Prize Money

I don’t know about you, but my head is spinning with the revelations coming out of Iran. It seems that the reigning Ayatollahs are determined to surpass George Bush and Dick Cheney for the torturer of the decade award. In a post-election frenzy they have arbitrarily arrested, beaten, imprisoned, raped (boys too) and murdered their own youth! Well-done Muslims. Obama is closing GITMO and they are taking center stage with Evin, Kahrizak, Ghamar and others (read the http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1399 story about them).

You would not know anything is amiss if you read the Saudi press, nary a word about the brutality next door. The big news in Ridiya is the sex talk show that was broadcasted. Seems the broadcaster just lost their license and charges are being filed against the interviewee. Imagine the media play if it were Arabs being raped and tortured by the west. Well actually, we know the play that got it, it was called Abu Ghraib and the revelations from that prison reverberated throughout the world for a long, long time. The Iranians, however, seem determined to top that story.

-Evin Prison

But what of the western press, European and American social conscious liberals? Will the west end theaters be filled with Rachel Corrie/ Cheryl Churchill plays and playlettes about the slaughtered Iranian protesters? Will the “savage rapes” that have destroyed the genitals of the captured Iranian woman be dramatized at Circle in the Square? Can the Israelis hide in the shadow of Maziar Bahari, the imprisoned Newsweek reporter? I see full-page ads signed by hundreds of important intellectuals have been taken out on his behalf. Do they think the Iranian Shia Mullahs care about world opinion in the same way Tel Aviv does?

Tehran’s war of savagery against its own people is the defining moment for intellectual honesty about the Mideast. Hypocrisy and diversion so long the tools of the established state regimes have been blown away by the repression in Iran. The impressive list of supporters to free Bahari come from all over the world, but the one striking observation is that there are Israeli and Arab signers. Mullah Khomeini has managed to bring Israeli intellectuals A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman and Abdul Bari Atwan from AL-Quds as well as Noam Chomsky. Turkey, Sudan, Lebanon, Pakistan and even Qatar all have signers. Even Palestine added a few voices to the plea to free Bahari.

As we have said before, Arab youths were sold and the Islam was the solution package. Now it can be seen that Islam is the problem. The religious mullahs are as corrupt, repressive and brutal as any of the secular leaders they have replaced. Instead of fighting to preserve their royal yachts and harems of harlots, today’s Muslim leaders are fighting to preserve their unique brand of theocracy. The Iranian revolution of 1979 has come full circle and bitten its tail. It is chewing on its own people and that is going to be hard to swallow.

-Makes Cheney look good

Right now I sense there is a quiet shock taking place in the Arab world. The students in universities across the Arab lands can see themselves in the mirror of these brutalized Iranian students. Nothing the Israelis ever did to their Palestinian prisoners remotely approached the barbarity the Iranians have shown their own. Palestinian prisoners are accounted for, can be visited by international parties and regularly correspond with their families. The Palestinians love to hurl crazy accusations against the Israelis (radioactive bullets), but they have never accused the Israelis of raping their prisoners. The determination of the Iranians to stamp out every and all protests is the wake up call to the regions’ pro-Islamists. The old tools of the secular authorities (i.e. roundups and mass jailings) look benign by comparison.

What I am hoping for now is two fold. One, a profound and deep reevaluation in the Muslim world about mixing religion and power. It’s very likely that the now youthful streets will see fundamental political Islam for what it is: a cover for more repression and unchecked authoritiarism. Nostalgia for the secular modern thinking Shah could creep back into Iranian life the way nostalgia for communism has crept back into Russia after the perceived failure of capitalism.

Secondly, I am also hoping for a reevaluation of the devil Israel. The portrayal of Israel as a crusher of human rights and as a denier of human rights never could survive close scrutiny, but that has not stopped western intellectuals from spotlighting and demonizing Israel. This should abate as it gives cover to the real repressors: Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran…the list is endless.

Towards the end of aiding the Iranian youth seeking freedom and putting the murderous raping mullahs in the international hot seat, WWJJ is offering a playwriting/documentary/filmmaking prize of $1,000.00 (one thousand) to the first play or film about the Iranian prison torture taking place in the Evin, Kahrizak or other Iranian prison. Come on creatives, you did a flood of Gaza, West Bank and Abu Ghraib plays and movies. It is time for a little equal creative time.

The play must be mounted in a legitimate theater anywhere in the world and the film must be distributed by a legitimate source. The sole discretion to award the prize will be made by WWJJ. Get out your keyboards and cameras and help your fellow brave Iranians.