Pew Polls on Iran: Biased or Objective

Pew’s  global attitudes project,  has just released a big batch of new surveys. Among other things, the researchers asked respondents in 21  countries how they feel about Iran.  The results seem to be bad news for Tehran, which seems to be wildly unpopular according to this survey .  According to the information posted on the Pew site, the survey measures popularity of NATO, EU , UN , Russia and China as well.  It is interesting to note that NATO also seems to be quite unfavorable, even in some EU countries like Greece (72%), Spain and the Czech Republic, while polls for Islamic countries other than Turkey are notably  not displayed.  Serious questions on the objective nature and integrity  of such polls surface, considering the biased approach and selection of subjects.

World opinion is largely shaped by global media and news agencies that are funded and heavily influenced by a certain pro-Zionist lobby in the US and worldwide. They have repeatedly relied on this weapon to shape public opinion before the war against Afghanistan, the attack on Iraq,  and Libya.  Western media have done a great service to Israel by  smearing the image of Iran and depicting a totally negative picture for the public to both fear and hate. In reality, the Iranian government which has serious flaws and faces many challenges, particularly after the 2009 disputed elections, is under heavy internal criticism ; but everything is not so dark as western media portray. Iran had the highest scientific growth rate in 2010 due to the booming achievements in academic fields and research. Iranian cities have now developed into modern and attractive metropolitan areas although air pollution is a major impediment. Councils elected by the people are now managing the affairs of cities and villages and despite restrictions the civil society is struggling to improve social indicators.Women have advanced in many areas while they still face some setbacks. When a negative and fearsome image of Iran is systematically  promoted in the  mainstream  global media,  then one would expect such poll results to be natural.

 NATO and US policies in the Middle East and many other parts of the globe in recent decades have resulted in war, bloodshed, terrorism and the general decline of the quality of life for people. The deteriorating conditions of living in  most of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Libya has occurred as a direct consequence of US adventurism  and occupation which may have led to the downfall of a dictator but has also devastated the economy, undermined basic  infrastructure and left the people in despair.  It is now a general realization that American and NATO forces only pursue their interests in such adventures. Compared to most countries in this region, Iran is well better off. This does not mean that the government meets the expectations of the people. By no means, Iranians look forward to major reforms and changes in their administrative and political system.  However, it is a well known fact now that foreign  intervention does not serve the interests of   nations in the long term and cannot help to promote peace security and democracy among nations and  in the world. People throughout the world are now increasingly awakening to the painful truths of our age.

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dec 19 -2012
Dear President Obama,
Re: Would you also shed a tear for Iranian children with cancer?
Applauding your humane reaction to the recent school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, we wonder if you would also shed a tear for the plight of Iranian people caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, as a result of the sanctions imposed on them by the international community led by the American government.
In particular, heart-wrenching reports of ordinary Iranians dying due to a widespread shortage of pharmaceutical drugs call for immediate cessation of hostilities toward the Iranian people, caused by the sanctions. Eyewitness reports in the black market for the drugs and the tearful eyes of families of cancer patients scrambling desperately in this market should concern you as much as the Newtown incident did. Although the former happened beyond your control, the pain and suffering of Iran’s cancer patients are a direct consequence of your government’s policies. Whereas there is barely any evidence suggesting sanctions achieve their political goals, they are causing death and devastation to the Iranian cancer patients as you are reading this letter.
A recent report, for example, from a charitable hospital for cancer patients in Tehran, Mahak (http://www.mahak-charity.org/main/fa), indicate a shortage of the following pharmaceutical items:
Amp.BC NU Amp.Melphalan Tab.Mitotane Cap.Procarbazine Amp.Topotecan 4mg-1mg Tab.Lanvis-6Thioguanine
We believe you are a man of conscience, and under your leadership the world has a unique opportunity to leave politics behind and attend to the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in the Iranian populace as a consequence of the sanctions. Will you take this historic opportunity to put people first and ahead of politics? You are well familiar with the following poem by Sa’adi Shirazi:
Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain.
Will you consider living up to it?
The following children died senselessly in the Newtown tragedy:
Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, Ana Marquez-Greene, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison Wyatt.
You have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to demonstrate your true dedication to fundamental human dignity. These children’s souls are watching.
Will you let the suffering of Iranian children with cancer continue or will you choose to put an end to this tragedy by lifting the sanctions on Iranian people?
With hope,
Yours very truly,
Canadian and Iranian Coalition for Peace
CICforpeace@gmail.com
http://cicfp.blogspot.ca/

The Student Movement in Iran

Six decades ago, on such  days in 1953, a few months after the CIA engineered coup d'etat which toppled the nationalist government of Dr. Mohammad Mosadegh and re-installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the heroic resistance of young students made history. Richard Nixon, who was then the American Vice President  traveled to Iran to consolidate the shaken relationship and give the impression that everything in Iran is under control. Iranian students who were furious following the severe crackdown  of the coup d'etat and the return of dictatorship, protested against this visit. Nixon's visit was an indication of the continued interference and control of the American government in Iranian affairs.

