 Lack of democracy breeds terror
Summary of an open letter from 216 Iranian
intellectuals to their American counterparts
Full
Persian text
September 25, 2004
iranian.com
September 11, 2004
marks the third anniversary of the inhumane terrorist attacks on
the United States,
which were condemned by members of the international community,
including the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Following the attacks in 2001, Iranians spontaneously carried
out memorial ceremonies and joined in mourning for the innocent
victims of those abominable crimes. This took place notwithstanding
American support for Iraq in the eight year war between Iran and
Iraq (1980-1988) and the still vivid memory of the US-initiated
military coup that toppled Iran's popularly elected Prime Minister
Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. Unfortunately, what followed was the
labeling of Iran as part of an "Axis of Evil" along with
North Korea and Iraq.
Equally unfortunate is that today, the policies of the White
House have deepened the gap between East and West as well as that
between Christianity and Islam. The White House has used the hysteria
arising from the attacks both at home and overseas to achieve their
own ideological goals based on unilateralism and a "black
and white" world view.
We believe the policies currently pursued by Washington are against
the aspirations of the Founding Fathers of the United States, who
sought to establish a free and advanced society. It is this American
aspiration that Iranians respect and forms a common bond between
us and the American nation. This historical understanding of the
American vision for the future was reflected in an interview by
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami with CNN in 1998. In that interview,
he sent a message of peace and friendship on behalf of the Iranians
to the people of America under the spirit of a dialogue of civilizations.
To Iranians and many other Middle Eastern nations, the Bush
administration's drastic shift in foreign policy vis-à-vis
the world marked the beginning of a new America. The attacks on
Afghanistan, the
occupation of Iraq, the scandals over the status of prisoners
held at Guantanamo Bay and the torture of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib
prison were the consequences of a new American world view that
is based on concepts such as "good and evil" and "them
and us". Designating three nations as an "Axis of Evil" or
remarks such as "you are either with us or against us" bear
credence to the assumption that leadership in Washington sees the
world from a very limited perspective.
Clearly distinguishing between the policies of the Bush administration
and that of the American nation or even the previous US administration,
we realize the importance of communication with the "other" America,
the one which unlike Bush does not depict war in the Persian Gulf
as a necessity.
We Iranian intellectuals condemn the Bush doctrine of "you
are either with us, or against us" and deeply sympathize with
those Americans who never consider war as the prime option and
demand an end to all the current occupations.
We also express our dismay over the failure of a political discourse
between our president Khatami and his American counterpart in 1998
which could have led to the overall easing of tensions not only
between West and East, but also Christianity and Islam. We believe
that dialogue and peaceful interaction among nations could have
tightened the rein over many forms of state or non-state terrorism
and could perhaps even have prevented war.
The crimes in Istanbul, Riyadh, Baghdad, and elsewhere could
have been prevented only if a humane and comprehensive policy had
been adopted in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Unfortunately,
the unilateralists in the White House destroyed the historic opportunities
that could have led to detente and peace in the region.
The consequence of the Bush administration's Middle East policies
has severely distorted the image of America in this region. Today's
America is offering us interrogation instead of interaction, monologue
instead of dialogue, arrogance instead of communication and techniques
of torture instead of democracy. Many Iranians ask themselves whether
the America whose secretary of state once voiced apologies for
the 1953 coup and the one waging war in the Middle East are one
and the same. We cannot answer this question in the affirmative.
Today, the US ambition to implement a "greater Middle East
plan" is bringing pain and agony to this region. Hence, we
are calling on all peace and democracy loving Americans not to
allow this region to fall victim to the ambiguous ambitions of
rulers in the White House who do not represent the ideals of the
Founding Fathers and the American nation. The aftermath of the
invasion of Iraq show that democracy and peace are not what the
Bush administration is seeking in this region.
