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[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great
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Dīrī
Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Posts: 79
Location: Norway
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 Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 7:24 pm Post subject: The True Meaning OF Democracy |
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http://www.kurdistanobserver.com/
THIS LADY HAS SOME POINTS - WHEN WE LIBERATE IRAN - WE MUST REMEMBER THE TRUE MEANING OF DEMOCRACY 
Equal rights for ALL the peoples of IRAN 
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| Quote: | Are All Iranians Persians and Are They All Equal?
By: Hiwa Nezhadian
Kurdish American Education Society, USA
June 22, 2005
In response to one of the our members article on promoting Kurdish cause and generally for Kurds having established an organization to promote Kurdish culture, few Iranian readers wrote some very critical comments. Because of the style of their language it would be very inappropriate to mention the content of many of them. However, here is a sample of an argument:
there is no such word as minority in Iran and that we are all brothers and sisters with absolute equal rights and as an Iranians anyone can reach to the highest position in the state. As an Iranian you can teach your children any language. Iran have been called Iran since 3000 years ago and no one should mention anything but Iran and Iranian because all inhabitants of Iran consider themselves Iranian first and then Kurds, Turks, Arabs, etc
I wish the above statements were true but they are not.
The purpose of this article is not meant by any chance, to ignite and emphasize the differences, but rather I hope to make the readers be more aware of the facts from the eyes of a non-Persian in and out of Iran and especially Iranians in Diaspora, and maybe these kinds of dialogue open doors to a better understanding and see each more other eye to eye.
There are some historical facts that the peoples of Iran need to know about. Persia name was changed to Iran in 1935 during Reza Shah to signify the land of Aryans since there are more than just Persians in a small part of the Iranian plateau that is called Iran[1]. In fact Persians comprise no more than %37 of the whole population of Iran, but yes Iran was used to be called Persia only because the Persians got control of the land some 2500 years ago from the Medes (Kurds) and ever since they had the absolute authority and political, economic and cultural rights, off and on, and it has remained as such up to today. So those Iranians who speak Farsi are called Persians (and of course Iranians too, or Iranian Persians to be exact), the rest are Iranians or more precisely; Iranian Kurds, Iranian Turks, Iranian Baluchis, etc
. But Iran has made such an atmosphere for the national and religious minorities that many members of minority groups would rather call themselves: "not Iranians, but from Iran". The minorities are not allowed to practice their cultural, economic and political rights, they are not allowed to express themselves and participate actively in the economic and cultural development of their own region and prosper from the civilization and scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century. In other words their rights are not respected to say the least. The ruling system have annihilated all sorts of democratic and freedom quests and labeled them as agitators of foreign powers and agents of imperialism, communists, or atheists who break the unity of Muslim brotherhood (!), all in the name of "protecting motherland. These super-nationalist Persians don't understand that these minorities have different "mothers".
If you are not belonging to any one of the minority groups in Iran, you have no idea how the feeling is when you just finished six years of age and go to school for the first time in your life and the teachers speak with you in a foreign language (Persian) and they even expect you to understand!! You have no idea when the parliament representatives of many cities with hundreds of thousands of population and many educated and responsible individuals, are assigned from Tehran or any other non-local who cant even speak the language of the local people. You don't even comprehend what it means when local university grads are repelled from a job opportunity in their own hometown and some people from other parts of the country are brought in to work. This corrupt phenomenon is especially prevalent in Kurdish provinces.
Throughout all of Kurdistan of Iran and I mean West Azerbaijan (mostly Kurdish), Kurdistan, Kirmashan and Ilam/Luristan, there is not a single descent factory or industrial complex to feed the population and introduce technology and if there is a mediocre one, the bosses and high paying positions are for non- Kurds.
Throughout the history of Iran off and on there have been some non-Persians dynasties that ruled Iran, but they have not been able to serve their ethnic cultural heritage. An an example Turkish never became official language, not even a recognized language in spite of the fact Turks (Azeri speaking) have held high ranking positions in Iran.
When Qajars, Zands, Afshars and etc. came to power, the idea of nation state and nationalism were not so prevalent as now and in fact at those times the Kurds were a lot stronger and had a lot more say in their own affairs than now for a number of reasons: 1. The ruling elite was not so sophisticated and nationalistic likes nowadays, 2. International politics was weak and communication was slow, and 3. The technology and the army destruction machine were not so advanced and therefore the ruling group were more equal to the minorities especially those of the Kurds, in terms of power, so they could not suppress them as now they do. (Nowadays of course the ruling group has always have a better chance of getting a hold of the new technology since they control the economy and the military organization)
As a matter of fact, in Rowandoz (today's Northern Iraq), Kerend in Kermashan region and Dyarbakir (Amed) and Kars, in Northern Kurdistan (Turkey), to name just a few, there were major weapon factories of high quality hundreds of years ago so the balance of powers were kept much more equal then now. But thanks to the Safavid dynasty when technology was spreading in Europe, which could have had a major positive affect in Kurdistan due to trades and geographical proximity, they ignited the Shiia animosity against the Ottoman dynasty and between 1512 and 1635 they fought 20 wars with the Ottomans. All of these wars took place in the heart of Kurdistan, which brought nothing but destruction, looting, disease and poverty to the people of and to the land.
