Would You Have Been as Brave as the “Village Idiot?”

I need a break from the Iran situation, which, at least in the immediate short-term, is not looking good. In moments like these, I like to read about the Righteous Among the Nations, non-Jews who are honored by the Jewish people for having taken great personal risk to help Jews survive the Holocaust. You can read many such accounts over at the Yad Vashem website. In difficult times, each of these remarkable accounts reminds us of the power of the human spirit and the individual capacity for good which no leviathan can extinguish. Here’s just one, “The Heroic Village Idiot”:

Anton (Antos) Sukhinski was a loner and an outcast. Some even described him as the village idiot. He never married, and lived – always on the verge of poverty – in a small modest house in Zborow. His neighbors often made fun of him because of his gentle nature and his love of all living creatures. But at the time of total moral collapse, when the great majority either participated in the murder of the Jews or indifferently turned their backs on their neighbors, it was Anton Sukhinski – the village idiot – who stood up for his beliefs and in stark contrast to his surroundings preserved human values. Without any help or support he was responsible for the survival of six people.

The Zeigers knew Suchinski from before the war. Following the first waves of killings in Zborov, the remaining Jews were put in a ghetto and then in a labor camp. Despite the periodic killing raids, the Zeiger family was reluctant to accept Sukhinski’s offer of shelter. It was only when in June 1943 rumors spread that soon all the remaining Jews of Zborov would be killed, that they decided to trust the eccentric man with their lives.

The Zeiger family consisted of the father, Itzhak, the mother Sonya, and their two sons, Shelley and Michael, aged 6 and 8. They took along another woman who was a family friend and Eva Halperin a young girl who had lost her entire family in the killings and was alone in the world. When they arrived at Sukhinski’s home they found out that he was already hiding a 16-year-old girl by the name of Zipora Stock. Sukhinski hid them in his cellar.

Eventually the neighbors found out about the hiding Jews and began harassing them and their rescuer, extorting money from them. When Zeiger decided not to give in any longer to the villagers’ blackmail, he drew a revolver and a shooting fight ensued. The woman who was hiding with them was killed.

Being afraid that the shots would draw the Germans’ attention and in fear of the neighbors, the fugitives decided to flee. But the hostility they encountered and the cold and snow soon drove them back to Sukhinski’s home. He welcomed them warmly, hid them in the attic until, with the help of Itzhak Zeiger, he had dug another hideout.

For nine months they remained cramped in a small dark hole with no room to move and only a small kerosene lamp to provide light. The fear of being detected was so strong that they did not dare leave the hiding place. Sukhinski would bring them whatever food he could find as well as remove the bucket that served as a chamber pot. Providing food for six people was a very hard task for a poor man like Anton. In addition he lived under the constant terror of being discovered by his neighbors and by the Germans. Danger was close. At one time the militia and Germans searched the premises and interrogated Sukhinski. Another time the Germans were in the basement adjacent to the hideout, and the hiding Jews stuffed their mouths with rags so that no sound could escape. Had they be found, it would be not only their end, but also the death of their benefactor.

Finally the day of liberation came, and the trapdoor opened. After a first moment of panic – they had thought that their hiding place had been discovered – they saw Anton’s reassuring face. It was only then that they left the small hole for the first time in nine months. They could hardly walk and were blinded by the light.

After liberation the six people from the hiding place stayed together for a while; then they set out to build new lives. The Zeigers emigrated to the USA, Eva Halperin went to Uruguay, and Zipora Stock left for Israel.

Sukhinski was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1974.

Speaking of village idiots though, here’s a real one (see video below). Excellent pre-interview footage (HT to Potkin!). Here’s my translation of what goes on:

Ahmadinejad: “Hi, how are?”

Interviewer: “Good thank you – how are you? Thanks for all your hard work! … Dr. [Ahmadinejad], should we just stick to economic questions?”

Ahmadinejad: “No, you can ask political questions too, especially about the international situation.”

Interviewer: “About this Barack Obama?”

Ahmadinejad: “No, I’ve already addressed that.

Interviewer: “Okay, no problem. Well, do you want to talk about the region then?”

Ahmadinejad: “Yes, and just the overall world situation…”

What the Uprising Has Accomplished So Far

The apparent success of the regime’s savage clampdown, not to mention the death of Michael Jackson, is pushing the Iranian uprising out of the headlines. It saddens to me to admit that the regime will likely live to see another day. Yet it’s important to resist defeatism at this point. A moment of respite should compel us to reflect on the successes and failures of uprising in order to draw lessons for the future. Here are some of the conclusions I’m drawing in the form of nine quick theses:

1. The recent uprising in Iran initially occured in response to what was, in effect, a coup carried out by the most extreme elements of the Iranian regime.

