So is the new president of Iran a true reformist? Is he Khamenei’s surprise to Iranian people to cleanse himself partially of the catastrophes of the last elections? Ahmadinejad’s 8 year parenthesis is finally closed (with a four year delay) but questions remain amid the euphoria of Iranians.
He never even vouched for the green movement yet people voted for him. Can Iranians finally begin to hope for easier times? The world needs a moderate Iran to calm down the chaos of the Middle East. I hope (against my better judgment) that the new president wants and can make a good difference…
“He has three law degrees, including a doctorate from a university in Scotland, and as president of Iran’s strategic research center, he regularly publishes essays. Rouhani is more likely to at least speak more diplomatically to internal and external challengers. And unlike Ahmadinejad, when addressing United States politicians and citizens, he may not need a translator” says Ben Brumfield.
These are some pictures of the spontaneous celebrations in Iran even though “Rouhani has not called for an overall sweeping shift in Iran’s foreign policy. For instance, Rouhani has neither asked Assad to step down from power nor pressed to halt the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military, intelligence, financial, and advisory support to Damascus” says Majid Rafizadeh.
The pictures are from Arash Ashoorinia:
The irony of having a Hassan in Iran and a Hossein in the U.S. as presidents is not lost on us, Iranians, who all grew up with the names of these Shia martyrs… 😉
These young people were happy to oblige and let me take the below picture in a restaurant in Tehran last month (I went back to Iran after 20 years); did they know something was happening?
Let’s hope for the change in spite of all our doubts!
I love these cartoons by Joep Bertrams (below) and Patrick Chappatte (above):
Congratulations for the elections.
I think that the situation in which Iran is now is quite complex -as are also the power structures within the country- in such a way that figuring out what the new president would like (or would be able) to achieve is very difficult. As usual, we will have to see how everything evolves.
OMG , such a euphoria in the same night actually I had no chance to follow up any news as so busy with the work but we all wish for better changes and hope this time he can keep his promise and this words and returning happiness to Iranian people either inside or outside .
Fingers crossed as much as I can for a deep change, and finally promises kept in Iran or any other country.
Time to change indeed.
Experience will tell for more wisdom and well-being and respect of the human rights.
This is valid for every country and maybe the result of these elections is a new start and it will be followed everywhere.
May the sun/happiness shine upon all of them
“Ey Iran” – Oh Iran – ای ایران
Oh Iran, oh bejeweled land
Oh, your soil is the wellspring of the arts
Far from you may the thoughts of evil be
May you remain lasting and eternal
Oh enemy, if you are of stone, I am of iron
May my life be sacrificed for my pure motherland
Your love is my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
The stones of your mountains are jewels and pearls
The soil of your valleys are better than gold
When could I rid my heart of your affection?
Tell me, what will I do without your affection?
As long as the turning of the earth and the cycling of the sky lasts
The light of the Divine will always guide us
Your love is my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
Iran oh my green paradise
Bright is my fate because of you
If fire rains on my body
Other than your love I will not cherish in my heart
Your water, soil and love molded my clay
If your love leaves my heart it will become barren
Your love is my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
ای ایران ای مرز پرگه
ای خاکت سرچشمه هنر
دور از تو اندیشه بدان
پاینده مانی تو جاودان
ای دشمن ار تو سنگ خاره‌ای من آهنم
جان من فدای خاک پاک میهنم
مهر تو چون شد پیشه‌ام
دور از تو نیست اندیشه‌ام
در راه تو کی ارزشی دارد این جان ما
پاینده باد خاک ایران ما
سنگ کوهت در و گوهر است
خاک دشتت بهتر از زر است
مهرت از دل کی برون کنم
برگو بی‌مهر تو چون کنم
تا گردش جهان و دور آسمان به پاست
نور ایزدی همیشه رهنمای ماست
مهر تو چون شد پیشه‌ام
دور از تو نیست اندیشه‌ام
در راه تو کی ارزشی دارد اين جان ما
پاینده باد خاک ایران ما
ایران ای خرم بهشت من
روشن از تو سرنوشت من
گر آتش بارد به پیکرم
جز مهرت در دل نپرورم
از آب و خاک و مهر تو سرشته شد گلم
مهر اگر برون رود تهی شود دلم
مهر تو چون شد پیشه‌ام
دور از تو نیست اندیشه‌ام
در راه تو کی ارزشی دارد این جان ما
پاینده باد خاک ایران ما
May god bless our great nation and the beautiful people of Iran! Love your beautiful pictures and the message of hope,
Omid
I have no idea how this Rouhani will turn out, but at least he seems to be the most hopeful of the other candidates. It is not great to have the murderer Rafsanjani as his supporter, but again at least they are more concerned about the economy and the relative social freedom of the public.
