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Iranian Riot Grrrls
June 21, 2009 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 3:25pm | 21 Comments
Watch this woman in a chador take a break from listening to Bikini Kill on her iPod long enough to wheel this dumpster into a barracade at :47 of this video. Just awesome, these Iranians.
Check this one
Check this one out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/06/090621_ag_street_clashes.shtml
I love the cheering when the police run for it.
Badass. Will they charge
Badass. Will they charge her with unlawful use of a wheelybin?
The riot police running like sissies in the video Raymond posted made my weekend.
My heart with the
My heart with the demonstrators, but where the hell did the police get their riot control training? Formation shoulder to shoulder is kind of basic for riot control. They had no discipline or control over their ranks. No ranks for that matter. I have heard their hearts are not in it....I bet their officers weren't present, or ran.
Yes, we are. In their
Yes, we are.
In their arrogance, they have forgotten who they're dealing with. They forgot who marched the streets and took bullets 30 years ago. If they're not afraid yet, they should be.
Ill marry her, anytime. Its
Ill marry her, anytime. Its not like one lousy wheelybin will make a difference, but her heart is in the right place. As for the BBC video, one word for the demonstrators: Slingshots. Its kind of funny to see you cheer rioters,y`all. When we do it, we are decadent middleclass youth who just dont get on with the system.
storm coming.
storm coming.
a violent femme indeed. you
a violent femme indeed.
you can't fool the children of the revolution.
http://video.libero.it/app/play?id=8960bee513d4f910dc2ac81682b1aad0
On a sad and sober note, it
On a sad and sober note, it seems to me that unless something extraordinary happens, its over for now. Thats the rationale for the use of the heavy violence the last two days, its straight out of the book: Bloody the leaders by targeted arrests , shock the followers with acts of random hard brutality. Its the exact same tech that european police uses at demonstrations.
same tactics, but different
same tactics, but different audience? ie a far more pissed off one.
"Its kind of funny to see
"Its kind of funny to see you cheer rioters,y`all. When we do it, we are decadent middleclass youth who just dont get on with the system."
Umm, Fnord, that might be related to the "system" we are talking about. "Conservatives" like me (i.e. a German conservative; translates pretty much to a "liberal" in U.S.-spectrum; what, left wing? me??) think that demonstrations are a great way to tell the world what you are thinking. Throwing stones and such - not so much, unless the "system" forbids peacefull demonstations and doesn't allow free elections ...
If I were living in Iran, I would probably read up to improve my bomb making skills right now, just in case ... (basic training with combat engineers included a little bit of that stuff, but I forgot everything).
@Fnord it's over... I don't
@Fnord it's over...
I don't know. I think the Iranian people have lost their fear, the regime it's legitimacy and it's cohesion...and although it doesn't get much play we should bear in mind that Mousavi has a lot of connections in the regime. He may indeed be working inside as well as speaking to his supporters...for whom he is as much symbol as leader. I also speculate that the opposition are in the process of organizing/reorganizing - let's make an intelligent guess here - this wasn't planned by professional activists like in the West. It was a rather spontaneous reaction to the election being blatantly and clumsily stolen by the regime. Sure the students have been restless for years - but how long can one remain a student? I think (hope) that the opposition is getting organized - and as noted the social networking and messaging networks used previously are being shut down, restricted, monitored or squeezed out.
Which it's why it's time for the US to release that $$ Congress voted in 2006 to help Iranian democrats. And leverage our rather large Iranian expat population here to undermine the regime.
Once again, as noted by PGS (is P for Pirate :) the people seem to have lost their fear...
Elf, seems the military has
Elf, seems the military has put down the foot, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/22/iran-protests-revolutionary-.... So unless there is a people march on Tehran, or something equally momentous from the districts, it is over now and a lot of folks need to go visit Grandma in the mountains for an extended holiday. So sad. I wonder how hard the crackdown will be, civilized or medieval.
Positroll: I understand your point, but speaking from experience, a lot of Euro police are pretty fine with hitting and manhandling even passive resistance demonstrations. Example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/21/kingsnorth-protester-a... That happens all over Europe, in Italy they are fckin crazy. So the context of the riots you see, both among muslim youths in the banlieus and by leftwing folks are often in direct rationale to methods used by police in buildup. Par example, where I last got arrested, in Copehagen. Everybody remembers the burning cars, but very few remember that it started by a military team storming a house with 20 16-20 year olds in it, beat the crap out of them, removed their masks and sprayed them w. pepper and then put them in jail for a month without trial. They had sniper teams up on the roof, fer chrissakes. Personally I spent the first three days in a 3x3 meter cell w. between 20 and 7 persons, fed only hamburgers from McDonald, etc. (My friends are vegan.) Etc. How do you respond to that in a representative government?
