Mike Hitchen Unleashed: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - NIMBY of The Week

You have to give credit to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Apart from the other great warriors of Middle East peace Tony Blair, few people can be as openly hypocritical while keeping a straight face as the man with the dodgy jacket.

Only last week he was openly praising the protestors in Tahrir Square. Few believed the tiger had changed its spots and sure enough, this week we saw the henchmen of that great upholder of democracy, crack down on protestors around Iran. Its seems that to Ahmadinejad, democracy is a bit like many of those who support refuges - all for them - but not in their backyard. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - NIMBY of The Week.

As you read this, many of those who took to the streets to demand what should be basic human rights, are being beaten, raped, tortured. Many will be hanged, as happened last time there was unrest in Iran. Yet their passion for something we take for granted, sometimes to the point of abuse, (Hi Julian, how are the celebrity luvvies and the Army officer's country estate?) did not stop them taking to the streets, risking their lives, their bodies, their souls, their minds. When you watch TV and see a protestor being taken away, they are not just being taken away - they are being taken to be brutalized beyond belief - To listen to the sound of what one Tweeter called, "Evin Radio" the sound of fellow prisoners being tortured.

Protests movements in many countries around the world, are not just pictures on TV that we tut-tut at while waiting for the latest news on speed cameras Each and every protestor you see, is on that street or in that square - knowing what could very well happen to them. But they march and they chant and they hope and they dream.

It takes a lot more courage than the Ahmadinejads' or the Blairs' of this world, could possibly imagine.

Wherever you may be - be safe
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