June 21, 2003

Apologists

Whenever I go home to my parent's house in Southern California I end up watching a bit of Persian language TV. Surprising to most Americans, there are several different Persian networks to choose from. After watching several hours programming I always end up with two thoughts. First, I'm reminded that my Persian is getting worse - it's rustier than it should be. And second, I'm dumbfounded and annoyed at delusional aggrandizement of the monarchy. There is something pathetic about pinig for the old days of monarchy. After twenty-four years, you'd think that the diaspora would be able to come to terms with the revolution. Alas, there is a clique of monarchists who run Persian language media outlets in Los Angeles who are still fighting yesterday's battles.

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer had a good piece on this Thursday night. The first part interviewed the LA-based station owners who claimed to be a conduit for regime change, whether their work led to a return of monarchy or a new republic they did not care. But these self-serving statements were nicely balanced by a CSULA professor, Afshin Matin-Asgari, who did a good job of putting the work of the stations vis-a-vis actual regime change in Iran, and not in the minds of Iranian Angelenos, in perspective. "In general, they are perceived as monarchists because they tend to project ideal images of a golden age in Iran before the revolution, and obviously when Iran had a monarchy. And they are not critical of the Iran in the 1970s and '60s, but they are extremely critical of the Islamic Republic period, so the immediate conclusion is that they are for the return to the old regime, and that is the monarchy."

Saul Gonzalez's story on the NewsHour rhymes nicely with a post which does a great job at succinctly listing some of the various factions arguing for regime change in Iran(via Buzz Machine). "Beware the monarchists" it warns. "That's Reza Pahlavi and his coterie. Whenever you see Reza Pahlavi or hear from his supporters (that includes the National Review crowd: Amir Taheri, Rob Sobhani, Michael Ledeen etc.) ask yourself one thing: how many former members of SAVAK are affiliated with Pahlavi?" It ends with, "There are good and brave people aplenty in Iran." I tend to think that this the right approach. Let's let the people in Iran earn their right to democracy as they're not willing to accept it as a gift.

Support Democracy in Iran

Update: Friedman has another sage article relating to regime change in Iran. To which Alireza Doostdar has a good follow up. Posted by payam at June 21, 2003 01:31 PM | TrackBack