PrintDecember 28, 2006
Iran's So-called Elections
For one moment, the world's focus on Iran shifted from its regime's nuclear program to what many still naively call "elections".
Once again, the business-hungry European nations have applauded the 'victory' of the self-proclaimed 'reformists' in the local council elections. The mainstream media somehow echoed the Old Continent by writing about a "larger then expect turnout in Iran's partial elections". Nothing could be further from reality than such claims, which are part of an overall effort made by the Islamic Republic regime to portray itself as a democratically-elected system in the eyes of the unethical foreign press and commercial partners in Europe and Japan.
Iran is ruled since twenty-seven years by a theocratic dictatorship whose Islamist ideology is based on taqiya, the permitted deceiptof non-Muslims through lies and propaganda. The Mullahcracy realized that such a tactic works well. So, we happen to read reports describing that system of governance as made up with a governing coalition on the one side and a 'reformist opposition' on the other, both of which challenge one another through a masquerade labeled as "elections".
Unlike what the echoers of the Islamic Republic want us to believe, the majority of Iranians stayed away from the ballot boxes. The Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) writes that
"the number of declared ballot boxes were reduced, and the polling time had to be extended in order to show better scenes to some of the foreign reporters covering the issue."
The Iranian student opposition group adds that
"thousands of Islamist militiamen, Islamist foreigners residing in Iran, forced governmental employees and even prisoners were mobilized, days before, in order to try to reduce the impact of what was already known as going to be a shameful result".
The Islamic Republic is a system that made state-sponsored terrorism at home and abroad its main mission. Its theological basis makes it un-reformable from within. But it is not so stupid not to realize that there exists a large part of the Western world and public opinion willing to fall into its trap by believing in the possibility of reform or - worse - in the existance of an opposition within the very same theocratic system.
Unfortunately, the media coverage of the sham elections in Iran was disastrous, showing a lack of fairness and objectivity, let alone ethics. To add insult to injury, the European powers applauded the so-called victory of the powerful ex-president Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was shamefully described as "moderate". They seem to forget that he had signed the Supreme Leader's order to hunt and later kill tens of Iranian dissidents in Europe. This "moderate" was also one of the masterminds of the 1993 bombings of the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center, whose role in the atrocity led Argentine judge to issue an arrest warrant against him and other involved. And yet, all that is of no interest to the commercial partners of the Islamic Republic, which are unwilling to sacrifice their lucrative deals in favor of a policy based on ethics and putting human rights before other issues.
There is little hope to see a change in all this. The Iranian people know that it will be them who will ultimately oust the hated theocratic tyranny.
Time will say if the Western world will recognize its many mistakes and ingenuities. But don't hold your breath.
Stefania Lapenna is an Italian freelance writer and blogger living in Sardinia, Italy. She has been published in the Jerusalem Post, l'Opinione, Il Foglio and Ragion Politica (Italy). She is currently a contributor to TCS Daily, American Thinker and guest columnist at Town Hall. She blogs at Free Thoughts
