text:
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Fark user Tatsuma has created a great write-up on the goings-on in Iran since the election. I'll try to keep his latest posting of this overview here for a while.
There is also a list of torrents of videos of the protests here and links to other noteworthy stories and sites here
(If you have suggestions as to how to make this site better, or reports of more stories to link, or errors send them to firstname.lastname@example.com and I'll make sure they get updated)
6/30/09 - 11:45am Eastern
Hi, everyone (is there an everyone?)
For updates on Iran, Tatsuma seems to have largely stopped updating here, and is currently updating his blog (link below). This is a net gain for you, because you should be able to get a proper feed from there and everything (it's a much better setup than here, and you won't have to search the entire post for actual updates).
I'm not sure just where that leaves me and this site as far as utility goes. At this point, you can likely get better demonstration information from whyweprotest or the various facebook pages, and a few Google searches will give you all the articles you could need.
Google now shows "Results 1 - 10 of about 554 for tatsumairanupdate" so this link has been passed around a few times (I suspect tatsumairanupdate is an unlikely string to exist anywhere but here). I will likely alter Tatsuma's summary to simply be his fantastic background information, and suggest people visit his blog for updates on current info. I'll have to think about what else should reasonably be here. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
Last Updated: 2009-06-23 9:26:38 PM EDT
Her name was Neda
She was a young woman with her future in front of her. She had a fiancée, she had a future, she loved her people and wanted freedom. Now she is dead, robbed from life for simply being an observer. She is now the face of the Revolution. She is now the face of victims of tyranny everywhere.
If you want to link this, here is the website, updated as the situation changes:
And now, some Background Information
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
- The legislative branch of the Iranian is threefold. There is the Parliament, the Expediency Discernment Council of the System and the Guardian Council, which reigns Supreme, although it is itself under review of the Assembly of Experts, which itself does not intervene in politics.
- The Majlis is the Iranian Parliament, with a body of 290 members (5 of them representing the non-Muslim minorities). Members are voted in for terms of 4 years. While the members of the Majlis may appear to benefit from a certain leeway, and can introduce new legislation, each and every member or legislation has to first be approved by the Guardian Council. Reformists and other dissidents have often remarked that the electoral process in the Majlis is in fact nothing more than a theater, where Ayatollahs decide who is permitted to hold seats, and what laws they are permitted to vote for.
- Presidency is Iran is the highest position that is elected through popular vote, but not far from the most important in terms of power. As for possible candidates for positions in the Majlis, in order to run for Presidential election one must first be accepted as a candidate by the Guardian Council. Criteria for selection include religious observance and loyalty to the principles of the Islamic Revolution. While the President technically has the power to sign treaties with other countries, appoint ministers and many other Presidential functions, reality is that anything other than a minor decision is usually reviewed by the Guardian Council first. He also has no authority on the armed forces, nuclear program and the general lines of domestic and foreign policies.
Expediency Discernment Council of the System
- Although officially created as a mediator between the Guardian Council and the Majlis, the EDC finds itself to be nothing more than unofficial right arm of the Supreme Leader. It is composed of 34 members, the vast majority issued from the very conservative parties. Unlike the Majlis, however, it also has the authority to enact temporary laws for a duration of 3 years, by-passing the authority or oversight of the Majlis.
Guardian Council
- The Guardian Council is the real seat of Power in Iran. The 12 members of this Council are decided by the Supreme Leader, who controls the Council. 6 of them are clerics that the Supreme Leader handpicks, while the six other members are lawyers submitted by the head of the Judiciary system, himself appointed by the Supreme Leader. The Guardian Council is not only the highest political authority, but it is also the Religious authority in Iran, and considered the Guardian of the Revolution, thus its name. The Council plays a very important role in keeping what it consider the right Islamic system in place for Iran, but it also controls its political activities. While the Council itself does not submitted bills, it controls the political life in Iran through the policies of the Majlis it allows or refuses to come to fruition, or asks the EDC to pass certain laws. Another way it exerts its influence on the political process is by being able to reject or accept any candidate for elections, whether parliamentary or presidential.
Supreme Leader
- The Supreme Leader is considered the Leader of the Revolution, his position enshrined in the Iranian Constitution. He is elected to the position by the Assembly of Experts, a religious council. The title is not mere rhetoric; he is the all-powerful ruler of the Republic, who appoints everyone from commanders of the Army to heads of state-controlled Media, from Judges to who is permitted to run for office, and everyone important in-between. He is also the Religious leader of Iran, and as such decides the appointments of clerics in various organizations and mosques. He controls the domestic and foreign affairs of Iran through the Guardian Council and EDC, as well as the armed forces.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei
- The current Supreme Leader is Ayatollah Khamenei, successor of Ayatollah Khomeini. He was not originally slated to be replacement of Khomeini, but the first candidate for succession had a falling-out with Khomeini over the violent repression of student revolts and was dismissed and Khamenei stepped in. He has been the Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989, when the previous and first Supreme Leader died. He had been a key player during the 1979 Revolution, then became President of Iran from 1981 until his ascension as Supreme Leader. He is considered a very conservative figure and a close confident of the previous Supreme Leader, but was not considered for succession until Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a rather liberal cleric, criticized the government for the torture and repression of students and lost his place in succession.
Assembly of Experts
- The Assembly of Experts is a body composed of 86 Islamic jurists specialized in the interpretation and application of Sharia, Islamic law. In order to qualify as a possible candidate, one must be known as a devout Muslim and a scholar, someone who believes in upholding the Islamic Revolution and agreed upon by the Government. Then, they are elected by public vote for 8 years terms. They have the power to elect and remove the Supreme Leader.
Ayatollah Rafsanjani
- Ayatollah Rafsanjani is the current head of the Assembly of Expert. He took over the Presidency from Khamenei in 1989, and stayed in office until 1997. He is seen as a conservative, but relatively moderate and centrist figure, fiercely opposed to Ahmadinejad's behavior and he is known as a critic of current Supreme Leader Khamenei. He supports opening the relations with the United States completely, as well as agreeing to the United States' demands regarding the Iranian nuclear program, and a free-market approach to the economy.
The 2009 Iranian election
The President in Iran is elected through direct vote. The last election was won in 2005 by candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, amidst claims of irregularities and possible vote tampering by the opposition, but no major protests, complaints or actions were taken. Four years later, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented himself in order to retain his position and won in an unlikely landslide on the 13th of July in an election with record participation. The deadline was in fact pushed back in order to allow everyone to vote. Due to many factors that will be elaborated later, the Reformist candidates protested at the news of his victory and the population started protesting while the police and government-backed militias tried to quell the protests.
The Candidates
Conservative candidates:
- Ahmadinejad, President of Iran from 2004-2009, was declared winner of elections panned by almost all as fraudulent. Advocates a belligerent attitude toward the West, he has been widely seen as a disappointment and downright failure in Iran due to his inability to rectify economical problems, and lack of accomplishments. He originates from a rural, strongly religious working-class background, a background he shares with the bulk of his domestic supporters. He was accused of bribery during the race. He previously occupied the position of governor and mayor of Tehran. He his known as close to Khamenei and his favorite in the race.
- Rezaee was the chief commander of the Revolutionary Guard for more than 15 years. He then became a teacher of Economics. He is described as conservative, but more pragmatic than Ahmadinejad, and condemned Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust and Israel as having no benefits and only drawbacks. He is currently on the wanted list of Interpol as the planning the attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, as well as the 1994 suicide bombing against a Jewish cultural center in Argentina that killed 85, and injured hundreds.
Reformist candidates
- Mousavi is widely believed to have won this election. He is a Reformist voice, very close to former President Khatami. He was previously the fifth and last Prime Minister of Iran. Due to his central role in the current revolution and Iran's possible future, I am preparing a major profile and will update this in the next update or two
- Karroubi is a centrist figure, on the side of the Reformists but at the same time still very loyal to the Islamic Revolution, especially Khomeini's ideals. His views mostly resonates in rural areas, where he picks up most of the votes that do not go to Ahmadinejad. He has been a constant critic of Ayatollah Rafsanjani and his free-market policies, which he sees as possibly harmful to the bulk of his supporters. He is extremely vocal about his support for the rights of women and minorities, and he believes that all Iranian citizens should be completely equal.
Khamenei's landmark speech
A relatively large crowd was present to hear Khamenei declared during the prayers, while Reformist leaders called on their supporters to stay home. It was very easy to notice that this crowd was also much older than those we have seen protesting.
There were two sermons, a religious one and a political one.
- The religious sermon itself was rather short and stayed on topic. It concentrated at first on peace and tranquility, leading into the fact that the Revolution was the Will of Allah, that it was sacred and its goals were the goals of Allah. He continued by asking Allah victory over their common enemies, and that people who went against the Revolution were enemies of Allah.