PS: To specify: I was not in
PS: To specify: I was not in the house mentioned, came down a day later.
Nethanyahu is bombing the
Nethanyahu is bombing the resistance: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1094754.html
Since SNLI is allowed, may I say: pig f(%&er...? Hes gonna cause you all sorts of problems.
Fnord: Point taken, but I
Fnord: Point taken, but I suspect that we disagree a lot with respect to the question when "passive resistance" is morally o.k. (as opposed to demonstrations as such) ... E.g. trying to stop a G20 meeting from taking place when the world is close to economic meltdown easily justifies use of force by the police in my book, though there are still questions of degree ... And of course there is the chicken / egg problem, esp in the banlieus ...
" Everybody remembers the burning cars, but very few remember that it started by a military team storming a house with 20 16-20 year olds in it, beat the crap out of them, removed their masks and sprayed them w. pepper "
Umm, I didn't follow the Copenhagen story, but when confronting a bunch of illegal squatters wearing masks, I wouldn't take any risks as a police commander, either. And if I were afraid they might throw boulders / TVs etc from the windows / roofs on the policemen standing in front of the entrance (=attempted murder), I'd happily put snipers across the street to take them down as soon as they try this kind off shit, if possible with shots to the legs ...
@Fnord, I don't think we
@Fnord,
I don't think we write them off Fnord, they are rather determined. But it's time to start helping them ala Solidarity.
Come on lefties, all that talk about "soft power" the last few years? Well now is the time .
Fnord, read your Guardian link again. The regime is still somewhat fractured; OK we admit there were some irregularities and over 100% of voters voted in some districts, but it was only 50 and not 80-100 like the Mousavi folks say (what kind of iron fist is that).. and Mousavi still has connections.
and still afraid. The statement makes it clear they rule now by fear, and are afraid - IRGC says show your faces, we'll do violence, they forbid any services for Neda...anywhere. Remember - to be part of a fear regime is to be afraid.
Also - you missed the difference between the Iranian Military and the IGRC. Not the same, of course IGRC is stronger....
The IGRC is the last line of defense for the clerics. That's like POTUS saying Special Forces and the Navy SEALS will put down any street protests. If there are any cracks in their support...and guess what ...I found an blog yesterday purporting to be former Sepah who denounced the crimes and corruption of the regime...(sorry can't find link)...
And on another note - if there are any Iranians reading...you still have cards to play. The President of the USA has a large pot of money approved by Congress in 2006 to help Iranian Democrats that he (or Bush) hasn't spent. Start pushing your US expats to get him to spend the money to help. And to have Radio Free Persia, VOA etc beam back the truth they can gather from your country.
And...consider this....if Mahatma Gandhi had been fighting fascists, it would have been a different, and much shorter story. Another point to consider...for the kind of kit and gear it may come to, America is not all that far away.
Technical (but due to AfPak
Technical (but due to AfPak / Iraq purely theoretical) question to airforce experts: Would it be possible to put little parachutes to bundles of small arms (HK MP7, FN P90, handgrenades) and drop them over northern Teheran out of B2's, in case the situation gets completely out of hand, the good guys get slaughtered and the President wants to do "something"? How many could be delivered by one B2?
but might be a little too
but might be a little too fair and freckled (curse these Irish genes!)...
@Positroll,
This is odd coming from me, but we probably had more success with the back Solidarity and the refuseniks and push Human Rights to include in treaty and law, combined with broadcasts over the wall, money, faxes and copiers and communications devices then with the support the partisan approach we tried after WWII, or in Cuba. In other words soft power but actually real power applied as opposed to constantly apologizing and talking for the sake of talk, with violations of agreements simply extracting further concessions.
In any case, if we decide to go that route, and Mousavi Gandhi strategy doesn't work, it makes more sense to walk into Iraq, then send the weapons back over land. After being trained first....
"but we probably had more
"but we probably had more success with the back Solidarity"
Only because Gorbatchev (sp?) didn't use the army (after the desaster in the Baltics) ...
"makes more sense to walk into Iraq, then send the weapons back over land. After being trained first...."
Yes, but that could be constructed as an American invasion, which means the Iraq quagmire x 10 all over again.
@Positroll, What disaster
@Positroll,
What disaster in the Baltics was occurring at that time that influenced the Soviets? Also please note Gorby was not the Supremo when they crushed Solidarity.
They will blame us anyway, and construe us as the villain anyway. The world knows the truth.
And you cut and pasted my point, which began with if the peaceful protesters being gunned down by the brutes paradigm fails (it will, you are not fighting the Brits) then have a plan to fight.
I was just pointing out it makes a lot more sense to move the weapons from Iraq (just like they moved explosives and Sepah agents in) then to drop them from planes, ala France WWII. The French Resistance being one of the great over romanticized myths of all time.
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