The Iranian reader insisted that when Kurds, Baluchis, Turks, etc
have other last names that are different from their ethnic language, it is an indication that there is no minority than the fact that they are all Iranians! Who in Iran chooses last name and for that matter first name? Naming a child in Iran does not represent his/her ethnic background or parents chosen name necessarily. There are very few cases of having ethnic Kurdish names, which later in their lives they have been haunted, discriminated and prevented from college entry or job opportunities. Especially during Pahlavi regime hardly any one could choose a Kurdish name because it would endanger the motherland.
This gentleman indicated in his email:An Iranian in and out of Iran is free to teach his or her child as many languages as they please."...You are right. German, English, French, etc.anything but Iranian languages (other than Farsi) but you dare ask the state institutions to make accommodations to teach Kurdish, Azeri, Baluchi...you are tried for treason because you endanger the motherland.
Throughout recent history the Iranian policy makers have tried to assimilate the minorities into Persian language and culture. You cannot assimilate 15 million Kurds or 20 plus million Azeris and millions of other minorities into a single language and culture not in Iran and not anywhere else, and frankly its not necessary. We in Iran might be a minority, but in Kurdistan we are the majority and by the same token Persians are minorities in Kurdish or Azari provinces. Having multiple official languages does not hurt a nation or a mosaic of nations within a boundary, rather it strengthens it. Example is Switzerland with German, French and Italian all having been equally recognized, a country the size of a fraction of Kurdistan of Iran. So I believe there should be a balance of power and respect to maintain the integrity of a society. A country is like a family, if equality and respect is not maintained it will break apart.
Serving ones cultural heritage and trying to benefit the riches of ethnic traditions and cultural experiences only helps the society and humanity in the long run. As a matter of fact I respect those who are proud of their heritage, these are common individuals who respect their heritage. Often this group of people respects others as well and they can be trusted. Promoting an ethnic culture and cultural and economic rights only strengthens the integrity, bond and unity of a society.
Many Persians claim all Iranians are equal and happy with the status quo. Lets see the facts in and out of Iran; right here in California there are tens of radio and TV stations belonging to Iranians, but are they really?!
Or they belong to Persian community?! These stations have thousands of hours of programming weekly combined, but do they even have one hour of Kurdish, Turkish, Baluchi, or Arabic language programming in a whole week or month? Inside the country there is not a single learning school in any one of the minoritys ethnic languages for school children. When it comes to the distribution of wealth, in minority provinces, i.e. most border areas, the rate of unemployment is double and triple than the provinces with mostly Persian population, which predominantly are central provinces. It is almost impossible to locate a good hospital, university, industrial complex, state run institutions that facilitates a better life to be in a non-central province, they almost always are located in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan and their suburbs. When someone speaks of Iran, they should think of a country with a mosaic of minorities. Iran should have a number of official languages; a single official religion does not serve anyone. We supposedly are in the 21st century, its time for Iran to take some drastic changes to better serve the people, and I mean everyone regardless of ethnic background.
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[1] Namely the Kurds, Azeris, Arabs, Baluchis and Turkmen to name some of the major minorities, not all of them are of Aryan race. |
_________________
FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FEDERAL ARIA REPUBLIC!
MARG BER IRI!!!
Last edited by Dīrī on Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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azeriwarrior
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 7:03 am Post subject: |
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| Democracy has many definitons. From my point of view, if people can root out governments without going under a regime change, there is democracy to a major extent... |
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Dīrī
Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Posts: 79
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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I am sorry - but democracy may have many forms - but it has but ONE moral and only ONE definition... DEMOS - Greek for "People" and CRACY - Greek for "RULE" - so it means PEOPLE RULE - they decide - THE MAJORITY...
Let me explain waht I meant about the many forms of democracy: You can have many ways of government and institutions - you may have a "multiparty system" - which is common in Europe - Germany, Scandinavia, France etc. And you can have a "two party system" which is used in the US and UK...
Now there are many branches in these two forms but I don't want to make it more complicated - but one thing that is worth mentioning is that in some countries they have a DIRECT (people choose directly through vote) and an INDIRECT (chosen representatives of the people take deicisions) form of government.
