The US and its allies continue to dupe the world into thinking Iran is governed by a shortsighted, rigid, insecure and ruthless “regime”.
Yet history shows that Iranian society has, in recent memory, been a dignified, organised and functioning democracy.
The country also has a rich history, and the people make up a proud, cultured society. They are not only in the usual science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects, but also place a premium on the arts – film, music, aesthetics, literature and philosophy.
Yet, the dominant image of Iran painted for us by the West and in mainstream media is that of stern-faced bearded elderly mullahs, wearing black turbans and flowing white robes, flogging women and issuing fatwas willy-nilly to suppress youth and students.
Never mind that the literacy rate among Iranian women (85.5% of those aged 15 years and above) is higher than that of India’s (71.5%).
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Seldom mentioned in the media is that the 1979 Iranian Revolution was sparked by a unified social movement with significant grassroots- and working-class support. The people wanted to oust the US-backed Shah, who used his Savak security force to brutalise Iranians for decades. This is the Shah who was installed after the CIA’s 1953 coup against then Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.
I have read so many comments on social media in Malaysia, saying that although Iran is a beautiful country to visit, it is definitely not suitable to live in because it is an oppressive Islamic republic, it is Shia, and it is a country crafted around a “false”, “jihadist” Shiism. Such sectarian comments abound in Malaysia and throughout the Sunni world.
Many from other countries also say the Iranian diaspora is proof of this prohibitive lifestyle. They claim Iranians even come to Muslim-majority nations like Malaysia to escape oppression, hoping to find work, marry Malay(sian) women and settle down forever.
Well, why is the same logic not applied to India’s diaspora, ie that perhaps Indians emigrate from India because of Hindu oppression, dictatorship, institutionalised corruption, gender discrimination and patriarchal brutality. Instead, India is regularly portrayed in the media as “the world’s largest democracy” and “an impressive emerging power”.
Notice how the demonisation of the Chinese diaspora is similar to the Iranian migration narrative.
The current propaganda is to demonise the Iranian leadership, saying they are war-mongering fanatical mullahs, and – because Islam and Islamic “regimes” enable “jihadism” and “terrorism” – these leaders are bent on building nuclear warheads. The claim is that they want to oppress the entire Muslim world, to dominate Muslims and, in the process, challenge democracy and “freedom”, with the aim of becoming a regional hegemon.
Then again, US-Iran hatred and this latest Israel-instigated conflict has never been solely about Iran’s denuclearisation or about abolishing Iran’s nuclear research and development and its potential for nuclear warheads.
Ironically (and ceasefire notwithstanding), now that Israel has provoked Iran, and the US has joined in, it is possible the entire Arab world will consider arming themselves with nuclear weapons. It is too early to make anything of the confusing terms of the ceasefire initiated by US President Donald Trump.
We are all still in dangerous territory. How irresponsible and short-sighted the US and Israel have been! They have inadvertently started an arms race.
This cancels out the bellicose nonsense that Trump spews, ie Israel’s attack on Iran was a “pre-emptive” strike to contain nuclear proliferation and a “forever war”.
History shows that the animosity the West has for Iran has mostly been about decapitating its potential to lead the Muslims or the West Asia region with scientific, economic and cultural authority.
Essentially, Iran’s potential towards a regional “civilising mission” for the future of all Muslims scares Western powers because the exact opposite has been happening in the post-Cold War era.
Countries around the globe have witnessed the steady breakdown of Western civilisation as we know it. Just look at how universities have become factories, how higher education has been corporatised, how knowledge production is now a commodity to be sold for profit.
This sentiment among the US government, ie to dominate economically, to be a geopolitical hegemon is despite Iran or Muslims. It is written into the very foundations of 20th century Western strategic culture and Western ideas of world order, power and “peace”.
The early 20th Century academic discipline of international relations is crafted on this notion of power distribution, realism and military might. The post-World War Two global order was carved up to “distribute power”.
But fundamental to this distribution was exploitation, subjugation, hegemony and control of the majority of the Earth’s inhabitants.
This is manifest in how the United Nation was set up as well – by a few ‘winners’ – and how the UN Security Council permanent membership and veto power continues to marginalise some of the most war-torn conflict-ridden countries on the planet. These countries outside the West have no say in lasting solutions for peace and security. Yet they are the most insecure regions on the planet and must have a say.
The 1953 coup by the CIA, which overthrew Mossadegh in Operation Ajax, was a strategy to decapitate the Iranian leadership – precisely because under his democratically elected government, Iran stood its own, nationalised its oil, and metaphorically gave British Petroleum the middle finger.
The irony (or hypocrisy) is that democracy was denied by the very leaders of nations who scream “freedom” and “democracy” for all. They then surreptitiously peddle their capitalist and exploitative agendas around the world.
There is nothing democratic or free about keeping the majority on subsistence, while a few members of the richest elite in these countries strut their stuff, while ridiculing and exploiting the Global South.
Colonialism lives on, doesn’t it? But the language all around us, in most of the media and by leaders themselves, either avoid mentioning the colonial agenda or colonialism. Or they are not knowledgeable enough to use evidence-based historical narrative and language to prop up the truth.
In fact, no mainstream media outlet has yet to systematically use the terms Gaza Holocaust or Palestinian Holocaust. It is essentially exactly that. I don’t see any reason why it should not be used. There should be a concerted movement.
And this is precisely because the West is so free to apply “antisemitism” to anyone who opposes Zionism, questions the existence of Israel, or condemns the Israeli military’s atrocities and its ongoing ethnic cleansing.
In other words:
- “antisemitism” is acceptable and can be applied
- “holocaust” is exclusive and cannot be applied, and if it is, it is considered “appropriation” or a blasphemous act of “distortion”, “historical denial” or “academic dishonesty”
This is an example of how language manipulates both perception and reality.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
