Some reflections on the protests in Iran, and exploring the reasons why the usual activists, mainstream media, and others are disturbingly silent despite a nation's desire to be free.
Recent reports saying the regime has killed 12000 people only in 2 days when they took to the streets following the crown prince’s call. The news has paralysed the Iranian diaspora with shock.
yes, beyond distressing and they won't stop there. If these protests fail, then I fear the reprisals will add a fresh level of brutality to the regime's record.
Nice thoughts Simon. You are spot on re the reaction from the left. They’d rather die as hypocrites than concede that Western/Judeo-Christian conservatism has once again proven to be a better worldview to live under & that the entire Derrida style deconstruction of the same in our own societies has been a total fucking disaster.
There is much here with which I agree, but I'm less convinced that the present Iranian régime is representative of Islam. Firstly, Shi'a Islam is very different from Sunni. Secondly. even within Shi'a Islam, the doctrine that allows clerics to exercise political power is, as I understand it, a recent imvention, used to justfy the 1979 revolution. Historically, Islamic régimes have often (not always!) been more tolerant. (That's what allowed those Persian philosophers to flourish!)
I was careful not to say it was 'representative', but it is Islam. As you rightly note, there are different traditions, have behaved in different ways over history and so on. But the point remains - it is Islam (or draws its theological underpinnings from it).
Yes, and the Orange Parade marches in Belfast are Christianity (or draw their inspiration from Christianity). Does this mean we ought to worry about Christianity and the threat it poses to civil society?
Thanks for this thought and one further below. I think we are seeing something that is not readily comparable, nor should there be attempts to minimise what is happening by conflating circumstances. Whether the Orange Order or the IRA, this does not consequently make a blanket statement about Christianity. It does make a statement about Irish politics and important to note too, that most Christian leaders spoke against what was happening. As for the attacks on abortion clinics, again, this is something condemned by Christian leaders nor has any underpinnings in Christian tradition. Those committing the murder might claim a faith foundation, but this is readily denied and Christian leaders speak out. This is not the same as what we are seeing in Iran and, sadly, many other places in the world including Australia. Many abhor what is happening including many Muslims but you cannot escape the facts that the actions are faith driven and supported by too many clerics/leaders etc As I wrote, it is part of Islam which also goes onto explain the scale - something like 46,000 attacks since 9/11 alone. Your examples are interesting but not part of Christianity.
Yes, but of course Muslims who disagree with terrorist actions (surely the vast majority of Muslims) would argue in the same way as you have about Christianity. Just as you say that terrorist actions in the name of Christianity have no basis in Christian tradition and are more political than religious, they would say that terrorist actions in the name of Islam have no basis in Muslim tradition and are more political than religious. They are, they will say, "not part of Islam." But these are apologetic moves on both sides. Both traditions are sufficiently diverse that members can find pretexts in Sacred Scripture (and other traditions) for both violent and peaceful actions. (Matt 10:34, perhaps? "Do not think I have come to bring peace to the world ...") People will find what they want to find. (The devil can cite Scripture too, and often does.) As I have sometimes said to my students, "Do not ask what their Scriptures say. Ask into whose hands they have fallen."
Thanks for the comments and the last quote is very good. However, I think trying to minimise and obfuscate the reality of Islamic terrorism - be it Iran, Australia, or around the world - by trying to create equivalences is misguided and not helpful. I also takes a lot of mental acrobatics to even consider Matt 10.34 a pretext for violence but again, you are deliberately trying to create equivalences that are simply not there. You might consider what Jesus said to Peter when he cut the ear off the slave, and then compare to the Quran's frequent and particular calls to violence (not just who, but how). Finally, while many Muslims disagree with the likes of the Iranian regime or various terrorist actions, this is not the same as saying it is not part of Islam. Finally, we do not know the motivations of the Bondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed; he has not expressed any religious motivation but I suspect you are adding in - as many are attempting - to deflect the very real, specific, violent and religious motivations of the two killers. You have also forgotten to mention the two Australian Jews - Boris and Sofia - who were first to try intercepting the Islamic terrorists (not because of their religion, for as like Ahmed it is what humanity dictates) but who were sadly executed when their intervention failed ... and interestingly, despite all the video footage of them, no one seems to talk about them. One must wonder why ...
