same planet, different worlds

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) — Iranians danced in the street, threw firecrackers and jumped over bonfires Tuesday night as authorities openly tolerated an ancient fire festival for the first time in 25 years.

Halted each year since the 1979 Islamic revolution because hardliners considered it un-Islamic, the Chaharshanbeh Suri, or Red Wednesday, festival was officially recognized in Tehran where the city council set aside dozens of parks for people to enjoy the boisterous celebrations.

The festival dates back centuries to pre-Islamic times and is thought to be derived from Zoroastrian traditions which accord special properties to fire.

The Iranian New Year, which falls on March 20 this year, coincides with the spring equinox. Unlike previous years, when riot police blocked off streets and hardline Islamic vigilantes beat and arrested many trying to enjoy the festivities, security forces were virtually absent.

Old and young reveled in the new-found freedom.

Sounds like a real party, eh? Meanwhile, the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (that must be more elegant in Farsi) is painting a slightly different picture.

The Islamic republic regime's anti-riot units and plainclothes men have opened the charge, at this time 21:35 local time, against the demonstrators in southern Tehran, Esfahan's Tchahr Bagh and the city of Mashad by using knives, clubs and chains. Unconfirmed reports are stating about the use of plastic bullets in Esfahan and the Sadeghieh square of Tehran.

Several have been badly wounded during the attacks but fierce resistance is being made by thousands of young Iranians, male and female, who are opposing the attacks by the use of all available tools and especially Molotov cocktails which were made for such eventuality.

From the same site:

The Islamic regime forces have pulled back from the demonstrators in several Iranian cities, such as, Tehran, Abadan, Shiraz, Bookan, Babolsar, Khoram-Shahr, Sannandaj, Bandar Abbas and Zahedan. It seems that fearing a general uprising while millions of Iranians are in the streets of all Iranian cities, has forced the regime to take such unprecedented decison or to be waiting for a specific moment to start the crackdown.

In all these cities fires have been set and many residents have throwned pictures of the regime's leaders and its founder, Rooh-Ollah Khomeini, in fire while chanting and dancing under the eyes of the powerless forces of the Islamic republic. Astonishingly, the regime forces haven't even intervene when several plainclothes men were identified and arrested by maverick Iranian freedom fighters or that masked youth have thrown on them incendiary devices.

Now, it is possible that both sets of reports are correct; Reuters could simply be focusing on a particular part of Tehran, for instance. It is however more likely that somebody is spinning madly. SMCCDI might be playing up scattered scuffles, in hopes of sparking the long-awaited counterrevolution. If so—and if the tactic fails—they will have done long-term damage to their credibility.

But the news media have already damaged their credibility. In April of last year, CNN chief Eason Jordan wrote a confessional oped in the New York Times describing how his Baghdad bureau prostituted itself for access. He didn't use that description, of course; in fact he was unrepentant, just “relieved” to be able to let go the secret. Then, in September, Times reporter John Burns wrote a blistering exposure of media behavior in Iraq. An astonishing read, and still available here.

It is likely that, to some degree, truth is again being subordinated to access. The European media in particular have motive for this, as the entire Continent seems predisposed to accommodating appeasing the Iranian mullahcracy. And if you've ever tried to find detailed reports about what is really happening inside the country—well, good luck.

Nonetheless, I do doubt that the gap between media reports and reality is as wide as SMCCDI would have us believe. I hope that I'm wrong, and that this really is the beginning of the mullahs' end. It would help make up for a really bad week.