Alireza Beheshti: The Unwise Take Command

A note from the editor of Kalameh-ye-Sabz (The Green Word), Mirhossein Mousavi’s campaign publication:

Translated by: Rahavard




Ghalam – I was in detention when one of the interrogators asked me a question; in his response I had to name the Supreme Leader. Although I had taken the usual measures of courtesy, two of those people became seriously upset. They claimed that my mouth was filthy and that I should not have spelled out his name.

Some unreasonable people have taken the command. I do not offend the dignified people whose companionship used to be my pride. However, I feel that these days whoever from the opposite front says anything reasonable he is accused of infidelity. The unreasonable people are eliminating the wisdom. It has been two months. Which one of the policies they had suggested resulted in anything other than worsening the situation? However, they are still in command. The probably justify their failures by saying that if they had not adopted such policies the situation would have been even worse today…

In The Name of God, The Compassionate and The Merciful,

I was in detention when one of the interrogators asked me a question; in his response I had to name the Supreme Leader. Although I had taken the usual measures of courtesy, two of those people became seriously upset. They claimed that my mouth was filthy and that I should have not spelled out his name. Then they cursed me with words that would truly pollute their own mouths. They said that if the Supreme Leader ordered …. I am so sorry, I cannot repeat those vulgar words to show their impression of the Supreme Leader; an impression very far from the reality. I deny that the beholders of such impressions have ever had a taste of reason. However, they have the command these days; the same people who offend the wife of the martyred war commander in their morning lineup.

The building of Kalameh-ye-Sabz newspaper used to be the office of council for restoring the works of Martyr Beheshti and his beloved son had gathered a complete collection of his personal books including early Revolution charters of Islamic and anti-revolutionary forces both. When it was decided to relocate to a new neighborhood, due to shortage of space some of these books were left behind in the newspaper [office] and they were found by the security forces during their invasion [of the office]. One of the two people whom I mentioned above explained to me during our conversation that they had found books by Monafeghin [The Hypocrites: nickname given by the Islamic Republic regime to the “People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran”, an armed organization in exile in Iraq who has conducted several armed attacks against Iran] and this is the proof of our newspaper’s affiliation with this organization. He said that he had made footage from these books which he would broadcast in the state TV to shame us. Later I heard that Khabar Channel [the news channel of the state TV] had broadcast this footage with the same captions. I wanted to ask him not to do so. I wanted to tell him that many of the young people do not know Monafeghin and are not acquainted with their nefarious acts. Those who know them will never believe that Martyr Beheshti’s son would be affiliated with the murderers of his own father, but ones who have not read about their dishonorable records, or have only heard about them through the official media may consider them [Monafeghin] the innocent victims of your propaganda, just like Mousavi, and this may purify their ugly face. I would like to say: “don’t be unreasonable and don’t make a feast for Monafeghin out of the current incidents.”

Even until now I still review that scene in my mind sometimes and I wish I could tell them this or that, including asking the question that how they were planning to administer the country and pass this crisis with this [low] level of wisdom and intellect.

The command is taken by such people these days. Do not take the show of punishing the prison guards too seriously. It is very obvious that the same people are directing that [show] – since it is directed so poorly. If they are telling the truth why don’t they name one of the executioners in Kahrizak [the horrifying detention center in which many post-election protesters were beaten to death or severely injured, finally closed by the order of the supreme leader due to “low standards”] so that his children spit on his face and when later on he is appointed as the intelligence commander of such and such [military] force people identify him and object. They boo their own opponents attending court in pajamas, but they don’t even introduce the foes of the people.

These days the command is taken by the unreasonable people, more than ever. They still claim that Rajavi [head of Monafeghin] is backing Mousavi. So what?!! On one hand, according to you, five groups are tasked to assassinate Mousave, of which you have arrested four. Why has he [Rajavi] done so? Because he knows that it is Mousavi who does not let the country fall into chaos in favor of Monafeghin. On the other hand, according to you again, he has backed him up to take the most advantage of your stupidity. [He backs Mousavi] to pretend that he is the friend of beaten and offended youth and then make a pitfall for them. What do you do to prevent him? You broadcast his message even to those who haven’t heard it. I should add that, according to a friend who has searched Monafeghin’s websites, there is no news of Rajavi backing Mousavi and the only source of this news is the Islamic Republic News Agency.

Is there even a tidbit of wisdom in this? They only think about passing today to tomorrow, even if it requires sacrificing the whole regime and the Revolution.
Some unreasonable people have taken the command. I do not offend the dignified people whose companionship used to be my pride. However, I feel that these days whoever from the opposite front says anything reasonable is accused of infidelity. The unreasonable people are eliminating reason from the scene. It has been two months. Which one of the policies they had suggested resulted in anything other than worsening the situation? However, they are still in command. The probably justify their failures by saying that if they had not adopted such policies the situation would have been even worse today.

Of course if we were at war with them we would have welcomed such a disaster; but we are not. The truth is that most of the great achievements by people during the past two months have been the result of mistakes made by the other side. However, we do not welcome this magnitude of fault, because we are worried for its consequences in the country. Should we let the country become the prey of Monafeghin? Should we wait until the foreigners trust people for getting the actual news? Should we let the foreign governments take advantage of their mistakes in the negotiations? Or ignore peoples’ demand and leave them alone until they ignore everything?

A little bit of wisdom will prevent tons of suffering.

If you want to suspect, suspect those who are extremists. [A saying from Quran] “Do not obey those whom we have made ignorant of our [God’s] remembrance and those who follow their lust and are extremists.” Those are the same people who take the bribe money of four or six or seven million Toomans [Iranian unofficial currency – each million Tooman roughly equals one thousand dollars] to make contact between people and their children [in detention]; this is how opportunist and greedy they are. If you do not believe me believe Dr. Rouh-al-Amini’s word [father of one of the martyrs in Kahrizak – A University of Tehran professor, advisor to the health minister and head of the Pastor Institute as well as a political activist advising Mohsen Rezaee, one of the candidates of the current presidential election]. For their own future benefits they have no way other than making you suspicious of loyalty of those who have the wisdom to take office.
And the world is like a dream; it happens the same way that we interpret it, especially if we interpret it in negatively. If today I run into my neighbor in the stairways and he does not say hi to me I can interpret it as his being busy and ignore it or I can interpret it as being rude and base my future actions on this judgment and truly lead him to rudeness; let’s not interpret friends’ goodwill as their unfaithfulness.