Those men then use religion to become wealthy and control the masses. e.g.
"King Henry VIII started the Protestant Reformation in England by breaking away from the Catholic Church and declaring himself the head of the Church of England in 1534. This was primarily motivated by his desire to annul his marriage and gain control over church wealth and authority."
And from "peaceful" God himself....
Joshua 10:19
but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand
Yup, as soon as you can point out the last time a Christian drove his car into a Christmas Market, or shot a bunch of people at the beach, or flew their plane into a skyscraper. Point being, most, by far, terrorist actions are done in the name of Islam. There’s a gulf between the ideology of Islam & Christianity.
And not sure about your ‘tolerant’ Islam concept. 56 countries now, started with a lone pedophile in 622, and not sure his empire spread was done very nicely…. People bang on that Islam is a religion of peace, yet nobody wants to live under it. Funny.
I just thought Simon (as someone who shares my Irish Catholic background) might appreciate my reference to the Orange Order. Yes, you're right: the most serious terrorist threats at present do seem to come from Muslim extremists, and I don't want to minimize this. But when Christians engage in terrorist acts -- one thinks, for examples, of attacks on abortion clinics in the USA -- we don't use this as an reason to suggest that Christianity is a violent religion. (Or if some people do, they shouldn't.) Islam, like Christianity, is a collection of often competing traditions of thought and practice, some of which can lead to violence. But there are very different understandings of Islam out there, some of which advocate peaceful co-existence. Ahmed al-Ahmed is, by all accounts, a devout Muslim too, who believed it was his religious duty to try to stop the gunmen in Sydney. I understand he is currently visiting the USA with a conservative rabbi. Al-hamdu li'Llah (thank God), as a Muslim might say!
I’ll concede that there are plenty of nice, peaceful Muslims out there. (Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country & they’re culturally pretty nice folk.). But Islam is not a religion of peace per se. The Quran & Hadiths are pretty clear on what should happen to Jews & Infidels. I understand you are trying to see the good in things, that’s noble, but Islam lacks all the things Judaism & Christianity promote that make them genuinely positive & empowering religions. (Separation of Church & State, love for one’s enemies, stewardship of the Creation, emancipation of women etc etc). Islam, to cite Douglas Murray, is fundamentally a death cult.
Once again a nz political commentator "mistakes" communism and or religion as a conviction rather than the reality.... fraud.
There are reports of the mullahs shifting billions out of iran.
How do religious leaders and supposed communists like ardern emass fortunes (whilst in office) when their beliefs are apperantly in solidarity with the masses?
And dont think centre right politicians are any different. They make their fraudulant money from wars and illegal cartels.
Simon. I don't remember you speaking out about or doing anything about the predominantly Australian owned, nz: banking, grocery, energy, and insurance cartels?
You know.... the cartels causing kiwis life ruining cost of living crisis and suppressing the productivity kiwis need to make a decent living.
I think to suggest your broad concept of fraud is the answer to every political action is incorrect; simplistic in fact. As for even suggesting a congruence between what's happening in Iran and NZ's grocery system, well, that's just bizarre.
Bizarre aye? Why then after decades of charging taxpayers for market studies which identify and recommend the policing of nz cartels; have successive governments done nothing?
It is no surprise Frontera sold their income and high wage generating businesses. The cartels make running a business in nz uneconomic.
The nz banking cartel stole $8b excess profits for the aussies this year.
Imagine how many highly productive businesses could have been created in nz with $8b.
And how many high tech and high income businesses have accepted Luxons invitation to.move to nz?