In Tehran University, students from the engineering college  stood up and protested against this event. Fearing a generalized uprising, the monarchy ordered a severe crackdown and gave security guards and police orders to fire on the students. As a result, three students were killed in the College of Engineering campus and many more were injured.
My late father Professor Taghi Ebtekar, a junior student at that time, was present as was the martyr  Dr. Mostapha Chamran who was also an engineering student in those times.  I have heard their eye witness accounts of the event. From that day onward the 16th of Azar has been commemorated as the Day of Students in Iran.  Students have voiced their protests and concerns on this day during the past decades.

University students have played a serious role in all phases of contemporary Iranian history. Their perseverance and resistance against oppression, dictatorship and foreign intervention has had deep implications for the Iranian society. This progressive approach gave the student movement  a major role in the development of the Islamic Revolution in 1978, during the takeover of the American embassy in 1979 and during the 8 year war against Saddam Hussein. A small part of the non Islamic students had kept their criticism of the Revolution during those years.
During the new reconstruction era, the majority of the student movement in Iran voiced their criticisms as they felt that political and social freedoms were gradually limited. Pressures on the movement augmented and reached their climax once in 1999 and again in 2009. After the disputed presidential elections in 2009, pressures have augmented and the situation has deteriorated.
After 3 years, I  finally agreed to  take part in a debate arranged by the National / State Television. I spoke about the concerns of the student movement, the pressures and limitations on their activity and freedoms.
My comments have been welcomed by many people who believe that the Islamic Republic was established to uphold basic freedoms and respond to the concerns and expectations of the people.

Ali Asqar: For the World's Children

The greatest tragedy that occurs during war is the targeting  and victimization of  children. According to UNICEF  reports hundreds of thousands of children have been killed during war during the past decades, many more have been disabled, orphaned and psychologically traumatized . Millions have lost their homes.
I can never forget a tragic photo of children killed during an aerial  attack by the Saddam regime on a school in Dezful,  in southern Iran, dating back to 1983.  Only in the past decade, thousands of children have been killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and in parts of Africa, during armed conflict and war. Many children were killed in the recent attack on Gaza when their homes were demolished by Israeli missiles.
During the mourning ceremonies of Muharram, accounts of the tragedy in Karbala (which occurred in the year 60 of the Hejira) are recited. One of the most shocking scenes, is the martyrdom of Ali Asqar, the youngest among the family of Imam Hussein.
Imam Hussein the grandson of the Prophet, comes under pressure by the ruling Ommayid establishment to pledge allegiance to Yazid, the brutal Khalifa. Yet he has come to invite the people of Kufa to return to the authentic teachings of Islam. As Imam Hussein endeavors to avoid the battle, he asks the enemy to let them go back to Medina. But Ibn Sad, the commander of Yazid forces has orders to force Imam to submit or to face the battle. Imam Hussein cannot surrender,  he has risen in face of oppression and tyranny. Hussein has a mission to save the face of Islam and to revive the tradition of the Prophet (SA). Along with his family and companions, he camps in Neinava, a region in present day Iraq. The enemy forces bring the camp under siege preventing them from accessing water. In the dry deserts of Karbala, the women and children are exhausted by the heat and by thirst. Mothers have no milk to feed their infants. Thirst has overwhelmed the caravan and the youngest among them Ali Asghar is restless. Imam Hussein brings the child forward and asks the enemy for water to quench the thirst of the 6 month baby. Yet before he finishes speaking, an arrow from the enemy has slit the little throat of Ali...
Ali Asghar is the child martyr of Karbala. His tragic martyrdom signifies the sufferings that the family of the Prophet face to protect the Religion and also the brutality of the selfish and ignorant followers of Yazid who call themselves Muslims, but have relinquished their humanity in the face of  worldly temptations of the ruling power.
Every year on the eighth of Muharram, ceremonies are held in Iran and other Muslim countries to commemorate the martyrdom of Ali Asghar. Mothers attend with their infants and they pray for the health and prosperity of their child. They dress the children in green Arabic outfits .

Ali Asghar is a legend for humanity . When children are still killed in war and armed conflict, when residential areas are attacked and demolished during war, we need to remind humanity that the struggle for justice, for righteousness and peace must continue...

