well like literally right now there is a major clash going on. the news is just breaking so I'll be following that but basically the headline is just MORE DEMONSTRATIONS MORE BLOOD etc etc

it would be nice to see the people flex a lil muscle and kick those ayatollahs out. unfortunately they're not really angry at the ayatollahs, which is kind of dissapointing. the candidate they're supporting pretty much blows anyway but still it's nice seeing the regular people actually rise up.

I dont think the ayatollahs are really the problem in iran other than khameini to be honest. basically all the ones whose opinions matter at all are either reformist or moderate cause they are good shiia muslims obviously and wouldnt be ayatollahs if they werent pious ass motherfuckers and all about social justice and whatnot. the iranian political system is really fucked up, and I'm not going to pretend to know all the nasty details cause I'm not in political science or history, but I do know that there will always be conflicts between secular and religious authority in iran as there always has been. the thing people kinda forget about is that the iranian populace as a whole is still pretty traditional and conservative. obviously, now that is changing given that a staggering percentage of the population is under the age of 30, it might be 40% or more. Iranian politics as of late has almost been boiling down to being a intergenerational conflict at its most simple level, and given the current demographic makeup of the country, it will continue to be a major issue I think. the youth have very different values and desires than the older generation, and its looking like the younger generations have the power to make their voices heard, which is encouraging

that said

honestly anything is better than ahmadinejad and his pack of corrupt reactionaries, so I'm up for a regime change that would even bring a conservative to power because yeah there is no one as moronic and stubborn and in general a jackass who is a major player in iranian politics than ahmadinejad right now

but yeah if the people were to actually rise up against the ayatollahs as opposed to the actions of a secular leader that would be real fuckin interesting because the ayatollahs basically only exist to interpret the word of god for the body of shiia until the return of the hidden imam. so yeah the implications of something such as that would deal a huge blow to the foundation of what it means to be iranian and that would signal a HUUUUUGE shift in the discourse of just about everything that goes on in that country. for me 12er shiia identity and iranianness are kinda hard to disentangle, so if the people of iran were to bring the shiia exegetic apparatus down by force that would ripple throughout iranian consciousness and thought and man I dont even know what would happen but it would be crrrrraaaaaazy. I promise, you have never seen or heard of anything like what that would be like lol.

man do they not realize that the root of all of their problems comes from the fact that they blend church and state so thickly?

I think I get what you're saying but at the same time since the ayatollah is the word of god, that would be like rising up against god or god's word. If these people are so embedded into their faith and they have a religious leader set as a state head mucking shit up in the name of god holy shit that is a shitty situation.

well its more nuanced than that. an ayatollah doesnt hand down the word of god, he is a really well respected mujtahid basically, which means that he interprets the rules laid down in the Qur'an and various other religious texts to provide spiritual guidance for the people of his time.

so overthrowing the ayatollahs would not so much be overthrowing the word of god as much as it would be just opening ijtihad (islamic exegesis) to the masses, and then basically there would be the equivilant of the reformation, except it would happen only within 12'r shiism. thered be those that stuck with the ayatollahs and then thered be a shitload of poor clerics without any higher education goin around preachin about whatever the hell they want pretty much. but all this unrest isnt about overthrowing the ayatollahs. hardly anyone in iran wants to bring down the islamic republic, they are all just tired of ahmadinejad basically

on the one hand though its difficult to estimate the relative level of piety of the iranian nation as a whole, but in general they are more religiously conservative (and traditional) than we are here in the united states, but they are prone to unpredictability when novel situations arise (as any multi-ethnic nation is certainly). but its hard to say that the problem in iran is that their religion and their state are closely tied together. the whole idea of the islamic republic is a pretty solid one, it just got quickly bastardized and authortarian heh

but yeah I personally wouldnt want to live in a theocracy lol

basically what I want to say is that the islamic republic was what the people needed in the 70s, they wanted a regime change, and at least originally, the new government that they ended up with represented their values and desires and fulfilled their hopes, but then shit just went back to not really being any different other than that the line of persian kings was finally broken for good. so its hard for me to bash the islamic republic, even though it seems so evil and terrible to people who arent as familiar with iran, because it perfectly suited what the people were after at the time, and who am I to judge that you know? What I do know is that the system is no longer working and something else needs to be tried, and in general there needs to be better and less corrupt leadership across the board

"as any multi-ethnic nation is certainly"

what

I get everything but this. What nation in this day and age isn't multi-ethnic?

What I do know is that the system is no longer working and something else needs to be tried, and in general there needs to be better and less corrupt leadership across the board

yes, hell yes. But thats what everyone says about everything and until you've got the reigns in your hands words don't mean shit.

Edit: I do not know why I just posted that, the last part.

I'm leaving it anyways I think it looks nice.

so earlier today there was a big rally where ahmadinejads supporters poured into the streets and marched up valiasr to vanak and azadi squares and demonstrated and he gave a speech and they got all excited and then I'm not really sure what happened but the latest news that I got is that several university students have been killed (by whom I have no idea)

and after reading the news non stop for the last couple hours I do have to say god damn I wonder what its like for foreigners to try to read our newspapers. its probably an absolute headache

BUMP apparently big shit is supposed to go down today in Iran.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

The street might be paved with blood soon if nether one backs down. The grand finally is upon Iran and if this dose go down it will surely will trun some heads and it will Set forth a movement into motion be it good or bad I can't tell. As all eyes are now on Iran.

I hope USA stay out of this dispute but Obama say’s he has no intentions on doing anything bout this.
 
Witch is better off this way besides we got enough problems of are own.

ay carumba. shows the iranian police attacking the crowd of protesters earlier today.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/19/zakaria.iran.elections/index.html

pretty good interview with Fareed Zakaria on Iran

Completely unimportant, but Ron Paul was the only one in the house to vote against a resolution condemning Iran's crackdown and suppression of the media.

that guy votes no on everything.

regardless, any statement by the united states government on the elections of any country, especially Iran, is p. meaningless all things considered.

"how dare they not have free and fair elections" *gladhands the saudi royal family and bombs the shit out of every country that steps out of line*

the united states has a habit of only giving a shit about "free and fair elections" if they turn out the way we want them to.

as well as supporting coups/overthrows and outright murdering the civilian populace with wars of aggression when they don't

i really hope that the Iranian resistance turns into a radical revolutionary movement to get rid of those disgusting mullahs, but I dunno, with the amount of dirty shit that the US has been doing in Iran for the last few decades I wouldn't be surprised one bit if this uprising  gets co-opted into some sort of plan to destabilize the country.

all I know is fuck them ridiculous vigilante assholes on motorbikes, they all need to be cooperatively hunting those motherfuckers down and kicking their asses  atleast I'm sure any self respecting person serving as a riot cop could come to that much as well.

or not...

I nearly cried watching that honestly

i've heard about that, but i'm too scared to watch it