we are fighting the war in our facebook statuses

Balatarin
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Nahal Zamani
by Nahal Zamani
14-Jan-2009
 

In college in the United States, I became friends with Iranians from all each ideology and religious background, amazed to find folks who had also grown up with “noon-o-panir” and “maast-o-khiar”.  We were royalists, radical leftists, mujahedeen-ists, atheists, muslims ba’hais, jews, armenians, christians, kurds, and turks.  We grew up in poverty or with privilege, drove mercedez benzs and old saturns, gyrated to persian pop music pumped in from California or grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, but it didn't matter in those golden days.  We blurred our ideological oppositions with the help of alcohol and the lure of belonging – as most do in the pursuit of friendship.  As the cloud of college faded, the reality of ideology set in and the frown lines became more apparent.  How could we be able to get past our politics?

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The recent conflict in Gaza has been particularly tense – especially as I learn more and become more decided about where I stand.  It has become increasingly difficult to have conversations with my friends about the issue without grimaces, trepidation and worries of ruining friendships over ideology.  As a feminist I was taught that the personal is political and the political is personal: and the line between work, politics, life and friendship is purposely blurred.  So when your politics define your identity, how do you deal with those that hold positions that threaten your very existence?

I’m watching the tension envelop our social networking sites, where we are fighting the war in our facebook statuses.  I see friends making statements advocating murder, and it frightens me.   I wonder if my own public statements could ever been contrived as inhumane, when I so clearly see those by some of my friends as inhumane.  I don’t know how to begin those conversations with those friends that hold views opposite to my own, when I see conversation as the ultimate tool in creating positive social change and addressing opposition.

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As an Iranian, I know all too how well our political ideologies have fractured our diaspora in the States.  At various points in Iran’s history, our ideologies were a question of life or death.  How did we ever come together in solidarity as Iranians, when we were having heated and passionate conversations about our ideologies – our very being?  But perhaps that is the very root of our issues in achieving solidarity: why the community is unable to always organize against racist attacks, lobby together for common interests, much less identify those common interests to begin with.

Where do we start that conversation?

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Regarding inside Iran

by Jamshid Niavarani (not verified) on Thu Jan 15, 2009 06:09 PM PST

The Gaza War has helped the theocracy. In Iran 70 million Iranians back the Gazans. There are protests right and left condemning the "Zionists". If Israel wanted to empower Ayat'Allah Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad they are doing a good job. Newspapers and the media in Iran runs stories of Gaza 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There are Iranian University Students volunteering to go to Gaza and fight along side the Gazans. Ayat'Allah Khamenei has said that is not in the interest of 70 million Iranians. What is interesting is that this Gazan War has empowered the Iranian theocracy at a time when Oil is cheap and the Iranian economy is worse than before. All this is due to the State of Israel. And when is this occuring? On the 30th anniversary of the Shah escaping Iran. It is as if nothing has changed in 30 years. The Israelis should really grow up and sit down and make peace with the Gazans.


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this is probably the most

by Anonymous fishie (not verified) on Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:33 AM PST

this is probably the most thought-provoking thread on the site so far. paymaneh really said it best and in a very non-threatening manner. i would like to offer my greatest appreciation for her comments and also add that an "intelligent" response such as hers offers us, an individuals, an opportunity to reflect upon the situation with calm clarity instead of the instant hate filled rhetoric seen elsewhere. i beg everyone to avoid using the "hot button" words like zionism and IRI.

nahal has asked a very important question. where DO we start a CONVERSATION, not another war.

thank you for this article.


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ghalam-doon

Which side are we on?

by ghalam-doon on Thu Jan 15, 2009 09:32 AM PST

There was a song which was sung in the union halls of the 30’s and 40’s: “which side are you on?" I agree with You and Paymaneh. This conflict has created a dilemma for “us”, the Iranian community in diaspora, or at least for some of us who have social consciousness. We should decide which side we’re on. That's the hardest part considering all the negative news coming out of Iran. There is not a single day passed that we should question ourselves the same question. I think we should always demand changes in Iran. We should voice our opposition to many of IR policies. But at the same time we should accept the fact that a "regime change" cannot come out of the barrel of a gun. What Israel is doing in Gaza should make the argument clearer for us. We should not be discouraged by the campaign propagated by some in this and other forums. Their tactics are simple and fascistic.  They try to identify a vast group of intelligent people with different points of view simply as “mullah–lovers” or “apologists for the regime.” But we can remain critical of IR and at the same time oppose Israeli and US aggressions in the region. The two are not mutually exclusive.


