 Ostriches in the Land of Free
We need to show that we are also people of strong
conviction and hurting our feelings will hurt your pocketbooks
By M. H. Eslami, MDS
August 7, 2003
The Iranian
When the Silver Spoon of the 1600 Pennsylvania
Ave branded Iran as a member of the "Axis of
Evil" and one of the "evil doers" most of us Iranians
were surprised and chagrined. Note I am saying most of us. Most
Iranians were
surprised as there was a genuine outpouring of sympathetic emotions
by us Iranians, in and out of Iran and US, after the tragic events
of 9/11.
That tragedy absolutely did not make any sense and
our senses of fairness and justice were severely tickled by these
Arab/Islamic
fascists. Agreeing or not with their historical grievances, we
all thought that what these misguided souls did was not fair. Most
of us thought that this terrorist action hurt their "cause" more
than anything.
Soon many Arabs and Asians of Indo-Pakistani decent
were called on by Ashcroft to go for "voluntary" interviews
and "please bring your own toothbrush". Then Iranians
living in the US all got worried about us. What will happen to
those with Arab/Moslem sounding names among us? Should the few
with scarves lose them? Should we go out of our ways to vehemently
talk against Islam, Arabs? Should we be "the soup hotter
than the pot"?
The concerns were real and the anxiety was
palpable as the regular Joe American's anger toward people
of Middle East was justifiable. Soon we all heard the murmurs that
the US Senate was posed to pass a legislation to stop Iranian students
from coming to this country as their government is allegedly -
but we are among friends here, also in reality - sponsoring terrorism.
This poor excuse of legislation was, to my immense
surprise, was being spearheaded by a Democratic Senator from California,
where
by some accounts more than 1 million Iranian/Iranian-Americans
live, work and pay tax. When the disbelief died, I was wondering
why this Senator is not afraid of the votes that she may potentially
lose in the next election.
Imagine if this ban was to be imposed on all the South American
students. Drug-related terrorism is happening everyday in the urban
areas in the US because of the drug
that the Latin countries produce and import. These Latin governments are corrupt
and would not survive if they took a stand against the drug cartels.
The damages
caused by this type of terrorism far exceed the personal and financial casualties
that the Al Queda has caused. Logic follows then that Latin students should
be banned to enter US because their government is sponsoring drug-related
terrorism.
I bet you that The Silver Spoon would be going out
of his way to crush that legislation. He cannot care less about
the Hispanics
but he is
scared of losing Hispanic votes
and maybe Florida. Why is he not afraid of losing many votes in NJ, VA/MD or
California where large concentration of Iranians live? Why?
The Silver Spoon knows that the majority of the kids who leave Iran to come
to US do so because they do not agree with most of the Iran's government policies.
Or they are apolitical souls who come to the "Land of Free" in pursuit
of better life without some of the daily hassles.
Most of these kids leave
Iran
to come here to change their own lives not because they are on a course to
even some of the scores with or settle some of the historical grievances
against the
US. They just want to live better with hope and more freedom.
Most of these
kids "agenda" consist of ability to find a job after they are done with their
studies,
a spouse with
common interests and a place to raise their kids where they can be pampered.
It is amazing that so far not one Iranian was found to have been involved
in any act of terrorism against the US and the majority of people
in Iran, unlike those in Arab countries,
are US-people friendly.
We who live in the US know that the politicians here
do not choose anything out of principal or serious conviction.
Most of them
are shortsighted
reactionaries that are slaves to their own egos, enjoy the benefits of
politics and would not jeopardize them by taking a stand that is
not popular. Their
pollsters chose their principals for them based on how different lobbyists
grease them. So, why are the pollsters not telling the US Congressmen
and Senators that the Iranian Community in the US is a strong force?
At the opening ceremony of 2002 Winter Olympic NBC sports commentator
in US spent a good 1.5 minutes commenting derogatorily about the Iranian
team.