- The political speech was much longer and disjointed. He started by thanking everyone for the election, then he proceeded to blame the West, claimed that Iran was one of the most democratic country on Earth and that the results were not rigged. He claimed that while yes, there is some corruption in Iran, it's nowhere near the UK MP expenses scandal. He then directly threatened the pro-Reformists leaders, saying that all the violence will be their responsibility. This is all the works of Zionist spies and British radio, and Hillary Clinton was responsible for Waco so Iran is better than America and the West.
There are three major statements to be gleaned from these speech, with further confirmation of a fourth. However boring and long-winded it might have been to the Western ear, it was a major milestone of this revolution, and its implications are far-reaching:
1 - His declaration that the Islamic Revolution sacred, that its goals were the goals of Allah and that those who went against it were the enemies of Allah. He then asked Allah victory over the enemies.
This is major. He has in fact painted the entire reformist movement as being anti-Islamic. Due to his position, and the tone that he adopted, this is basically a death sentence delivered to those who will keep on protesting. Not unexpected, but a bold move nonetheless.
2 - He fully supports Ahmadinejad.
This is not a surprise, but he did not back down one inch. He does not give credibility to any of the Reformist claims, and says to either toe the line, or suffer the consequences.
3 - He has put the responsibility of violence on the shoulders of the Reformist leaders, and openly declared that he is not going to tolerate it anymore.
This means that the repression from now on will be much more violent, and has more or less openly threatened the leaders of the Revolution that they will pay with their lives if they continue.
4 - As confirmed by Stratfor, the Revolutionary Guard has taken over from the police in all matters of domestic law and order. This effectively means that they are going to start crushing dissent as well, and that they have allied themselves to the regime.
Out of all major developments, this is the biggest one. Will the army stay Neutral, toe the line or side with the Reformists?
Suppression of Dissent - The Players
Currently, there are two or three, maybe four, groups who are suppressing the students on the ground that you'll read about throughout this thread:
1. The Basij
2. Ansar Hizbullah (which I will refer to as Ansar)
3. Lebanese Hizbullah (Unconfirmed rumour but either a probable or a persistent one. Der Spiegel, based on a Voice of America report, says that 5,000 Hizbullah fighters are currently in Iran masquerading as riot police, confirming the independent reports. Iran Press News has posted two photographs of men they claim are Hizbullah and Hamas mercenaries. Many different independent reports and video point that way. Even in the last days other independent twitter feeds have declared witnessing thugs beating on people while shouting in Arabic; I will refer to them as Hizbullah)
4. Lebanese Hamas (unconfirmed and doubtful. This rumour has been cropping up, with some of the most twitter feeds saying they had visual confirmation of Lebanese Hamas fighters along with Lebanese Hizbullah member. You should definitely take with a grain of salt, but it has been mentioned often enough, by sources generally always right, that it deserves of a mention here. Iran Press TV also claims to have posted a picture of Hamas mercenaries. I will refer to them as Hamas)
- The Basij are your regular paramilitary organization. They are the armed hand of the clerics. The Basij are a legal group, officially a student union, and are legally under direct orders of the Revolutionary Guard. Their main raison d'être is to quell dissent. They are the ones who go and crack skulls, force people to participate in pro-regime demonstrations, and generally try to stop any demonstrations from even starting. They are located throughout the country, in every mosque, every university, every social club you can think of. They function in a way very similar to the brownshirts.
They were the ones who first started the crackdown after the election, but it wasn't enough. While they are violent and repressive, they are still Persian and attacking fellow citizens. A beating is one thing, mass killings another.
- Another group was working with them, whose members are even more extreme, is Ansar. There is a lot of cross-membership between the Basij and Ansar, though not all are members of the other group and vice-versa. The vast majority of Ansar are Persians (either Basij or ex-military), though a lot of Arab recruits come from Lebanon and train with them under supervision of the Revolutionary Guard. They are not functioning under a legal umbrella, they are considered a vigilante group, but they pledge loyalty directly to the Supreme Leader and most people believe that they are under his control. They are currently helping the Basij to control the riots, but due to the fact that they are Persians and in lower numbers than the Basij, they are not that active.
- The Lebanese Hizbullah is a direct offshoot (and under direct control) of the Iranian Hizbullah (itself under direct control of the Supreme Leader) and cooperates closely with Ansar though Ansar occupies itself only with Iran's domestic policies, while Hizbullah occupies itself only with Iran's foreign policy unless there is a crisis like right now. However, Hizbullah has been called to stop violent riots in Iran in the past.
(The following paragraph includes some speculation based on reports from ground zero, it is no confirmed, this is what was reported early on by various twitter feeds considered credible, so do not take this as anything but unconfirmed rumours) Hizbullah flew in a lot of their members in Iran, most likely a good deal even before the elections in case there were trouble. They are the ones who speak Arabs and are unleashing the biggest level of violence on the Persians so far. Another wave arrived recently and there is chatter that yet another wave of Hizbullah reinforcements are coming in from Lebanon as we speak. According to Iranians on the ground, they are the ones riding motorcycles, beating men women and children indiscriminately and firing live ammunitions at students.
- The Lebanese Hamas is a branch of Hamas set-up in Lebanon. Like Hamas in Gaza, Hamas in Lebanon is directly under the orders of the Hamas council of Damascus known as Majlis al-Shurah. While it is surprising to hear that they might be involved, and as I said take these reports with a grain of salt until we get more confirmations, it is not illogical either. Iran has become the main benefactor of Hamas in the last years, branching out from only supporting Islamic Jihad. They now provide Hamas with the bulk of their budget, with advanced weaponry and training by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Not only does Hamas own them a lot, but if the Republic falls, Hamas finds itself in dire trouble. It is very likely that, at the call of Iran, the Majlis al-Shura would have decided to send fighters from their Lebanese Hamas branch along with Hizbullah fighters if it was requested of them.
Other Players
The Police - Iran's police force is not dissimilar to your run-of-the-mill law enforcement apparatus in other dictatorships, with the difference that they are not generally as brutal and repressive. This is because the Basij are generally in charge of these activities, meaning that Iranian policemen generally concentrate more on the law and order aspect of Iranian daily life.
Today, it is thought that the Iranian police numbers close to 60,000 members, in contrast with up to a million Basij members. This is one of the reasons why we hear much more about the plainclothes militia than we do about the police right now, the other being that the Basij and Ansar are much more willing to violently assault their fellow citizens than even the regular police force. This is not as much a testament to the decency of your average police officers as much as a damning report of what the Basij and Ansar thugs are like.
There are also subdivisions and extra-legal forces attached to the police force. The major subdivision would be the riot police (So-called Unit 110) who are actually much more violent than regular police officers, but also in much, much smaller numbers. There is also VEVAK, the secret police. Very little is known and confirmed about them, except their extreme tactics include murder, kidnapping and torture.
The Army
In Iran, there are actually two armies. They are divided between Artesh and Pasdaran.
Artesh is the regular Military apparatus of the Republic. Their numbers, including reservists, go up to a million members, but only half of them have received anything more than very basic training. As it is often the case in police states, there is very little known and confirmed about the structure of the Army itself.
They were created prior to the Iranian Revolution, in fact this army has existed in one form or another, and is a continuation, for more than 2,500 years. This is not as impressive as it sounds, however, as they often underwent drastic changes, there is no real links between the current incarnations, and the top echelons were most often purged when new rulers took power. In fact, in the last 100 years, those purges happened between two or three times, depending on the count, the last time centered around the time of the Islamic revolution, when most generals were forced to flee, killed, or killed while in exile.
Artesh took the brunt of the military casualties during the Iran-Iraq war, the army is considered to very nationalist and not extremely religious, which explains why they have declared their neutrality and refusal to repress the situation, as they see their purpose to defend the Iranian population.
Everyone agrees they will be the ultimate key to this Revolution when they finally decide to take a side, or alternatively force the Pasdaran to stay on the sidelines with them.
Pasdaran, also known as Iranian Revolutionary Guard
The Iranian Ground forces (I will focus on them, as the Navy and Air force are currently irrelevant, will update if the situation changes) have been estimated between 100,000 and 130,000 units total. As always, truth most likely resides somewhere in the middle. They are, much like the Basij and Ansar, subservient directly to the Supreme Leader, and ideologically created in the spirit of defending the Islamic Revolution ideals and Republic, not Iran per se. They also control the Basij.
They are a child of the revolution, and they are more geared toward guerilla warfare than they are for military engagements. They are also the force responsible for training the various terrorist groups financed and supported by the Iranian government. They are fanatically devoted to the Republic through intense indoctrination.
The elite troops are called Quds. They are considered the elite of the elite, but they only number between 2000-6000, although rumours say that they are twice or three time as big. They are, however, rumours and quite unlikely.
Ultimately, the Revolutionary Council and the Supreme Leader will call on them if they think they are on the verge of losing power, however it is unlikely that the army will just stay on the sidelines if this happens.
The Grand Ayatollahs
The Grand Ayatollahs are Shiite clerics who first attained the position of Ayatollahs and then, through their knowledge of Islamic Jurisprudence, attained a supreme position and are regarded as the most important voice in Shia Islam today. They revolve around the holy Shiite city of Qom, though some live outside Iran.