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Awfully ashamed

by Iranian Jew (not verified) on Thu Jan 15, 2009 08:53 AM PST

Please hear us too:

//www.ijsn.net/links/

JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE FOR 3 HOURS
10 JEWS CHAIN TOGETHER TO BLOCK DRIVEWAY AND ENTRANCE

Early this morning, Jewish activists in a historic first in Los Angeles, chained themselves to the entrance of the Israeli Consulate and blocked the driveway to the parking structure, blocking all traffic in and out of the building. "We sent a clear message to the world that LA Jews are part of the global majority in opposition to the Israeli siege of Gaza," said Lenny Potash a 72-year old protester who was cuffed to eight other activists, blocking the driveway to the consulate. The activists were joined by 50 other supporters and who chanted "LA Jews say, End the Siege of Gaza" and "Not in Our Name! We will Not be Silent!" Protesters also held up signs reading "Israeli Consulate: Closed for War Crimes."


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Jaleho

Dear Peymaneh, you said

by Jaleho on Thu Jan 15, 2009 08:21 AM PST

"It is a catastrophe about most of which history hasn't been written yet, and each and every one of us are responsible for writing it as we speak....

As we learn about human casualties and have to deal with the images and information, another floodgate of information has been opened on us, telling us of more atrocities, older ones, uglier ones, about which we knew close to nothing before.  We also have to deal with that dilemma, the dilemma of not being able to say "I didn't know" anymore, much like the phrase many Europeans used during the years the Holocaust was in progress.  We know.  We have to have an opinion, unfortunately. "

So well put that it is difficult to add to.

 

 


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Paymaneh Amiri

Dear Nahal

by Paymaneh Amiri on Thu Jan 15, 2009 03:11 AM PST

You raise an important question.  You can raise it as a question and provoke thought among readers of this site.  That's about all you can do, for the users of this site are no better off than your friends on Facebook.  If anything, they are in a much worse situation, because while you control your friends on Facebook, here almost everyone is nameless and faceless, and privy to every single character published on the site, so you will need to brace yourself for all kinds of responses and reactions to your question, including silence.

The situation in Gaza has had the world in upheaval.  Many people are caught in multiple dilemmas dealing with the situation, people on this site even worse.  It's almost a given than you cannot be a human being on this planet today and not have an opinion about a catastrophe which is happening here and now.  It is a catastrophe about most of which history hasn't been written yet, and each and every one of us are responsible for writing it as we speak, with keystrokes and spaces, forced to declare our opinions, unable to catch our breaths, reflect, or change our minds.  Such is the nature of any catastrophe.  That's what makes a catastrophe different from peace times or ordinary times.

As we learn about human casualties and have to deal with the images and information, another floodgate of information has been opened on us, telling us of more atrocities, older ones, uglier ones, about which we knew close to nothing before.  We also have to deal with that dilemma, the dilemma of not being able to say "I didn't know" anymore, much like the phrase many Europeans used during the years the Holocaust was in progress.  We know.  We have to have an opinion, unfortunately.

People become desolate and helpless when they see the images, unable to stand those who won't feel devastated looking at the same.  Relationships and friendships quickly turn sour as people continue to "declare" their opinions for they have no choice but to declare.  If I feel just horrible about the children of Gaza and want to help stop their daily murder, when I go to visit my jolly brother in law, when I see him telling me that Gaza is not his problem, I can't help but wonder what kind of a man he is and how I had been blind all these years, thinking him to be a kind and loving man?  On the other side of the line which continues to make us drift farther apart stands my brother in law, thinking what has become of me, the easy going woman who is all of a sudden appearing as a "bleeding heart" activist for Arab babies.  His reaction to me is to keep his distance from my hot headedness.

Whichever side of the line we stand on, the important fact of today's life to remember is that there exists a line now, unfortunately.  Another line which 30 years ago made many Iranians drift away or get close to one another by virtue of their political views on what was happening in Iran during the revolution, helps us better see the new line now drawn for the entire world, engulfing anyone who can read and understand and comprehend the images and the information they are receiving. 

Iranians in diaspora have carried a heavy baggage of disappointment and sadness for three decades, bearing their children into the same disappointment and sadness about Iran.  They are engulfed in this new dilemma, too, and many of them can't put their old baggage down long enough to make an appropriate decision about what they are seeing.  This is why some people who are against the Islamic regime think that beause the Islamic regime in Iran supports Palestinians and Hamas, they have to take sides with their opponent.  This is why some Iranians who have always been artificially proud of their race, now consider this an arab cause and none of their business.  This is why some Iranians who have always foolishly thought that a "surgical" attack on Iran is needed to get rid of the mullahs might be rubbing their hands in glee now, actually saying that they wish for Iran to be next on somebody's list to attack.  Iranians have not been able to put their baggage down for 30 years and now they must face the mounting dilemma unprepared, burdened, and breathless.

I don't know what's happening on Facebook dear Nahal, but if you think you have come to a place where you might be able to find a solution, you may be disappointed.  The best you can do is to feel better about which side of the line you chose to stand.

Sorry for the long comment.


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