Eye on Iran

By John Ballard

Gregg Carlstrom's inaugural post at Newshoggers points our attention to Iran.

Mousavi and Karroubi plan to hold a rally on Wednesday, Nov. 4 --
the 13th of Aban in the Iranian calendar. Wednesday marks the 30th
anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The embassy takeover is an important part of the regime's founding
mythology. It helped to undermine Mehdi Bazargan's government and,
along with the Iran-Iraq war, cemented the mullahs' grip on power.

(Ironically, many of the planners of the seizure have since fallen
out of favor with the regime. The original planner, Ebrahim
Asgharzadeh, is today a pro-democracy activist and an advocate of
improved relations with the United States.)

So staging a rally on the 13th of Aban -- appropriating the regime's
day -- is a nice slap at Ahmadinejad and his allies. And it's a smart
tactical move, to boot. The regime encourages public demonstrations on
the 13th of Aban. It will have a hard time keeping pro-democracy
demonstrators from the streets, much like it did on Qods Day in September.

This is posted in both languages at Persian2English's Blog.

How to make 13 Aban a Success

How do we begin our sit-in protests?

On November 4th, between the hours of 10:30 a.m and 12:30 pm, we will reach our peak in terms of participants. We will then move along the street (depending on if our numbers are above 5000 to 10000). In a coordinated and united effort, we will sit in groups of 50 to 100 people in the middle of the street and sidewalks (each group should choose a leader and a substitute leader. These two must be young and strong). We will sit silently to not provide any excuses for a crackdown. In order to coordinate and unite people more, we can resort to stomping our feet. Imagine a few thousand people walking down a street and a few people start stomping their feet together while walking and then others follow suit. In less than a minute it starts to sound like a military march and people gather around quickly and the initial nucleus is formed. This quick unity and the fear that the sound of stomping instills in the security forces paralyzes the forces for a few minutes, making it harder for them to react.
As soon as the sit-in in the street starts, you can rest assured that the regime agents will close off the end of the streets as to not allow others to join in. This is what you need to do to stop that:

1. People�s protest line must be long and should be connected to major streets disrupting the security forces.
2. Create artificial traffic and artificial accidents. Without honking your horn, you can prevent the security forces from reaching the location. If possible, spend the night in your cars with the excuse of having been caught in traffic.

What do we do in case of violence against the sit-in protesters? The security forces will definitely exert intense violence by throwing tear gas in the middle of the crowd in order to disperse the crowd and this is how we counteract:

1. The formed groups must keep their cool, and without fear, they should listen to their leader and temporarily move a few yards to avoid the tear gas.

2. Remember that in case of violence, in order to keep the nucleus, we need to occupy a street as wide as a few hundred yards. We should put up barriers at both ends of the street, preventing the security forces from entering for a few hours. This is a struggle, but a peaceful one that should not end up with us weakening or resulting in our death, and ultimately, our defeat.
3. If all our defenses are broken, all protesters should work in unison and respond to the security forces as a unified body. If attacked, groups of 50 to 100 people should attack the forces and not let anyone get arrested. The groups should help each other out. This is a crucial point and our security depends on our unified and selfless approach. (If we are united and listen to the leaders while keeping our cool, you can rest assured that no one will get injured or arrested on November 4th).

If we are able to defend the initial nucleus what will happen next?

If we are able to hold the initial nucleus for a few hours, millions will join from the side streets. Also, when people in their work places and homes and other places hear about this, they will join in too. We are already working on transferring information around.

The addition of more people will be like a river escaping from a dam and it will intensify and they will join the sit-in protests. There will even be people joining in from the suburbs of Tehran and other cities moving in toward the sitting population. In order to speed this up, we need a minute-by-minute transfer of information. Those who are participating in the sit-ins must turn on their cell phones (if there is signal available) and text each other and call other people asking them to join in. There will have to be quick passing of information on the internet. Video clips and pictures need to be sent to international radio and t.v. stations so they can announce the sit-ins and also to the Persian services outside Iran. At that point it will be all lost for the regime.

Also on the first day, the government employees and those with sensitive jobs should only join in the late afternoon and night time. Please note that Enghelab street and the streets ending at Tehran University should be occupied by the sit-in protesters (because that�s where Friday Prayers are held). When people start to join in, we will have more groups with larger numbers and instead of tens of people, there will be thousands of people in each group. Each group will have a leader and a substitute leader.

Why should we form these groups?

In addition to giving us the ability to confront violence, the formation of these groups will make it easier to coordinate rest times. The groups must have their rest and wake up times at different hours in order to protect the whole population. This means that even in the middle of the night there must be groups of people who are awake. The leaders will take the role of moving people around and they will coordinate the rest times.

Who should be the leader of the sit-in and announce their demands? what should we announce and how?

1. The selection of the main leader: We already mentioned that groups of 50-100 people should be formed. After the joining of more people, there will be thousands in each group and each group will have one leader and one substitute leader; it will now be time for select the speaker of the sit-in. This will be done with consultation with the leader and one person will be selected.

2. The announcement of our demands: There are several ways to do this:
i) We could write our demands on pieces of cloth and placards and hold them up
ii) Record a video file by the leader (who has a mask on) and distribute on the internet to be played international networks.

What should we demand:
1. What we demand depends on the extensiveness of the demonstrations. The more extensive the demonstrations, our demands can be bigger; but even if our movement is not successful and not as extensive as we wish, the least we could demand is the abolishment of the execution orders for five members of the opposition and a halt to searching for Babak Daad (the journalist and weblog writer in exile).

What should we carry on November 4th?

1. Those who are going to participate in the sit-in must carry with them their basic needs like water and cookies, and have warm clothes and blankets for up to 72 hours.

2. Wear white cloths and other symbols along with the usual green colors to demonstrate that the Green Movement of Iran is peaceful and against war and bloodshed.

3. Placards, banners, and cloths with slogans of the Green Movement, especially the ones in English will introduce our sit-in movement (�Green Refuge of Iran�)

4. Masks dipped in vinegar and artificial tear drops and a lot of cold water to counter the effects of tear gas.

I am in awe of the courage of these people.

And I cannot imagine that saber-rattling from across the ocean will do anything to advance their cause.