Porn The Vote

First and foremost let me say that I am American/Iranian and very proud of my Persian heritage. Unfortunately because of the turmoil in Iran, my family was never able to visit the country. My father has only been able to visit in recent years because as a young doctor, his American citizenship was not recognized and he would have been drafted into the Shah’s army. 

It was unusual occurrence to have Persian American unions when my parent’s married, so when I was born, my birth announcement was the front of the local news. I grew up around many Persian relatives and friends and understand the culture, traditions and lifestyle. Many immigrants during that time, from different countries wanted so badly to be American citizens, that they rejected their own cultures and languages and teaching them to their children. The consequence of that is that I don’t speak Farsi. 

Just because I am half Persian certainly doesn’t make me an authority on the politics of Iran. I am grateful that I have been exposed and educated to the culture of my father as the insight keeps me from being bigoted. Ignorance and propaganda lead to hatred of other people all over the world. 

So here is my take on the election in Iran. Corruption and recounting votes seems to be the trend of all elections these days. From what I understand, this is really a family battle between two families in Iran, almost like a mafia type scenario one would see in New York City in the 1960’s. 

Mamoud Ahmadinejad (the incumbent president) supposedly won 63% of the votes and Mir Hossein Mousavi won 33%. Rafsanjani, Chairman of the Expediency Council resigned and Mousavi was placed on house arrest after the election and the protests of corruption occurred. The support of the Ayatollah’s in the Holy City of Qom are essential for the election to be successful. Iran is already having a civil war; with a possible coup de tat, this situation will only get worse. The majority of the younger population is progressive and any oppressed people want freedom, hence the violent protests. 

As far as the United States involvement with Iran, we would ultimately like to be friends and allied with Iran. Our friendship to Israel coupled with Ahmadinejad’s antisemitism prevents this possiblity. The problems of the middle east are ancient, spiritual and deeply personal. Our involvement is strategically essential for several reasons, one being oil supply. A solution and answer for this is not an easy one. World peace? Bah  humbug! That is like saying one day there won’t be power struggles, war, greed, and all cardinal sins. It is human nature to err.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 9:22 am and is filed under 2008 Election. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.