Avoid a Faustian bargain on nukes
Frida Ghitis McClatch Tribune
Issue date: 11/16/09 Section: Opinion
A startling chant rose from the crowd in the latest round of anti-government protests in Iran. The tens of thousands who took to the streets a few days ago, risking imprisonment or worse by defying the regime, cried out in their native Farsi, but in the cellphone videos sent around the world one can easily make out one word echoing inside a puzzling sentence: "Obama, Obama!"
Why would the protesters call out the name of the American president? Listening to the sounds and watching the grainy images online, one might think the pro-democracy protesters, still undaunted after the brutal repression that followed the stolen elections in June, called Obama's name as an icon of democracy and freedom. Or maybe they wanted to conjure his trademark campaign pledge, Change.
The truth, however, is less inspirational and much more troubling. The full chant went something like this: "Obama, Obama: You are either with us or you are with them." The protesters are worried that President Obama is, in fact, helping their oppressors, the people who are beating, imprisoning and killing them. How could that be?
The timing of the Obama cry made it particularly poignant. Pro-democracy protesters had taken to the streets on Nov. 4, the 30th anniversary of the day when Iranian students took over the American embassy in Tehran, a milestone of Iran's Islamic revolution. The day is marked as an anti-American, anti-Western holiday in Iran, with the government busing crowds for large demonstrations against the "Great Satan." This year, the opposition took advantage of the occasion to show their movement remains alive against impossible odds and to send their own message to the West: Don't forget us.
Since the disputed election in June, the government has stepped up the level of repression in Iran. What used to be a regime founded on a unique combination of Islamic principles, democratic ideals and popular support has degenerated into a Middle Eastern dictatorship. The Iran expert Ray Takeyh, until recently a senior adviser to the Obama administration, wrote that, "The regime is systematically eviscerating its democratic opposition" even as it develops its "infrastructure for repression."
Why would the protesters call out the name of the American president? Listening to the sounds and watching the grainy images online, one might think the pro-democracy protesters, still undaunted after the brutal repression that followed the stolen elections in June, called Obama's name as an icon of democracy and freedom. Or maybe they wanted to conjure his trademark campaign pledge, Change.
The truth, however, is less inspirational and much more troubling. The full chant went something like this: "Obama, Obama: You are either with us or you are with them." The protesters are worried that President Obama is, in fact, helping their oppressors, the people who are beating, imprisoning and killing them. How could that be?
The timing of the Obama cry made it particularly poignant. Pro-democracy protesters had taken to the streets on Nov. 4, the 30th anniversary of the day when Iranian students took over the American embassy in Tehran, a milestone of Iran's Islamic revolution. The day is marked as an anti-American, anti-Western holiday in Iran, with the government busing crowds for large demonstrations against the "Great Satan." This year, the opposition took advantage of the occasion to show their movement remains alive against impossible odds and to send their own message to the West: Don't forget us.
Since the disputed election in June, the government has stepped up the level of repression in Iran. What used to be a regime founded on a unique combination of Islamic principles, democratic ideals and popular support has degenerated into a Middle Eastern dictatorship. The Iran expert Ray Takeyh, until recently a senior adviser to the Obama administration, wrote that, "The regime is systematically eviscerating its democratic opposition" even as it develops its "infrastructure for repression."
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