NationStates Jolt Archive

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060524/wl_mideast_afp/iranpoliticsdemostudents


"We don't want the Islam of the Taliban," and "Death to reactionaries and dictatorship," shouted protestors according to ISNA.

Quite the change from ..." Death to America " ....Death to the great Satan "..:rolleyes:

"We don't want the Islam of the Taliban," and "Death to reactionaries and dictatorship," shouted protestors according to ISNA.

Quite the change from ..." Death to America " ....Death to the great Satan "..

Well actually Iran was one of the countries with the most pro-American public attitude in the middle-east prior to the current administration coming into power. People don't seem to realize that. I guess no one is interested in hearing how anti-American the Saudis can be.

Look at the bright side at least they can still protest ...and you can read about it...for now ..:D

Er, did they really call for the death of reactionaries? Isn't that a bit, well, reactionary?

Oh my God... maybe they're not evil after all :eek:
*head explodes*


How will the news networks handle a story that says "Iranians not unholy spawn of Bin Laden and Satan"?

Well actually Iran was one of the countries with the most pro-American public attitude in the middle-east prior to the current administration coming into power. People don't seem to realize that. I guess no one is interested in hearing how anti-American the Saudis can be.
Just another tragic side effect from the election of this administration. The squandered goodwill is tragic. Squandered goodwill in Europe is one thing. We're tied together culturally and ideolitically even if we often disagree. Squandering goodwill in the Middle east, where there's precious little of it, is just tragic.

How will the news networks handle a story that says "Iranians not unholy spawn of Bin Laden and Satan"?

By admitting they purposefully coloured their previous reports to be as negative as possible, since they knew that sells while objective reporting doesn't ?

Nah.

Seeing as how Ahmadienjad is ruining the Iranian economy, savagely repressing trade unions, brutally murdering innocent people on trumped up charges and trying to push his crazy ideology on everyone it's no wonder the people are pissed. This guy is the biggest disaster to hit Iran since the Revolution swapped a Western-backed tyrant with an Islamic one...

Average Iranians are well educated and know what happens in the outside world because they have satellite dishes and can get their news from TV stations broadcasting from America if they want.

Any Iranian I have ever spoken to (college students in the west mostly) hate the clerical regime but they also blame the US for supporting the Shah, supporting Saddam in the Iran/Iraq war and believe that the the shooting down of a passenger jet by the USS Vincennes in 1988 was not an accident.
http://navysite.de/cg/cg49.html.

Just another tragic side effect from the election of this administration. The squandered goodwill is tragic. Squandered goodwill in Europe is one thing. We're tied together culturally and ideolitically even if we often disagree. Squandering goodwill in the Middle east, where there's precious little of it, is just tragic.
Ummm goodwill seems to be going up amongst the people (not the government) of Iran and it's a tragic side effect?

The people finally are starting to realize that their government is, well, insane. Good for them.

Average Iranians are well educated and know what happens in the outside world because they have satellite dishes and can get their news from TV stations broadcasting from America if they want.

Any Iranian I have ever spoken to (college students in the west mostly) hate the clerical regime but they also blame the US for supporting the Shah, supporting Saddam in the Iran/Iraq war and believe that the the shooting down of a passenger jet by the USS Vincennes in 1988 was not an accident.
http://navysite.de/cg/cg49.html.


Except for the Vincennes I awould aggree with them.

The US supported the Shah...he came through for the US so the US showed its loyality in return..COLD war politics were a BITCH for the world .

Well after the iranian Mullahs took over and whent nuts ...Hezbolla the marine barracks bombing...kidnapping and holding hostages for a LOOOOONG time...if it was any other President except Carter Iran would be a big hole in the ground ...or you can be sure no Mullahs would be around in charge..

Is it any wonder the US thought that Iran was the greater evil ?

Hey I have friends from Iran...most are torn between hating the US government and hating their own ...for a looong list of reasons..but they also love living here ...or those that can travel still..love being here when they can.
except for the lone Shah supporter I know ...he's pissed we didnt keep the Shah in power and blames the US for his family exile ..:rolleyes:

not many people from that region like being meddled with and they have very long memories .

Much respect to those students. It's much harder to sit and sing Kum-by-yah when you know the police are going to fuck with you.

The new generation of Iranians seems to be more liberal and less crazy than the last. The pro-democracy movement in this article isn't the only moderate student group, theres also quite a sizeable women's rights movement in the universities. Seeing as these educated young people will be running the country in twenty to thirty years, the future for Iran is fairly bright.

but it bears repeating. If a few well timed accidents were to haven to a few dozen people in Iran's current government and more Liberal replacements were found Iran would be THE example for the Muslim world ....They are sooooo close to getting it right.

