Posted on 02/11/2003 4:22:49 PM PST by freedom44
By Charles Proctor DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR Cproctor@media.ucla.edu
The frustration of Iranian refugees was characterized by a sign stuck in front of the Wilshire Federal Building Monday evening:
"We Know the Lies You Tell / Islamic Regime, Go To Hell!"
This sign and others like it were much in evidence throughout Westwood as roughly 1,000 members of the Persian community marched down Wilshire Boulevard, deploring the 24-year-old Islamic government in Iran and applauding the United States for its hardline stance against such regimes.
"The people of Iran want a referendum monitored by the United Nations to decide their form of government," said Roxanne Gangi, a member of Iranians for Democracy and one of the organizers of the event. "They don't want the Islamic regime anymore and we're here to voice that."
Armed with signs, banners and bullhorns, protesters moved from the Federal Building to Westwood Boulevard, marching all the way to the threshold of UCLA at Le Conte before turning around. Black balloons, symbols of sorrow and solidarity with the Iranian people, trailed in the wake of dozens of American and Iranian flags.
Police estimated the crowd to be around 1,000. Protest organizers put the number between 3,000 to 4,000. The vast majority of protesters were first, second or third generation Iranian immigrants.
An important point many protesters emphasized is the distinction between the Iranian people and the Iranian government, which President Bush branded as a member of the "Axis Of Evil" alongside Iraq and North Korea.
The Islamic regime in Iran, a theocratic republic, gained notoriety in the United States when radicals seized the American embassy in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Since then, U.S.-Iranian relations have been strained.
Protesters accuse the Iranian government of corruption, torture and abuse of power, saying the state is in dire need of reforms in administration, justice and civil liberties.
"The Iranian people do not stand for the Iranian government," said Mike Kazerouni, a fourth-year political science student at UC Irvine.
"The Islamic government, as the Bush administration points out, is one of the hugest sponsors of terrorism in the world. Unfortunately, the Iranian people are one of the first victims of that terrorism."
As a show of their solidarity with the United States, marchers leading the procession carried a large portrait of the Columbia astronauts and three huge American flags.
Feelings about an America-led war with Iraq, though, were mixed.
Many protesters support the U.S.-led war on terrorism, carrying signs professing their thanks and hoping President Bush would turn his attention to the plight of the Iranian people after dealing with Iraq.
"President Bush very clearly stated he has heard the calls for democracy and freedom in Iran," Gangi said. "The people of Iran are very hopeful that the world will look at them and see that we need a democratic government in our country."
However, such feelings don't always turn into a pro-war stance.
"It would definitely hurt," said Pedraum Malekzadeh, a third-year applied mathematics student at UCLA, in regards to war with Iraq. "Bush going into the Middle East would hurt relations with many countries."
Malekzadeh had visited Iran two years ago and had seen the situation of the Iranian people first-hand.
"The situation is bad, the economy is terrible, and people are looking for an answer," he said.
Babak Satiran, who graduated last year from UCLA with a computer science degree, said a coup in Iran would be the ideal form of change and offer the best hope to the Iranian people.
"If we can create a democracy, hopefully there won't be a war with Iran and we can go home," he said.
Um. They didn't flee the Shah, they fled what followed. And not all of them fled when/before the Shah fell, either. Among my Persian friends and acquaintances is one who fought in the Iran-Iraq war, before he escaped the present tyranny to come to the US. He bears (you can see them) psychological scars, but his children are growing up free and he is happy for that.
(I could read between the lines and say he'd be happiest if his children could return to a free Iran, but that would be putting words in his mouth.)
Yes, any problem with that?
I was providing an explanation why an ethnic people would be protesting their own country: These are second and third generation Americans of Iranian extraction whose fathers and grandfathers owed alliance to the Shah who attempted to Westernize his country.........and was thrown out and persecuted because of his allegiance with the US and Western 'ways'. They left Iran because they were the businessmen and the intelligensia of their country who would be in prison for not going along with the the radicals that took over Iran. They don't particularly like the Imams and Mullahs.
How many of your Iranian friends have served in the United States armed services?
I have no bloody idea, my friend.
But, just the same as we have gathered Iraqi nationals to form a "government-in-waiting" for when we liberate Iraq we may need these people to lead their countrymen when Iran's Mullahs are finally overthrown. Alternatively, some may in fact be working for the US military and the CIA already, since we desperately need 'native' speakers over there, and here, to translate al Qaeda and Iranian communications.
Someday, Iran may well rename themselves Persia and many will return to the logical religion of that great Empire before Islam was imposed by the sword. Aren't the Baha's an attempt to harmonize Zorastism (which was also the religion of the three kings who visited the Christ child), Islam, Christianity and Judaism?
I also heard the name Persia was changed to Iran during World War II to placate Hitler as it meant the land of the Aryans. True or urban legand?
Think I'd rather see it turned into a pay toilet.
I *meant* to say the Khomeini regime. Really, I did. (Middle-age brain spasm.)
I had some Iranian grad assistants for teachers in engineering school. Two of them had fathers in the Shah's military. Unlike the Egyptians or Saudis, the Iranians treated women engineering students pretty decently. I don't imagine their fathers survived if they didn't get out.
The Shah's *father* (a contemporary of Ataturk) did indeed have that goal. But from the little I've read, he was of a different temperament than Ataturk and didn't want to lower the iron fist as Ataturk did.
For instance, Ataturk simply banned the fez (men's hat) and women's head scarf. You wore one in public - boom - in the slammer, and I can't imagine Turkish prisons being better then than now.
By contrast, the Shah's father tried to "lead by example" back in the 1930s-1940s, and so he paraded his wife and daughters out in Western clothes. Apparently the Persians were not impressed and continued to wear the traditional garb. I think it's a matter of psychology - what *could* be changed by force was not changeable by persuasion. Perhaps if Shah Sr. had been more forceful, Iran might have been different. Or maybe not.
Different people serve in different ways. If someone is working as a Farsi language translator, or working with the CIA etc. he is not going to broadcast it. It would be stupid to make a target of himself, *and* probably against the rules of his job anyway. It's not fair to assume that because someone isn't doing "A," he isn't doing anything.
That these Iranian-Americans are out showing support for the US is fantastic. We need to encourage them, *and* the "samizdat" movement in Iran as much as possible. In this regard I am far more disappointed with our US State Department than with Iranians who have become US citizens.
One never knows about surviving the regime, though. The wife knew an Iranian doctor over here, but when the revolution occurred he want back and disappeared. She just learned yesterday that he's still alive.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.