Ill leave the final word to your parliamentary colleague
""Commerce Minister Paul Goldsmith has backed down on criminalising hard-core cartel behaviour after strong opposition from businesses claiming it would have a chilling effect on the market,'
If kiwis took to the streets protesting the imposition you outline, and our Govt directed the military and police to gun down protesters/throw them in prison and within 2 days sentence them to death ... then your comparison to the current Iran uprising & plight would be justified.
Everyone had a bach when i was a kid, now they're lucky to own a home
Living standards are dropping in nz.
Kiwis are waiting until they're well into their 30s before having less children because they can't afford them.
Kiwis houses and sections keeping getting smaller and smaller whilst doubling in price every 7 years, while costs of ownership triple.
While the aussie banks, insurance companies, supermarkets, and energy companies make ever expanding record profit margins in nz; much greater than the margins they make in Australia.
And nz politicians, who reached the dizzy heights of fish and chip wrapper pre politics, mysteriously disappear off to 4 star USA retirements after only 5 years in power.
I of course am not referring to the sickening violence part of your post nor comparing kiwis plight with Iranians disgusting treatment and turmoil.
But if kiwis standards of living keep going down hill, history shows us they will resort to violence.
Started in the 80s with the Rogernomics experiment.
If we want to make improvements, we need to lift productivity by investing in innovation.
Purhaps our Govt should be focusing spending to support innovation and productivity instead of all committing money to WT BS/NGO, Paris accords, UN, WEF type grifting glory projects.
Imagine how.much productivity improving machinery the nz govereent and businesses could ibuy if the government outlawed and recovered the $8b excess profits the aussie banks steal off us and whisk off to Australia every year.
The next question is why havent the nz government already solved the cartel.problem? Luxon promised he would?
Hi Simon. Great article. I can only hope that all goes well for the Iranian people and a reasonably clean transition to a democratic society prevails.
I wonder how much influence Qatari money is having on Western elite silence?
Good question and one I don't know, but I suspect more to do with the 'values' drivers I've mentioned than money.
Recent reports saying the regime has killed 12000 people only in 2 days when they took to the streets following the crown prince’s call. The news has paralysed the Iranian diaspora with shock.
yes, beyond distressing and they won't stop there. If these protests fail, then I fear the reprisals will add a fresh level of brutality to the regime's record.
Thanks Simon. detailed and informative article. I hope it helps educate people about Persia and fill the deliberate vacuum made by the media
These evil regimes will cling on to the bitter end unfortunately. Let's hope the mullahs get their just desserts sooner rather later.
Thank you Simon. Very insightful article. Needed.
I shared to Facebook.
Nice thoughts Simon. You are spot on re the reaction from the left. They’d rather die as hypocrites than concede that Western/Judeo-Christian conservatism has once again proven to be a better worldview to live under & that the entire Derrida style deconstruction of the same in our own societies has been a total fucking disaster.
The "progressive" left and Islam are strange bedfellows, united only by their loathing of the West.
Exactly.
There is much here with which I agree, but I'm less convinced that the present Iranian régime is representative of Islam. Firstly, Shi'a Islam is very different from Sunni. Secondly. even within Shi'a Islam, the doctrine that allows clerics to exercise political power is, as I understand it, a recent imvention, used to justfy the 1979 revolution. Historically, Islamic régimes have often (not always!) been more tolerant. (That's what allowed those Persian philosophers to flourish!)
I was careful not to say it was 'representative', but it is Islam. As you rightly note, there are different traditions, have behaved in different ways over history and so on. But the point remains - it is Islam (or draws its theological underpinnings from it).
Yes, and the Orange Parade marches in Belfast are Christianity (or draw their inspiration from Christianity). Does this mean we ought to worry about Christianity and the threat it poses to civil society?
