Apparently, the new bill, HR158, has puzzled
many Iranians. Those who are familiar with the politics of American government
understand that this bill is consistent with other government policies, and
they can find many other historical instances. Many Iranians, such as the
author of this article, have selected the United States as the country of their
citizenship, because of the democratic values this country is famous for,
through mass media, movies, and international broadcasting systems. The longer
one becomes accustomed to the culture of American society, the more one discovers
a brand of nationalism mixed with some self-righteousness and racism that has
become the fabric of the American society. Children from early school age are
indoctrinated into this type of nationalism.
Students have to pledge to the flag of the
United States from kindergarten age. Any objection would categorize the person of
un-American. In the 1980s, Reagan passed into law a crime to desecrate the
flag. Children learn from textbooks that nationalism and trust in the
government are two sides of the same coin. In history textbooks, the first
Europeans arriving to this land are celebrated as heroes. Such books plant this
idea in children’s minds that civilization was a European discovery. Those who
lost their lives or witnessed or learned about savagely murdered ancestors,
such as American natives, African Americans, and more recently Afghanis,
Iraqis, Libyans, and Syrians think in contrary. A journalist asked Gandhi in an
interview about Western civilization, and Gandhi replied that it would be a
good idea!
We Iranians should learn the history of
this country from Howard Zinn, Robert Dreyfuss, Alice Walker, and learn about
American politics from Noam Chomsky, Michele Alexander, Naomi Klein, and many
others, to understand the nature of the U.S. government in spreading racism.
American government, in each World War divided the nation into two categories
of first class (those who were born here) and a second class (those who
migrated from the country at war). In the First World War, US government put
German Americans in an internment camp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans). Japanese Americans received the same
treatment in the Second World War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans). U.S. was the last Western country to
abolish slavery. Even then, Jim Crow was established in the South (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws).
It took progressive African American
leaders many decades to abolish such treatments. However, short-changing
African American population in housing, schooling, nutrition, health, and other
essentials, in comparison with other citizens, continues through today. Police
brutality in dealing with African Americans has created uprising of “Black
Lives Matter”. Last lynching by KKK happened as recent as 1981 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Donald). Those who work in progressive
organizations are called “Commies” or “Yellow Bellies” which have negative connotations.
There are many political prisoners in the United States (https://afgj.org/politicalprisonersusa), beside of some such as Edward Snowden fleeing
to some foreign governments in the fear of prosecution.
Since the recent wars ignited by the West
in the oil fields of the Middle East have not produced the desired results,
Moslems are targeted. American government, when in a quagmire, creates religious,
national, and racial divisions in order to fish in muddy water. When Soviet
Union was in power, red scare and nuclear attack by the Soviets was the
propaganda of the time. After the collapse of the Soviets, the deceitfulness of
this claim was disclosed. U.S. government always needs an adversary in order to
keep the population constantly on the edge. The new adversary is Islam. No one
knows more about Islam and its taste for atrocity more than Iranians do. Considering
that it is not only Islam but the religion per se; judging the brutalities of
the church in the Middle-Ages, and slaughtering of Palestinians by the Jewish
State today, it is the nature of religions altogether, not a selected one. However,
this does not give any government an alibi to regard a group of people from the
same nation (many of them non-Muslims) with the same harsh treatment. Iranians
have never been subject of any terrorist acts, and almost all terrorist acts in
the US and Europe have been conceived in Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
Unfortunately, we Iranians believe the US propaganda
in many cases. We receive our news from Fox, CNN, and other nationwide news
organizations managed by a few Right-Wing owners. Although progressive media
are plentiful, they do not enjoy the backing of the government and they have to
rely on individual contributions in order to survive. We need get our objective
news from such media. Regardless, all Iranians, anywhere in the world, should
raise their voices against this bill. Constant phone lines and e-mails should
keep phones and mailboxes of members of the congress and the senate busy. We
should protest to all Western’s Islamaphobia, regardless of our own religion
and belief or ideology. The war in Syria is not a religious war, but a war created
by the US and European allies for political and economic gains: an oil
pipeline. After the event of September Eleven, George Bush in one of his
speeches mentioned crusades. A religious war has been their aim, and if they
could not make it, they named it as such. The first thing that Obama did when
he occupied the office of presidency was to exonerate George Bush, knowing that
he would continue the same policy. Obama’s policies are therefore continuation
of Bush’s policies, but more colorful!
