Kamangir (Archer)

Reader's Comments

1. Matthew | August 23rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm

   Great video! Let’s see if it amounts to any tangible change for the Baha’is (note likely).

2. Matthew | August 29th, 2008 at 10:50 am

   I will take everyone’s silence as complicit agreement with my previous post then. The blogosphere lets those dissatisfied with the Islamic Republic feel vindicated by talking about problems but it never requires Iranians to do anything about the system that oppresses and threatens so many. Talk is cheap. MARG bar mullah-ha, emphasis on the marg.

3. Esra'a | August 30th, 2008 at 11:42 am

   “I will take everyone’s silence as complicit agreement with my previous post then.”

   You’re wrong, perhaps no one felt the need to reply to such a comment that tediously undermines efforts towards social awareness and human rights. If you read the original post accompanying this video (you didn’t) then you would have realized that it comes with a list of things that people can do in order to effectively express their outrage concerning this situation.

   “Talk is cheap” is painfully simple to say for someone with absolutely nothing to lose, and who’s comfortably making claims from afar, but perhaps you should have some respect and consideration for those struggling in Iran to make a real difference while risking their lives in the process. The blogosphere if anything is an inspirational motivator. Like it or not it’s changing a lot of things. Why else do you think bloggers themselves would be arrested on a weekly basis in countries with oppressive regimes? Because the government realizes the fact that it’s contributing significantly to social change. They exist for a reason, and if you understand any of these blogs and what they are trying to achieve you will also notice that they go way beyond mere “talking,” they reveal what was historically unrevealed to the public. Awareness is a huge step to take before real change is applied.

   “Talk is cheap” is an irrelevant insult to all those working hard to protect those whom the mainstream media is silent about. Again, your respect and consideration for Iranian bloggers and anyone working for justice and human rights via innovative methods would be appreciated.

4. Matthew | September 1st, 2008 at 2:19 am

   Esra’a most high, talk is cheap, I’m sorry, but it is.

   After 29 years of ‘Islamic Revolution’ is anyone unaware of the horrors of Islamic Republicanism? Christ, Persepolis was made into an international blockbuster. Blogging and protesting might spread the message but no matter how many people participate, neither can eradicate the cancer that is the Iranian government. Everyone’s awareness is up. Blogging reaches the wealthy and the educated, the ‘elites’ to use a worn political science term. That is to say, blogging reaches those already most likely to be ‘aware.’ It’s a great way for arm-chair revolutionaries to spin their wheels, maybe take a slap on the wrist in prison, and ultimately, change nothing.

   How many people in south Tehran are reading Kamangir’s blog? How many in Esfahan are going to stop a nuclear program that threatens Iran, as much as any other nation? Iran will be rittled with radioactive tombs before blogging lifts a finger to stop the people that are driving the government.

   Arash has my e-mail if you’d like to continue the discussion off-line.

5. Esra'a | September 1st, 2008 at 8:58 am

   Arash has my e-mail if you’d like to continue the discussion off-line.

   Comment threads were created for a reason. I see no reason why we should take this offline.

   Esra’a most high, talk is cheap, I’m sorry, but it is.

   Still an irrelevant and extremely misused statement. If you are referring to some sort of a leader whose false promises are cheap then you may have a point, but you aren’t. You are making an ill-informed blanket statement on an entire nation, one lacking the most basic freedoms to take any visible action without being killed, harrassed or imprisoned. Millions of Iranians are talking about things that historically, they were never given the option to talk about. They are informing their own public and indeed, the entire world, of things that no one else knew before. Thus, social awareness, education, and informed activism is NOT cheap.

   After 29 years of ‘Islamic Revolution’ is anyone unaware of the horrors of Islamic Republicanism?

   Another sheer generalization. Simply because people are aware that a certain government is bad, you don’t think specific cases should be mentioned and publicly condemned, like a homosexual being hanged or an under-age girl being tortured and stoned to death? Don’t you understand what it means to stand up for justice in a country that doesn’t allow you to?

