There's a stirring in the neighbourhood between leaders and people - just across the waters from where I live, here in the UAE, is Iran. Iran is one place that has continually fascinated me and one that I would like to visit some day, InshAllah. Persian influence on the Muslim world is deep and the cultural/linguisitic links are historic. To illustrate this, my father's ancestry is an admixture of Arab and Persian - the Awan people passed through Khorosan and today my understanding of Farsi, for example, is stronger than my Arabic. Greater Iran (ایران بزرگ) sometimes referred to as the Land of Iran (ایران زمین) stretched across the Iranian plateau, encompassing the modern country, Afghanistan and up to the Indus in Western Pakistan. Of course, my mother tongue, Pashto is categorised as an Iranian language in the Indo-European classification of languages. What is happening in Iran?
Like the reports coming out of Iran, I rely heavily on the Internet for my information. But in an age of disinformation I'm not quite sure what to make of what I see and read. I am left with a sense regret and of confusion over recent events. I pray for the well being of Iran and it's people. The Farsi proverb that I'm sharing here kind of sums up my hope that normalcy returns to the Land of the Aryans.
هر شب بلندى را پايانى است
Every long night has its end.
خدا حافظ - تور خان
For Iran, the game changed on June 20th 2009 as the WORLD watched Neda Agha-Sultan cough up blood with her last breath. Like the Chinese "tank man" she will forever be a symbol of resistance to tyranny.
ReplyDeleteTwo main ideas were born with her death - on the one hand the idea that Ahamadinnerjacket was a buffoon but the Mullahs were at least prudent and intelligent was laid to rest with her and MORE IMPORTANTLY - the people in the WEST saw an Iranian as a PERSON - a living breathing modern contemporary of themsleves.
While Iran's nuclear ambitions continue to be problematic - neither Israel or American can now act with acts of war against a nameless faceless Iranian state - knowing that many Iranians detest the Iranian State. Western, and dear I say including Israeli youth, will not stand idily by while western steel rips apart more Nedas.
Nedas death has given Iran an open window to rejoin the world community - pity I have little faith that the Iranian Theocracy will take advantage of the opportunity. After all, what's more dead Nedas to true believers but an excuse to fan the flames of intolerance and hatred.
It's a valid point that we must be able to see beyond US name calling and see the whole picture (though you do appear to fall into that trap yourself). Iranian people as just that - people, and not some distant pariahs.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how accurate it is to think that West's policies will have changed around one person, tragic though Neda Agha-Sultan's death is. There have, alas, been many Neda Agha-Sultans in Afghanistan and Iraq killed by Western miltiary steel - US/Western policy doesn't seem to alter in light of these tragedies.
There is an issue with the leadership in Iran, of that there is little doubt, but given the track record of US interference in the region, Iranian fears of external influence may be well founded. Tehran may be different, but things still have a long way to go - most Iranians, for example, will not find much sympathy with Israel.
Politics should be treated with scepticism at the best of times - I find it a little strange that more has not been made out about what the current Iranian opposition stands for by the "free" media. Interestingly Mir-Hossein Mousavi has family ties with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khāmene’i (who clearly expressed support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad). Should the West be appearing to throw their support behind him? He also has a past that needs further investigation:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905477,00.html