Editorial: The other crowds in Tehran

Issue of June 26, 2009 / 4 Tammuz 5769

Angry crowds in the streets of Tehran are nothing new.

Most of the time in recent decades those crowds have entertained themselves by burning American flags and shouting catchy slogans like “Death to America,” which the crowds usually refer to fondly as “The Great Satan.” That's a charming term coined by the late, unlamented Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini. He first used it in a speech on Nov. 5, 1979, a day after 52 Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy; an ordeal that would continue for 444 days until the clock finally ran out on the useless Carter administration. (Yes, kids — that's the same Carter who showed signs of Stockholm syndrome, in which hostages identify with their captors, when he recently urged Europe to take Hamas off the terrorism list.)

A year earlier the Iranian revolution culminated with the overthrow of the Shah. Amazingly, millions of Iranians then voted to institute a theocracy. That’s when Americans first latched onto the notion that most Iranians are nuts. Now, however, their children have apparently concluded that granting total control of their country to aged religious leaders who hate everyone who's not just like them was a bad idea. So, they have now taken to the streets.

Just how much difference there is between the first set of crowds and the new, second set is arguable. It doesn't seem like it would take much prompting to set these new crowds to work burning American flags and denouncing the U.S. and Israel, but a CNN  interview with a protester the other day offered food for thought:

Mohammad: “Yes. Let me tell you something. For about three decades our nation has been humiliated and insulted by this regime. Now Iranians are united again one more time after 1979 Revolution. We are a peaceful nation. We don't hate anybody. We want to be an active member of the international community. We don't want to be isolated... We don't deny the Holocaust. We do accept Israel's rights. And actually, we want — we want severe reform on this structure. This structure is not going to be tolerated by the majority of Iranians. We need severe reform, as much as possible.”

A government can easily whip up hatred  — read any good Palestinian textbooks lately?  It's worth wondering if the situation in Iran regarding attitudes toward Israel might not be irredeemable after all. After all, Iran is a Muslim country but its people are not Arabs; they are Persian.

With all this in mind it's hard to know how to hope it all turns out. If Khameini, the current ayatollah, and his man Ahmadinejad crush the current unrest then their true colors, and the true threat they pose, nuclear and otherwise, will finally be revealed for the entire world to see. Or, if the theocracy is truly overthrown, perhaps real change can come to Iran, including an end to its bankrolling of Hamas and Hezbollah. That would be good for everyone.