Demands from the protesters
Today, Mousavi gave an important speech. Here's the video, and translation
"I have come due to concerns of current political and social conditions - to defend the rights of the nation. I have come to improve Iran's International relations. I have come to tell the world and return to Iran our pride, our dignity, our future. I have come to bring to Iran a FUTURE of FREEDOM, of HOPE. I have come to represent the poor the helpless the hungry. I have come to be ACCOUNTABLE to you my people and to this world.
"Iran must participate in FAIR elections, it is a matter of national importance. I have come to you because of the corruption in Iran. 25% inflation means IGNORANCE - THIEVING - CORRUPTION - where is the wealth of my nation? What have you done with $300 BILLION in last 4 years - where is the wealth of the nation? The next Government of Iran will be chosen by the people. Why do all our young want to leave this country?"
"I know of no creation who places HIMSELF ahead of 20 million of the nation. We are Muslims - what is happening in Iran's Government is a sin! This Government is not what Imam Khomeini wanted for Iran - I will change all this - This is the SEA of GREEN!!"
This is a major landmark. Here are the 7 demands that are distributed by pamphlets to protesters:
1. Dismissal of Khamenei for not being a fair leader
2. Dismissal of Ahmadinejad for his illegal acts
3. Temporary appointment of Ayatollah Montazeri as the Supreme Leader
4. Recognition of Mousavi as the President
5. Forming the Cabinet by Mousavi to prepare for revising the Constitution
6. unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners
7. Dissolution of all organs of repression, public or secret.
Who is Grand Ayatollah Montazeri?
Ayatollah Montazeri is a pro-Democracy, pro-Human Rights Ayatollah who was at one point possible successor of Khomeini, but became marginalized as he adopted what was seen as a too pro-Western, pro-Democracy stance.
Since shortly after beginning of the Revolution, he has been one of the fiercest critics of the Regime. The divide grew wider in 1988 when he had a falling out with Khomeini and was removed from his position as heir to the Supreme Leadership. He is one of the biggest proponents of women and civil rights for ALL Iranians, including much-maligned minorities like the Baha'is. In fact he goes further than the protections afforded to them under Sharia.
He is also a big critic of Ahmadinejad and has been seen for years as the best hope for Iran if he ever was to come to power, something that was unthinkable a mere week ago.
He has also come out with a statement saying that policemen who beat on protesters and follow orders will not be forgiven under Islam, and that even if the government cuts the lines of communication with the outside world, that it was too late and the truth was getting out
For further information on the Basij, Global Security has a good article about the history of the Basij. CNN has a good article where eyewitnesses describe the type of violence usually unleashed by the Basij. Here is another good article from GS again giving more background information on the ruthless Ansar thugs. BBC profile of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri
important: The Iranian government is looking for dissident twitterers, so if you have an account, change your location and time zone to Tehran!
Regarding the supposed numbers received by all three candidates giving Mousavi the winner and Ahmadinejad third with 7M votes: The only confirmation is an Iranian journalist. We don't have any external data confirming those numbers. 7M for Ahmadinejad seems quite low, so treat this as an unsubstantiated rumour for the moment
The most recent news will be posted at the top, and then moved to the timeline as events on the ground happen.
25th of June
- Today an opposition rally was being held, at the heeding of Mousavi and Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in order to mourn the victims. There are reports that the Basijis have regrouped in order to counter the rally. Clashes are expected to fire up later today
- More than 100 MPs have decided not to attend Ahmadinejad's celebration of his electoral victory. Ahmadinejad has come out and replied to Obama's recent comments on Iran, saying that for all of his talks of change, has been in fact following the same path as the previous President, George W. Bush. Iran's Minister of Intelligence has declared that anyone who collects information in Iran will be arrested, including foreign journalists, whether they are doing it as bloggers, journalists or for their own reasons. On the other hand, another minister came out and said that it is sheer lies to say that journalists are forbidden from covering the protests.
- Ayatollah Rafsanjani met with Mousavi and both discussed how to stop the current cycle of violence and the future of the country. Mousavi's closest advisers and party members are arrested one after the other. He has come out and declared that the government is exercising pressure in order to force him to drop his claims. Conservative candidate Rezaee has already dropped his claims due to pressure from the government. Goya News has reported that Mousavi might be under house arrest. Karroubi has called off a rally meant to mourn those who were killed due to pressures.
- The Revolutionary Guard has come out to say that 8 Basij fighters have been killed so far, and more than 300 injured while "protecting the people of Tehran".
- The British Government is examining the claims that some of its citizens have been detained in Iran. 70 teachers were arrested yesterday, and the vast majority were released today.
24th of June
- Today, there was a protest at Baharestan Square near the Parliament, which turned into one of the worst scenes of violence witnessed so far. Hundreds of people had gathered outside of the Revolution court, many of them family members of the protesters arrested since the election. Hidden in a mosque, hundreds of security forces stormed out and savagely beat everyone with clubs and even throwing people off a pedestrian bridge. Press TV declared that Mousavi denied having anything to do with the protests that were organized. The security forces also used live rounds, but it is unclear if they used them only as warning shots or on protesters. Thousands of other security forces joined in to violently attack the protesters.
- Khamenei went on State Television to declare that he insists on implementing the law on the election issue and that they will not yield to pressure at any cost. The Supreme Court has declared today that they would in fact implement the results of the election and that Ahmadinejad is going to stay on as President. Conservative candidate Rezaee has buckled under pressure and no longer claims that the elections were rigged.
- The Iranian government is going on the offensive, claiming that the killer of Neda was in fact killed by anti-Government forces, the terrorist group MEK, which serves as a convenient boogeyman as they are widely hated by a majority of the Iranian population. They also said that they were hired by a reporter of the BBC, so he could make a documentary based on her.
- The Canadian government has officially requested immediate access to journalist Bahari, who was arrested last Sunday and hasn't been heard of since. The Iranian Foreign Minister has announced that he will boycott the upcoming G8 meeting, signifying another step toward isolation of Iran from the West.
- A new prosecutor has been put in charge of investigating the detained Reformists. According to Human Rights Watch, this man is particularly vicious and has been involved in torture, illegal detentions and forcing prisoners to sign false confessions. Newspapers and State media have now started to openly call for the arrest of Mousavi. 70 university teachers have been arrested after meeting with the Mousavi camp.
- Obama is taking a harsher tone against the Iranian government, and condemned what has been happening as unjust. BBC Persia has interviewed a few members of the Basij militia, and a lot of them say that they are attracted to the money, which is substantial pay everyday.
note: I built this through both articles and twitter feeds, so I do not claim that this is a 100% factually correct representation of reality, but this is the general narrative.
12th and 13th of June - The election & irregularities.
Unlike the 2005 election, which was a low point of Iranian elections in term of participation, the 2009 election in fact produced a record turnout, the youth mobilized behind the two Reformist candidates. Polls in Iran are notoriously irrelevant and generally give the lead to whoever the pollsters support. All throughout the campaign, the Iranian media gave the lead to Ahmadinejad, while the polls from Reformists gave the lead The Iranian infrastructure was not ready to accommodate the number of voters, so the polling hours ended up being extended until midnight.
The ballots were supposedly counted, while the Interior Ministry building went into lockdown. The man currently in charge of the Interior Ministry was put in place by Ahmadinejad. More than 40 million votes were cast, yet they supposedly were all counted within three hours, and against all expectations not only did Ahmadinejad win, but won in a landslide. The official results given were:
Ahmadinejad - 62.63%
Mousavi - 33.75%
Rezaee - 1.73%
Karroubi - 0.85%
At this point, well into the night, spontaneous peaceful protests started to take place all over Tehran and major cities of Iran, contesting the results of the election. At first a few European countries congratulated Ahmadinejad, but quickly backtracked and expressed concerns over claims of irregularities.
As of the 21st of June, the only major countries who have officially and openly accepted the results are China, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela and Brazil.
14th of June
Obviously, this timeline will not be as exhaustive and complete as it will be in an update or two, as I have somewhere around 50-60 articles to go through. This will be the best I can do to be accurate on such a short period of time.
14th of June - While the previous day had been witness to some protests, they were for the most part peaceful. However, as time grew the protests turned more and more violent. When the first spontaneous riots erupted, the first wave of violence was unleashed. The Iranian Riot security forces was called in to support the regular security forces officers controlling the protests, and shortly after the Basij also took the scene, moving from a passive to active role of repression. The RP concentrated mostly around public buildings and streets while the Basij took position around student groups, especially universities.
- As things got more out of hand, more and more Basij troops were called in, as the security forces started dispersing. The riot security forces are less inclined (or, rather I should say the Basij are more inclined) to use violence so they retreated and leaving the place to the Basij. The repressive forces concentrated their assault mostly around the main Iranian universities, while the riot security forces were concentrating on protecting various government buildings such as the Interior Ministry. At least two people had been killed already.