2. The coup was designed to liquidate the more traditional clerical establishment of the regime. The moderate and pragmatic wings of the IRI elite, not to mention the system’s few republican structures, had come to be viewed as unreliable by the putschists, who had been tasked with ensuring regime survival at any cost.

3. The putsch was executed in a profoundly flawed fashion. The Iranian people saw through Ahmadinejad’s absurd 30-point margin of victory. The putschists were caught off-guard.

4. The subsequent uprising was initially directed at asserting the sovereignty of the ballot. In bringing the people face to face with the fundamentally undemocratic structure of the regime however, it came to stand for much more than that.

5. The uprising shattered the regime’s last remaining claims to legitimacy by making it crystal clear, both in Iran and around the world, that the IRI has no regard whatsoever for fairness, rule of law, human rights, or governance by consent; that the IRI has always been and will continue to be a rogue regime, a pariah in the international community.

6. Additionally, the millions-strong non-violent protests cast serious doubt on the notion that the West should directly engage the IRI at any cost and without taking into account the powerful democratic urges of the Iranian people.

7.  The uprising both awakened and enhanced the democratic consciousness of the Iranian people. It showed them their strength over the regime’s mighty technologies of repression.

8. That said, the uprising also taught us that social media in and of themselves are not sufficient in a struggle of this sort. That good, old-fashioned political leadership, political will, and political organization are key.

9. Marx compared revolutionary struggle to the ‘old mole’ who inhabits subterranean tunnels. Those in power may succeed in forcing it to go back underground temporarily, but the old mole will never go away. In the case of Iran, the mole may have been forcibly pushed back to shallow depths by the regime once, but soon enough it shall re-surface that much wiser for having faced down the leviathan in such a remarkable fashion during the post-June 12th uprising.

Joan Baez Sings for the Uprising

What a voice, what a conscience, what a lady!

“In you the world sees the power of nonviolence. We hear it in the roar of your silence and see it in your eyes as you sit down peacefully in the face of terror. We are moved by your courage and inspired by your sacrifices. I am fortunate to be alive to witness this movement. I send you my prayers, love, and support.” — Joan Baez

“Friends” of the Iranian People

 

  

With “friends” like those over at the American Iranian Friendship Committee, the Iranian people don’t need enemies.

Quoth the Committee in its analysis of recent events: 

The opposition to the presidency of Ahmadinejad is doing its utmost to create unrest and prepare the ground for a velvet takeover and repeat what the West (US, UK, France and Germany) did in Georgia about three years ago. But this act is not realizable in Iran, because the workers and farmers, the millions who gave the lives of their children for the cause of independence and sovereignty, defend the Revolution and their real President who has frustrated the schemes and plots of the warmongers. The toiling classes in Iran are proud that Iran under the revolutionary leadership of President Ahmadinejad has defied and resisted the war threats and sanctions by the same powers that have ruined the lives of the millions of people in Vietnam, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to mention just a few. 

And it’s not just foreign governments to blame for all this unnecessary unrest. Who else does the Committee hold responsible, you ask? You guessed it — the press!

Unfortunately, the current opposition in and outside of Iran is financed in tens of millions of US Dollars, directed and supported, through a vast propaganda machine, of U.S. imperialism. Those who re-sound the Voice of America, Fox News Agency, AF, APF, Associated Press, UPI, Huffington, Financial Times of London and NY Times are in fact giving support to what Rand Corporation calls soft revolution.

But the accusations don’t stop there! The Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaaf (himself a former Hizbullahi), as well as “ex-Shah forces” and others are also to blame.

It is important for us to know that Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, now working as the spokesperson outside the country for Mir Hossein Mousavi, alleged Saturday that the Iranian election result had been fixed by the country’s interior ministry. This accusation is highly suspect, and more accurately should be called a rumor, because, without any substantiation, it was rapidly spread in internet blogs and then amplified via the Iranian anti-Islamic group based in Europe, calling itself the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a group composed primarily of ex-Shah forces and disgruntled Iranian sects who have spread their lies and misrepresentations to an all too willing pro-western and pro-Zionist media. This comes as no surprise, given that these groups have been nurtured by the neo-cons of the Bush Administration and championed by the pro-Israeli groups financed to the tune of more than $100 million that the U.S. Congress appropriated to help bring about “regime change” in Iran.

But wait, there’s more!

Moreover, the series of events repeated in such infamous media as Voice of America are filled with inconsistencies and class prejudices favoring the big merchants, the club-hungry upper middle class youth used to Gucci bags and large sun-glasses popular in the boutiques of Paris. No wonder the Saudi-run media outlets, symbol of backwardness and part of international capital, have been favoring Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate, and have given Mousavi the edge in Tehran but neglected other provinces where it is a totally different story. 

