By Kathleen
"The creation of the spiritual artist is the expression of love."
Painting by Vivi Savitri
As our eyes move slowly away from Egypt our gaze becomes fixed on Iran. Undeterred by a ban on demonstrations by the Iranian government, Iranian protesters, encouraged by the infant success of similar demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia, are engaged in brutal skirmishes with the Iran state police. The essence of the protesters demands is the same -- the people of Iran want more say in who governs them. The New York Times reports that in an effort to disperse the protesters, the Iranian police used vicious methods such as firing tear gas into the crowds and beating them. The government news agency Fars claims that three people are reported to have been seriously injured, one person killed and countless people arrested over the day.
The following short amateur video uncovers some of the confusion that the demonstrations caused yesterday. Reports vary regarding the numbers of people taking part in the protests. Some say tens of thousands, some thousands and some say hundreds.
A few weeks ago Sarah Palin clumsily inserted herself into the then delicate political discourse regarding Egypt's future when she complained that Obama was not competent in his handling of the situation there. The implication of her assertion was that the Egyptian protestors were being controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and that as such the revolution there should not be supported. She questioned:
"Is it going to be the Muslim Brotherhood? We should not stand for that, or with that, or by that. Any radical Islamists. No, that is not who we should be supporting and standing by ... we need to find out who was behind all of the turmoil and the revolt and the protests so that good decisions can be made in terms of who we will stand by and support."
In doing so Palin unremittingly set herself aside from the legitimacy of the Egyptian people's claim to democracy and who it is that they wish to represent them.
On the 11th February with the full knowledge that the Iranian opposition party, led by Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, had already called for a day of protests in favour of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Palin twittered from her Blackberry:
Media:ask "Will Obama Admin exert as much 'constructive'
pressure on Iranian govt to change and allow freedom ~ as
they just did for Egypt?"
It appears that Palin apologists consider this twitter as proof that she is an excellent policy advisor who has the full attention of President Obama. According to Devonia Smith, President Obama was responding to Palin's twitter when he announced that Iran should allow its people to demonstrate. Smith seems to imply that President Obama had not known of the warnings given by the Iranian government to the Iranian opposition party that they should abandon their planned protest. That he was responding to Palin's taunting and not Ahmadinejad's government.
Whatever we may think about the wisdom of such claims it is evident that Palin supports the right of the Iranian people to protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because she does not believe that he is a legitimate ruler. Palin would like to see a form of democracy in Iran that supports a United States world view. She is no more interested in the will of the people of Iran than she was interested in the will of the people of Egypt. Just one more reason why she MUST never be President of the United States.
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