Thanks for this thought and one further below. I think we are seeing something that is not readily comparable, nor should there be attempts to minimise what is happening by conflating circumstances. Whether the Orange Order or the IRA, this does not consequently make a blanket statement about Christianity. It does make a statement about Irish politics and important to note too, that most Christian leaders spoke against what was happening. As for the attacks on abortion clinics, again, this is something condemned by Christian leaders nor has any underpinnings in Christian tradition. Those committing the murder might claim a faith foundation, but this is readily denied and Christian leaders speak out. This is not the same as what we are seeing in Iran and, sadly, many other places in the world including Australia. Many abhor what is happening including many Muslims but you cannot escape the facts that the actions are faith driven and supported by too many clerics/leaders etc As I wrote, it is part of Islam which also goes onto explain the scale - something like 46,000 attacks since 9/11 alone. Your examples are interesting but not part of Christianity.
Yes, but of course Muslims who disagree with terrorist actions (surely the vast majority of Muslims) would argue in the same way as you have about Christianity. Just as you say that terrorist actions in the name of Christianity have no basis in Christian tradition and are more political than religious, they would say that terrorist actions in the name of Islam have no basis in Muslim tradition and are more political than religious. They are, they will say, "not part of Islam." But these are apologetic moves on both sides. Both traditions are sufficiently diverse that members can find pretexts in Sacred Scripture (and other traditions) for both violent and peaceful actions. (Matt 10:34, perhaps? "Do not think I have come to bring peace to the world ...") People will find what they want to find. (The devil can cite Scripture too, and often does.) As I have sometimes said to my students, "Do not ask what their Scriptures say. Ask into whose hands they have fallen."
Thanks for the comments and the last quote is very good. However, I think trying to minimise and obfuscate the reality of Islamic terrorism - be it Iran, Australia, or around the world - by trying to create equivalences is misguided and not helpful. I also takes a lot of mental acrobatics to even consider Matt 10.34 a pretext for violence but again, you are deliberately trying to create equivalences that are simply not there. You might consider what Jesus said to Peter when he cut the ear off the slave, and then compare to the Quran's frequent and particular calls to violence (not just who, but how). Finally, while many Muslims disagree with the likes of the Iranian regime or various terrorist actions, this is not the same as saying it is not part of Islam. Finally, we do not know the motivations of the Bondi hero Ahmed al-Ahmed; he has not expressed any religious motivation but I suspect you are adding in - as many are attempting - to deflect the very real, specific, violent and religious motivations of the two killers. You have also forgotten to mention the two Australian Jews - Boris and Sofia - who were first to try intercepting the Islamic terrorists (not because of their religion, for as like Ahmed it is what humanity dictates) but who were sadly executed when their intervention failed ... and interestingly, despite all the video footage of them, no one seems to talk about them. One must wonder why ...
All religions are based on books written by men.
Those men then use religion to become wealthy and control the masses. e.g.
"King Henry VIII started the Protestant Reformation in England by breaking away from the Catholic Church and declaring himself the head of the Church of England in 1534. This was primarily motivated by his desire to annul his marriage and gain control over church wealth and authority."
And from "peaceful" God himself....
Joshua 10:19
but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand
Yup, as soon as you can point out the last time a Christian drove his car into a Christmas Market, or shot a bunch of people at the beach, or flew their plane into a skyscraper. Point being, most, by far, terrorist actions are done in the name of Islam. There’s a gulf between the ideology of Islam & Christianity.
And not sure about your ‘tolerant’ Islam concept. 56 countries now, started with a lone pedophile in 622, and not sure his empire spread was done very nicely…. People bang on that Islam is a religion of peace, yet nobody wants to live under it. Funny.
I just thought Simon (as someone who shares my Irish Catholic background) might appreciate my reference to the Orange Order. Yes, you're right: the most serious terrorist threats at present do seem to come from Muslim extremists, and I don't want to minimize this. But when Christians engage in terrorist acts -- one thinks, for examples, of attacks on abortion clinics in the USA -- we don't use this as an reason to suggest that Christianity is a violent religion. (Or if some people do, they shouldn't.) Islam, like Christianity, is a collection of often competing traditions of thought and practice, some of which can lead to violence. But there are very different understandings of Islam out there, some of which advocate peaceful co-existence. Ahmed al-Ahmed is, by all accounts, a devout Muslim too, who believed it was his religious duty to try to stop the gunmen in Sydney. I understand he is currently visiting the USA with a conservative rabbi. Al-hamdu li'Llah (thank God), as a Muslim might say!
