Misc

I really don't believe this!!!

THE LION AND THE SUN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MKO OR THE MONARCHY!!

Mousavi supporters are against it because they don't want to give the excuse of being labeled enemies of the Islamic Republic. BUT THE LEADER GAVE THEM AND IRANIAN PEOPLE THE FINGER WITH HIS FRIDAY SERMON. They are labeled as traitors and all opposition is being terrorised. It is all academic now. 

But it really hurts that Iranians have no sense of continuity and do not understand their own national symbol.

Mr. Fozolie

Shahre

Ok.  I'm getting a little sense of it now.  But what is wrong with the "sun and lion" flag?  As I understand it, the Shah's version would have included a crown.  What makes the "sun and lion" flag a MKO flag?  Versus the flag of Iran of several hundred years ago? 

And... if the MKO group (sun and lion) flag is about the rejection of the IRI but the "green"movement is about reform WITHIN the IRI... why is the MKO wrong?

I appreciate your help ladies.  :-)

Flogged by the Flag!

Some of us seem to have forgotten what the definition and purpose of a flag really is; a flag is the symbol of a people, and represents their purpose and resolve to be one. Then we have the MKO CULT that have not forgotten the definition and purpose of a flag, but rather have chose to hijack it- like many other things they claim their own- and use it to promote their own agendas regardless of what adverse effects it will have on the totality of the Iranian's struggle for recognition, freedom, democracy, etc.

Let us not give credence to this irrelevant cult by engaging them in meetings and gatherings. Let us concentrate on the main issue which is IRAN.

I plead to the reader of this writing to obtain a green, white, and red flag of our country, with no STAIN in the middle, and hold it high and proud as it deserves to be held. Let the non-Iranian passers-by know that for millennia before America called itself a "melting pot", Iran has consisted of millions of people of different ethnicities and beliefs who chose to live in peace and harmony. That rulers are allowed to rule over us only if they hold the "farr" of Ahura. The moment they lost the "farr e Izadi", they are rulers no more. That is why we were here in the "Nehzat e Mashrooteh", that is why we were here in the 1950s and 70s, that is why we are here now, and that is why we will be here again should it be necessary.

MKO has become a weird cult of personality

Inspite of the clear evidence in the history of MKO organization and the disastrous waste of talent and potential and the sad and regretful consequence of its lack of leadership, I have formed my final judgement mostly from personal experience!  

We have MKO supporters in our family and they are all weird and out of touch with reality! They talk and act like they live in a different world from all the rest of us! They are a bizzare bunch of basement idealists (and not the good and brainy kind of idealism)!

And fortunately for Iran, MKO has about a snowball's chance in hell to get anywhere near political power in Iran, anytime in the near future!

Well,

To anonymous fish,

I agree with you that right now there are so many brave people in Iran who are loosing their lives and need a support of every one out side Iran. It is a shame that MKO is doing this to almost every single protest out there. If they show up and see others with a different flag they start the conflict and if they organize the protest they won't tell anyone and in the middle of protest when every body has showed up they pull out their flags and the picture of their leader.

Reminding every one that MKO is the group who also assisted Khomeini with the revolution and then they started killing Khomeini's supporters after the revolution. You might as well call them the terorist group of Iran. They used to live in Iraq for a while and then were kicked out ot there and went to Paris and noe they is a little of them left and they are scattered in US and Europe. Therefore, b/c they still want to show that they have big support either they enter other protests and then chant their own things or they organize and won't tell anyone until half way through with the portest.

I hope they finally understand that the unity is very important but something tells me if they have operated like this for 30 years they won't change anything !

well,

you can imagine how confusing this is to a non-iranian!!    :-)  we've been to both irvine and los angelos for demonstrations and i'm just now starting to see some conflict.  especially yesterday in LA.  when we first got there, a few people had some "lion and sun" flags but then a truck delivered a whole ton of of them.  azizam of course had to get close to a few people to hear the... hmm... verbal exchanges but it was clearly the "green" movement crowd against the "lion and sun" flag group.  by the end of the day, one group was on one side of the street and the flag group had taken over the other corner. 

i might suggest that this sort of division is VERY confusing to the non-iranian and as one of "them", what do WE do?  who are we supposed to support?  i'm unsure of what to say when people ask me what's going on.

i hope for the sake of the braves men and women IN iran, that this sort of conflict can be resolved.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE.  POWER TO THE PEOPLE, RIGHT ON.

What is also sad

reading some of the comments below and a blog entry by ALI_UK, it is obvious that people do not know that LION & THE FLAG IS ACENTURIES OLD NATIONAL SYMBOL OF IRAN AND ITS GOVERNMENT. It has nothing to do with MKO or the Monarchy. 