   Action starts with information, which millions of Iranian blogs are providing on a daily basis. Anyone realistic realizes that. Anyone idealistic is in denial and tediously claims to have all the answers when in fact they are just making generalizations and insulting people who do work hard and who do risk their lives to make other people aware of some of this century’s worst crimes.

   Everyone’s awareness is up. Blogging reaches the wealthy and the educated, the ‘elites’ to use a worn political science term.

   Yet another generalization.

   We live in an age where blogging is increasingly reaching more and more people. A pessismitic view is hardly anything but a cynical remark with no proof.

   The internet (and a MySpace page!) resulted in influential people taking enough actions for a young lady to be saved from HANGING. That obviously means absolutely nothing to you because you would irrationally think, “but how many Iranians were reading that MySpace page?” Obviously - enough were. A young girl was saved due to the activism on her behalf on millions of blogs worldwide which also inspired rallies, videos, music, et al.

   You do not have to have an internet connection to know what bloggers are talking about. We use blogs in the Middle East to organize on-the-ground grassroot activism and real events that are often written about in newspapers. I bet you have no idea the impact of that, which is why you’re making all of these ill-informed generalizations and claims. Essentially you don’t even understand what blogging means to us, it is the gateway to freedom of speech, something you may have been born and growing up with but we have witnessed many generations before us fighting (and many dying) for this very right.

   Not convinced? I’ll give you a more personal example to refute your utterly untrue and pessimistic remarks.

   I used a blog to organize simultaneous rallies in over 30 cities around the world, in 4 different continents, 3 times in one year, as well as creating school events and successfull letter campaigns for an imprisoned blogger in Egypt. We used a blog to achieve this, nothing else. Our coalition used it further to inform some of the biggest newspapers, anything from the New York Times to the Washington Post, about news and coverage of this blogger. This inspired 13 U.S Congressmen to sign a letter to the president, and many other European MPs and leaders to rally for his cause, some of these rallies even appeared on TV. This immediately got the attention of the Egyptian government, and forced them to answer some hard questions about the injustice of this blogger’s jail sentence.

   Furthermore, before this video, we created another video called “Egyptian Tourism Ad,” which in less than a week appeared on a prominent Egyptian paper and inspired hundreds of blogs, Egyptian and otherwise, to take effective action on behalf of innocent Baha’is. Only 3 months later the Egyptian government granted Baha’is the right to obtain an ID card. Progress in action. Blogger unity and innovative campaigning inspired this. No one asked, “how many Egyptians read blogs,” - people asked IS the Egyptian government reading these blogs, the answer was yes, hence the positive results. Think beyond the box.

   So don’t tell me talk is cheap, I have direct experience in proving every single one of your false claims that even suggest that. Your comment to me seems to come from lack of experience in this form of activism, that has improved and significantly increased the amount of human rights campaigning beyond belief.

   Blogs are influential and in countries with strict regimes they ARE the new media, used to inform, call for action, and to make people around the world aware of more and more crimes so that you too can be inspired into taking action - instead of making false claims (ironically in a blog that DOES make a difference.)

   In conclusion, assumptions are cheap. So please stop making them.

6. Matthew | September 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am

   Esra’a habibti, I see your soapbox is very sturdy.

   “…ill-informed blanket statement on an entire nation, one lacking the most basic freedoms to take any visible action without being killed, harrassed or imprisoned. Millions of Iranians are talking about things that historically, they were never given the option to talk about.”

   Iranians used to talk about things before there were Supreme Leaders and expediency councils, remember? It was called the Iranian Revolution. That happened when people were talking about these things and decided to do something, other than talk, about the killings, harrassments, and imprisonments that they were experiencing under the Shah. And the people most willing to do something, that is to say the most violent, came out on top of the conflict. There are causes and effects in politics. The violent, ill people who rule the Islamic Republic are the prime cause of all the hangings, sexual apartheid, and political killings in Iran. That cause needs to be eliminated in order for the effects to stop. Clearly, talking and protesting generally doesn’t stop or slow down the cause of all these problems from meting out terrible effects.

