June 23, 2009

A Dispatch from Tehran

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Babak Rahimi is a professor of Islamic studies at the University of California, San Diego, who has been in Iran studying the elections. He’s on his way home. But he sent this email:

I’ve difficulty having access to my yahoo account here.

This is the latest [information] I’ve (though much that I have here is based on what I have heard from pro-Mousavi people. I can’t confirm any of them, except the first one, which I’ve seen that myself).

1. The Basij has literally taken over the major parts of the city–at nights that is.
The Sepah seems to be still standing in the background, but they have issued another statement calling for more crackdowns.

2. Mousavi has apparently issued a strike for today, Tuesday. Kurdistan is also going on strike.

3. Rafsanjani appears to be in Qom, mustering support for an eventual confrontation with the pro-Khamenei faction in Tehran.

4. The pro-Mousavi rallies will continue until 18 Tir, the anniversary of the crushed 1999 student uprising. Also, there are plans for a massive rallies for the 40th day of those who have been killed (especially for Neda) by the state police.

I predict more days of violence and bloodshed.
 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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