Inside Iran's Secret Gay World

[Swede]

The people in the story that willingly showed their faces have real courage. I really fear for their safety.


He is followed by secret police. His friends are routinely whipped. Some are executed. His name is Mani Zaniar and he is the leader of Iran’s secret gay rights movement.

It is the most dangerous civil rights movement in the world. And for the first time ever, Mani, and many others, have risked their lives to come on camera and tell their story.

http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2007/02/021807_1.html

[kirby]

1. How secret can it be?

How secret can it be when its posted on DU? I agree about the courage part though.

[Solo_in_MD]

2. Islam and the Sharia is harsher on gays than on women, they treat them like infidels or apostates

[msongs]

3. what a great religion, eh? nt

[ldf]

12. yeah, and if the "so-called" american "christians", could get away with it

that would be the usual, accepted, even preferred, practice here.

please note i said "so-called"....

when the true christians take their religion back from the "so-called" christians, i will stop my criticisms.

and that means addressing it loudly and publicly.

and if they can't, because, somehow, it can be justified by what is in that "book", then they can't expect my respect.

hate and prejudice is just that, regardless of how it is arrived at.

:grr:

[pretzel4gore]

4. part of organised campaign to demonise Iran

not that the fascist religio goofballs in iran aren't as fearsome as the ones behind this campaign (opus dei, aipac, the kkk, pnac etc iow the 'usual suspects') and that want to see Iran reduced to rubble....the CBC no longer even pretends to fairness regards mideast anymore, and as bush wants iran on the hotseat, ergo this stuff.
before we throw stones, we should remember we live in a glass house. gays are murdered in western countries all the time, in secret of course...
also, putting the faces of gay activists on tv would be murder if iran was as awful as the docu suggests - iran is an ancient culture, and has seen gays since adam/eve time....too bad the cbc wouldn't look at the 'north america union' stuff being debated by govs as we speak, which will incorporate canada mexico into a single economic union with the bushnazis, who are bankrupt...

[Swede]

5. You obviously didn't watch the documentary.

Yes,the CBC is in Bush's pocket.

[pretzel4gore]

6. excuse me, but the 'NAU' thing should get coverage...

and by distracting us with this 'drugs are bad, iran is bad, marajuwanna's bad!' the cbc does indeed aid/abet bush...i watched enough of the docu to experience anguish at the idea that the people filmed could be hurt by it, and mostly by their courage and ...many were very beautiful. i just hate the cbc using them to promote bush's schemes

[Swede]

7. I understand your point about tarring Iran at this time.

But it would be worse if they sat on this story.

[Laughing Mirror]

8. Is there a link for this documentary?

I couldn't find it.

[MrPrax]

9. You noticed that doc as well...

I watched and was immediately struck by the fact I couldn't help but feel I was watching a certain Channel Four documentary from the Yugoslavia era. I was wondering if the 'victims' were really even in Iran.

The doc was in start contrast to another one the CBC had done a year ago documenting the horrendous problem of heroin addiction, prostitution (Islamic style), declining political fortunes of the Right and grinding poverty especially among women. It was treated as a sympathetic social problem indirectly caused by the sanctions and it was this that was doing the most harm to the Opposition-- but that was last year and now we want to kill them.

At least you can find honest people on the Right who will say -- 'we need that oil'.

Liberals unfortunately can't even get to this point and still want to believe that the grand coalition of neo-cons, Saudi royals, American evangelicals, Israeli Likud, Pakistan intelligence services, Haliburton, the Conservative parties of Australia, Canada and Britain, the Lincoln group and 'liberals' have all of a suddenly become progressive forces for social and political justice and rights. Last time I looked most of those guys thought that NOT joining a trade union constituted a protected right.

But for some reason 'liberals' see through these 'hate' groups domestically, but don't mind bellying up to the 'support' plate abroad.

:shrug:

[pretzel4gore]

10. they love slavery, or glue sniffing on indian reserves

the cbc has always worked back from a script of desired results, no one can possibly think they give their shit about black slave kids in africa, or hapless 1st nations people wasting away out in the bush - the real objective is to avoid talking about the rightwing consolidation of control of our countries, and the countless schemes that go on in that regard. therefore cbc points at them awful arabs and religious nuts percecuting gays or evil africans selling slaves or dirty liberals keeping the native people down and dirty by giving them welfare etc....
and they do it well. few people even mention that the cbc is now openly an agency of pro corporate authority...it's easier to just shrug shoulders and say 'there's nothing anyone can do' about it then to explain what the problem is...

[MrPrax]

11. Oh my Gosh!

Well how can I tell this is not a Canadian forum in good old Canunckistan!

I was respecting resistance on the CBC swipe as usually you get read the riot act about the CBC by a ton of their former and current employees wondering whether you are a true Canadian or just simply a stupid Harper Harpy and 'don't know much about the CBC'.



-- as I can see you are way ahead of the curve on that score and have been keeping an eye on those folks.

... and who the fuck is George Stroumboulopoulos and why am I paying this kid to interview people?

(The CBC can turn the best of us into angry stupid Albertans! I am not paying for that!! Leave Don Cherry alone you commie French bastards!!)

[pretzel4gore]

13. i shoulda mentioned i do love the CBC...

criticism doesn't hurt them. CBC is publicly funded, and pandering to the ratwing has been the basic problem the whole time....the danger of the CBC becoming too close to the government is just 'the liberal media bullshit' piled on longtime rightwinger hate for public broadcasting: mansbrige, rex murphy, tremoniti etc are not liberal, while George Strombo's 'The Hour' is great and getting better...George is a pro, and the rightwing only complains cuz truth is so toxic it will killem (:))....and 'The Hour' tries to be honest at least.
there are very few CBCiacs can't see that harper's got a biggun called canada on the fishin' line, and if he lands it ie gets a majority, canada is fini....though cherry probably dumb enough to cherr...the CBC must be criticised, by leftists, to force it from turning into cnn north...