ROGER COHEN
So a Jerusalem Post article says that I'm “hardly the first American to be misled by the existence of synagogues in totalitarian countries.”
The Atlantic Monthly's Jeffrey Goldberg finds me “particularly credulous,” taken in by the Iranian hospitality and friendliness that “are the hallmarks of most Muslim societies.” (Thanks for that info, Jeffrey.)
A conservative Web site called American Thinker, which tries to prove its name is an oxymoron, believes I would have been fooled by the Nazis' sham at the Theresienstadt camp.
The indignation stems from my recent column on Iranian Jews, which said that the 25,000-strong community worships in relative tranquility; that Persian Jews have fared better than Arab Jews; that hostility toward Jews in Iran has on occasion led to trumped-up charges against them; and that those enamored of the “Mad Mullah” caricature of Iran regard any compromise with it as a rerun of Munich 1938.
This last point found confirmation in outraged correspondence from several American Jews unable to resist some analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany. I was based in Berlin for three years; Germany's confrontation with the Holocaust inhabited me. Let's be clear: Iran's Islamic Republic is no Third Reich redux. Nor is it a totalitarian state.
Munich allowed Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland. Iran has not waged an expansionary war in more than two centuries.
Totalitarian regimes require the complete subservience of the individual to the state and tolerate only one party to which all institutions are subordinated. Iran is an un-free society with a keen, intermittently brutal apparatus of repression, but it's far from meeting these criteria. Significant margins of liberty, even democracy, exist. Anything but mad, the mullahs have proved malleable.
Most of Iran's population is under 30; it's an Internet-connected generation. Access to satellite television is widespread. The BBC's new Farsi service is all the rage.
Abdullah Momeni, a student opponent of the regime, told me, “The Internet is very important to us; in fact, it is of infinite importance.” Iranians are not cut off, like Cubans or North Koreans.
The June presidential election pitting the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, against Mohammad Khatami (a former president who once spoke in a synagogue) will be a genuine contest as compared with the charades that pass for elections in many Arab states. No fire has burned the Majlis, or parliament, down.
If you're thinking trains-on-time Fascist efficiency, think again. Tehran's new telecommunications tower took 20 years to build. I was told its restaurant would open “soon.” So, it is said, will the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a project in the works for a mere 30 years. A Persian Chernobyl is more likely than some Middle Eastern nuclear Armageddon, if that's any comfort.
For all the morality police inspecting whether women are wearing boots outside their pants (the latest no-no on the dress front) and the regime zealots of the Basiji militia, the air you breathe in Iran is not suffocating. Its streets at dusk hum with life --not a monochrome male-only form of it, or one inhabited by fear -- but the vibrancy of a changing, highly educated society.
This is the Iran of subtle shades that the country's Jews inhabit. Life is more difficult for them than for Muslims, but to suggest they inhabit a totalitarian hell is self-serving nonsense.
One Iranian exile, no lover of the Islamic Republic, wrote to me saying that my account of Iran's Jews had brought “tears to my eyes” because “you are saying what many of us would like to hear.”
Far from the cradle of Middle Eastern Islamist zealotry, she suggested, “Iran --the supposed enemy -- is the one society that has gone through its extremist fervor and is coming out the other end. It is relatively stable and socially dynamic. As my father, who continues to live there, says, 'It is the least undemocratic country in the region outside Israel.' ”
This notion of a “post-fervor” Iran is significant. The compromises being painfully fought out between Islam and democracy in Tehran are of seminal importance. They belie the notion of a fanatical power; they explain Jewish life.
That does not mean fanaticism does not exist or that terrible crimes have not been committed, like the Iran-backed bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires 15 years ago.
But the equating of Iran with terror today is simplistic. Hamas and Hezbollah have evolved into broad political movements widely seen as resisting an Israel over-ready to use crushing force. It is essential to think again about them, just as it is essential to toss out Iran caricatures.
I return to this subject because behind the Jewish issue in Iran lies a critical one --the U.S. propensity to fixate on and demonize a country through a one-dimensional lens, with a sometimes disastrous chain of results.
