Posted on 10/26/2001 11:10:20 PM PDT by kattracks
Tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets of Iran in the past week, causing some of the worst violence in the history of the 22-year-old Islamic revolution.
The youths – both boys and girls – used two World Cup football qualifying fixtures as an excuse to reclaim the streets and assert their hunger for Western culture and freedoms.
In Tehran, the young people braved tear gas and blows from the security forces to cavort to the sound of the Western pop star Sonique, blaring from radios. Girls blew hooters at Islamic vigilantes armed with staves while their boyfriends fought riot police with stones and homemade explosives.
Shock at a 3-1 loss against Bahrain on Sunday sparked two nights of nationwide protests and the crowds returned to the streets on Wednesday following a 1-0 victory against the Emirates.
"What we're witnessing are the sort of demonstrations which preceded the last months of the Shah,'' said a senior Iranian analyst who wanted his name withheld.
Dozens of banks have been burned and cars overturned as the authorities set up special courts to try more than a thousand detainees officially denounced as football hooligans.
But the chanting of the crowds has been overtly political. Youths taunted groups of brutal Islamic vigilantes known as Bassiji, Persian for holy warriors, and chanted zindibad azadi [long live freedom].
The 11 September attacks have boosted pro-Western voices. Iran has emerged as one of the few Muslim states where people have taken to the streets in sympathy with the US.
Conservatives remain suspicious that expressions of sympathy hide a broader agenda of counter-revolution. Earlier this month in Mohseni Square – a part of Tehran so Westernised that Iranians call it the 51st state of America – police used clubs to disperse a crowd of mourners, including elderly women, holding a vigil for the New York attacks.
Hard-liners say that the war in Afghanistan marks the final stage in the military encirclement of Iran. In addition to the US arsenal in the Persian Gulf, Washington now has thousands of troops close to Iran's eastern border with Pakistan and to the north in Tajikistan.
Western efforts to bring back the exiled shah of Afghanistan are arousing fears of a similar plot to restore a shah to Iran. In silent protests on Sunday, demonstrators in Mohseni Square claimed Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted late shah, as their spiritual leader.
Opposition satellite TV channels beamed from Los Angeles have stoked a growing nostalgia for the monarchy. In a belated effort to muzzle the royalists, the Islamic vigilantes have swooped on the rooftops of northern Tehran confiscating hundreds of satellite dishes.
But popular pressure has already extracted concessions from the ayatollahs. While women are still barred from attending football games, they now occupy the front desks in Iranian hotels and strut the streets holding hands with their boyfriends.
Opposition to the great Satan of the US has given way to tacit support for the attack on the Taliban and an official policy of "active neutrality'' in the American bombing. Iran has also undertaken to rescue any US airmen downed in Afghanistan.
Newspaper editorials have openly appealed to the clerics not to waste the opportunity to mend relations with the US and have called on President Khatami to join the alliance.
My daughter has two friends who are of Iranian background, or as they prefer to say, Persian. I also had a fraternity brother who was Persian. I have met their families. They are patriotic Americans who hate the hard-line mullahs and hardly ever go to the mosque. My daughter's friend's mother volunteered to work for the FBI even before they put out the request for translators.
Many of the Iranians/Persians in this country lived secular lives under the Shah. When he was overthrown they fled the country. They consider themselves Muslim and are proud of their heritage, but you would be surprised at the hatred they bear for radical Islamicism. As non-Arabs and heirs of an ancient civilized empire, they also have a great deal of contempt for the ignorant, warlike tribes of Arabia.
Once the masses of young people put the mullahs and ayatollahs in their place, Iran will be one of our natural allies and a force for stability in the Persian Gulf region. I think we can trust them a lot more than the wild-eyed Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia.
-ccm
Kind of ironic isn't it.
Yeah, but that was nothing compared to the 3,000,000 that disappeared when Pakistan invaded Bangladesh in '71. It's always going to be easier dealing with a generally secular government rationally (even if somewhat ruthlessly) pursuing thier own national interests than one appeasing fired up religious fanatics indoctrined by Arabs half a continent away.
"Sonique" is actually an MP3 player and not, as far as I can determine, a singer.
I'm not saying that the Pakistan/Bangladesh situation wasn't terrifically horrendous -- it truly was -- it's effects are still being felt in the region. I'm Greeks felt betrayed by this action and moved closer to the USSR as a result. There was a resurgence in the Communists and Socialists (Pasok) largely due to this action.
also Zoroastrians ...
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