- On the telecommunication front, this is when we started to hear more and more from twitters while videos were being freely updated to youtube (while youtube started to delete the more violent ones a few hours later). This is also the moment where the government realized what was happening, and ordered for the internet, phone lines and cellphones to be cut off, in order to avoid people communicating with the outside world.
late 14th, early 15th of June - This is the second wave of violent repression. At this point, violent riots had spread all over the main cities of Iran. The violence against citizens was not only the fruit of the Basij anymore, but also came from Ansar Hizbullah members. This is the point where firearms started being used. There were reports of a few murders but it was mostly fired in the air or on walls in order to scare away protesters in University dorms. It's also around the same time that the first reports and videos of an important number of non-Persian thugs shouting in Arabic and violently beating people with chains, clubs and electric batons (similar to cattle prods), which led to many speculating that lebanese Hizbullah members were now in Iran. Der Spiegel, through Voice of America, later claimed that 5000 Hizbullah fighters were passing off as Riot security forces, validating the claims of many independent sources and twitter feeds.
- Universities have been the hotbed of protests, serving as a hub of anti-government demonstrations and preparations. 120 teachers from the Sharid University resigned in protest over the election results. Perfectly away of this, the Basij, Ansar and possibly Hizbullah members concentrated their attacks on University Dorms all over the country, storming them and beating students, destroying everything, especially computers.
- The end of the second wave came right before the beginning of the current manifestation. Things were getting quieter with only sporadic reports of dissenters being assaulted. Important to note: at this time. The Supreme Leader authorized the plainclothes militias to use live ammunition against the crowd if things were to get out of hands. By the end of the first two waves of protests, hundreds of people had been arrested.
midday, 15th of June - This brings us to the third wave, which just began around 12:30PM for those of us on the East Coast. Plainclothes militia opened fire on civilians protesting peacefully. Possibly up to 2 million protesters took the street. Chaos erupted in the streets, with reports of fighting all over Tehran and spreading over Iran as the news circulated. Pictures of people shot, some to death, finally surfaced and were published in the mainstream media. Violent and murderous repression has started. At least a twenty people had been killed at this by the end of the 15th of June.
- There is a major national crackdown on students, especially those with connections to the outside world going on right now. Students are fighting back in some areas. Telephones are being bugged and everyone twittering and sending videos outside of Iran are being rounded up. ISPs were shut down, government hackers are threatening people who twitter, and some of them have vanished in the last 24 hours.
- Eventually, the people started to fight back. First, they took over and burned down a Basij base, killing its commander. Later, a Basij shot a young man in the face in front of their HQ, at which point a policeman went to confront them. The Basij beat the police man, at which point students stormed the compound, throwing Molotov cocktails, burning it to the ground.
- During the night, the security forces entered certain neighbourhood to arrest public servants and force them to appear at tomorrow's pro-Ahmadinejad manifestation, but the people went out in the street and forced them out of their neighbourhoods. The Basij have kept on storming dorms. So far the reports are conflicting, but it appears that the death toll could be as high as 40 for the protesters, with two dead on the side of the repressive militias. This is the end of the third wave.
early 16th of June - Supporters of Mousavi have a manifestation planned for 5pm, Tehran time. Roughly the same number or more is expected to attend. People are dressed in black and told to protest silently.
- The pro-Ahmadinejad crowd however are planning a counter-demonstration at the very same place the supporters are supposed to gather at 3pm. Most agree that basically they are simply going to gather for a confrontation. Rumours are that they are taking position in buildings next to the parade and in bunkers to attack. Basij from all over the country are moving to Tehran and supporters are being bused from all over the country. A major showdown is expected to unfold.
- The crackdown on people using telecommunication is as strong as ever. Anyone with a laptop, camera or cellphone is attacked in the street by plainclothes militias. Tehran hotels are under lockdown to prevent the members of the foreign press still in Iran from reporting what is happening.
- As for the Iranian Government and different branches, there are rumours that many Army Generals have been arrested for plotting a Coup d'...tat, but this is still speculation at this point. The Supreme Leader has also called for a 10-day inquiry into the claims of fraud, but it has been widely dismissed as cosmetic. Mousavi and his supporters have rejected this, claiming that they want new elections. Khamenei is now using the armed Basij as his own bodyguards, hundreds of them are surround him and his residence to protect from attempted assassinations. Ahmadinejad himself is in Russia right now, for a planned visit, and tries to pretend that everything is good as usual.
midday 16th of June to early 17th of June - The fourth wave of violence has started, and was expected to flare up very soon. It surprisingly was quite mild. Pro-Mousavi supporters said that there were even more people today protesting against the regime, though raw numbers are hard to get. If this is true, it means there are more than 2M protesters in the street right now. They are dressed in black and protesting silently and without violence so far. Other reports that only 250,000 were in the street, possibly scared by the Basij and propaganda.
- The Basij, surprisingly, did not attacking the march itself but rather assaulted dorms again. It looks like they are using the march as a diversion. In Tehran proper, 2000 Basij are waiting to storm the male dorm, and they are backed by IRG helicopters, which seems to send the message that the IRG has broken from their undeclared neutrality toward tacitly supporting the Regime.
- The crackdown on telecommunications is starting to suffocate all of Iran. As of now:
* Gmail, GTalk, Yahoo, Aim and ICQ are shut down
* Phone lines, cellphones and SMS are down most of the time
* HTTPS and other such protocols are down most of the time, so are ISPs
* They are trying very hard to close down the Iranian connexion to twitter and giving proxies they control in order to track down people
People are also receiving phone calls from the government saying "We know you were in the protests".
- Night fell on Iran, and the Basij were roaming, attacking those passing by at random. They had also surrounded dorms and stormed them once again.
17th of June - With the end of the fourth wave of violence, we have been in a wait and see mode. As of right now, there are many rumors involving clerics and Ayatollahs meeting in the Holy Shiite city of Qom and planning to overthrow Khamenei, as well as reports that some in the Army plotting to overthrow the government, semi-confirmations from credible twitterers, but nothing concrete or substantiated so far. These would be extremely big development, so it's better to treat them with caution.
- Nothing much has happened on this day aside of that. There was another mostly peaceful march, with around 500,000 protesters in the street. The Basij and others are still roaming around and beating on the population, as well as dressing in green, destroying buildings and trying to pin the blame on the protesters in order to make them look like a bunch of thugs.
- There have been more than a hundred people arrested in their hospital beds and taken to prison. The number of prisoners right now is estimated between 1,000 and 10,000; possibly more. The Basij are now laying traps into hospitals themselves, trying to snatch up protesters there. There are also reports that they are taking dead bodies before they are identified, stuffing them in vans and leaving to undisclosed locations. Doctors have been setting up outside clinics and fighting back in order to stop the Basij from doing what they do.
18th of June - The protests show no signs of slowing down, and the fact that the government has been less violent so far and concentrating on discrediting the protesters instead shows that they are losing grip and painfully aware of all the attention given to what is happening right now, CNN notwithstanding. It's also a worrying step, because the moment they start feeling they are losing grip even more is the moment where they might begin to unleash brutal waves of violence again, much worse than what we've seen so far.
- Iran Human Rights reports that today alone hundreds of members of the opposition and known Reformists have been arrested, some of them tortured in the basements of government buildings.
- There is a (so far) quiet march going on, where all the protesters are dressed in black and mourning those who have died so far. The crowds are estimated to be as big as they have been for the last few days, so that puts them between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 in Tehran alone.
- Khamenei has agreed to a recount of 600 out of the thousands of ballot boxes, but this has been rejected by the opposition, who says that these elections are to be declared null and void, and that new elections have to be rescheduled. Khamenei in return rejected this. There are reports that Mousavi went as far as saying that Khamenei does not have authority to preside over the state of Iran anymore.
- As a sign of growing tension in the governmental apparatus, fist-fights were said to have broken out in Parliament over who to support, but it seems that the Parliament will ultimately back Ahmadinejad and Khamenei to the end. The Interior Ministry has ordered a security forces investigation into the massacre of 7 civilians by a Basij firing in a crowd. There are also reports of security forces officers deserting their posts and joining the protesters, while others use their position in the security forces force as a way to warn protesters from incoming arrests or crack downs. The army is still silent. There are reports that the man who leaked results of the election giving Mousavi winner and Ahmadinejad as losing in third position has been killed in a car "accident".
- The State TV has been turned into a full-blown anti-Revolution machine, constantly hammering on how evil the "thugs" who are smashing around private property are. Problem is that those thugs are in fact Basij dressed in green, but IRIB is reporting it as pro-Mousavi supporters. They have also been showing documentaries about the evils of the internet and how the US, UK and Israel are behind the protests. State Radio is not much better, with talking heads calling for the death of those evil thugs destabilizing the country at the behest of external forces. They have also issued false reports that Mousavi was "condemning the rioters".
- The Government has closed Iran to all foreign communication and coverage, according to many reports. It would also seem that the Iranian government has opened an account in the name of Ayatollah Khamenei on Twitter. There are reports that senior aides to all reformist candidates have been arrested, but it has yet to be corroborated and this is not the first time we hear such reports.
