By R.K. Ramazani (originally published by
The Cincinnati Enquirer)
President Obama should not take sides in the political crisis in Iran. His
critics are wrong in faulting him for not siding with the demonstrators and for
not standing for the American value of freedom.
Freedom, after all, is not the only core value of the American Republic. Along
with liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the American Declaration of
Independence also embodies the value of life.
With more than a dozen Iranian protesters already dead, Obama is trying both to
protect innocent lives and advance political freedom for Iranians. He realizes
that siding with the demonstrators likely would provoke even greater bloodshed.
The tension between internal freedom and external independence in Iran's history
has persisted because no balance between the two has yet been struck. The
current movement protesting the results of the recent presidential election
tries to resolve it.
Aspirations for freedom have ebbed and flowed in Iran's modern history four
times:
First, they surged briefly in the 19th century, when Iran sought independence
from British political and economic domination. The popular Tobacco Protest of
1891-92 forced the Qajar monarch to cancel his grant of a 50-year tobacco
concession to a British company. But at the time, Iranians were unable to fight
for independence from the British Empire.
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Iran's Constitutional Revolution |
Second, the desire for domestic freedom, linked with democracy, deepened as a
result of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1906-11), which gave Iran its
first parliament, the Majlis. The parliament placed limits on the monarch's
previously unfettered powers and hired Morgan Shuster, an American adviser, to
reform Iran's financial system.
But in the end, the people's hope for freedom was dashed. Collusion by British
and Russian powers forced Shuster out of the country and shut down reforms. In
Shuster's words, the imperial powers "strangled" Persia.
Third, the movement for freedom widened with the Iranian nationalist uprising
led by Mohammad Musaddiq (also known as Mossadegh), the first democratically
elected leader in Iran's history. Musaddiq and other nationalist leaders tried
to curtail the shah's unconstitutional rule and wrest control of Iran's oil
industry from the British.
But the coup against the Musaddiq government, led by the CIA and backed by
British intelligence, ended that effort in 1953.
Fourth, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 spoke to the political independence of
Iran. It aimed to end American domination and the dictatorship of
Mohammad
Reza Shah Pahlavi, the ruler revolutionaries called "the American shah." The
credo of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the revolution, placed
national independence above domestic political freedom. He denounced
Western-style democracy, instead praising "Islamic democracy."
The revolutionaries saw freedom not only as a value of the revolution, but also
as Iran's historic goal. Subsequently, Mohammad Khatami, president from 1997 to
2005, tried to emphasize the rights of the people, but his reform efforts were
blocked by religious leaders and the conservative opposition.
The current protest movement is trying to address this historical deficit of
domestic freedom. Like Khatami, Hussein Moussavi, the Iranian reformist
politician and presidential candidate, emphasizes the ideal of freedom through
reform.
They acknowledge the revolution's unprecedented success in empowering Iran to
control its external politics, but they believe that is not enough. They aim to
achieve a broader freedom by an enlightened reading of Islam and the revolution
that would result in achieving democracy and freedom with justice within the
framework of Islamic spirituality and morality.
Obama has taken a wise stance that provides time for Iranians to decide the
future direction of their country. The crisis is Iranian. The current government
is Iranian. The protest movement is Iranian. The solution must be Iranian.
R.K. Ramazani, widely considered the dean of Iranian foreign policy experts in
the United States, is Edward R. Stettinius professor emeritus of government and
foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. He has published extensively on
Iran since 1955.
... Payvand News - 06/28/09 ... --
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