This is somewhat old, but interesting. The "Iranian" is an opposition magazine, and must be corrected for biases. What I find important is how necessary Israel is to glue dissident Islamic regimes together. Rather than look inward for approached to their problems, Israel is the required common enemy that is misused for unity.
Given this, why would any weak Arab-Islamic regime want peace in Israel? Certainly the feudal Saudis cannot afford having their population look inwardly at the lack of democracy, the inequity, and the rejection of modernity--especially re: women's rights. The same is true of most Arab regimes. Therefore, they would be self-defeating if they had peace in the ME. Also, the USA is another necessary common enemy. Who, then, is funding and encouraging the terrorists in Israel and Al Queda?
Iranian
The dying days of a bad lie
The mullahs' last supper
By Shahla Azizi
November 25, 2002
The Iranian
A few days ago I witnessed the much-anticipated
Friday Prayer speech by Ali Khamenei, the "Supreme
Leader" of the Iranian Revolution. The current political climate made this an important
oration. There is a sense here, shared by a minority of optimists, that these are the last days
of the regime. Even those pessimists, who think that the mullahs are too clever and
entrenched to be easily moved from power, believe that this theocracy is indeed in trouble.
The vocal lamentations of the second khordad front of reformers in the Majlis (Iranian
Parliament), who daily criticize pecuniary corruption and social injustice, along with the
student demonstrations against the recent death verdict against Aghajari, a reform seeking
professor accused of blasphemy, have created an atmosphere of malcontent that is hard to
ignore.
The gun slinging attitude of the U.S ever since September 11 has also helped make the
regime feel a bit jittery. All of this has put a new gleam in the eyes of the so-called opposition
movements in exile who boldly sling mud on the mullahs from the safety of their TV studios in
L.A and call on the youth within the borders to take to the streets and bring their long held
dream of a return to a secular Iran to life.
Even the son of the Shah, who was thus far not taken seriously by anyone but his dad's
octogenarian courtiers, is now being given more and more air time by American networks
and making himself appear like a possible alternative.
So if one was to pick a time to listen to Khamenei give a Friday Prayer speech, this was
most certainly it. I expected a speech full of propagandistic one-liners and direct attacks on
reformers and the opposition. Instead, I witnessed a speech that was intelligent, clever and
impressive even if stale and insipid.
For some fifty minutes he spoke, without tele-prompters or notes, of the need for order and
Islamic unity in the face of American aggression. He used the sayings of Ali, the "first martyr"
of Shiite Islam, to stress the need for an orderly society in which each person takes his place
and good will exists amongst all layers of society.
He used the much hated American stance vis a vis Israel to press the importance of Iran's
Islamism and the need for its preservation. In the tradition of scholastic scholars he made a
clever argument, Socratic in its simplicity, that went something like this:
We Iranians made a revolution with Islam that showed the Americans
that they couldn't impose themselves on us. They back an unjust
government, Israel, who kills our Muslim brothers. We have to stand firm
behind our Islamic faith and government in order to save the meek,
Palestine, from the mighty, Israel and America. The enemy has
propagated rifts in our society in order to weaken Islam, which is an
obstacle to Imperialist ambitions. Iranians, especially those in positions of
leadership, should not dwell on national problems and differences of
opinion but stand firm behind the Islamic Revolution, which is the guiding
light for independence and justice in the region.
Khamenei shrewdly sandwiched his criticism of the student movement and the reformists
between the kinds of criticism of American foreign policy that now have universal appeal.
This kind of anti-Americanism is shared by most liberals and moderates the world over and
even by most European nations these days.
In this speech you had in microcosm the fundamental problem with American foreign policy
in the region. If America did not back Israeli aggression these hardliners would have a hard
time justifying their extreme policies at home and abroad. Here, you had the leader of the
Iranian Revolution equating reform with siding with America and Israel. If you oppose what
Israel is doing in Palestine and you are a Muslim then you must back the Islamic Revolution,
went the head mullah's argument.
But the old mantra of "Death to America" is dead. When the crowd punctuated the speech
with traditional anti-American slogans - their voices were tired. Their fists, that at the
beginning of the revolution used to rise up in the air in sincere anger, came only half way up
and fell down again. Amongst the crowds of listeners there was much fidgeting and
murmuring.
The truth is that despite the large numbers that still turn up at such rallies, the language of the
revolution is staid. Corruption and injustice at home is so rampant that the new enemy, every
one knows, is within. And as much as they might care about the plight of Palestine, the
people in Iran are more concerned about the dire straights in which they find themselves at
home.
The promise of the revolution to create a harmonious society based on Islamic principles has
not only failed to come true, it is now seen as a bad lie, a total sham. Often I have heard
ordinary people lament having ever believed the Mullahs. The man who fixed my washing
machine, for example, boasted of his ability to speak English and claimed that he used to
repair Boeings in the good old days.
We are a nation of complainers who always find others to blame. No one wants to take
responsibility. Khamenei is not an exception. He side-stepped the real issues and put the
blame, once again, on that old enemy: the United States. But Iranians have found a new
enemy to blame: the mullahs. There is an anti-clericalism blooming here that reminds one of
Reformation Europe.
When and if this regime falls, there will be a blood bath. It is perhaps with this in mind that
Khamenei called for the urgent need of unity amongst the leadership. Even the more
moderate amongst the clergy know that if things reach boiling point, no nuance of thought
will spare a turbaned head.
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