- According to Reuters, Iranian prosecutors have warned of the death penalty for the rioters who are involved in violence. Islamic cleric have warned that not going to Friday's prayer service makes you worthy of the death penalty. It is unclear yet what isn't worthy of death penalty at this point if you protest against the regime.
- All the violence reported over Iran is now exclusively done by the Basij, Ansar and, if the rumours are true, Hizbullah and Hamas. The security forces have completely stopped participating in the repression of the population, and both the Army and IRG are standing still and not doing anything. This is good news, but the Basij are sadly not reducing the level of violence they are unleashing on the population, beating up everyone they can get their hands on. It continued all throughout the night and during the day, but due to the mass of people involved it seems that they are restraining themselves when it comes to the mass rallies, preferring to pick isolated targets.
- Universities have cancelled all exams all over the country, and a long list of rebel students was given to all universities and they have to report the students, who are to be arrested on sight.
- There have been a few confirmed cases of people threatened inside the United States for providing proxies for the revolution. Their details were available on the internet so they were passed around pro-Government forces. If you are helping this revolution, be careful to do so as anonymously as you can. It doesn't mean you are risking your life, but it could potentially result in harassment or vandalism.
19th of June - Supreme Leader Khamenei called for Friday Prayers where he was present and delivered the sermons. Reformist leaders and their supporters boycotted it. Supporters of Khamenei flooded Tehran from all corners of Iran on Friday, and big post-speech clashes are expected during the night and tomorrow.
- Iranian prosecutors have warned protesters that violence might be punished with the death penalty, according to Reuters. As the Basij, they are cracking down on the population as ever, roaming the streets, vandalizing both pro and anti-Mousavi targets while pretending to be pro-Mousavi forces and trying to crack down on all dissenters.
- In other news, things are going from bad to worse for the Basij and they are starting not only to lose ground, but to fear for their safety. There are many reports that most Basij forces are now hiding their identities with masks for fear of reprisal. There are websites being created featuring images and often identities of Basij who have been violently repressing students, calling for actin to be taken against those men. Now the youth has started to hunt Basij as well. In their own neighbourhoods, where they know each others, they are now laying trap to known basij members, using side streets and houses to attack. They strike, and then they hide, only to regroup further, launch another attack and disperse again. Every house is unlocked and they have the tacit support of the population while no help helps the Basij. This might explain why the IRG has been called to take a more active role in the future.
21st of June.
Two major events happened today:
- Grand Ayatollah Montazeri went directly against Ayatollah Khamenei's wishes and declared a 3-day mourning period in Iran, while Khamenei had ordered mosques to avoid making ceremonies in the memory of the fallen victims of governmental violence.
- The Guardian Council admitted that in 50 cities, there were in fact more vote recorded than there are registered voters and said they were looking into the situation. Seeing as the GC is under direct control of Khamenei, this is very likely an attempt at damage control from people who have yet to grasp how deep the schism in Iran is. This could be an attempt to ultimately blame Ahmadinejad for the irregularities and throw him under the bus in order to save their skin, which would be a sign they don't fully realize yet what is happening.
- Aside from that, as expected there were clashes all over Iran, but subsided since the 20th. The Iranian Government went on the offensive, kicking out a BBC correspondent and attacking Western countries for what they see as meddling in Iranian internal affairs. Tomorrow Mousavi has called for a general strike all over Iran. It seems that business activity that the already paralyzed country will be stopped completely.
From the 19th to the 20th of June. post-Khamenei speech.
If anyone doubted this is a Revolution and that this was bigger than the election, there is no such doubt anymore. While Khameini directly called for them to stop, the population took the street more numerous than ever. This is direct defiance to the Supreme Leader. Here are the major events that happened between the end of Khamenei's speech and midnight on Saturday.
- Before the protest even began, heavily armed men were waiting for the dissidents, planning to prevent them from reaching the rally point. It didn't take long for the peaceful protests to turn into full-fledged riots. Security forces had also closed off the Tehran university to prevent students from leaving to protest or entering to take shelter. Basij, some security forces and what is suspected to be members of the Revolutionary Guard assaulted the protesters. The protesters fought back while chanting "Death to Khamenei" and "Down with Khamenei". The security forces used water cannons and tear gas to try and disperse the protesters. While the tear gas was partly successful, the water cannons were mostly useless, as they were quickly over ran by the protesters.
- A lot of eyewitnesses report that the Basij now fighting appear to be barely older than teenagers, most of them between 16 and 20, taking a real pleasure in the violence. Others report that up to hundreds of both security forces and Basij were injured in the last series of clashes. The Basij forces are using pvc tubes filled with concretes, bats, even knives and are assaulting people everywhere, down to metro stations.
- A bomb exploded at the Khomeini Shrine, killing one and injuring at least two. Most believe that the government is in fact behind it. Khamenei was a major figure of the previous Revolution, and they used a similar tactics then, destroying buildings and blaming it on the Shah in order to turn the population against him. The State television is of course blaming Mousavi for it and calling for a harsher treatment of the protesters. This is also very convenient for the Regime, has Mousavi said he would take refuge there if he feared for his safety, but now all access is blocked.
- In return, the harsher the treatment of protesters by the security forces, the harsher the rhetoric and reaction of the protesters. They are calling for the death of the regime, the death of Khamenei, the death of their oppressors and that they will avenge them. Once the gun shots started, the protesters went wild, beating down security forces and basij forces they caught to a pulp, while the Basij and security forces are showing absolutely no restraint, even less than they previously had.
- There are many reports that the security forces and Basij still ever present in hospitals and clinics. Basij are kidnapping some of those injured, while the security forces is identifying those participating in the protest. In order to arrest protesters, security forces raided the Khomeini Hospital in order to arrest injured protesters. There are rumours that Basij forces have hijacked ambulances and use them as a trap to brutally assault already injured protesters seeking help, or shoot at them. Iranian journalists, Reformist intellectuals and feminists are still being arrested and rounded up to prevent from reporting the news or reaching out.
- As the protests grew, extreme measures started to used by those trying to repress the Iranians asking for freedom. Gun shots were first fired in the air, but it did not take long for them to be fired at the protesters. A liquid was dropped from helicopters, creating severe skin burns on protesters. We are unsure what the liquid was. They are also openly opening fire on the crowds, 40 to 60 people at least were killed in a single day, and scores more injured according to protesters. There are also reports that Revolutionary Guard Helicopters dropped firearms crates to 500 Basij fighters, as they are more willing than government forces to use them on civilians.
- The protesters are fighting back, taking over anti-riot trucks and burning them, attacking Basij bases and burning another one to the ground. There are report that a security forces truck was actually blown up by the protesters. In many instances, government forces have been force to fled under the constant assault of the people. Another report mentioned a security forces post was burning as well.
- The Iran Fatemiyeh Hospital in Tehran has confirmed at least 40 dead as well as 200 injured. Other sources report that hundreds of security forces and hundreds of basij fighters were injured as well.
- At night the protesters joined each others on the roofs in Tehran, shouting "Allah-u Ackbar", "Margh Bar Khamenei" and chanting "I will welcome death, I will welcome death, but no subjugation, but no subjugation". None of the rhetoric is addressed to Ahmadinejad anymore, all of it is directed to Khamenei and the regime. Many of the popular chants throughout the day were "I will kill those who killed my brother/sister", "Death to the Government", "Death to Khamenei" and "Seyed Ali Pinoshe, Iran won't be Chile".
- China has been censoring all news coming from Iran. Obama's restraint has been useless, as the Iranian government has shown a video of him with a false translation where Obama declared his support for the protesters, and that they should keep on protesting.
- Mousavi gave a speech and declared that if he is arrested, then the whole nation should strike. He also told the people that he is ready for martyrdom.
- There are unconfirmed reports that the Army is now refusing to follow orders and will not attack the protesters. The newest strategy from the government seems to be arming the Basij, dressing them in riot gear, team them up with IRG soldiers, and try to prevent massive rallies and keep them localized instead, as they are easier to stop spreading.
22nd of June.
- Mousavi announced today that there would be a day of mourning for the martyrs killed since the protests began this Thursday, in sync with the demands of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri. He also called on everyone around the world to show support for the plight of the Iranian people. Tomorrow, a national strike will take place. Karroubi for himself released a statement calling on the Iranian government to provide care to those injured during the violence, release journalists and other political prisoners and return the bodies of those killed to their families.
- Members of the Parliament have commented that they are getting ready to hold Mousavi legally responsible for the protests and ensuing riots. They have also called for a possible ending of relationship with the United Kingdom. In response to Mousavi's calls for a general strike, they have also declared that anyone not going to work tomorrow will be fired. An Interior Ministry official followed-up the declaration that the votes were tampered with in 50 cities, saying the results of each box will be published in the near future.
- The Guardian Council has further clarified its claims about voting irregularities, and declared that there were in fact 3 million extra votes cast total. Qom is still an epicenter of rumours, where discussions about Ayatollah Rafsanjani's behind-the-scene indicate that he possibly has the support of the Army and plans to topple the government. This is still rumours, but a rumour that has been persistent since the beginning of these protests and has now been picked up as real by Al Arabiya.
