steps to make Iraq the first democracy among those rotten Arabs’ dictatorships and stop playing the old Arabs’ role “the victim” and just speaking the language of blaming for their misery.

Five years after the liberation of Iraq & Anas Al Tikriti

SonOfLiberty is one of the audience on Comment is Free CiF on the Guardian wrote: “The only ones to blame here are the Iraqi's for not standing up and taking advantage of the help offered by us for a better tomorrow.”

To read the full article go to : http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anas_altikriti/2008/04/shock_and_despair.html

As an Iraqi I fully agree with SonOfLiberty; Iraqis should’ve grabbed that opportunity of been liberated from the most brutal regime and develop a better Iraq, but the stupidity of Arabs’ tribal culture gets them into a deep power struggle which they consider as healthy and good. The trouble with such culture is that everyone thinks and believes that s/he knows the rights of Iraqis for better living more than the majority of Iraqis and even better than the West which gave such a golden opportunity, this is typical of tribal narcissism. People like Anas Al Tikriti who are more interested in suffocating Iraqis under his rigid believes than liberting them. We need people above the deeply rooted tribal and religious power struggle to save Iraq and its people from the claws of Sunnis and Shiites.

Sadr's men of Iraq are just a gang of misogynists

On the behalf of the rest of good humanity Jonathon Steele and men alike keep suggesting that US withdrawal from Iraq would stop Sadr’s gang from attacking civilians and will lead to more stable country. OK let us take his scenario a bit further by letting Mr Steele know that Sadr’s gang are not driven by patriotic duty as he implicitly suggests but by the imposition of their religious believes as their graphity on the walls of Basra suggest declaring war on women using beauty products and do not wear hijab. Sadr’s men like religious Sunnis men are a blend of extreme misogynists and women haters who condemn first the beauty of women and worst than that if women demonstrate an equal intelligence and capacity to lead as men. So Mr Steele asking for US withdrawal may satisfy your left desires but will not solve the current mess in Iraq. So enlighten us with a more practical solution to a mess created by the necessity of ousting Saddam’s brutal regime.

What Moqtada Al Sadr of Iraq trying to prove?

A macho culture such as Arabs’ or Muslims’ culture or a culture plagued with blindness to the usefulness of pragmatism may get men into battles that don’t serve Iraq or its people. Al Sadr and his followers worrying to be seen betraying their country if they stay quite without fighting the elected government as opposed to the Sunnis who proclaimed heroism fighting the occupiers is getting Al Sadr’s gangs into proving their patriotism regardless how hampering their activities to the development of Iraq.

Iraq is a country that’s plagued with disabling machoism and its young men are more absorbed in proving their virility or their ability to fight rather than thinking and taking courses of action that serve Iraq and its people. This may suggest that the root of dictatorial regimes dominating Iraq through history.

As an Iraqi I am very angry about Iraq being shattered by fanatic and savage factions bogged down into power struggle to monopolise the political arena through the elimination of each other. When this nation gets out of its tribal and backward mentality and does something that helps itself developing a stable democracy?

The Battle for Haditha by Nick Broomfield

Western leftists try very hard to locate heroes from other cultures to sympathise with them; Nick Broomfield is not an exception. If we examine closely this identification with heroes from other cultures, we find that western leftists pick their heroes from groups that they think are the underdogs and in “The Battle for Haditha” it happens to be the Sunnis and subsequently support their cause and stories they come up with. So what makes the leftists sympathise with what they believe the underdogs from other culture? The answer can be as simple as they believe that they are the underdogs in their on societies and identification with other underdogs is justified.

In “The Battle for Haditha”, although Broomfield tries to portray an unbiased picture of the events by telling accounts from both sides, but one can see that he sympathises with Sunnis and portrays their violent reaction as a natural reaction of the American troops’ behaviour forgetting that those Sunnis have lost a privileged life under Saddam regime and are not interested in patriotism as Broomfiled try portray them rather than loyalty to the dead brutal regime.

This western leftists’ obsession with Sunnis has to stop and they should focus on how Iraqis are suffering now including the Shia and come up with solutions to the current situation.

Final word, regarding human brutality I always wondered and ask the following question: why people like Naomi Klein, Broomfield and other western leftists come with detailed accounts of American and western oppression but never wrote, argued or display images of the brutal torture of Saddam regime of the Iraqis?

Interventionism and British troops withdrawal

Iraqis are protesting against the withdrawal of British troopsAndrew Marr in his Sunday morning program announced to his Sunday audience that Iraqis are not happy with the idea of withdrawing British troops from south of Iraq therefore protesting by marching in the streets of Basra. Then in an interview with William Hage he asked him if the timing of withdrawal is the right. Mr Hage replied yes because we need to let the Iraqis to take over controlling the south and because there have been more attacks by Al Qaeda on British troops recently. We need to look at the situation closely from different angle and conclude.