It's worth recalling that hateful, ultranationalist rhetoric is no Iranian preserve. Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's race-baiting anti-Arab firebrand may find a place in a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. He should not.
Nor should racist demagoguery -- wherever -- prompt facile allusions to the murderous Nazi master of it.
Courtesy : The New York Times
Friday, March 6, 2009
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Unity in catastrophe
By Alankar Khanal
People of any country may have to face Nature's wrath and a deadly strike some times without warning. This time the people of eastern Nepal have become the victims of Nature's ferocious fury. It has resulted in woeful plight of many people, individuals and families of our country. At the same time, a lot of finger-pointing and blame game has started over the issue whether this was a natural calamity or the one resulting from authorities' irresponsibility and negligence. Whatever the case may be, the fact remains that our people in the flood-affected areas are in dire straits and in need of massive aid.
But amidst the affliction, there's something to be proud of. The way Nepali people have started helping the survivors of the disaster with open arms is laudable. With each passing day we are hearing that the relief materials and necessary assistance are being received. All including Nepal Army, policemen, doctors, locals have been exerting their efforts on finding survivors, treating them, and accommodating the displaced.
These courageous and generous individuals have happily volunteered their skills and efforts in order to save as many people as possible by rescuing them and providing them with necessary assistance. Without a doubt they're doing a fantastic job of providing humanitarian assistance with dignity and respect. All seem to be united for one noble cause.
As the flood did not discriminate when it tore its way through the homes of these people dismantling everything on its way without regard for race, caste, culture, religion, age or income level, I am glad to see we are helping the victims of the flood the same way, without discrimination.
Our national unity is crucial for our national development. Therefore, I always get very agitated with issues that separate us as people of one country. I have always marveled at what it would take to create an intimate bond between all citizens of our country. I have always wondered, whether facing a national disaster or calamity could stimulate our sense of oneness and patriotism. Unfortunately, that is true. Such a bond is visible only at times of sorrow and mourning. Our national unity and nationalism has been exemplified mostly at times of grief, tragedies and catastrophes only. Rest of the times we are busy fighting for some trifling issues completely discounting the issues that are more pertinent.
I just want to put across my thought as to why such sense of humanity, unity and belongingness pops out only during times of adversity? Do we have to wait for a missile to strike us, an earthquake to shake us or a flood to sweep us to stimulate our love, affection and respect for our people or should we all stand together all the time to promote peace and love over violence and hatred and live happily in an indivisible Nepal? It's high time all Nepalis contemplated about this.
People of any country may have to face Nature's wrath and a deadly strike some times without warning. This time the people of eastern Nepal have become the victims of Nature's ferocious fury. It has resulted in woeful plight of many people, individuals and families of our country. At the same time, a lot of finger-pointing and blame game has started over the issue whether this was a natural calamity or the one resulting from authorities' irresponsibility and negligence. Whatever the case may be, the fact remains that our people in the flood-affected areas are in dire straits and in need of massive aid.
But amidst the affliction, there's something to be proud of. The way Nepali people have started helping the survivors of the disaster with open arms is laudable. With each passing day we are hearing that the relief materials and necessary assistance are being received. All including Nepal Army, policemen, doctors, locals have been exerting their efforts on finding survivors, treating them, and accommodating the displaced.
These courageous and generous individuals have happily volunteered their skills and efforts in order to save as many people as possible by rescuing them and providing them with necessary assistance. Without a doubt they're doing a fantastic job of providing humanitarian assistance with dignity and respect. All seem to be united for one noble cause.
As the flood did not discriminate when it tore its way through the homes of these people dismantling everything on its way without regard for race, caste, culture, religion, age or income level, I am glad to see we are helping the victims of the flood the same way, without discrimination.