   “Simply because people are aware that a certain government is bad, you don’t think specific cases should be mentioned and publicly condemned, like a homosexual being hanged or an under-age girl being tortured and stoned to death? Don’t you understand what it means to stand up for justice in a country that doesn’t allow you to?”

   All the hangings, and rapes and murders should be publicly condemned. I just think the people that propagate these things should be killed, without remorse. Publicizing all these violations isn’t an end in itself. Amnesty International and the ICRC can give you reams of information on all the travesties that the Islamic Government has committed. You could buy up commercial airspace on every satellite channel in the region to advertise all of it, and still nothing would change because the government of the Islamic Republic would still be in place, the most violent people in the country would still oppress those at home talking on blogs, and our soapboxes would remain sturdy, though occasionally challenged by cheap assumers.

   “The internet (and a MySpace page!) resulted in influential people taking enough actions for a young lady to be saved from HANGING. That obviously means absolutely nothing to you …Essentially you don’t even understand what blogging means to us, it is the gateway to freedom of speech, something you may have been born and growing up with but we have witnessed many generations before us fighting (and many dying) for this very right.”

   No, I do know what it means to you, but you overestimate what it means to the people who run oppressive governments. So one girl was saved. How many more will be raped and then hung? Your problem is that you accept these governments as legitimate and seek to work within the framework they have set in which only the people they choose can prosper. You have to break the framework to make a lasting change. Blogging still doesn’t change the framework of the dialogue.

   “Blogs are influential and in countries with strict regimes they ARE the new media, used to inform, call for action, and to make people around the world aware of more and more crimes so that you too can be inspired into taking action - instead of making false claims (ironically in a blog that DOES make a difference.)”

   What action are you calling for, protests? More blogging? More awareness raising? Let’s have a race, which will happen first–the Islamic Republic gets eradicated in airstrikes that destroy a one billion dollar nuclear program (itself, largely the reason for the 26% inflation that Iranians are enjoying right now) OR the Islamic Republic succombs to the will of the people and ceases its oppression of its citizens, who no longer want to be bothered with wearing hijabs or seeing nasty hangings. My money is on option one.

   In the mean time, stand strong on your soap box. I’m sure your occasional khutbahs at ignorant and presumptious westerners will have much effect in changing opinions and stirring up action, almost as much effect as stirring up protests.

   Speaking of which, if you’re so effective with the blogosphere, can you stir up a protest in Iran against the regime every Friday for the rest of Ramadan? The bigger, the better. I, for one, would love to see it.

7. Esra'a | September 1st, 2008 at 12:09 pm

   Let me first start this comment by noting the fact that your attitude is extremely pitiful.

   No, I do know what it means to you

   Judging from every one of your comments within this thread; you seriously don’t, and your insistance won’t change that.

   Clearly, talking and protesting generally doesn’t stop or slow down the cause of all these problems from meting out terrible effects.

   I find nothing more humorous than people in the West comfortably sitting on their butts and demanding for Revolutions to take place, as if such things can happen in a whim, with no serious sacrifices and millions of lives at stake. If it was that simple, trust me, it would have happened. The reason it didn’t happen yet is because it’s not as simple as you ignorantly assume! Don’t, and never, underestimate the intelligence of an entire nation specifically when you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about (which, frankly, couldn’t be more obvious.)

   Blogging still doesn’t change the framework of the dialogue.

