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Mehrangiz Kar, January 10, 2006*
In his latest comments, Dr. Ali Velayati, member of Iran's Expediency Council and former Iranian minister of foreign affairs said that the wisdom of Iraq’s Ayatollah Sistani had brought about democratic institutions to Iraq, adding that every nation itself had to become mature to govern its country.
Mr. Velayati’s concern and interest in democratic values is a rather new one, while there is no doubt in ayatollah Sistani’s wisdom in reducing tensions and facilitating the implementation of democratic instruments in Iraq. In Iran too, there is no shortage of wise men, and people are clearly aware that wise and effective personalities in this country have been forced to remain silent or forego political activism.
Dr. Velayati is well aware that ayatollah Sistani has learned practical lessons from his irrational and fundamentalist counterparts in Iran, and his instinctive wisdom has seen the deliberate or unconscious blunders of the ruling Iranian clerics, concluding that Iran's social, political and economic chaos are the results of their extreme fundamentalism.
Sistani has taken advantage of Iraq's historical opportunity and has used his prudent experiences to bring about peace and independence for his country. At the same time and in the highly tense situation in Iraq, the occupying forces too have recognized his political wisdom and popularity among Iraqis, and thus provide him with security.
Velayati is well aware of the miseries inflicted on Iran's intellectuals who are suffering from insecurity and unjust opportunities in their drive to establish democratic values. Iran’s powerful ruling system in turn has embarked on crackdowns, pressure and violence, thus eliminating Iran's intellectuals from social, religious and political activities in their own country.
Velayati should note that violence-mongers in Iran have freely blocked the establishment of democratic values in this country. Iranian intellectuals are in effect paralyzed and have left the scene to the thugs.
Iran has numerous gifted personalities like Sistani who unlike him cannot enjoy the safety and security that he enjoys. It would be good if Dr. Velayati took a look at the 26-year record of the Iran’s revolution. He would then realize how harshly Sistani’s fellow-country-men in Iran have been silenced and suppressed.
I suggest that if the pressure on leading Iranians were lifted just a bit, at least to the level that occupiers in neighboring Iraq have done, one would immediately see the blossoming results. I know that so long as the ruling circles in Iran stay in power, this is a pipe dream. In the meantime, our fellow Iranians who are smart, wise and ready, continue to suffer.
* This article was originally published in Roozonline on January 10, 2006
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