For Gaza

More than 120 civilians including mostly children and women are now dead after more than a week of rocket exchanges between Gaza and Israel. Israel has occupied Palestinian land since 1948 and is now annexing whatever it can by building new settlements in disputed territories. For several years Israel pursued a policy of targeting Palestinian leaders by unmanned drones or rockets. The residents of Gaza decided to defend themselves and retaliate by also sending rockets into Israel. Even though Israel has claimed that their Iron Dome anti missile system is effective, dozens of Palestinian rockets have penetrated Israeli airspace during the past week. The aggressors are now more than ever under fire for their inhuman and brutal attack on civilian populations in the defenseless Gazan population. A glance at not only Muslim media but European and American newspapers indicates that public opinion is heavily against Israel aggression. A family of 9 members including several children were killed only yesterday. This has mobilized both Arab and Islamic countries to take a strong and unprecedented position against Israel.
For the UN and related bodies it must be said that the most initial and essential mission of this body is to "safeguard peace on earth"  not to play as an intermediary   between powerful governments and politicians. People still look forward to see this role for Gaza in the UN bodies.
Now, that President Obama is securely reelected to the White House he must remember that he is complicit in the crimes of the Zionist regime. He must remember that he vowed to change the negative and militaristic foreign policy image of the Bush era and that he vowed to cherish human life and dignity in the world.
For the Muslim world, it is upon them to defend themselves their homes and their families. Remember that as the Holy Quran states "Believers are brothers.."( Sura Hujjarat,10) and as humans they are common in their creation.."We created you man and woman..(Sura Hujjarat 13) .

The Supreme Sacrifice of Hussein

Although the month of Muharram is the beginning of the new year for many Muslims, for many Shia believers it designates the commencement of mourning ceremonies. The tenth of this month, Ashura coincides with the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet. Sixty one years after the Hejira, during the tyrannical rule of Yazid the Ommayid Dynasty ruler, who was infamous for his excesses, injustices and oppressive rule, Hussein refrained from pledging allegiance to the Khalifat. Viewing his dignified position and resistance, the people of Kufa (present day Iraq) invited Imam to join them to form a resistance front against the Ommayids. However, after murdering the emissaries of  Hussein, once he started off towards Kufa, Yazid sent his army to force Imam to surrender or to die in an unequal battle. Imam resisted, believing in the necessity to fight corruption and the deviant ways of the ruling system, which were in contradiction with Islamic teachings and had permeated the society. He invited the armies to let him go and not to fight with him. Imam did not wish to engage in battle, he had brought his family and children along, but he also would not accept to surrender to the deceit and lies that Yazid had propagated in the name of Islam. Ultimately he stressed that: "I have come to bring about change and reform in the religion of my Grandfather, but if the Religion will not return to its authentic form  other than with my death; then tell the swords to encompass  me". Along with his few companions Imam Hussein fought until martyrdom. The Ommayids did much to distort the reality and to deny this tragedy.Thousands of sermons were given to prove that Hussein and his companions were foreign infiltrators and rebels who had denied the essentials of Islam. The Khalifat sought to hold on to power by any means, but their reign was shortened by violent events that ensued once the people realized the painful truth.
Ashura is a spiritual and political inspiration for people of all times, it is a message for humanity.  Mahatma Gandhi spoke of Hussein as if they shared the same faith:“My faith is that the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Hussain (A.S.), the great saint.”

 Imam Hussein stood up for righteousness and truthfulness, thus he belongs to all irrespective of faith, creed , race or nationality. He is the beacon of light and ship of salvation for the distressed generations of today. In a world menaced by  corruption, greed, deceit and war we feel an urge to take refugee in the personality of unworldly role models like Hussein.

The Environment Suffers in War

 The Center for Peace and Environment has convened an international seminar every year on the occasion of November 6 the International Day for the Prevention of the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Members of the diplomatic community and countries which have suffered from war were invited to speak about the devastation that war had caused in their homelands. Also, representatives from the international organizations such as the UNDP , OCHA and the International Red Cross attended the seminar and provided reports on their actions in this regard.  As a Champion of the Earth, I would invite these international figures to attend our ceremony and they had usually responded favorably.  This year, considering the circumstances and continuing restraints on the activities of the civil society, the Center decided to issue a statement and postpone the session to the next year. The full statement is available at www.pengoo.ir . This is the opening phrase:

"Since mankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, as well as destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war.

Yet when the environment   suffers in warfare, it threatens the well-being of vulnerable populations and undermines prospects for lasting peace, thus triggering a vicious cycle of destruction...."