The failure of dialogue has also been destructive to the development
of democracy in Iran. Today, the reform movement in Iran is threatened
by authoritarianism, totalitarianism and narrow-mindedness. US
foreign policy has facilitated the militarization of the political
scene in Iran which serves as a setback to Iran's democratic movement.
 These totalitarians benefit from the failure of democracy and
from violent interventions. The authoritarians are using the security
threat-both real and perceived-created by the Bush doctrine to
undermine the free press and free elections in Iran. One of the
repercussions of the Bush doctrine in Iran has been the vast disqualification
of democratic candidates in the parliamentary elections last February.
US threats played into the hands of those who eventually managed
to monopolize power. Still, Iranians will never allow the wicked
dreams of authoritarians to come true.
Hereby we declare that actions that undermine the reform movement
of Iran or that violate the right to self-determination for Iraqis,
Afghans and Palestinians, or any effort to undermine the struggle
for freedom throughout the world will support terrorists, war mongers
and dictators. This is true both in the region and globally. Any
move against reforms in the Middle East will damage democratic
movements and undermine regional peace.
 We believe that as long as the peace-seeking American nation
fails to take their country back from the war mongers in the White
House, our country and sovereignty will also continue to be threatened.
It is only through the support of indigenous reform movements in
the Middle East-and not through war-that democracy, freedom of
the press and open elections can be achieved.
Sepember 11, 2004
Full
Persian text Names of the Iranian intellectuals including academics as well
as political and press activists:
Abas zadegan Sayed jafar, Adab Bahaodin, Aghajeri Zohreh,
Ahmadi Mohammad ali, Ahmadi Nemat, Ahrari Hamid, Akbari Mohammad
ali,
Akbarin Mohammad javad, Akrami Ali, Alavitabar Ali reza, Alizadeh
naeini Ali, Amini Asadollah, Amoli moghadam Naser, Ansarirad
Hossein, Arab sorkhi Fayzollah, Arab zadeh Hassan, Arbabi Hassan,
Arghandehpour
Karim, Asefi Hamid, Asgari Davood, Ayazi Mohammad ali, Azadi
Mohammad, Badi zadegan Seyad akbar, Bakhtiarnejad Parvin, Baniasadi
Mohammad
hossein, Bastani Hossein, Baste negar Mohammad, Bazargan Abolfazl,
Bazargan Abdolali, Bazargan Fereshte, Bazargan Mohammad navid,
Bazargani Kamalodin, Behzadi Mohammad, Bitaraf Safa, Borhani
Rahmatollah, Dadfar Mohammad, Dadkhah Sayed mohammad ali, Dadmehr
Rasoul, Dase
Hasel, Davani Mosaieb, Davoodi mohajer Fariba, Derayati Mostafa,
Dordkeshan Mostafa, Doroudi Saied, Doroudian Mohammad hossein,
Ebadi Shirin, Emadi Mohammad jafar, Eshfagh Morteza, Eslami
Yadollah, Esmaeili Hamid, Farahani Majid, Ghabel Ahmad, Ghabel
Hadi, Ghaffari
Masoud, Ghaffarzadeh Saeid, Ghani Mehdi, Gharavi Ali asghar,
Gharavi Ali reza, Gholizadeh Rahmangholi, Ghouchani Mohammad, Ghyasi
