We don't all back Ahmadinejad
Nasrin Alavi on what's really going on on the Tehran "street.":
Iranians are routinely portrayed as frenzied masses that chant "Death to America!" after Friday prayers. Yet according to surveys by Iran's own ministry of culture and guidance, fewer than 1.4% of the population actually bothers to attend Friday prayers. Angry images of Iranians are used as a fitting backdrop to news items speculating about Iran's nuclear activities; most recently, to coverage of an attack by a crowd of about 400 demonstrators against the Danish embassy in Tehran.
Among the protesters was the Iranian Basij member and blogger Saleh Meftah. The following day he wrote in his blog about the thrill and the fun-filled atmosphere of the attack, posting smug photos of himself taken inside the embassy compound.
On the streets of Tehran, only the brave or the foolhardy would dare to confront a member of the Basij; in this cyber-sanctuary, however, within a period of only two days hundreds of angry comments had been left on Saleh's page. The following is just a tiny sample:
I cannot hide my hatred of you and your actions. It's your bestial breed that gives westerners cause to insult our dear prophet and faith.
You've written here that, as you read the comments, 'I am proud that the enemies of the revolution are attacking me.' Listen, you godless fool ... what enemies!! They are ordinary people who are telling you how they feel ... your fellow countrymen!
You Basij just don't learn. No matter how many of you fill up our universities like flies through [government] quotas, you still don't seem to get wise to that fact you are being played. You talk of bringing the true face of the revolution to the westernised, northern [affluent] suburbs of Tehran by setting fire to that embassy. My brother! While there, you should have opened your eyes. For your mentors and this nation's tormentors ... live behind those neighbouring grand high walls. But I also want to say that I commend you for not deleting the messages here and for upholding the democratic principle of free speech.
Ordinary Iranian Muslims may well be dismayed by xenophobic images of their prophet dressed as a terrorist, his turban a bomb with a lit fuse. But most did not take part in such a protest. Yet news coverage had us to believe that this 400-strong, officially backed mob, in a city populated by 12 million people, represented the mood of the Iranian street; just as a cartoon exhibition attended by 50 people - predominately journalists - on its busy opening night confirms Iran's anti-semitism...