An illustration devoted to Basij members

My Basiji brother, you are from the people and with the people

The illustration invites Basijis to talk to the people instead of beating them in the streets. Mirhossein Mousavi the leader of the opposition in his last declaration letter addressed Basijis to be concerned about the roots of the organization. He warns them to be aware of the government’s strategy to use them as a repression machine against people. The opposition blogers are now trying to start a dialouge with Basij members, hopefuly, to decrease their truculence. They believe that the big change occurs also by educating the people who are members of Basij organization and informing them about the way they are being used by the government. The opposition believs that to avoid violence, diologue should be substituted,  by people approaching the Basij members.

I suggest you to read this article on The New York Times to have deeper understanding about Basij. Also this page on Wikipedia provides some information about the organization and the roots.

Filed under: politics, Social networking, Stories, Basij, green movement, iran, Iran election, iran politics, iran reformists, iran students, mousavi

What did I get from Mousavi’s decleration #15

Mousavi is a respectful leader for the Iranian green movement. In his declarations he has played rolls as  an affiliative, pacesetter and coaching leader. Sometimes the declaration letters carry out the message “come with me”, others declare the message that “people come first”. He has also suggested people to try an approach. In his last declaration letter (number 15) I assume that it holds the message of “try this”. He directly talks with Basij members  and it seems that he suggests people the message “do as I do now”. He encourages people to start dialogue with Basijies.

چه کودتاگران بخواهند و چه نخواهند رییس جمهور این روزهای ایران میرحسین موسوی است. وقایع چند ماه اخیر در کنار همه تلخی ها فرصتی به مردم عطا کرده تا  میرحسین موسوی را  در قالب یک راهبر محک بزنند و بسنجند که رییس جمهور برگزیدشان چگونه مدیریست و در عمل چه می کند. جدای از کاراکتر موسوی و حرف ها و نظراتش، موسوی را راهبری  موفق برای جنبش مردمی می دانیم .سوال اینست که چرا موسوی رهبر خوبی است

پاسخ در روش رهبری است. اول باید تکلیفم را با واژه رهبری مشخص کنم چون هر بار از این کلمه استفاده می کنم به یاد رهبر معظم می افتم و تعریف ایشان از رهبری به صورت پارازیت به مغز من ارسال می شود! منظور از رهبری صدور فرمان و حکم به این و آن  و به خودی ها تن علیل را نشان دادن و به صورت مردم پنجه کشیدن نیست. منظور از رهبر، عضوی است از اعضای یک تیم که مسئولیتش وارد نشدن به جزئیات و هم باد کردن و هم جهت کردن فعالیت هایی است که دیگر اعضای گروه در حال انجام آن هستند. وظیفه رهبر کسب اطمینان از همسو بودن اعضای تیم در جهت هدف و  نقشه خوانی برای رسیدن به اهداف کوتاه و بلند مدت است. رهبر نماینده خدا نیست بلکه نماینده یک تیم یا ملت است برای انجام وظیفه ای مشخص

میرحسین تاکنون راهبری موفق بوده است چرا که در یک روش رهبری درجا نزده. گاهی که دیگرانٍ متخصص، وارد عمل شده اند او حمایت و دنباله روی کرده . پرگویی نکرده و در هر بیانیه هدفی را دنبال کرده. گاه آنجا که مردم رفته اند، رفته و گاه  گفته که بیایید و گاه گفته که این کار را امتحان کنید . از نظر من، این آخرین بیانیه جوری است که می شود استنباط کرد که می گوید که این کار را شما هم بکنید. لا اقل چهار روش راهبری را تا کنون از موسوی دیده ایم و این نکته مثبت موسوی در هدایت کردن تیم میلیونی اش است. نباید فراموش کرد که موسوی در راهبری این جنبش تنها نیست. حضور خاتمی و کروبی در تیم رهبری بی نهایت موثر است. ترکیب کاراکتر موسوی با کروبی ترکیبی است بسیار موفق.  کروبی شیخی است با روشهای سنتی اش در ایستادگی و بی پروایی و در پاسخ گویی. رفتنش به جاهایی که می بایست یکی برود و گفتن چیزهایی که یکنفر باید بزند این بار را از دوش موسوی برداشته و خطر به حاشیه کشیده شدن را از وی دور کرده. حضور خاتمی نیز به طور حتم تاثیر مهمی در هدایت جنبش داشته و دارد

بیانیه آخر موسوی این ایده را متبادر می کند که مبادا باید انرژی بیشتری برای برقرار کردن دیالوگ با آنطرف دعوا (بسیجیان) گذاشت. سخن گفتن او با بسیجیان زمانی تاثیر کلان خواهد داشت که همچون قبل با حمایت مردمی دنبال شود. شاید باید همه نامه بنویسیم و مکالمه ای بزرگ را کلید بزنیم با مردمی که روحشان را آگاهانه یا ناآگاهانه به شیطان فروخته اند

لینک های خواندنی: مردم را نترسانید – عطاالله مهاجرانی ،    مروري بر كارنامه بسيج در سي ساله گذشته – سپهر سعادت

Filed under: politics, Stories, affiliative leader, coaching leader, Iran election, iran reformists, iran stories, iran student movement, leadership, leadership styles, mousavi, pacesetting leader

His and Her vote

T-shirt design by NIMANY addressing the slogan of “where is my vote”. This slogan is now a symbol of Iran’s green movement and points to the fact that the government have stolen the votes of people in the fraud election.

