 Habits that divide us
Let's not perpetuate them
Rostam Pourzal
November 7, 2004
iranian.com
The following was intended as a letter to the
editor of The
Washington Post to comment on "Iranian
Americans Join to Promote Political Activism" dated 10-31-2004. The emergence of Iranian American civil right groups is encouraging,
and I offer two additional points. First, contrary to what my fellow
activists told your reporter, a few million among Iranians are
ethnic Arabs. To deny that (or to refer to Kurds, Baluchis, Turks
as "Persians", as is commonly done) is to sidestep a
hot debate about discrimination within our country of
origin and our immigrant community. It also unintentionally concedes
ground
to Aryan Nation extremists among Persian Iranians.
For enlightened organizations that struggle to mobilize us for
equal rights in America, it should be unacceptable to perpetuate
inequalities we grew up with in Iran. Other enlightenedd Americans
reject such superficial slogans as "There is no such thing
as White America and Black America; our only colors are red, white
and blue!" Why shouldn't we?
With Persian pride, the groups named in your story do not, to
their detriment, work with their larger and more experienced Arab
American counterparts. Nor are they inspired by the historic record
of Jewish American rights advocates (considered a model by every
immigrant group)
in defense of all who are left
behind in America.
Your description of my fellow expatriates as prosperous
wearers of "silk ties" and "fashionable heels" reminded
me of an experience I had this year. It involved one of the Washington lobby
groups that you featured, which sponsors meetings with lawmakers. When I and
a dozen other members met with the group president and our senator, George
Allen [R-Va.], half of our allotted meeting time was taken by physicians
pleading for a cap on liability suits (medical malpractice awards).
In the urgent debate
on health care reform in America, this remedy is not the one advocated
by public interest groups, the bright lights of the fight for equal
rights.
The two issues
which I had submitted beforehand (as requested) for possible inclusion
in the meeting agenda -- Washington, DC's lack of Congressional
representation and
Northern Virginia's shortage of affordable housing -- were dropped. (Members
had been instructed earlier to choose domestic issues and, if I remember
correctly, timely snow removal was mentioned as an example.)
My attempt after the meeting
to draw the attention of my lobby group's president to that day's unexplained
selectivity was not addressed.  I was reminded then of reported civil right training after 9/11
of Iranian professional groups in California by Chicano activists.
The former had suddenly felt vulnerable after dozens of our fellow
immigrants were mistreated while reporting for visa status registration.
One engineer commented to the Pacific News Service correspondent, "[until
now], we thought we were Whiter than White!"
As you reported, Iranian Americans are largely eager modernists.
Reacting to "moral" restrictions
on women, the press, and alcohol consumption in Iran, a great majority of us
are social liberals. This aligns us largely with the political party in the
U.S. that is identified with secularism and civil liberties.
To distance ourselves
from the populist battle cry of Iran's revolutionaries, we have unhinged
our campaign against discrimination from issues of economic security
(the corporatization
of health care, for example) and wedded ourselves instead to "culture
wars."
The Democratic establishment has done the same in recent decades,
and we just witnessed the sad results. The more the Democratic
elite have alienated their common-man base and relied, as do the
Republicans, on wealthy donors, the more American liberals have
had to depend on their image as abortion-tolerant, pro-gay marriage
modernizers to get votes.
I support those liberal lifestyle positions.
But if liberals are perceived to be no better than conservatives
on bread-and-butter issues, their unity, and their ability to advance
an equal rights agenda, is forever hampered by wedge issues like
abortion and gay rights.
Electoral defeats this year in both Iran
and the U.S. clearly show that anti-discrimination forces are no
match for social conservatives when they allow the contest to be
defined in terms of "moral values." I have no problem with affluence per se, as I am a successful
businessman. But when opportunities for our citizens to raise their
concerns before their lawmakers are scheduled on workdays and cost
$40 (not to mention the annual membership dues), naturally the
constituents who need the most help are the ones who cannot attend.
 If I am not allowed to, and no other participant is interested
in, raising their concerns in a lobby session, who will speak
for the economically struggling Iranian Americans? Clearly not
any
of the existing Iranian American rights groups, who have not
even bothered to schedule a meeting with DC's nonvoting delegate
to
Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
I believe a lobby group should not misrepresent itself as a campaign
for equal rights if it tolerates discrimination against some
populations, promotes one-sided
solutions, or does not give equal right of expression to its own members.
About
Rostam Pourzal is based in Washington and writes on the politics
of human rights for Iranian opposition journals in diaspora.
*
*
|
Habits that divide us