Our national unity is crucial for our national development. Therefore, I always get very agitated with issues that separate us as people of one country. I have always marveled at what it would take to create an intimate bond between all citizens of our country. I have always wondered, whether facing a national disaster or calamity could stimulate our sense of oneness and patriotism. Unfortunately, that is true. Such a bond is visible only at times of sorrow and mourning. Our national unity and nationalism has been exemplified mostly at times of grief, tragedies and catastrophes only. Rest of the times we are busy fighting for some trifling issues completely discounting the issues that are more pertinent.
I just want to put across my thought as to why such sense of humanity, unity and belongingness pops out only during times of adversity? Do we have to wait for a missile to strike us, an earthquake to shake us or a flood to sweep us to stimulate our love, affection and respect for our people or should we all stand together all the time to promote peace and love over violence and hatred and live happily in an indivisible Nepal? It's high time all Nepalis contemplated about this.
Friday, August 1, 2008
A Note to Arati
I am now going to ask you a favour which sounds quite crazy, and which I should regard as such, were I the one to receive your lovely denial. It is also the very greatest test that even the kindest person could be put to. Well, this is it.
Speak to me or not. Write to me or not. Think of me or not. I cannot endure your response at all. I am incapable of enduring that. To answer one of your line I lie in bed in apparent calm, but my heart beats through my entire body and is conscious only of you. The feelings belong to you; there is really no other way of expressing it, and that is not strong enough. But for this very reason I don't want to know what you are thinking of me; it confuses me so much that I cannot deal with life; and that's why I don't want to know that you are fond of me. If I did, how could I, fool that I am, go on sitting in my office, or here at home, instead of flying in a plane to ktm with my eyes shut and opening them only when I am with you? Oh, there is a sad, sad reason for not doing so. To make it short: I’ve just heard about you. I don’t know you. My heart is just good enough for myself alone now, not good enough for others. Yet when I heard your sweet words on me, I feel I could overlook even what cannot possibly be overlooked.
If only I had your answer now! And how horribly I torment you, and how I compel you, in the stillness of your room, to hear your fragrant words, as a nasty collection, as has ever lain on your mind! Honestly, it strikes me sometimes that I prey like a specter on your felicitous name! If only I had responded on your Friday morning’s words, in which I implored you never to listen my name again, and in which I gave a similar promise. Oh God, what prevented me from answering you straight away? All would be well. But is a peaceful solution possible now. Would it help if we agreed to speak once in a lifetime? No, if my suffering could be cured by such means it would not be serious. And already I foresee that I shan't be able to endure even the Friday words. And so, to compensate for lost opportunity, I ask you with what energy remains to me at the end of this note: If we value our lives, let us abandon our ego.
Raj
Speak to me or not. Write to me or not. Think of me or not. I cannot endure your response at all. I am incapable of enduring that. To answer one of your line I lie in bed in apparent calm, but my heart beats through my entire body and is conscious only of you. The feelings belong to you; there is really no other way of expressing it, and that is not strong enough. But for this very reason I don't want to know what you are thinking of me; it confuses me so much that I cannot deal with life; and that's why I don't want to know that you are fond of me. If I did, how could I, fool that I am, go on sitting in my office, or here at home, instead of flying in a plane to ktm with my eyes shut and opening them only when I am with you? Oh, there is a sad, sad reason for not doing so. To make it short: I’ve just heard about you. I don’t know you. My heart is just good enough for myself alone now, not good enough for others. Yet when I heard your sweet words on me, I feel I could overlook even what cannot possibly be overlooked.
If only I had your answer now! And how horribly I torment you, and how I compel you, in the stillness of your room, to hear your fragrant words, as a nasty collection, as has ever lain on your mind! Honestly, it strikes me sometimes that I prey like a specter on your felicitous name! If only I had responded on your Friday morning’s words, in which I implored you never to listen my name again, and in which I gave a similar promise. Oh God, what prevented me from answering you straight away? All would be well. But is a peaceful solution possible now. Would it help if we agreed to speak once in a lifetime? No, if my suffering could be cured by such means it would not be serious. And already I foresee that I shan't be able to endure even the Friday words. And so, to compensate for lost opportunity, I ask you with what energy remains to me at the end of this note: If we value our lives, let us abandon our ego.
Raj
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