Filed under: design, politics, behnood, fashion design, finger print, Iran election, nimany

Customizing the democracy

Regardless of how long it takes, these days, Iranians have started building up a new form of government. Iranian people are looking for equity and freedom. I can not convince my self that this movement is necessarily heading toward democracy. Democracy includes impartial justice and freedom and should be studied in the context of public virtues. Some doubt that “democracy” yet fits Iranian society.I  assume that the process of choosing a government, by people, should first meet the concerns of Iranians due to their experiences and expectations. Secondly, meets emerging social trends and finally, should be a technology-based process according to the recently exhibited capabilities of the society.

The term “democracy” with all of its fabulous trends and advantages seems more like a brand to me. Once it starts exporting itself to other countries huge advertising campaigns surround it. Commercialized often as a product of western intellectuality while, supplying the package, knowledge of eastern cultures has not grown as fast as the demands do. I adore the idea and I agree with the fact that it is functioning where it has been accepted. By the way,  I am firmly of the belief that it will hardly fit within the cultural frameworks of eastern societies while the commercial aspect is so lustrous and provocative. Political democracy, as a process of choosing government by people is associated with other social and public virtues. As long as the associating elements do not match other virtues of a nation, the democracy will lose it essence. Democracy must adapt itself to sociocultural frameworks of a nation and not the other way around. Iranian people showed a strong desire for change and used social networking websites as a tool for delivering news and organizing the demonstrations and events. They exhibited a profound intention toward finding a new reliable way of selecting “what-to-do” concepts. People have lost their trust to elections and rely more on self-organized and socially-derived ways of decision making. Democracy for Iran, can provide solutions for such concerns. The new process of selecting the government should contribute to increase the role of individuals in the decision making process.

Secondly, why democracy is not updated while one may fall behind the daily advances of technology? A problem with current democratic systems is that it still produces centralized powers while technology can support decentralized powers perform not only reliable but also more advantageous. For example, media and news agencies relied on You tube movies and Twitts of Iranian citizens for covering the news of after election crisis. Individuals performed as small news agencies to cover the news. Besides, they performed well in delivering the news about the time and places which demonstrations supposed to be held. The so called “twitter revolution” revealed that decentralizing the power is also reliable. Once a member of a network manifests a high performance it becomes the center of attention and as another high performing member reveals the attention moves toward that spot. Needless of an election being held, the network chooses its most reliable members for conducting a certain task. Therefore, the technology can facilitate new ways of selection.

In case of the success of the green movement, the outcome might be an customized version of democracy or a beta version of a form of government which does not carry the name of Democracy any more. No surprise to see an Iranized form of government beside all other similarly digested cultures and ideologies.

Filed under: politics, Social networking, ahmadinejad, democracy, design, green movement, Iran election

Blackmail

I would say Ayatollah Systani (left) is going to play a key roll in near future for Iran. In my point of view he is the best person for being the religious leader of Shiat Muslim world. He believes in separation of politics and religion and is an Iranian who has lived his life in Iraq. He is capable of being the “Pope” of  Shiat.

Filed under: politics, Stories, iran, Iran election, khamenei, khomeini, politics, religion, shia, sistani

A quote and a note

“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both” Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1916-1939)

This quote can easily be interpreted to possibility of having democracy in Iran or IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corporation) conquering all the economy. And yes, we can not have both. I am quite sure that the IRGC authorities are aware of the fact that if they lose this election, the social-democratic movement will not accept them as a militaristic constitution ruling the economy. If Mousavi wins the election, the IRGC will definitely be digested in long term.

Filed under: politics, democracy, iran, iran economy, Iran election, irgc, louis brandeis, sepah pasdaran

No comments

Filed under: politics, ahmadinejad, iran, Iran election, no comments, twitter revolution

Entry for November 19, 2008

Religion can never reform mankind because religion is slavery. It empowers those who know the truth to manipulate and control the societies. The religious myth is the most powerful device ever created and serves as the psychological soil upon which other myths can flourish.

A myth serves as an orienting and mobilizing story for people. The focus is not on the story’s relation to reality but on it’s function.A story can not function, unless it is believed to be true in the community or the nation.

Filed under: politics, iran, religion, slavery, societies

Culture is the collective programming of the mind

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Filed under: design, politics, Renovate me, Social networking, Stories, culture, iran

Strong opinions on Election 2008

This article is worth reading:  “How design can save democracy” by  Richard Grefé and Jessica Friedman Hewitt.

Filed under: design, politics, democracy, design, design for democracy, election 2008, jessica friedman hewitt, richard grefe