Iran’s Youth: The Key
August 20, 2006, 10:38 am |
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By Andrew L. Jaffee
Half of Iranians are under the age of 24, which means that the majority of the country has no direct knowledge of the defining event in its modern history – the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranian youth hold the key to their country’s future. How long can they live under their repressive, Islamist rulers before the kettle boils over? Do they want to overthrow their mullahs? Could they do it without Western help?
Protests, led be Iran’s young people — usually students — have erupted in the past, only to be quelled by the mullahs’ thugs. Indeed, today the Islamic regime is flexing its muscles, test-firing 10 new missiles and holding country-wide military exercises — all the more reason to focus on Iran. The youthful will to freedom is definitely there. And there is good reason, at least in dictators’ eyes, for Iran’s rulers to fear their own young people.
In 2002, Iran’s state news agency Irna and the National Institute for Research Studies and Opinion Polls (NIRSOP) conducted a poll of 1,500 Iranian citizens. According to the BBC, the poll, commissioned by Iran’s parliament, or Majlis, showed that:
- 74% of respondents over the age of 15 support dialogue with the US
- 45.8% believe Washington’s policy on Iran is “to some extent correct”.
Iran’s Islamist overlords are pushing their young people — hopefully to the brink of revolution:
Sayeed Habibi considers himself a marked man. The reason: his Internet blog that challenges some of the policies of Iran’s theocracy.
He predicts that someday — perhaps soon — he’ll be taken to prison and his site will be shut down. “And another voice will be silenced,” said Habibi, a 34-year-old postgraduate and an unofficial elder statesman for student-led activist movements. “I fully expect to see the inside of a jail cell.”
He’s not alone.
Iranian authorities are stepping up arrests and pressure on popular bloggers as part of a wider Internet clampdown launched after hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president last year, ending years of freewheeling Web access that once made Iran among the most vibrant online locales in the Middle East.
This is not the first time the Islamic regime has gone after Internet users. But that was under President Khatami, a wilting flower compared to current President Ahmadinejad, who believes he’s getting us ready for the Mahdaviat, “the restorer of religion and justice who will rule before the end of the world.” In preparation for the end of time, Ahmadinejad has been going after Iran’s young people.
Ahmadinejad banned Western music last December (no more “George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper,’ Eric Clapton’s ‘Rush’ and the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California…’” and “…tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.”), but Iran’s youth are defiant:
Western music now is not meant to be heard - but in most hi-fis and cars, you can still heard Pink Floyd, Elton John and George Michael.
Young Iranians inside Iran are still listening to this music, although the government does not allow it.
Meanwhile, the suppression of music and youth culture in Iran - which has been going on for the last 25 years - has led to the development of a lot of sub-cultures.
Kids in school listen to Metallica and death metal bands, and they have invented their own Iranian style of rock and hip-hop.
Youthful unhappiness with Islamic repression, as well as with manipulation of Iranian “elections,” has boiled over into street protests several times. In 2003, thousands of pro-democracy Iranians came out in Tehran to protest against the Islamist dictatorship. Demonstrators hit the streets despite massive government efforts to quell dissent. The demonstrations were held to mark the fourth anniversary of the brutal suppression of student rallies held in July 1999.
In 2004, thousands of Iranians protested in the streets of Tehran and other cities, accusing their government of tyrannical policies and for complicity in engineering the twin homicide bombings in Iraq that killed at least 180 people. Iranian authorities responded to the demonstrations with “clubs, chains and tear gas” and by arresting protestors. Demonstrators were killed in the towns of Baneh and Khaf. In the previous week, at least 8 people were killed by the authorities during similar anti-Islamist protests.
The question is: When will protests break out again, and can they shake loose Ahmadinejad’s stranglehold on power? Secondly: Is the U.S. doing all it can to support democratic forces in Iran? Apparently not, according to Michael Ledeen:
If this administration were true to its announced principles, we would be actively supporting democratic revolution in Iran, but we do not seem to be serious about doing that. Yes, Secretary Rice went to Congress to ask for an extra $75 million to “support democracy” in Iran, but the small print shows that the first $50 million will go to the toothless tigers at the Voice of America and other official American broadcasters, which is to say to State Department employees. The Foreign Service does not often drive revolutionary movements; its business is negotiating with foreign governments, not subverting them. There were whispers that we were supporting trade unions in Iran, which would be very good news, but such efforts should be handled by private-sector organizations, not by the American government per se.
Yet this seems a particularly good moment to rally to the side of the Iranian people, who are known to loathe the regime of Ayatollah Khamenei, and who are showing their will to resist in very dramatic fashion. About ten days ago, seventy-eight regime officials were killed or captured in Baluchistan when a convoy (including the chief of the region’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and the regional governor) was attacked. Some of the captives have been shown on al-Jazeera, pleading for cooperation from the regime, and supporting their captors’ demands that five Baluchi prisoners be freed. The regime has responded by accusing the United States and Britain of masterminding the operation, which is the second such strike in the past six months. In addition to calling for the release of Baluchi prisoners, the insurgents are calling for the toleration of Baluchi Sunnis, the appointment of locals (instead of Persian Shiites) to govern the region, and the use of local radio and television.
Ledeen’s prescription:
It’s time to take action against Iran and its half-brother Syria, for the carnage they have unleashed against us and the Iraqis. We know in detail the location of terrorist training camps run by the Iranian and Syrian terror masters; we should strike at them, and at the bases run by Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards as staging points for terrorist sorties into Iraq. No doubt the Iraqi armed forces would be delighted to participate, instead of constantly playing defense in their own half of the battlefield. And there are potent democratic forces among the Syrian people as well, as worthy of our support as the Iranians.
Once the mullahs and their terrorist allies see that we have understood the nature of this war, that we are determined to promote regime change in Tehran and Damascus, and will not give them a pass on their murderous activities in Iraq, then it might make sense to talk to Khamenei’s representatives. We could even expand the agenda from Iraqi matters to the real issue: we could negotiate their departure, and then turn to the organization of national referenda on the form of free governments, and elections to empower the former victims of a murderous and fanatical tyranny that has deluded itself into believing that it is invincible.
Sadly, I’m not sure Bush et al will listen to Ledeen. We have a chance to encourage the development of a democratic Iran, but Bush seems to be squandering the cards he and his administration hold, whether it be because of distractions elsewhere, incompetence, or a false sense of political correctness (e.g., “let’s talk to Ahmadinejad”). The focus of the Islamist movement started in Iran in 1979. Wouldn’t it be prudent to help put an end to it there? Iran’s youth have shown a willingness to help. Why aren’t we helping them?
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Categories, Tags: Iran, Islam, Society, Philosophy / Ideology
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