- Protesters have tried to protest peacefully and hold vigils, but were attacked by security and basij forces the second they were more than a couple of people together. Thousands of them have been roaming Tehran in order to block any protests from happening. IRIB is claiming that the government has quelled the protests and they are now things of the past.
- There are reports that one of the highest commanders of the IRG has been arrested for refusing to follow Khamenei's orders to start a heavy crackdown on protesters. Basij and security forces have stormed one of the biggest newspapers in Iran, arresting members of the Staff. The British Embassy has evacuated all non-essential personal, fearing that the increasingly anti-British rhetoric will lead to another hostage situation at an embassy.
23rd of June
- Today is a day of national strike. The massive security forces presence makes it much harder for protesters to join up each others, as the security forces beat up people and force them to separate everywhere in Tehran, including in metro stations.
- The Guardian Council has declared that they will not nullify the results of the Election, and that Ahmadinejad is still the winner. Ahmadinejad will be sworned in as President between July 26 and August 19.
- On the International Front, Obama gave a press conference today where he once again called for the end of the violence and the right to protest peacefully. The Iranian Government is getting angry with the international reaction to the conflict. The Iranian Government issued a formal condemnation of the Secretary General of the UN for involving himself in what they call Iranian internal affairs. They also declared that the French riots a couple of years ago were much more violent, yet they were never referred to as a crisis. Finally, they have expulsed two British diplomats from Iran and decided to recall their ambassador from Britain, while Britain has ordered the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats in return.
- The UN has declared it is dismayed by the post-election violence. Journalists are still being rounded up, now the focus seems to be on Iranian journalist who serve as correspondents for foreign newspapers.
- The split now seems to reach ever higher in the Conservative movement as Ali Larijani, speaker of the Majlis, is attacked by Ahmadinejad's supporters for staying neutral and even unofficially supporting the protesters. He is the one yesterday who called for a revision of the Iran-UK ties in light of recent events.
Sickening story of the day: Parents forced to pay a $3,000 fee for the bullet that killed their son
At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue.
Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee"-a fee for the bullet used by security forces-before taking the body back, relatives said.
Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn't amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran. Kaveh Alipour's body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.
Worrying report: Iran is now considering setting up courts in order to streamline the prosecution of all those arrested while protesting.
The revolution lives on. Long live the revolution!


text:
At present, there is no information about the Embassy of Vietnam in Vanuatu.
If you are holding a Vanuatu passport, you may visit the nearest Vietnam Embassy in the neighboring country to apply for a visa to Vietnam by yourself.
If you are citizen of other countries currently living in Vanuatu, you can apply Vietnam visa online through this form:
It takes 01 business days to get an approval letter via email. Once you have the visa approval letter, you can get a visa at airport when you arrive in Vietnam.
Embassy of Vietnam in other countries

subset: commoncrawl


text: Samuel Slater established the first American spinning mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1790. Together with his brother John, he expanded the business into a series of cotton and woolen mills in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, which were continued by their descendants. The Slater Companies Collection contains more than 1300 volumes of business records of almost twenty textile mills in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, owned by the Slater family from 1793 to 1926. It does not include records of the Connecticut mills. This extraordinarily rich and long-running collection provides materials regarding key transitions in labor practices of the textile industry, specifically with respect to the hiring of families and women.The mills contracted labor on the British family system, hiring families instead of individual workers. In contrast, other early Massachusetts textile mills initially built their labor forces by contracting with individual New England farm girls. The records of the Slater mills provide material on family structure and child labor as well as women's wages, household accounts with company stores, and tenement housing records. Labor contracts in the records of Slater & Kimball illustrate how this labor system reinforced patriarchal family structure: in March, 1829, Abel Dudley contracted to work himself, along with his two daughters, Mary and Caroline, who were to "have the privilege of going to School two months each--one at a time." By the mid-nineteenth century, the records show a shift away from the family-based labor system. The collection provides some insight, as well, into the family that owned the mills, in the form of estate records of various members of the Slater family. The collection includes an inventory of the personal estate of Elizabeth Slater (d. prior to 1875), widow of Horatio N. Slater, which shows such items as "Dutchess Lace" and an "Ermine Muff."Wage and time accountingWebster Woolen Mill -- Weavers' books, by name, including detailed accounts on amounts and kind of cloth produced (1865-1867): volumes 45-53, 55; receipts for wages (1837-1851): volumes 72-74Slater Woolen Company -- Weavers' books, by name (1876-1881): volumes 54-55; timetable and payrolls (1867-1874, 1876-1880): volumes 124-31Slater & Tiffany -- Production and labor, some include family accounts (1812-1836): volumes 73-101Phoenix Thread Mill -- Wage receipts (1828-1850): volumes 31-33, box 37Union Mills -- Production, with names (1937-1844 and 1852-1857): volumes 79-80, 82; labor on North Farm (1843-1846): volume 103; settlement labor (1846): volume 112; time books and wage receipts (1836-1868): volumes 144-176; payrolls (1848-1863): boxes 192-194Sutton Manufacturing Company -- Weaving books (1839-1840, 1949-1867): volumes 37 and 39; payrolls and time books (1842, 1840-1848, 1851-1869): volumes 29, 41-44Steam Cotton Manufacturing Company -- Weaving book with black marks against weavers (1829-1834): volume 10; time books (1828-1836): volumes 16-18Slater, Wardwell and Company (store) -- Wage receipts (1824-1831): volume 11S. & J. Slater -- Weavers' book with names (1837-1841): volume 14John and William Slater -- Payrolls (1856-1958, 1867-1869): volumes 2 and 3W.S. Slater -- Payrolls (1976-1878): volumes 2 and 3J.W. Slater -- Payroll (1887-1888): volume 8S. Slater & Sons, Inc. -- Payroll (1913-1926): volume 2Slater & Robinson -- Time books (1852-1863): volumes 1-14Company reports and registers; office recordsUnion Mills -- Lists of workers and families of workers (1861, 1866): volumes 95-96Company Patronage Webster Woolen Mill -- Charges against help: volume 75Union Mills -- Rent books (1849-1872): volumes 87- 94; Worker advances, expenses (1851, 1864-1865); South Village census returns (1842-1907): box 195Slater & Robinson -- Boarding house (1859-1862): volumes 19-22Family and financial recordsH.N. Slater Mills -- Trustees Accounts of the estate of H. N. Slater, inventory of the personal estate of Elizabeth V. Slater: Boxes 32 and 35S. & J. Slater -- Information on the estate of John Slater, Sarah Slater, joint administratrix (1838-1843): volumes 2, 15


text:
IT WAS 40 years ago today, to paraphrase a couple of good songwriters of the time, that the music prematurely stopped for a young champion. It was July 8, 1972, that John Greening was felled off the ball in a game between Collingwood and St Kilda at Moorabbin, and his career left in ruin. At 21, his light was permanently dimmed, if not extinguished.
By poignant coincidence, this anniversary falls on the same weekend Brent Crosswell has been elevated to icon status in the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame. ''Tiger'' Crosswell becomes the 12th player of his state to be so honoured.
Greening and Crosswell were two precociously talented Tasmanian teenagers of the same age who left home to test themselves in the big time - or perhaps more accurately to see how the big time measured up against them - in the late 1960s. They were football prototypes; forerunners of a game that lay ahead, each with a rare combination of speed, athleticism, and aerial skill. And plenty of what would later become known as attitude.
Both were from the northern half of the island: Crosswell from the farming community of Campbell Town, 65 kilometres south of Launceston; Greening from industrial Burnie. Crosswell was born in August, 1950; Greening on Christmas Day that year.
By the first half of the '60s, both would be shining on the field in their respective school systems, but because state and independent schools didn't compete against each other, their paths didn't cross. State under-age teams were chosen only from the government school system, thus excluding the Scotch College-educated Crosswell.
Greening went to Montello Primary and then Parklands High in Burnie. As his brilliant skills singled him out for special treatment, he was even allocated a school football version of a ''minder'': a very tough kid named Stephen Beaumont.
Beaumont wasn't just tough, he was sufficiently talented to later play 37 games with Essendon despite an attitude which - even by the standards of the time - left a little to be desired. That a kid of such talent would be employed as a minder says much for the unique gift of Greening.
When Tasmania's under-15 state trials were held in 1964, Greening was injured but unworried. According to one of his peers, he knew he'd be chosen - and he was. Self doubt was not on his radar.
He left Burnie for Collingwood in 1966, barely 15. He made his debut aged 17, in 1968, stringing together 94 games uninterrupted before his injury. By then he was emerging as one of the most skilful, exciting, and devastating players in the competition.
Famously, in 1972, he had polled 14 Brownlow votes and was on pace to challenge the eventual winner - his teammate, Len Thompson - before fate intervened.
Like Greening, Crosswell was a schoolboy phenomenon. Around him, the rarely successful Scotch College built a state independent schools title-winning team. His move to Melbourne came two years after Greening's, and - like the Burnie wonder kid - Crosswell made his VFL debut, with Carlton, as a 17-year-old in 1968.