This
team
consisted of three members who made the trip just because they love the
sport. I
am sure that if they were anti-Iran's government, they would have not
been allowed to make the trip. But they were not here to "export
the revolution" either.
The large Iranian community in the US makes
a lot of money, consumes large amount of goods and can therefore
affect
TV program
advertisers.
So why are we disrespected? It is because our collective voice
is not united, it is diluted by infightings, it is dispersed by jealousy
and we are weak. We are not
frank about our
feelings and this "taarof" thing really messes us up.
Let us be realistic.
Iran or Persia is not the land of the Great Darius any more. We are
NOT the
center of the Universe or "Pillars of the Civilization". People in
the West can not give a dime that one Persian distilled alcohol first,
algebra
was
invented by Omar Khayyam, or Iran is the land of Avecinna, Hafez,
Ferdowsi, etc. They
have invented us, not entirely unjustly I must add, as the land of
angry bearded people, oil, Persian carpet, and soon to be extinct
sturgeon.
We need to show
that we are also people of strong conviction and hurting our feelings
will hurt
your pocketbooks. The government in Iran cannot help or maybe does
not
allowed or willing to do so. This is because there is no unified
Iranian foreign
policy, they refuse to engage with US in any transparent talks,
and happy that the
Iranian kids see yet another door closing on them. "Bebinid
chegadar America badeh" (See how bad America is) would
be their answer to the folks back in Iran.
Some of the reaction
in US was equally unjust. Many, royalists prominent amongst them,
were
excited
that
this "Axis
of Evil" thing maybe the best thing since the coup of 1953. Their
reaction was that "Cheshmeshaan koor meekhaastand enghelaab
nakonand" (Too bad! They should not have started a revolution
in the first place). They have drawn a parallel
to the situation in
Afghanistan
with the return of Zahir Shah. In a way it appeared
as if both Iranian conservatists
and royalists in and out of Iran were united and happy about
yet another gaffe
of the US foreign policy.
The Iranian community in the US can change
things and must do so. But how? How can we come together? Can we
come together? Why don't/can't we have a unified voice? How do
we get
a "mandate"?
What is our
mandate
in the US? Who is our enemy and why are we so weak?
I do not know
the magic formula. But I really believe that we now have no compass
and
our wanderlusts
are all
buried in the tumultuous post-revolutionary seas. We have become
anxious of anything political and angry of other opinions. We are
suspicious
of each other
and always
look for an ulterior motive if someone even says hello to us. We
need to overcome these feelings. I am not at all a fan of the Alazahrat
from Virginia
but to
his credit he voiced concerns about the ambivalence of the Iranian's
participation during the last US census. We cannot afford to be
apathetic about this.
I believe we have the resources not to take it on the chin from
every body all the time.
Our plights are not different from those of Italian immigrants
or the
Jewish folks one century ago. Did you know that most hospitals
in Boston would
not
hire
a Jewish doctor less than half a century ago? Now, half of the
hospital chiefs there are Jewish.
A strong Iranian community in
the US with
a coherent and
unified voice and mandate can affect the lives of people in Iran
in a significant and
profound manner by actively modifying US foreign policies towards
Iran. A unified voice is not equal to not criticizing the royalists,
nationalists,
Islamists
or other groups and their symbols. It is a voice that when one
attacks the
community it arrives to the foreground and unambiguously voice
its disapproval.
Our folks
in Iran deserve that from us and this is the least that we can
give them till somehow things improve in Iran so that their kids
do not
have to
suffer the
pain of "ghorbat" like all of us did and still do. I am not proposing
anything grandiose such as marching up an down the Washington Mall
and asking for apology
for all the harms that US policies have caused Iranians over the
past 30 years; start with the Operation Ajax of 1953 and move contemporary.
I am just proposing
one thing: Let's participate in the political forum and those
who can
vote, vote. It will be a shame and a political failure for all
of us if Dianne Feinstein,
the Senator from California, is ever re-elected again. We also
need to forward our own candidates and support them in any way
we can.
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Ostriches in the Land of Free 
