Wednesday, July 09, 2003

Blogging for Iran

Today I intended to write about the struggle of students in Iran to achieve freedom from the theocrats in control their nation.

Unfortunately, I don’t know much about Iran or it’s people. I know where it is located on a map, and some basic facts about the history of Iran - but nothing in depth.

I think this is because after the fall of the Shah and the rise of Ayatollahs we here in America seemed to just pretend Iran didn’t exist. Never in any history class was Iran mentioned, rarely is Iran covered in our media (even when it should be) and because of the embargo there were no person-to-person exchanges (student, business).

The only Iranian who I have dealt with in any great amount refused to say that he was Iranian – he was ‘Persian’. I tried to press him on the issue because I knew for a fact that he was born in Tehran in the mid-70s. He said that he was unwilling to be identified with the Ayatollahs who controlled his home and therefore refused to say he was from Iran.

I wish I were still in contact with that friend. I would hope that he would be as hopeful about the future of Iran as I am. That hope comes from the wonderful movement of students who understand that their future is in freedom and democracy. It is amazing to me that these young people have lived their whole lives under the control of the oppressive Iranian government. Even though they spent their youth hearing that America is the ‘Great Satan’ they still know that their future is Democracy.

If you want to learn more about Iran and the student movement for freedom check out the great links at today’s Carnival of the Liberties at Winds of Change. I plan on remedying my lack of knowledge about Iran through these great links.

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