In a sense, this would signify the end of Tasmanian football as it had been. Two future champions, spotted in their mid-teens by Victorian scouts, had left their native state without entering the local senior system.
Greening and Crosswell quickly made their mark on the other side of Bass Strait. They were on opposing teams in the most famous game in history: the 1970 grand final. Had there been a Norm Smith medal to be won then, it may have been Crosswell's. As it was, that day he became a premiership player for the second time in his first three years. He would go on to play in another two premierships at North Melbourne.
Today, as is well known, he suffers from the balance-affecting condition, Meniere's disease.
For Greening, the dream of premierships, captaincy, and even of coaching Collingwood was never realised. His 1974 return to football, after the severe concussion which left him comatose for 24 hours amid fears for his life, was deeply emotional. He shone as Collingwood romped to a 69-point win over eventual premier Richmond.
Yet it was more encore than comeback. Greening played a handful of games over the next two years before leaving Victoria Park at 26. He says he made his return because ''I just wanted to prove something''. He demonstrated he was still physically capable, but says he was ''probably emotionally affected''.
When I suggested to him last week that perhaps something died that July day at Moorabbin in 1972, he agreed: ''It did die … probably your trust in fellow man.''
Although weakened by time and fate, Greening and Crosswell remain fine physical figures. While their careers, which for a time ran in parallel, later diverged, each left an indelible mark.
Their time as footballers might be remembered not by any Lennon and McCartney song, but by one associated with two other sporting warriors. It carries the line: ''We will leave the world remembering. When we were kings.''


text:
Tigers always ruin everything. There I was, 20 minutes into my stealthiest outpost takedown yet. The perimeter guards had all been lured clear and picked off, the alarms had been shut down with surgical precision, and the remaining quintet of interior camp guards had all been marked for termination. With no enemy patrols on the road and night starting to fall, the time had finally arrived. It would have been perfect, if not for that damn tiger.
As I crept quietly toward the outskirts of the camp, a sudden burst of gunfire from within gave me pause. An exasperated sigh on my lips, I slipped back to the treeline and worked my way over to the opposite end of the camp, where the commotion was coming from. There, in the growing darkness, I saw three, now two, gun-toting pirates doing their best to put down an invading tiger. Now one. The last man standing out of the five managed to land a killing blow on the great cat, though he wouldn't have time to savor the victory. I put the weakened pirate down with my sniper rifle in one shot, no longer interested in my planned stealthy infiltration.
Stupid tigers.
Welcome To Paradise
Far Cry 3 begins in a prison cell. Pirates have captured Jason Brody and his vacation party — a group that also includes his two brothers — after an ill-fated skydiving expedition. The captives have been split up and now it's just Jason and his older brother Grant, a trained soldier on leave. It's Grant who engineers a spur-of-the-moment escape plan and it's Grant who guides himself and his brother to the perimeter of the pirate camp they're trapped in. It's also Grant who, right on the cusp of freedom, takes a fatal bullet, fired from a gun belonging to Vaas Montenegro.
Vaas is an electrifying antogonist, a charismatic crazyman who dogs Jason's progress through Far Cry 3's story from moment one. But Vaas is really a small portion of a much bigger story. He's ultimately just a red herring, a well-conceived bit of sleight of hand that keeps your attention riveted to the shiny thing while the meat of the experience sinks in. He, like many others that you'll meet in Far Cry 3, has a lesson to share with Jason. There is an insidious second narrative at work throughout your journey, and Vaas is emblematic of the parallel paths that you tread. Once he's gone, what started as a revenge quest transforms and you realize that you've become exactly what you've fought so hard to resist.
Jason is not Vaas in some Fight Club-like twist. That should be made clear. But you are Jason and Jason is you, and the two of you come to follow a Vaas-like trajectory into clear-headed insanity. Big credit to Ubisoft Montreal's writing staff for pulling together this surprisingly affecting story. Far Cry 3 is empowerment fantasy at its finest. Jason, stripped of everything he knows and everyone he loves, is forced to take control of his own destiny. This is standard-issue video game storytelling, and yet it somehow hits on a much deeper level than games are generally able to.
Part of the credit goes to the little things, the small features in Far Cry 3 that give the feeling of being part of this world. The slight heaving of weight as Jason pulls himself onto a ledge. The pause as a doorknob is turned and the slight step back to allow the door space to swing open. The lifting and ducking into the confines of a hang glider's perch. Far Cry 3 takes no shortcuts with its animations. If Jason is going to do something, he's going to do it right, and in a realistic way. It's an entirely convincing illusion, just like it was in Far Cry 2.
Credit goes as well to the sharp, linear narrative, a necessary divergence away from the open-ended nature of your world explorations. Story missions are tightly composed affairs that offer up a stunning variety of scenarios, from tomb raiding to run-and-gun action to stealth to – believe it or not – an epic showdown against a skyscraper-sized "boss" monster. It all makes perfect sense within the context of the story, a story strengthened all the more thanks to its cast of bizarre characters. Vaas is the ad-driven tip of a very large iceberg, a mascot chosen to represent a wider assortment of individuals who will help and hurt Jason as he searches for his lost friends.
Then there's the open world, a stunning achievement of game design that amounts to a gigantic, beautiful diversion delivery system. You can hunt, you can craft, you can take on arcade-style challenges, liberate outposts, assassinate marked targets, climb rickety radio towers, race, and then some. Crafting actually deserves a special mention, since it's fundamentally tied to Jason's progression. Hunting and gathering are required tasks, and you'll use what you collect to make healing items and improve your weapons/ammo/loot storage capacity. XP rewards feed into a separate leveling system, with skills divided between three trees that favor stealthy play, ranged play, and brutal in-your-face play (though you'll dip into all three).
You can also simply explore, allowing Far Cry 3's living world to surprise you with dingos and tigers and bears. Oh my. This is an open world that gauntlet-smacks the likes of Skyrim with a challenge to do better. The dynamic environment that is Far Cry 3's tropical paradise nightmare has no equal in gaming; I've never encountered an open world that feels more "alive" than this one does. You'll play Far Cry 3, but Far Cry 3 will play you as well with every step that you take.
Triple Threat Appeal
Piled on top of the story-driven campaign are a pair of multiplayer-oriented modes, for adversarial and cooperative play. Co-op amounts to its own story, following four character archetypes — the angry Scot, the ass-kicking black woman, the gruff city copy, the stoic, thickly accented Eastern European — as they seek vengeance on a ship's captain who sold them off to pirates. Or attempted to. Our foursome escapes before they can be captured, and they set out together to follow the captain's trail and bring him justice at the business end of a loaded gun.
The co-op missions lack the varied flavor that is on offer in the solo campaign. They're more involved than advancing through a series of checkpoints as you gun down everything in your path, but the framework is for co-op play. You'll defend teammates as they carry mission-critical objects and work together to defend locations against attack. The vibe is different compared to that of the solo campaign, but not in an objectionable way. Far Cry 3 co-op is different, and more linear, but it offers good times. Especially since you've got the same dangling carrot progression that fuels the adversarial multiplayer.
I admittedly wasn't able to spend much time with Far Cry 3's competitive online mode. The dangers of playing games pre-release and all that. The bits that I've seen show promise, again thanks to a well-developed system of dangling carrots. It also helps that the core game here is so mechanically sound; the feel is different from a Call of Duty or a Battlefield, but Far Cry 3's weapons pack some impressive punch, delivering virtual gunplay that fundamentally entertains. Add to all of that a robust map editor that allows for both solo futzing and online carnage and you're left with a potent recipe for success. I'll adjust this review accordingly if the post-release multiplayer doesn't measure up, but the various bits and pieces all seem to fall into the right places based on what I've seen.
Cutting Corners By Necessity
The bulk of my review play was with a PC version of the game, and I'm pleased to say that Far Cry 3 looks outstanding on my Alienware X51 (the mid-range i5 model). The tropical paradise is rendered with exquisite detail, feeding you breathtaking vista after breathtaking vista. You'll squirm at the sight of Jason snapping a dislocated thumb back into place or digging a bullet out of his arm with a knife because it looks (and sounds) so alarmingly real. The AI behaviors are similarly impressive; pirates all come from a fairly limited stock of character models, but they'll demonstrate individual and group intelligence most of the time, sending advance scouts forward, engaging in flanking maneuvers, and the like.
I've also spent a good 10 hours (and counting) with the Xbox 360 version of Far Cry 3, and I can confirm that corners were most definitely cut. As you would probably expect. The world still looks beautiful, but multiple layers of detail have been stripped away for the aging game consoles. The world AI also doesn't seem to be quite as sharp. Enemies will still challenge with unexpected behaviors, but that intelligence is tempered by occasional breakdowns. I've seen my own friendly Rakyat forces run over their fellow soldiers in speeding jeeps and I've seen enemies fire rockets directly into whatever object they're crouched behind. These occasional breakdowns don't disrupt the experience too much, but they're all that much more obvious when everything around them is otherwise so sharp and polished.
