‘Iranians Are Screaming for the World to Hear Them’
Via Nico Pitney, a video made by a group called Iranian Artists in Exile, distributed via Facebook, about the opposition. Set against pictures of enormous
Jul 31, 202047.5K Shares989.9K Views
Via Nico Pitney, a video made by a group called Iranian Artists in Exile, distributed via Facebook, about the opposition. Set against pictures of enormous demonstrations and resultant police and militia brutality, the group seeks to address the question of what the outside world should do for Iran.
“„… Iranians are screaming for the world to hear them. We denounce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The people of Iran now ask for your support. We do not expect you to fight our struggle, but to help us fight it. We expect people worldwide to put pressure on their governments and their politicians not to expect the legitimacy of Iranian elections and the fradulent presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Democratic societies worldwide must not leave the Iranian people alone now that they have risen to the challenge. Instead, they need to align their policies with the will of the Iranian people. Friends, we ask that you not let 70 million people in Iran be taken hostage. Any government that accepts Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran has betrayed the Iranian people, endangered world peace, and has no sympathy for human pain.
Notice all the things this message doesn’t say. It doesn’t say that foreign governments should loudly proclaim their allegiance to the Iranian opposition, as Rep. Mike Pence’s (R-Ind.) resolution yesterdaycalled for. It doesn’t say that the outside world ought to sanction Iran, as this group Ben Smith wrote about yesterdaycalled for. And it doesn’t say that the outside world should cut off diplomacy with Iran, much as it doessay that it shouldn’t recognize the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad’s government. There’s a lot we don’t know about the wishes of the Iranian opposition and what it wants from the outside world, and so we should approach this question with caution. But the baseline points are becoming clearer.
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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