Letters

Write for The Iranian Editorial policy

Saturday
November 3, 2001

Support a third wave

As a writer I am mostly influenced by feelings and emotions which can range from the intense to the sublime often caused by the degree of sensitivity I show towards a subject close to my heart. Readers of my stories will equally be moved to praise or criticise me. Both reactions I take as a compliment.

To be fair the only time I may respond is if the criticism becomes personal -- fortunately such instances are rare. Such a seemingly tolerant attitude is not always easy for there are times when a deep sense of injustice may erupt inside me like a dormant volcano. This is particularly true when it concerns the past.

I was sixteen when the revolution took place. Today I am 39-years-old. For me the events of 1979 are as vivid as a survivor of the Titanic. I can't say I saw the iceberg coming but when we collided I knew we were about to sink. I also seem to be able to recall the time before and after the accident and it isn't so black and white.

But like all victims of accidents I tried to make sense of it all. Could the accident have been prevented? Maybe yes, perhaps not. This ambiguous feeling may stem from the belief that the past, in particular the historical events that led to the fall of the monarchy and 23 years of revolutionary turmoil, was caused by many factors and not by some abstract phenomenon.

How we view this national accident depends on where we were at the time. It also depends on the degree of responsibility we feel about it. Guilt, anger and a need to blame someone are natural reactions. But at some point we need to get on with dealing with the present and defining the future we seek. In recent days the letters appearing in the Iranian site has once again opened old wounds and revealed our emotional and jaundiced view of what has taken place in Iran.

Whether we see the 1979 revolution as a great tragedy or a hijacked movement that desired freedom but went horribly wrong we cannot escape the crucial question: what is it that we want to see happen in Iran? Those who advocate leaving the revolution to follow its natural course are in a way abdicat- ing responsibility and leaving events to somehow guide the people of Iran to an uncertain future.

Others may feel duty bound to lend support to a third wave emerging inside Iran that is worried and anxious to lift their country and by default their own miserable lives from the political, social and economic morass they find themselves in.

At this point unless we are advocating the preservation of the Islamic state or placing hope in a powerless president to restore normal relations with the USA and bring about Islamic democracy (an ambiguous term)whilst preserving the late Ayatollah Khomeini's legacy, I believe freedom loving Iranians everywhere can become part of a collective effort to find a middle ground.

No matter what our personal beliefs or preferences we must really think about ways to encourage a healthy dialogue between those visible leaders, opinion makers and ordinary individuals who have something to say about the direction their country or old country should take. If we are in the country our motives will be influenced by domestic pressures and daily struggles. If we live abroad then we have a right to share our concerns and voice them in whatever educated fashion possible.

In many ways the revolution (regardless whose fault it was -- it was everyone and no ones fault) has scarred our objectivity and replaced rational arguments with emotional ones (nothing wrong with that if it teaches us something but destructive if it only opens old wounds)... If political thinking evolves with time then it should become more open.

You will always have extremists, left and right, and middle (that's the price we pay in a democracy) who will factionalise opinion and societies. But as long as nobody's basic rights are trampled on then all these opinions have a say in debating the future of Iran. Shouldn't we find bridges that unites our concern for a proud but suffering land than to stab each other intellectually?

I also believe historians will have to look again at our past and leave readers to draw their own conculsions. In the meantime we must be part of a process to assist our people gain their true rights rather than delay it. Like a torn family we must come together. For now Reza Pahlavi has emerged as a highly visible international figure campaigning for a free Iran and a referendum that will determine the future government of Iran.

Every Iranian is free to join him or start their own movement. At the end only a concerted effort will bear fruit for this is about something that transcends our individual political ideologies. It is about the future of Iran,her people, and their rightful place in the family of nations. Even our national football team and their captain have learned that the key to their success is in unity.

Cyrus Kadivar