Enemy of My Enemy?
(Page 2 of 2)
May / June 2003
Jon Spayde Utne magazine
Whatever the most current status of its relationship with Iran?s
leadership, the Bush administration?s actions have alienated
reformists who sought closer ties with America. ?In the immediate
aftermath of 9/11,? writes In These Times, ?there was a
massive outpouring of sympathy for America. Vast numbers of
students gathered on Tehran?s streets to hold spontaneous
candlelight vigils.? The article quotes reformist leader Javad
Ghatta?s remarkable claim that ordinary Iranians identified with
America from a common feeling of ?both having been violated by
Islamic extremists.? Former student leader Ebrahim Asgharzadeh even
claimed on national television that the 1979 seizure of the U.S.
embassy in Tehran, and the subsequent hostage-taking, had been a
?mistake.? Yet after Bush?s ?axis of evil? speech in 2001,
Washington began denying visas even to nonpolitical Iranians like
filmmakers and students. It was a painful rebuff at a moment when
Iran?s most liberal elements thought they had a chance to connect
with America, bypass the mullahs, and build a viable reform
movement.
RELATED CONTENT
Stand up and demand that we no longer relegate the idea of supporting our troops to the side of the...
In a neighborhood's war against a crack house, peace came as a surprise to everybody....
Christian Parenti, San Francisco Bay Guardian In the bomb-riddled land of Belgrade, artists still s...
Pirating online music hurts records sales and indy media -- or does it?...
The reformists? frustrations mounted as they suffered a crushing
setback in municipal elections in early March, losing all 15 seats
of the Tehran city council to right-wingers in a contest in which,
as Agence France-Presse reported, a mere 12 percent of eligible
voters cast ballots. (They took similar hits elsewhere in the
country, where turnout averaged only 39 percent overall. Experts
cited the seemingly endless and fruitless tug-of-war between
reformists and conservatives as a demoralizing factor, particularly
for reform-minded urban voters.) ?This defeat,? reformist Ali
Shakourirad tells the Guardian (March 3, 2003),
?has made our path longer and more difficult.? And Uncle Sam?s war
isn?t making it a bit shorter or easier.
Jon Spayde is a senior editor of Utne.
In These Times is a biweekly journal of progressive news and
opinion. Subscriptions: $36.95/yr. (26 issues) from Box 1912, Mt.
Morris, IL 61054.
Page:
<< Previous 1 | 2 |