The first scenario is that if Iraqis police and army are given control of the south then there won’t be attacks on British troops but still possible that attacks on Iraqi police continues and Al Qaeda or Shia militias will gain more ground to enforce the backward Shariaa laws. So we save the skin of the troops but get religious fanaticism in all shapes or forms taking control and abusing human right and this is in reality what’s happening.

The second scenario is that if British troops withdraw then Iraqis would appreciate the presence and the protection of the troop compared with the oppression of religious fanatics and will do something about it, but then how can they do something about it without the help of the international forces?

The third scenario is that the troops stay and support and protect the majority who are protesting against the oppressive practices of those religious groups regardless of the possible increase of attacks on British troops and Iraqi police and army, but the they [British troops] can take a supportive role to Iraqi police and army rather than planning to abandon them after making huge difference in the lives of Iraqis through the removal of most brutal regime on the face of planet, i.e. Saddam’s regime. Of course there are so many scenarios one can envisage, but one may conclude that in complex situation such as the one in Iraq direct interventionism can be a good option. Interventionism has the capacity to focus on parameters that aid achieving planned outcomes and produce desired results, on the other hand exhaustive calculated planning may end up with doing nothing but exhaustive planning and nothing to stop the oppression human beings in Iraq and around the world.

Racism in the Arab world

The following link leads to an article written by a brave sudanease women:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/nesrine_malik/2008/03/a_paler_shade_of_black.html

Racism in Arab countries comes in different dress. In Iraq, I experienced it in the form of not belonging to an Arab clan. For example if someone like me of Iranian ancestors he won’t be welcomed in his attempt to belong to Iraq; Iraq is insignificant before belonging to an Arab tribe.

I remember scoring very high in my Baccalaureate examinations [equivalent to the A level] and I was entitled for a scholarship to Britain to study engineering but I was refused a place through twisted game of the authorities which lasted weeks subsequently missed the deadline.

I admire people like the writer who is from that part of the world and have the courage to speak of negative cultural issues of their origin. I applaud the writer.

Fresh view on Islam and secularism

An argument on how Muslims mustn't be indoctrinated not to accept secularism Interesting argument on Islam and secularism by Ali Eteraz of the Guardian newspaper: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ali_eteraz/2008/02/the_prophet_and_politics.html

Transsexuals in Iran

The BBC TV programme on transsexuals in Iran sheds good light on social issues that young men have to deal with in oppressive societies such as the Iranian one. There were few interesting points made by participants:One of the programme’s participants declared that life is a lot easier for women than men in the current religious Iranian one. This particular statement was stressed by other young men who were going for a female sex change. One angle to all this is to suggest that a society led by mullahs who love and treat women of submissive behaviour better than men [this has been recently stressed by Ahemadinejad’s talks at Columbia university] can generate a social dynamic that places greater pressure on young men to either take a tiring macho role and ask not to be loved or go for sex change. Obviously this dynamic may lead to severe inadequacy and confusion for those young men and furthermore attempt to please through sex change.

Another participant said that “Seegha” [temporary marriage which can last from an hour to months or years] is becoming an easy option to earn good money. Because transsexuals cannot conceive then it is more convenient for older men to strike temporary legitimate sexual contracts with transsexuals rather than with females who may conceive and subsequently men have to take responsibility of any conceived children.

This is how the mullahs of Iran are legitimising a form of prostitution….Al

British manipulative game in Iraq

As a matter of guilt, the British now trying to compensate - by sending experts to collect and protect ancient Iraqi artefacts and places - for deserting the south of Iraq in the hand of religious group who is currently imposing by intimidation Sharia law. Labour government failed to stay in the south of Iraq to protect people from the mad man Moqtada Al Sadr because of the tremendous bullying of western left despite the fact that the British military man in charge of the south of Iraq and on a number of occasion reiterated the fact that it is too soon to withdraw troops from there.
Sending experts to protect ancient Iraq artefacts and places as a compensation for troops’ withdrawal is an old game usually played by parents to confuse children and subsequently control or quieten them. When I was child I remember been given an apple and banana to stay at home with my grandmother while the rest of my family heading to Turkey. The feeling was very confusing for a little child where I was happy with the apple and the banana and therefore have to stay with my grandmother but resentful for not joining the rest of the family for the nice trip to Turkey. The British plays the same game with Iraqis giving them attention for their ancient artefacts and places but leaving them in the hands of mad religious people.
In the long run, these manipulative games normally leave very deep resentment in the heart of a child or a nation…Al

The wrath of the Egyptian God “Al Fayed”

Few words on the Egyptian God’s culture, paranoia and his ambition:

Can the Egyptian God “Al Fayed” abuse authorities in the current blood sucking dictatorship of Egypt? The obvious answer is NO and if he does he would be put in prison for the rest of his life and all his possessions will be confiscated. So why he is abusing a reasonably just and democratic system where he lives in currently? The answer is: when a Middle Eastern acquires a powerful status whether it is the acquisition of money or political power then his dictatorial traits surface and he would start challenging anyone stands in his way.