Hojatollah,
Golafra Bijan, Golani Jafar, Govaraei Fateme, Hadizadeh Ali
asghar, Hadizadeh yazdi Hadi, Hadian Naser, Haghighatjou Fateme,
Haj Ketabi
Ali, Hajarian Saeid, Hakimi Abolfazl, Hakimi Abdolkarim, Hakimi
Majid, Hariri Hossein, Hashemi Naser, Hedayati Sayed hashem,
Hekmat Ali, Hendi Ali reza, Houshmand Ehsan, Iyzadi Mostafa, Jalaeipor
Hamid reza, Jalalzadeh Jalal, Jamshidi Farideh, Javadi hesar
Mohammad
sadegh, Kadivar Mohsen, Kambouzia Jafar, Kargosha Rahman, Karshenas
Majid, Kazemian Morteza, Khalili ardakani Mohammad hossein,
Khatami Sayed mohammad reza, Khoram Amir, Khosh mohamadi Esmail,
Khosravi
Homayoun, Kianoush rad Mohammad, Komijani Faraj, Kord pour Khosro,
Kord pour Masoud, Koulaei Elahe, Ladoni Masoud, Loghmanian Hossein,
Madani Saeid, Mansourian Khosro, Masmouei Reza, Mazrouei Rajab
ali, Mellati Fahime, Meskin Mostafa, Mirkhani Amir, Mirshmse
shahshahani Abolfazl, Mirzadeh Vahid, Mirzaei Allahkaram, Mofidi
Badrosadat,
Moghadam Morteza, Mohagheghi Mohsen, Mohammadi Narges, Mohammadi
ardehali Mohammad, Moienfar Ali akbar, Mojahed Hossein, Molaei
Yousef, Momeni Mahmoud, Montazeri Ahmad, Mortazi langroudi Marzieh,
Moslehi Abas, Mostafavi Leyla, Mostafavi Mostafa, Mozafar Mohamad
javad, Nabavi Sayed ahmad, Naeimpor Mahmoud, Naraghi Hassan,
Nekou
rouh Mahmoud, Nekoufar Mohammad taghi, Nouhi Sayed hamid, Nourbakhsh
Manouchehr, Nouri Kasra, Omrani Mahmoud, Peya Hossein, Paya
Ali, Peyman Habibollah, Payman Majid, Pedram Masoud, Piran Parviz,
Pishbin
Mahmoud, Pour azizi Saeid, Rabani Mohammad sadegh, Rafiei Hossein,
Raies tousi Reza, Rajaeian Mohammad javad, Rajaeie Ali reza, Rasouli
Mohammad sadegh, Razavi faghieh Saeid, Reza khani Bahman, Rezaei
Ahad, Sabaghian Hashem, Saber Firouzeh, Sadaei Mohammad ali,
Sadr
Reza, Sadre hajsaiedjavadi Ahmad, Saeie Ahmad, Sahabi Ezatollah,
Sahabi Fraydoun, Saharkhiz Eisa, Sayed abadi Ali asghar, Saifzadeh
Sayed mohammad, Sajadi Daryoush, Salavati Fazlolallah, Saleh
jalali
Reza, Samimi Keyvan, Samti Hadi, Sarchami Mohammad, Sarikhani
Ali reza, Sedighi Nader, Sepehr Masoud, Shah hosaini Hossein, Shakeri
Ebrahim, Shamsolvaezein Mashallah, Shanechi Mohammad, Shariati
Saeid, Sharif Mohammad, Shirzad Ahmad, Shokri Kazem, Sinaei
Vahid, Soltani AbodolFatah, Soleymani Behyar, Taheri Akbar, Taheri
Mohammad,
Tayarani Amir, Tajernia Ali, Tajik Abdolreza, Tajzade Sayed
Mostafa, Takafoli Gholam hossein, Taleghani Azam, Taleghani Tahere,
Taleghani
Hesam, Taleghani Narges, Tanha Mostafa, Tavakoli Khaled, Tavalaei
Majid, Tavassoli Gholam abbas, Tavassoli Mohammad, Tavassoli
Mohammad
reza, Tehrani Reza, Vaez abaei Mehdi, Valibaik Bagher, Valibaik
Jalil, Varpaei Rasoul, Yahyaei Ali farid, Yazdi Ebrahim, Yeganli
Naser, Yousefian Reza, Zahed Fayaz, Zeid abadi Ahmad, Zaman
Hossein, Zamani Mohammad ebrahim, Zandinia Parviz, Zarghami Aliashraf,
Zarghami
Freydoun, Zerehsaz Jamal, Zohdi Mohammad Reza.
.................... Say
goodbye to spam! *
*
|
Lack of democracy breeds terror
