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GUEST COLUMN: Iran today is at a definite turning point By Afshin Molvai America has played an outsized role in Iran over the past century, and is now criticizing the government over the country's nuclear program. This January, Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran was ''right at the top of the list'' of potential trouble spots. Yet, despite the current turmoil and decades of anti-American propaganda from the Iranian government, many Iranians express admiration for the United States. For the March issue, Smithsonian magazine's contributor Afshin Molavi, a recognized authority on Iran, found that Iranians say they admire, of all places, America. ''The paradox of Iran is that it just might be the most pro-American or, perhaps, least anti-American populace in the Muslim world,'' says Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst in Tehran for the International Crisis Group. Many Iranians who said they welcomed the ouster of the American-backed Shah 26 years ago are now frustrated by the revolutionary regime's failure to make good on promised political freedoms and economic prosperity. Government mismanagement, chronic inflation and unemployment have also contributed to mistrust of the regime and, with it, its anti-Americanism. Though hard-line officials urge ''Death to America,'' most Iranians seem to ignore the propaganda. A local Tehran resident, who is 30, said, ''In my school the teachers gathered us on the playground and told us to chant 'Death to America.' Naturally, it became boring. Our government has failed to deliver what we want: a normal life, with good jobs and basic freedoms. So I stopped listening to them. America is not the problem. They are.'' In a recent survey, nearly three-fourths of the Iranians polled said they would like their government to restore dialogue with the United States. It's apparent that Iran's youth are the most disenchanted with the current government. Young people in Iran make up the bulk of the population, 70 percent of which is under 30. Students on today's college campuses tend to shun politics and embrace practical goals such as getting a job or admission into a foreign graduate school. Some 150,000 Iranian professionals leave the country each year, one of the highest rates of brain drain in the Middle East. In 1953, the United States engineered a coup to overthrow the government and then in the 1960s backed a modernization effort under the shah government. These ventures led to a surge in anti-American sentiment in the 1970s. Today, however, those under 30 are too young to remember the anti-American sentiment and share little of their parents' ideology, according to the Smithsonian article. Iranian intellectuals are quietly rediscovering American authors and embracing values familiar to any American civics student -- separation of church and state, an independent judiciary and a strong presidency. However, intellectuals are not running the show. A presidential election is scheduled for June, and social critics in Iran as well as international analysts say a free and fair contest is unlikely. Many Iranians are expected to stay away from the polls in protest, almost guaranteeing a conservative victory. The separation of church and state has long been a problem plaguing Iranian politics. There's ample evidence that many Iranians are fed up with the involvement of Muslim clerics in government. Iran today is at a turning point. Either the Islamic revolution must mellow and embrace political change, the article says, or face a reckoning down the road when hard-line clerics come into conflict with the secular, democratic ideas of the younger generation. Afshin Molvai, is a fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, and author of ''Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across Iran.''

 

Honest letter to Fred(importance makes this post twice)

Dear Fred:

...when you say mullahs days are numbered. I say I hope so.but, then what? is the USA going to interfere in our affairs?and as you know,I hope this becomes like a real reform,not overthrowing the regime by CIA.no country sees the face of prosperity by "revolution" rather by "evolution".Agree?

Yours

 

D_DAY

                         D_DAY         

HERE IS THE FULL STORY OF THE PROTESTING EVENTS :

today as we entered the teachers lounge, every one was talking about PROTEST, we aren’t going to teach today as a sign of protest to government and its policies toward “teachers”. No one left the room when all the students were waiting voraciously! Last year, we had the same real story of not doing anything insides of the classrooms. Why those stupid assholes on the top of the ministry of education are carefree to the most noble, hardworking, staff of their ministry? Is it asking a lot of to have a decent life? What’s wrong with our “public servants”? anyway, we were discussing things over as the stupid ass kisser principle entered the room.” please, go start teaching and no body moves to his command.here is the threatening part: “what you are doing is labeled as “ political” meaning that your protest doesn't have anything to do with teachers union so, you should face the music (the following consequences).nobody gave a **** to his words.but as a sign of cooperation we decided to stand aside of the class doorway to keep the kids quiet. The principle had called his higher ups already. They were at school within ten minutes and wanted to talk to us but weren’t brave enough to stay there for the break! The students were asking about the reasons and I was talking to them of the whys and so forth.

I don’t know if this scattered protest continues like last year or not. The only thing they did last year was increasing a chicken feed salary to us.

Honest letter to Fred

there are a lot of problems a head of me.by the way, would you give detailed life of an average American as you know it? I would like to get a feeling of living there.what do the average people think about? do Americans nag about their problems as I do?

Yours,

Honest