If you go to the link quoted below with all the flags, you will see the CIVIL flag as the above symbol, without a crown or any other additions. If you examine any government document of Iran (not Shahs's documents but the GOVERNMENT Departments), it carried the lion and the sun. The Shahs has their own symbols, seals and in the case of Mammad Damagh his own flags.

Mr. Fozolie

That time is past

I attended the demonstrations in London. I did not stand with MKO as to me they are despicable and for sake of Unity I stood with the main body. I am a patriot who believes in Lion and the Sun as THE NATIONAL SYMBOL of Iran and the rightful flag. But for sake of unity I did not hold the flag I had brought with me.  I did refuse to wave green flags etc. as I consider myself Iranian first and the pure green in the context of present Iran has too many associations with Tazi national movements (the likes of Ghaddafi etc. who Mousavi probably admired in his youth).

The argument was to support Mousavi and not antagonise the regime leaders or directly insult the Islamic Republic. The organisers for Mousavi were very careful to have the police eject people who were shouting Death to Khameneie.

BUT NOW  WE ARE BEYOND THAT. IF THE IDEA WAS NOT TO DIRECTLY INSULT THE LEADER AND THE TOP ECHELON AS THEY WOULD STEP BACK FROM THE BRINK, WELL THEY HAVN'T . THEY HAVE INSTEAD GONE ON THE OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF IRAN AND WILL NOT LET GO.

The only unity should be to stop the killings. I have no wish to support one faction of Islamists. I refuse to be taken in by this puppet faction show by Akhoonds and their none clerical puppets. I am gullible enough to support Mousavi who has openly said he wants to preserve the stinking Islamic Republic.

If we are really democractic we should be able to unify against the killings and tolerate differences. SAME THING HAPPENED IN 1979, PEOPLE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO QUESTION ZAHHAK KHOMEINIE AND HIS INTENTIONS AND MADE A DICTATOR OF AN ILL EDUCATED PUNJABI AKHOOND.

Mr. Fozolie

PS: Heed the following:

References to Mousavi as a “reformer”
and a “moderate” have been oddly reflexive in the Western press, and
particularly the American press. The characterizations are at best
premature, and likely outright fabrications—unless Mousavi himself has
disassembled his ideology and reconstructed it of more moderate parts.

That seems unlikely.

Mousavi's more patrician tone and sharper intellect distance him from
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and seduce a young generation that never knew his
radicalism and apologies for terror and bloodshed. But his policies and
ideology, his faithfulness to the Islamic revolution, his economic
policies, and his anti-Americanism are all of a piece with
Ahmadinejad’s. His election to the Iranian presidency may signal a
change in tone, but not a change in policies.

Flag

John,

I agree with you. However, this time it was not the flag. They sent flyers and mentioned nothing to anyone that this is going to be a MKO support protest. Their flyer clearly says Human Right and nothing else. They didn't even show any pictures or name of Rajavis at the begining to the march. However, in the middle the pictures and names of Rajavis came out and they started putting on some T-shirts with the same logo on.

This is not right. I would say have balls and come and tell anyone this is a march supported by and for MKO and since this is a free country we choose to be there or not!

MKO

I agree with Ali Hakkak and I am as upset as other. In the past few weeks we have witnessed that MKO either comes to protests that other people have set up based on no religion or support of any group and then they bring their flags or pictures of their leaders. Also, they start fighting with others on what kind of flag has to be used. I was in same protest in DC and they were so sneaky on having nothing on the flyers but protest against violation of Human right. Then in the middle of protest when everybody is marching on the streets and no one can see what is in the front of the people, they bring out big pictures of their leaders and showing others that all the people following them are supporter of the MKO. Which is B..S.. I understand that they are ashamed of their organization and they should be. But doing this to others who have no idea and they are only protesting to support Iranians inside Iran is nothing but a coward would do. As one said this is a free country and if they can do that to others we can say Down to MKO and Down to Rajavi and his wife. If these people had a little ball would not do that. They are only trying to catch a fish from muddy water. The point is that no one in Iran has respect for them. They are only mixing with people to get to their goals and not the goal of FREE IRAN!

Choose your flag

The same thing happened at the rally which I attended in my hometown.  There were two groups of people and they seemed to hate each other as much as they hated the IRI that they were both demonstrating against.  What I saw made me, a non-Iranian, both uncomfortable and appalled.

There are many flags to choose from, so take your pick:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Iran#Historical_Flags

... but don't forget who you are fighting against: the accursed IRI, not each other!

What is the fear?

Either MKO is a big organization with lots of lots of supporters in Iran and in that case they have a right to protest like any others or it's the opposite and they hardly have any supporters in that case who even cares....

SAD AND FUNNY

Is that we only see these divisions among those outside Iran,and not in videos from Iran. 

MKO

These MKO members are disgusting! As bad as the Ahmadinejadists.

The only capacity they can be useful as an opposition group right now to be used as suicide bombers against the Ahmadinejadists.