   According to WHOM? You? What makes you such an authoritative source? Your opinion is based on ignorance - ignorance of what blogging means to all of us, and ignorance of how our social structure works, and a total lack of awareness about what blogging DID achieve in the Middle East and beyond. Blogging has changed the entire framework of the dialogue taking place between millions of people who were preivously unable to interconnect with one another due to physical, political, and social barriers as well as an overwhelming amount of censorship within the mainstream. Minorities like Kurds whose plight was rarely heard are increasingly becoming a powerful voice of digital media in the Middle East thanks to their blogs, independent news sites and videos. Who are YOU to say that it hasn’t changed anything? Someone with nothing to lose claiming they know the answers to our problems? Spare us your insulting approach. The last thing we would depend on is someone who has contributed absolutely nothing but a few pessimistic remarks while undermining the efforts of people who have died or have sacrificed their freedom for the sake of positive social change.

   In any case, I find your comments to be nothing but infuriatingly ill-informed, simplistic, and almost impossible to tolerate. Your conclusion alone speaks volumes of your educational level and lack of standards.

8. hossam | September 1st, 2008 at 12:16 pm

   “ignorant and presumptious westerners”

   like yourself

9. Matthew | September 1st, 2008 at 12:32 pm

   hossam, you’re very quick to pick up on the sarcasm.

   “I find nothing more humorous than people in the West comfortably sitting on their butts and demanding for Revolutions to take place, as if such things can happen in a whim, with no serious sacrifices and millions of lives at stake.”

   Who says I’m sitting comfortably in the West?

   And when did I ever say there wouldn’t be sacrifices? If by sacrifices you mean dead people, then yes, there will be dead people if Iranians protest en masse against the regime every Friday.

   “Minorities like Kurds whose plight was rarely heard are increasingly becoming a powerful voice of digital media in the Middle East thanks to their blogs, independent news sites and videos.”

   Habibti, I’ve hung out with the Kurds and if it wasn’t for lots of killing the people who tried to oppress them, few of those Kurds would be alive to type.

   “who has contributed absolutely nothing but a few pessimistic remarks while undermining the efforts of people who have died or have sacrificed their freedom for the sake of positive social change”

   What have you sacrificed for freedom in Iran, or Bahrain, or wherever? How many of your friends have died for freedom in the middle east?

   “In any case, I find your comments to be nothing but infuriatingly ill-informed, simplistic, and almost impossible to tolerate. Your conclusion alone speaks volumes of your educational level and lack of standards.”

   I’m happy you can’t tolerate me and that you must resort to personal insults to silence me…I think you know, deep down, that what I said is true. Word of advice though habibti, we’re on the same team. Turn the guns on the enemy.

   I’m waiting to see you turn the blogosphere into a protest for the next four weeks. Can’t do it? Surprise surprise.

10. Matthew | September 2nd, 2008 at 4:13 am

    “The internet (and a MySpace page!) resulted in influential people taking enough actions for a young lady to be saved from HANGING…“but how many Iranians were reading that MySpace page?” Obviously - enough were. A young girl was saved due to the activism on her behalf on millions of blogs worldwide which also inspired rallies, videos, music, et al…You do not have to have an internet connection to know what bloggers are talking about.”

    “We use blogs in the Middle East to organize on-the-ground grassroot activism and real events that are often written about in newspapers…I used a blog to organize simultaneous rallies in over 30 cities around the world, in 4 different continents, 3 times in one year…We used a blog to achieve this, nothing else.”

    I’m really excited to see what you can put together there, blogette. Or will Friday be another quiet Friday? You know, the police will have been fasting for a week and might not be as energetic as they usually are.

11. Roman Kalik | September 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 am

    Thank you for posting this video, Kaman. It is indeed an incredible work, and brings brings its message in a refreshing, and astute, manner.

12. Matthew | September 5th, 2008 at 1:53 am

    Ahhhhh, another quiet Friday morning in the Middle East. No riots, no protests, no change.

13. Nim | September 6th, 2008 at 9:29 am

    Hei Arash,

    I start blogging in english and linked you. I think Iranian english writers are increasing and you may have to start a project to abalyse them too!

    Kamangir: Welcome Nima Jan! :) Chakeirm.

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