So I guess I should be happy…
As always, nice pictures on your blog.
I think domestically, for Iran, the result of the local council elections will also be important. That is being ignored for now (for obvious reasons, since the presidential election is so important), but a number of Ahmadinejad allies ran in those local elections – he does not want to give up political power. So that will make things interesting, on a local level in Iran, for the next four years.
Also: love your last pictures of the young people in Iran and the flowers: as usual amazing photos 🙂
Exciting times!!!
Even small steps are valuable.
This is Khatemi Version 2.0
It is a calculated move by the regime to create a “dig bokhar” so that the masses are fooled once gain for a few years with “hope”.
There is no such a thing as a true reformist.
That is my 2 cents.
We need to listen more to the people , these so called masses have faces, cultural origins, actually believe it or not speak farsi, that is if we listen hard enough to their needs and aspirations. They have made a choice due to the prevailing circumstances . They aren’t as anonymous as we think, and actually possess the same kind of reasoning as Iranians living abroad. The tabula rasa doctrine is a theory of the past, these so called masses actually have a mental content and representation, they have a vey vey long history full of struggles. When left between bad and worse alternatives, one tends to lean towards a choice with less negative outcomes and side effects, maybe due to the lack of other Functional or tangible alternatives which most often are doomed in their ideological and conceptual prisons.”Detached “from the reality they “think “they have the remedy for, the living context of the very “people” struggling for the freedom we take for granted in the west.
As Michele postulated the phenomena we call change, so very well, it starts from our way of apprehending what we observe. To be critical perhaps starts from an introspection of the reality we try to understand not only a priori but even more base upon our knowledge and experience through empirical evidence. Wither change is understood quantitively or qualitatively is also very important and perhaps needs a realistic assertion which takes into the consideration the complexity of the phenomena of change, specially in a country like ours where external interests as well as internal fractions of forces and powers tend to define and redefine the course of the future and how our people struggle to find the path for emancipation and unity. Let us once again try to understand change from a more realistic frame of reference and more importantly what constitutes change with recourse to, not only idealistic goals but empirical and knowledge based acquisition .
This is too little too late! Regime engineered an election to install Rouhani who is somehow moderate being close to reformists. Five pro-Khomeini candidates split 49% of votes and the rest goes to Rouhani. They disqualified Rafsanjani to help Rouhani! They could easily qualified a few moderate including Rafsanjani, Mashaee and keeping Aref in the race and having Jalili as the only pro-Khamenei Candidate. They could fudge a few percent of vote and elect Jalili to the office. Instead their plan brought Rouhani to save this criminal regime for a few more years by negotiating with west and give them the rest of the country! Sounds like a plan but decision has been made; Islamic Republic must join the rest of their friends in HELL. It’s too little too late. Bye Bye Mullahs.
Oh Iran, oh bejeweled land
Oh, your soil is the wellspring of the arts
Far from you may the thoughts of evil be
May you remain lasting and eternal
Oh enemy, if you are of stone, I am of iron
May my life be sacrificed for my pure motherland
Your love is my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
The stones of your mountains are jewels and pearls
The soil of your valleys are better than gold
When could I rid my heart of your affection?
Tell me, what will I do without your affection?
As long as the turning of the earth and the cycling of the sky lasts
The light of the Divine will always guide us
Your love is my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
Iran oh my green paradise
Bright is my fate because of you
If fire rains on my body
Other than your love I will not cherish in my heart
Your water, soil and love molded my clay
If your love leaves my heart it will become barren
Your love is my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
Sad that even “informed” Iranians are falling for this masquerade! This president has always been a high member of this regime, he was one of the founder of the IRI, and for 35 years he has participated to the crimes committed by the mollahs. Thinking that because he is now president anything will change is having no knowledge about the islamic republic. Please don’t make it sound as if the elections mean something to the IRI, because they don’t except every 4 years it a chance for people to get out either to protest or to be happy and take their veil down for a few hours….DONT BE FOOLED. There is nothing to congratulate Iranians for!