Ebi's Green Concert in London

Legendary Iranian singer, Ebi will be performing in the Royal Albert Hall, London on April 20th. There is a difference to this concert from the other Iranian concerts being performed these days for the Nowruz celebrations. This concert is being organised by the Persian Community for Multiple Sclerosis (PC4MS), whose aim is to raise awareness of MS and its prevalence in Persian communities, as well as helping to fund research into MS. All the profits from this concert will go to UK-registered charities and the largest portion will be donated to the MS Society for use in research.
See: Royal Albert Hall Tickets/Ebi

Ebi is also a staunch supporter of the Green Movement. So what would be more appropriate to turn up for the concert with pictures of Hamed Rouhinejad, the Iranian philosophy student from Beheshti university who suffers from MS and was arrested 40 days before last June's elections and sentenced to execution. His death sentence seems to have been commuted now but Hamed has been detained in Evin prison ever since.

Message by the Imprisoned Iranian Film Director and Journalist

Mohammad Nourizad, the imprisoned Iranian film director and journalist, was given a chance to call his family after 93 days in solitary confinement. During a conversation which lasted only five minutes, Nourizad wished a happy Iranian New Year to his wife and two children and told them 'It is not important how long I remain here, what is important is that when I come out of here I be able to hold my head high'.

This epic of a resistance to tyranny continues on all fronts.

Lets Support the Artists Who Have Stood by the People of Iran

Googoosh on Sunday:



Afshin in Germany

Googoosh Concert

When it comes to entertainment, Googoosh is a legend amongst Iranians and even amongst other Persian speaking nations beyond Iran's borders. Googoosh has been performing for 56 years since she was three years old. Not only she is a supreme singer with the greatest of vocals but she is a complete all rounder on stage.

At a sell out concert in the Wembley arena last night, marking the Iranian New Year, Googoosh came on stage and straight away wished for a free Green Iran in the new Iranian year. Many Iranian artists avoid getting involved in politics thinking it may alienate some of their fans but Googoosh is one of those giants in Iranian entertainment who doesn't need to worry about a few timid expats unconcerned with what goes on in Iran.

After Googoosh dazzled and electrified the audience with her incredible performances in the first half, she came back on stage after the break dressed in a new chic attire with tears in her eyes and emotions running high, she pointed to Anthony Thomas, the veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and accomplished documentary director/producer sitting in the audience and thanked him for making a new documentary about Neda. Anthony Thomas had found out during the making of the film form Neda's friends how much Neda loved one of Googoosh's old songs, 'Never Forget Me'. The seven thousand crowd in Wembley Arena got up and applauded both Googoosh and Anthony Thomas. Googoosh managed to wipe her tears off, and sing a very emotional version of her ' Get to Know Me and Never Forget Me' for Neda. Once again the whole audience rose up and amongst constant applause some started shouting 'Nedaye ma namorde' - 'Our Neda Hasn't died' Neda meaning voice in Persian it was also meant to appreciate Googoosh's fifty six years of singing consistently at the highest standard.

A member of the audience walked up to the stage and threw a green wrist band with 'Free Iran' written on it. Googoosh picked up the wrist band, put it on her wrist and raided her arm with a clinched fist symbolising the resistance of the struggle by the Iranians, and by doing so once again she moved an appreciative audience into yet another peak of exceptional joy and elation.

It was such a pleasure to see so many thousands of Iranians so truly happy and yet not forgetting the struggle in Iran. One wondered where else in the world can you find a country whose people are so vastly apart from those who rule over them?

For me there was another special moment, when googoosh sang one of her old songs, Kooh, the Mountain. The tall proud mountain that always holds his head high, strong and impassable. It brought back so many memories and I remembered how I always listened to it when I was down. It was just what I needed to re-charge may batteries for the new year.

Nowruz Outside Evin Prison

Families of political prisoners in Iran set up their Nowruz Haft-sins with pictures of their loved ones who are still in prison.

Stay Green and Immortal Forever My Homeland

right now I can listen to this over and over again:



Wherever I have been and whatever sky I have slept under, I have always been with you my homeland,
and now if I am tired because of a dagger in my back, whether I am still standing or already fallen, it has been for you, its been in your path
My Homeland, My Homeland, You stay Green and Immortal Forever!

Few Hours to Nowruz

Its now just a few hours to Nowruz, usually I am very bubbly and happy and looking forward to the celebrations. This year I feel however all my energy has been sapped and all my strength has gone out of me.

You may think its all the Iran related work I do that has caused my exhaustion but actually I am battling on another front with the Child Support Agency. Perhaps I shouldn't be writing about it here but its the only platform I got and I need to shout somewhere. CSA is a criminal organisation which behaves like a protection racket with the full backing of the state. It is a government department which has no concern with the well being of a child which makes fathers and children poorer but lawyers richer. A department whose focus is only to achieve targets by extortion from good fathers who want to look after their children.