The Egyptian God “Al Fayed” can be seen as an extension of the typical Middle East’s obsession with conspiracies which can give a clear way to see oneself as a victim and that is an integral element of culture of the region [i.e. victimhood]. So his current claim of an international plot that killed his son; he is using his son death as platform to defy a reasonably just legal system [that one of his ambitions] at the same time acting as a victim of this system [his paranoia].

One can predict The Egyptian God’s next step it would be to ally with even Al Qaeda to break a system that did not facilitate proving his son’s death conspiracy; he already draw some reasons for the conspiracy summarised by the fact that Britain cannot handle a marriage of a Muslim [his play boy son Dodi] to a royal princess; what a fantasy but then The Egyptian God is a great fantasist.

Beside his campaign to prove Britain's conspiracy against his son, why doesn’t' he campaign to stop the circumcision of the 95% of the women in Egypt?…Al

Introducing democracy around the world

Tonight David Milliband the foreign secretary spelt it loud and clear suggesting that Britain must be at the forefront at promoting democracy around the world. He may be the first British official who dares to recognize that the rest of the world needs liberal democracies to intervene in the promotion and the introduction of democracy to those deadly Dark Age dictatorships around the world. Of course the western left is quite skeptical about this and will come up with all sort of conspiracy theories which may suggest that western liberal democracies are not interested in the spreading of democracy around the world but to create wars to benefit from as Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine where she promote her complex and intellectual but wouldn’t-care–less-about-the-rest-the-world-if-killed-by-dictatorships argument.

Yes, Britain had colonized the world and sucked it’s blood during 19th century, but that doesn’t mean any humane step by Britain toward introducing democracy replacing rotten dictatorial regimes around the world should be ruled out. Although western leftist intellectuals have a great input into the global dynamic but they need to be made aware of the necessaty of introducing democracies replacing those brutal dictatorships.

The question I would like to ask Mr Milliband is: if mistakes were made in Iraq then Britain should start fixing those mistakes and not just to talk about promoting Britains’ future role in introducing democracy around the world. Hey Milliband do something about my country Iraq and don’t let it slip into the hands of a religious dictatorship…Al

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh & religious tradition treatment

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh –the Afghan student imprisoned for distributing women’s right literature in Afghanistan – telling us about his brutal experience in prison where threat of being killed exists coupled with the likelihood of been sexually abused to break him. Those experiences neither been admitted by young men nor imagined or acknowledged by westerners.

I can identify with Pervese through similar experience. During Saddam’s regime my brother and I were imprisoned for three months. In the first night we were put in a cell occupied by a young man with severe mental disorder who was not allowed to leave his cell so his urine and faeces were all over the cell. On that night we heard one guard telling the other about us and how they were instructed to break the spirit of the two young engineers by putting them in the same cell as the man with mental disorder. Few nights later we were transferred with other young educated prisoners where we all fed with poisoned food which left us with severe stomach pain.

In cultures dominated by rigid traditions or by religious or political dogma you find young spirits present the most dangerous and threatening elements to figures in authority, and if the opportunity arises then those culture allow men in power to break or even annihilate young spirits.

Iranian regime and public hanging

A week or so ago, one Iranian religious figure pretending to be the kind element of the brutal regime called for the suspension of public hanging. We all know that public execution has an immense impact on people and it is seen as the most intimidating tool brutal regimes can use to subdue a nation.

I remember the first public hanging of ten or so innocent people accused of spying and espionage after Saddam and his gang took power in 1968. The impact of that day was immense; fear seeped deep into every Iraqi soul. Those innocent people were hanged publicly and their bodies were left dangling for one day in the capital Baghdad “Al Tahrir Square”. Public hanging is the most powerful tool used to suppress any nation, it is brutal, it creates a mix of deep anxiety and intense curiosity in the event. I remember people from all around iraq left their work and their daily jobs and went to see the bodies in Al Tahrir Square….Al

Honour Killing - article from the Guardian

Here is an article and comments by the public regarding the barbarous killings of women in muslims' and arabs' countries in the name of honour:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/james_brandon_and_salam_hafez/2008/02/crimes_in_the_name_of_honour.html

Honour killings and female circumcision are two issues that need to be addressed by the international community. It is known for example that 95% of Egyptian women are circumcised against their will. These practices must be stopped regardless of their origin whether it is religious or cultural…Al