I’ll concede that there are plenty of nice, peaceful Muslims out there. (Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country & they’re culturally pretty nice folk.). But Islam is not a religion of peace per se. The Quran & Hadiths are pretty clear on what should happen to Jews & Infidels. I understand you are trying to see the good in things, that’s noble, but Islam lacks all the things Judaism & Christianity promote that make them genuinely positive & empowering religions. (Separation of Church & State, love for one’s enemies, stewardship of the Creation, emancipation of women etc etc). Islam, to cite Douglas Murray, is fundamentally a death cult.
Once again a nz political commentator "mistakes" communism and or religion as a conviction rather than the reality.... fraud.
There are reports of the mullahs shifting billions out of iran.
How do religious leaders and supposed communists like ardern emass fortunes (whilst in office) when their beliefs are apperantly in solidarity with the masses?
And dont think centre right politicians are any different. They make their fraudulant money from wars and illegal cartels.
Simon. I don't remember you speaking out about or doing anything about the predominantly Australian owned, nz: banking, grocery, energy, and insurance cartels?
You know.... the cartels causing kiwis life ruining cost of living crisis and suppressing the productivity kiwis need to make a decent living.
I think to suggest your broad concept of fraud is the answer to every political action is incorrect; simplistic in fact. As for even suggesting a congruence between what's happening in Iran and NZ's grocery system, well, that's just bizarre.
Bizarre aye? Why then after decades of charging taxpayers for market studies which identify and recommend the policing of nz cartels; have successive governments done nothing?
It is no surprise Frontera sold their income and high wage generating businesses. The cartels make running a business in nz uneconomic.
The nz banking cartel stole $8b excess profits for the aussies this year.
Imagine how many highly productive businesses could have been created in nz with $8b.
And how many high tech and high income businesses have accepted Luxons invitation to.move to nz?
Ill leave the final word to your parliamentary colleague
""Commerce Minister Paul Goldsmith has backed down on criminalising hard-core cartel behaviour after strong opposition from businesses claiming it would have a chilling effect on the market,'
Really?
If kiwis took to the streets protesting the imposition you outline, and our Govt directed the military and police to gun down protesters/throw them in prison and within 2 days sentence them to death ... then your comparison to the current Iran uprising & plight would be justified.
Here's hoping kiwis rise up.
Everyone had a bach when i was a kid, now they're lucky to own a home
Living standards are dropping in nz.
Kiwis are waiting until they're well into their 30s before having less children because they can't afford them.
Kiwis houses and sections keeping getting smaller and smaller whilst doubling in price every 7 years, while costs of ownership triple.
While the aussie banks, insurance companies, supermarkets, and energy companies make ever expanding record profit margins in nz; much greater than the margins they make in Australia.
And nz politicians, who reached the dizzy heights of fish and chip wrapper pre politics, mysteriously disappear off to 4 star USA retirements after only 5 years in power.
I of course am not referring to the sickening violence part of your post nor comparing kiwis plight with Iranians disgusting treatment and turmoil.
But if kiwis standards of living keep going down hill, history shows us they will resort to violence.
Started in the 80s with the Rogernomics experiment.
If we want to make improvements, we need to lift productivity by investing in innovation.
Purhaps our Govt should be focusing spending to support innovation and productivity instead of all committing money to WT BS/NGO, Paris accords, UN, WEF type grifting glory projects.
I agree.
Imagine how.much productivity improving machinery the nz govereent and businesses could ibuy if the government outlawed and recovered the $8b excess profits the aussie banks steal off us and whisk off to Australia every year.
The next question is why havent the nz government already solved the cartel.problem? Luxon promised he would?
Ps. My heart goes out to the persian people. i hope they succeed soon!