Wow, just wow. File under: morally repulsive left-wing IRI apologetics…

In less nauseating news, it was heartening to find that the Iranian people do have real friends — in the talented folks over at Google.   

[Google CEO Eric] Schmidt, speaking at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, said that it was at their “peril” that regimes such as Iran attempt to impose black-outs on media such as TV, internet, radio, and mobile phones.

He added that the search giant, which owns video sharing website YouTube, always tried to explain to regimes that restrict communication that, ultimately, attempts to isolate a population fail.

“We have lots of lawyers, lawyers in every one of these countries,” Schmidt said. “We explain if they do this [block freedom of speech and communication] what will happen. Sometimes they moderate their behaviour and sometimes not. If they don’t listen to us it is at their peril.”

Speaking to MediaGuardian.co.uk following the seminar, Schmidt expanded on this point: “By ‘peril’ I mean it is what the citizens will do, citizens can no longer be restricted by the kind of strategies evil dictatorships do… you can’t keep people in the dark.”

Thank you, Google!

Stop Galloway!

From Potkin:

Please read this:
The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.

Now the messianic junta in Iran accuses Jon Leyne, the BBC correspondent, to have arranged her death for a documentary!

Please read the above. Please do not forget the regime apologists. Please ring/email stopthewar.org and tell them how they are insulting our people by inviting Galloway to speak in their meeting on Friday:
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1299/1/

Stop War Contact Details
office@stopwar.org.uk
020 7801 2768
231 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EH

Galloway’s contact details

Constituents
You can contact George’s Parliamentary office on 020 7219 6940 or his constituency office on 020 7613 5225. Galloway’s constituency surgery is held every Friday between 3pm and 6pm at the Respect office – 9, Club Row, London E1 6JX

Speaking of apologists: how does this douchebag go to sleep at night when, during the day, he does everything he can to distort foreign perceptions of the Iranian uprising? Guardianistas like Silverstein typically accuse those who  advocate for secularization and democratization in the Middle East of being “cultural imperialists.” But you only have to read their columns to realize that they themselves are racist through and through. Silverstein, for example, dismisses the very idea of Middle Eastern secular democracy as something only Zionists and “neocons” (read: Jews) would desire. This disgusting claim is not only anti-semitic, but also derogatory to Iranians and Arabs. In effect, Silverstein is denying the possibility that secular democracy is something Iranians or Arabs could genuinely want — now who’s the cultural imperialist making “essentialist” claims about an entire people?

Soccer and Illegitimacy

It seems like Khamanei, et al are doing everything they can to make themselves appear even more tyrannical and illegitimate in the eyes of the Iranian people than they were prior to the June 12th “election.” Their latest misstep: issuing lifetime play bans to four brave soccer players because they sported green, pro-opposition armbands at their match against South Korea.

The national team or team-e melli enjoys an incredible amount of support among all Iranians, regardless of class, ethnicity, level of education, etc. The decision to ban players then was a horrendous one, the acts of a nervous, paranoid monster. The days of the IRI are surely numbered, even if the current uprising recedes for some time or moves forward with some fits and starts.

The BBC Is Either Deranged…

…or just seriously misinformed.

Their latest report on Iran starts out by explaining that “Iran’s legislative body, the Guardian Council, has said there were no major polling irregularities in the 12 June election and ruled out an annulment.”

Of course, Iran’s legislative body is the Majlis (Parliament), not the Guardian Council, which is an appointed 12 member body composed lawyers and Islamic jurists. And the BBC calling this arbitrary body “Iran’s legislative body” is simply another act of legitimizing the IRI’s undemocratic structure.

Clarity of language and accuracy are of utmost importance right now. And the BBC fails again.

The Uprising Continues…

…Long Live the Uprising!

HT to Winston.

This Video Is Driving Me Crazy…

…but it’s the best antidote to the putrid regime apologists of the left wing variety who still claim this is a “fashionista rebellion” and an uprising by a bunch of “party kids.”

Neda, your death will not have been in vain. We shall overcome your savage murderers and their apologists abroad!

Oh, Al!

Al Sharpton was just on Fox News commenting on the Administration’s handling of the Iran situation – apparently he too is an “Iran expert” now?

“It remains to be seen whether these protests expand beyond Tehran,” Sharpton observed.

Oh Al! Obviously you haven’t seen the footage coming out of…

Shiraz?

Isfahan?

or Northern Iran?

Bill Clinton (HT to Nico at Huffington Post), on the other hand, has offered some great analysis. “Basically, this is about a government trying to deny the modern world,” he explained. “And the idea is they just don’t think they can keep control, if everybody gets to say what they really believe, and go where they really want, and be who they want to be,” Clinton said, adding with a chuckle: “And they’re right, right there.”

“Basically, this is about a government trying to deny the modern world.”