Well actually Iran was one of the countries with the most pro-American public attitude in the middle-east prior to the current administration coming into power. People don't seem to realize that. I guess no one is interested in hearing how anti-American the Saudis can be.

*nods*
I am interested in hearing about those Saudis.

My take on the ME is quite simple: ceterum censeo Saudi-land delendam esse.

but it bears repeating. If a few well timed accidents were to haven to a few dozen people in Iran's current government and more Liberal replacements were found Iran would be THE example for the Muslim world ....They are sooooo close to getting it right.



I think you are so right...in fact I think the new Presidents stance and comic utterances are a result of " Playing to the home crowd" trying to dredge up support to stay in power..for the " old guard " anyway...the rest of Iran having been exposed to what free thinking and independent thought can do for them are biding there time ...one or two incidents is all it will take...a little more repression...maybe a few more proffessors arrested or detained..when a government has to resort to such measures its a sign of desperation..and the beginning of the end for either freedom or that government.

I think that since Iran is a VERY young country demographicly speaking it will be a matter of a short time before something happens...the mullahs cant steal everyones computers...;)

Ironic, really, that one of earth's oldest countries has such a young population.

The article is certainly good for mythbusting. But this is not the first time it's happened. This has been going on for years. It's always rather hard to get a proper idea of a place from afar, and oddly enough so many people think they can do just that...

Which is not to say it's impossible. Just not easy.

Edit: typo

Ironic, really, that one of earth's oldest countries has such a young population.

Many of the young died in the 8 year war of attrition with Iraq. Without them those who are currently young are in higher proportion.

How exactly are 50 student protestors 'rocking' Iran? I'm sure the administration is quaking in fear...

Much respect to those students. It's much harder to sit and sing Kum-by-yah when you know the police are going to fuck with you.


Maybe we should drop ammo and weapons to them. Let them deal with the Ahamin-nutjob-ab gov't.

My inbox is flooded with e-mails from CNN.com, updating me on Iran’s most recent “act of evil” and military strategies President Bush will deploy if such acts don’t stop. From the comfort of my Park Avenue office I cringe, because both countries are my home. As a 27-year-old recent graduate of St. John’s Law School, I was born in Seattle and raised in California, but Iran is the soil of my ancestry.

I am a dual citizen, yet no one is speaking on my behalf.

Like George Bush, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rules a nation that doesn’t share his views, is appalled by his politics — like threatening to use nuclear technology to bully the West — and embarrassed to be associated with such backward mentality, as when he questioned the Holocaust.

Ahmadinejad has become to Iran what the Bush administration is to the United States: bad publicity. As if apologizing to foreigners for the war in Iraq wasn’t enough, now I’m compelled to ask forgiveness on Iran’s behalf as well. Although my views don’t mirror those of either government’s, I am constantly defending myself as an Iranian-American alienated by both lands.

Every time I meet someone, I get, “Neelou? What an exotic name. Where are you from?” It used to be a great conversation topic. Now I say “Beverly Hills.” If I tell the truth, people look at me like I have two heads, like their only perception of a Persian woman is pictures they’ve seen of women draped in black from head to toe. Wrong country!

The media’s portrayal of my people is disillusioning. They falsely depict Iran as a state of religious zealots screaming “death to America.” In fact, my cousins who live in Tehran love Western culture. During my visit last January, they traipsed about shopping in cropped Diesel jeans and stilettos, while babbling on their cells, a tiny scarf barely covering their highlighted coifs.

It doesn’t matter that the United States is ignorant about modern Persian culture. What matters is that we hone in on the ramblings of Iran’s fanatical leader. We ignore the atrocities committed against a nation suffocating under a regime that doesn’t represent its people.

What vexes me is an Iranian economy in dire straits, without enough jobs to employ the overpopulated region, where only the rich can afford healthcare. I am enraged that women are forced to wear headscarves and ride in the backs of buses, disgusted that 14-year-olds from the provinces sell their bodies to feed their destitute families while government “officials” drive $80,000 Benzs.

While everyone’s obsessing over Tom and Katie’s baby, Suri, a 6-year-old sharing the same name, who I met volunteering at an outreach program in Tehran, is selling hair clips.

She wears plastic slippers, even in the snow. Suri cannot attend school because illegitimate children aren’t recognized as Iranian citizens. Her baby brother, who suffers from a chronic bronchial infection, will share the same fate. These are the issues. Real people caught in a political crossfire are what matter, not nuclear research.


Neelou Malekpour, a dual citizen of the United States and Iran, currently lives in Manhattan.


I wonder how many Iranians think this way ?