It has taken this criminal organisation sixteen months to accept I have a new born which simply amazes me. How is it that they follow me from home, go through my credit card spendings and yet they can not verify such a fact from birth registrations. But I will re-cooperate and I will get my strength back and I will stand up to anyone who tries to bully me.

Look at this case just to get a flavour of what the criminal Child Support Agency gets up to
Relief after CSA admits £30,000 mistake

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Allows the IR Embassy Dinner to Go Ahead in Kensington Town Hall

Despite a huge volume of protests against the Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran holding its dinner party tomorrow at Kensington Town Hall, the Tory controlled council today refused to heed to all the protest emails and phone calls and has allowed the pro-Ahmadinejad organised event to go ahead. In the beginning the booking officer Matthew Brown (matthew.brown@rbkc@gov.uk) expressed his astonishment that the event was organised by the embassy. Matthew Brown claimed the council was told a non-political 'cultural group' had booked the Town Hall for the event and asked for evidence contrary to this understanding.

The evidence of course was in black and white, the event was publicised on the website of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic http://icrolondonevents.com/norooz89/
Which read the Cultural Council of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran invites all those interested for a celebration party on Saturday 20th March in the Kensington Town Hall. Mathew Brown and the leader of the council, Merrick Cockell were notified of this embassy advertisement several times by many. Yet at the end, the Royal Borough of Cambridge and Chelsea lied on its website and Jennifer Allott (jennifer.allott@rbkc.gov.uk) came up with this nonsense statement: http://rbkc.gov.uk/newsroom/councilstatements/iraniannewyearevent.aspx
that a booking was made to use Kensington Town Hall by an 'Iranian cultural group' for a celebration.
No evidence has been produced that this event is anything other than a new year celebration.'
The so-called non-government related Iranian 'Cultural Group' was never named.

It was also further explained to the Tory council how Ahmadinejad's administration uses these events like the ones held on previous occasions in the Millenium Hotel, Gloucester Road or Wolfson College, Cambridge for its propaganda purposes to demoralise the Iranian protesters in Iran. By publicising such gatherings on Iranian state TV and pro-Ahmadinejad websites, in effect they tell the people of Iran, its business as usual for us abroad. The message they send to the Iranian people is no one is standing by you, no one cares for your struggle for democracy, no one is treating us as an illegitimate government, no one is questioning the mass detentions in Iran, the executions and the show trials, we have the petro-Dollars and we can buy whoever we want.

We ask the international community what is it that we are asking you that seems too much to ask? We ask you for international solidarity, you march for Guantanamo detainees, that's fine but how about marching for an Iranian teenager who has been gang raped in Kahrizak prison, after taking part in a peaceful protest simply asking 'where is my vote?,' once in a while? Why is it too much to ask to march just once for the likes of Nedas and Sohrabs and the way even their graves are being desecrated and their families are being harassed?

We ask the students and academics to stand up for the plight of their colleagues in Iran and question such brutal attacks on students of Tehran university shown in this footage taken by Iran's security forces themselves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnHK6jAcsi4

We ask the likes of Anna Contadini not to accept meaningless awards from Ahamdinejad and his neo-Nazi advisor, Mohammad Ali Ramin.

We ask you not to allow your universities, town halls and hotels to be used for propaganda platforms by the coup administration in Iran.

We ask you to stand up to the regime in Iran for breaking all international broadcasting conventions by jamming the satellite signals to Iran while the regime continues to use the same broadcasting platforms for spreading their own propagandas and lies in just about every language with total impunity.

We ask you to stand up to the regime in Iran for denying the Iranian people access to the internet and freedom of information.

We ask you not to allow your companies to sell torture equipment, eavesdropping and spying facilities to the messianic junta in Iran, so that the dissidents in Iran could not so easily be tracked and arrested.

The victory of the Green Movement in Iran will lead to a more peaceful and tolerant Middle East, is this not enough incentive for you? Are you not touched by the humanity, the exceptional compassion and the magnanimity of the Iranian protesters when they capture and disarm a vicious Special Unit guard?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttxINV_EF50&feature=player_embedded

What is it that we are asking you that is too much? Your councils and your government agencies are more keen on cracking down on the motorists and divorced fathers, any thing that generates revenue for them, than standing up to a totalitarian thugocracy state that backs and funds international terrorism. Stand up to your spineless officials, you have the privilege of not ending up in Kahrizak or Evin prison if you protest, show some grit or they will continue to walk all over you and risk the future security of your children.

Conservative RBKC Council Leader, Merrick Cockell:

The Price of Freedom in Iran:
http://azarmehr.blogspot.com/2009/06/price-of-freedom.html