An American's trip to IRAN

[democratic]

As Iranian-American, i'm extremely disappointed that our party often seems to be ignoring pro-Secular, Democracy demonstrations in Iran. I visited Iran recently and the sentiments are the same expressed by this American.

http://www.iranian.com/Travelers/2003/September/Trip/index.html

By Duncan Beatty
September 20, 2003
The Iranian

I found the people to be social in Iran, in a way that we are not social in the West. Strangers would actually have meaningful conversations with each other and it gave me a lot of insight into to attitudes of the population. This happened several times when I was traveling with Mr. Azarian in cabs in Tehran.

The first time it happened was most memorable. We were in the back of a cab and Mr. Azarian and the driver were engaged in some light political conversation. The passenger in the front quickly and vehemently interjected, flashed an ID card, and went into a tirade, which made me think he was some sort of government official who did not like what he had heard. He went on for quite some time, and he was very irate.

I was not sure what to do, and since I couldn't understand him I wasn't sure if I was reading the situation correctly. I thought maybe I should just ignore him, not give him the satisfaction of an audience. I also thought maybe I should stare him in the eye to let him know he could rant on but I wasn't intimidated by his status. It was actually a little unsettling because of the uncertainty of the situation.

In the end I just tried to absorb the situation and try to read as much as I could about it. I found out later, when he left the car, that he was a government official working in intelligence for the national broadcasting company. But he was not complaining about the conversation in the car, he was the one complaining about the government. His frustration was to the point where he was almost losing control, he needed to vent or he would burst.

Many of the people in the cabs in Tehran had the similar thoughts. "Tell George Bush to come and get rid of the mullahs for us." I was shocked by the openness of that statement. With one fellow I tried to discuss it with him in more detail to see if he really meant it or was just talking. I told him that if George Bush came and got rid of the Mullahs, it would not be to help the people of Iran; he would be coming for the oil. The fellow replied, "He can have the oil, its not doing us any good anyway and at least then we would be free."

This insight into the way the Iranian people think gave me a new perspective on the foreign policy of the USA. Think about it like this. Let's say that over 50% of the people in Iran would like to get rid of their government of mullahs (I believe the number would really be over 90%). In a democratic system, with over 50% wanting something they would get it. So if an outside influence (USA) helped them get what they want, isn't the outside influence doing the democratic thing?

[Gimel]

1. The human level

The personal contacts are the most interesting part of the account. The people are friendly and no-threatening. They are curious about Westerners. Yet, if their county was forcibly changed, like Iraq was, the peace would be lost. The people would become westernized. Democracy with imposed multi-cultural living would replace their close feelings and suspicions would replace friendliness.

It takes thousands of years to build a cultural life-style. Americans want democracy to mean no religion in public places. That is, the destruction of a life-style.

For the most part, the people may not want the fundamentalist religious rulers, but they are naive to an extent. They do not know what would replace that if "freedom" were imposed.