Far Cry 3 is a tremendous game to cap off the year with, and Ubisoft's strongest of 2012. It should be considered a strong contender for game of the year. As a work of entertainment, Far Cry 3 is most definitely of the "can't miss" variety. It's an exceptional game by any measure, and it effectively raises the bar for any first-person open world experience that follows.
Score: 9.5 out of 10
(This game was reviewed on both the PC and the Xbox 360, using copies provided by the publisher)


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I was reading Herrlich & Strecker's Category Theory, and there is a theorem called The Canonical construction of Pullbacks which states that if a category has products and equalizers, then it has pullbacks.
So I started to ask myself for some kind of converse. For instance, it is false that pullbacks and equalizers imply products, since the category of fields has pullbacks and equalizers but not products.
Then I asked if products and pullbacks imply equalizers. I haven't been able to come up with a counterexample, so I guess it must be true. Is there a proof of this?


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Monday's edition of Pro Football Talk on NBCSN features the Mt. Rushmores for the Raiders and the Chiefs. It's a rivalry that hasn't been relevant in recent years, primarily since neither team has been.
So it's a chance for fans of both teams to do some sitting back trying recapture a little of the glory of the days when both teams battled with something on the line other than bragging rights and/or the basement of the division.
For the Chiefs, the 12 finalists appear below. Pick up to four, and then tune in Monday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
And while Chiefs fans will have to sit through the Mt. Rushmore of the Raiders and vice-versa, don't forget that each Mt. Rushmore is preceded by a look at the team's worst losses.


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Medal of Honor: Vanguard
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Step into the boots of Frank Keegan, Corporal of the 82nd Airborne Division and engage in battles throughout Europe. From Operation Husky on the shores of Sicily to Operation Varsity inside Nazi Germany, you'll fight behind enemy lines in the epic WWII battles that turned America's first paratroopers into heroes of WWII. Featuring spectacular graphics adding to epic combat intensity, Medal of Honor Vanguard makes you the driving force in the struggle to liberate Europe.
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Three more Torrington teens face jail in another rape case
TORRINGTON >> As Torrington continues to come to grips with rape charges against four high school football players and bullying of their alleged victims making national news, a two-year-old case has surfaced that adds to a pattern of athlete and teen behavior.
In a Litchfield courtroom Tuesday, a 2011 case against three additional teenagers was revealed. While not connected to the statutory rape charges that have rocked Torrington over the past month, there are similarities.
Three teens, including two former Torrington High School football players, are accused of gang-raping a girl after giving her enough alcohol to incapacitate her. Like the victims in the February Torrington case, the girl was 13 years old. In this case, however, the accused were charged with second-degree sexual assault, not being described as statutory rape, as is being lodged against Edgar Gonzalez, Joan Toribio and two unnamed 17-year-olds.
Recently, at least six former Torrington High School football players and two other Torrington teens have faced rape charges in at least five separate cases.
FAQ: What we know about the Torrington rape victim bullying case
In the 2011 case that became public Tuesday, two of the defendants, Kenuel Weaver-Hunt, 17, 135 Grant St., and Dyllan Rodriguez, 16, 167 Harwinton Ave., have pleaded guilty to charges of risk of injury to a minor with illicit sexual contact, a class "D" felony.
A third teen, Alec Berkemeier, 16, 65 Bridge St., Winsted is charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor with illicit sexual contact. He has pleaded not guilty and appears on track for a jury trial. Berkemeier appeared in Litchfield Judicial District court on Tuesday and had his case continued until June 4.
The rape is alleged to have occurred in 2011. The case is not connected to a rape case involving four Torrington High School football players accused of individually raping two 13-year-old girls on separate occasions. That case brought forward concerns about rape culture at Torrington High School, especially among members of the football team, after several students used social media to blame the victims and bully them, including calling the girls "whores."
Berkemeier and Rodriguez are listed on then-head coach Dan Dunaj's 2011 roster submitted to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, though it's unclear to what extent the two boys did or did not participate in football,
In this case, which has not received similar press coverage because of the accused were originally charged as juveniles, the trio is accused of feeding the girl alcohol laced cherry Kool-Aid. All three defendants recount this nearly identically, before disrobing the girl in Weaver-Hunte's aunt's bedroom.
There, accounts told to police differ slightly in who removed the girl's shirt and bra, then pants and underwear, before the three teens allegedly sequentially raped the unconscious girl.
The alleged incident took place on July 23, 2011. The boys' arrest date was not available by deadline, and was listed in Connecticut Judicial Branch databases are July 23, 2011, the day before the investigation into the alleged incident began.
Warrants ordering the boys' arrests were not signed until Nov. 8, 2011.
It appears that immediately after the boys were arrested, they were placed on electronic monitoring, house arrest and a curfew, allowed to leave their homes only for school and counseling.
Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko said she learned of the incident almost immediately after she became superintendent, but could not comment on when exactly the boys were expelled due to student confidentiality laws.
Kloczko said she was unaware if the three teens were on the football team at the time of their arrests.
"The same procedure was followed, exactly what we followed this year, we followed then too," said Kloczko. "We get the notice, we suspend the student immediately, the principal does an investigation and an expulsion followed," she said.
"The longest time that a school district can expel a student is for one year," added Kloczko. However, since all three defendants are ordered not to have contact with the victim or one another, they will stay out of school until those court orders are lifted.
On the evening of July 23, the victim, Berkemeier, Rodriguez and Weaver-Hunte, the defendants then 14, 15 and 16 years old, went to McDonald's to "hang out for a while."
The four then agreed to go to Weaver-Hunte's aunt's house, on Turner Avenue in Torrington. There, said the defendants, Weaver-Hunte mixed cherry Kool-Aid with vodka, rum and Amaretto liqueur. According to one defendant, the victim drank a porcelain mug of all three liquors mixed together, in one glass.
The victim said she drank about three cups of Kool-Aid, which "tasted funny," at first sip. The rest of the night, said the victim, is a blur. She was so drunk, defendants said, that she fell down several times, and repeatedly said she wanted to go to sleep.
According to defendants, the three then brought her to Weaver-Hunte's aunt's bedroom and disrobed her, leaving her completely naked on the bed.
At this point, according to two defendants, Berkemeier commented that, "'This is kind of homo' because there were three males standing there."
Berkemeier and Rodriguez then left the room, according to all three defendants. Weaver-Hunte told police he then raped the girl. At one point, the victim woke up and asked Weaver-Hunte, "Big brother why are you doing this?"
"What, having sex?" asked Weaver-Hunte.
"Yes," answered the victim.
Rodriguez told police he then entered the bedroom and began raping the girl. "Dyllan said that he stopped having intercourse because he was thinking about the trouble that he could get into and he said that he did not want to be a father," Rodriguez told police.
Rodriguez left the bedroom, and Berkemeier entered, according to the warrants. The third teen then began raping the girl, according to accounts from Berkemeier to police.
Through this, the victim remembers only portions of the night. For example, voices saying, "Don't let her fall, pick her back up," and scuffling to put her clothes back on.
When the victim's mother texted at 10:19 p.m., saying she would call police if her daughter was not home soon, the defendants told police they panicked. When the victim woke up, and asked, "What happened?," Weaver-Hunte replied that they'd gone to the carnival and she'd passed out.
One of the girl's alleged assailants walked her to Culvert Street, where her mother picked her up. She'd begun driving, looking for her daughter, she told police.
"Dyllan told victim that he had sex with her when she was passed out and victim said, 'Oh my god, I would not expect it from you.' Dyllan told victim to call Kenuel so he could explain to her what he (Kenuel) did. Dyllan said that victim spoke to Kenuel and he said it appeared victim was upset and had tears in her eyes."
Arrest warrants written by police say a sexual assault forensic examination, commonly called a "rape kit," was conducted at Hartford Hospital. The result was positive for intercourse.
Currently, Berkemeier, Rodriguez and Weaver-Hunte are being tried on the adult docket.
Originally, the Rodriguez and Weaver-Hunte were charged with sexual assault in the second degree and risk of injury to a minor. Weaver-Hunte was also originally charged with three counts of permitting a minor to possess alcohol.
Currently, a plea deal offered by prosecutors offers the pair a five year suspended sentence, of which each would serve nine months, followed by five years of probation. If either violates probation the entire five year sentence could be enforced at the discretion of the court.
Litchfield Superior Court Judge James P. Ginocchio has not accepted the plea deals, the cases are awaiting disposition and the results of a pre-sentence investigation.
Rodriguez and Weaver-Hunte are scheduled to appear in court Litchfield court on Friday, according to the judicial department's database.
The third teenager, Berkemeier, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault in the second degree and risk of injury to a minor. It appears he is on track for a jury trial. He will be back in court June 4.
Rodriguez and Weaver-Hunte are released from custody on $10,000 professional surety bond. Berkemeier is released from custody on $5,000 professional surety bond.
Reach Jessica Glenza at 860-489-3121 ext. 324.


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