These are all WAYS of doing what we call "PEOPLE RULE" - but they maintain the simple rule called "PEOPLE RULE" - if they don't give the people the free choice of government (or their representatives - which must be chosen directly) then you may NOT call it a DEMOCRACY... It is THAT simple... Try as you may to complicate it - but in the end these basic rules are maintained to prove a government credible and representative of the peoples choice...
But democracy has "OTHER" meanings - what I explained above are the rules of democracy in a government system... The "OTHER" meaning of democracy can in cases be: personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of political organization, freedom of ownership and sale, freedom of culture and ethincity, freedom of eating or not eating... DOWN TO THE MOST BASIC THINGS WE ARE CAPEABLE OF DOING AS HUMANS - AND EVEN SOMETHINGS SOME ARE UNCAPEABLE OF 
But point and BOTTOM LINE being that democracy is a means of privilage - it is a right... As it is charted in the Human Rights Convention of the UN which states such as Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq have signed...
Yes there IS more to democracy - but the basic and pure description would be: FREEDOM...
And as for your comment: | Quote: | | if people can root out governments without going under a regime change, there is democracy to a major extent... |
What you are reffering to is in Norway called "Cabinet question" - which is the right of any opposition party to ask for a parliamentary refferendum to be held - to see if a government is supported by the majority of the "peoples representatives" or the parliamentarians, respectively...
This IS also a basic right of democracy... Therefor (and for millions of other reasons - like denying female presidency candidates the right to stand for election) Iran is NOT democratic... And it has not been since the time of the 1) Medes (Kurds - they had a confederation with tribal leaders and local Kingdoms (Anatolia and the Iranian Plateu) - which all gathered in what can be compared to a "parliament" to discuss in a democratic way (only the kings and lords had a say) 2) Cyrus the great... (of those worth mentioning)
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FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FEDERAL ARIA REPUBLIC!
MARG BER IRI!!! |
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azeriwarrior
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:16 am Post subject: |
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To your remarks abot freedom. There is nothing called "ASOLUTE FREEDOM." Freedom is relative. For example "freedom of religion". In France, there is freedom of religion, but Muslims are not allowed to enter to scholl with headscarves. Likewise, "freedom od speech". You can not say anything contrary to French beliefs or you go to jail. Althogh these countries are far more free, they are far away from perfect.
US İS NOT EVEN A DEMOCRACY FROM MY POİNT OF VİEW. ıT İS a country based on genocides, land grabbing, colonialism and slavery. Frredom od press is nothing but a fiction. If you are not rich enough or from one of the major parties, you will have not be heard by the corporate media. And, everybody knows corporate media is NOT free. It only respects its owner's rights. Alos, majoritarian democracy is a puppet show. It is "dictatorship of the majority". Even if yoo get the 30 percent of the whole vote, you can not enter the congress with one representative. That is why voter turnout in US is so-low. SO, do nnot show me US as an example. It is a puppet show managed by Multinationals. |
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Dīrī
Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Posts: 79
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:12 am Post subject: |
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EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE!
You can't use that as an excuse... You must be living in Azerbaijan proper - because you are VERY wrong about France... French interests??? You can say JUST ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE TO SAY... The perfecte example of democracy doesn't exist... Like I said - there are many ways of implementing democracy - but only ONE universal definition of what it is...
To attack the US won't get you very far though... Attack and agression in general are rather poorly served causes... You should try to be more argumentative and relax... Nobody is attacking YOU - so just say what you think without getting all hatefull on some peoples... Oh - and judging a whole nation won't be the smartest thing to do
But back to the point... A good example of democracy is Norway, Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia... Here you have most freedoms accesable to man... Where do you live Mr Azeri?
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FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FEDERAL ARIA REPUBLIC!
MARG BER IRI!!! |
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azeriwarrior
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:48 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | A good example of democracy is Norway, Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia... Here you have most freedoms accesable to man... Where do you live Mr Azeri? |
You are right. They are the most democratic nations. Switzerland is also a good democracy. The reason why these countries are democractic is beacuse these countries are mostly homogeneous countries with wealthy social-states. Also, they are very small and sparely populated.
| Quote: | | To attack the US won't get you very far though... Attack and agression in general are rather poorly served causes... You should try to be more argumentative and relax... Nobody is attacking YOU - so just say what you think without getting all hatefull on some peoples... Oh - and judging a whole nation won't be the smartest thing to do |
True. I have NO sympathy for US. It is a devil country who have no respect to people's right. It is protecting only its own interests. It worships power and money. It is supportive of most inhumane nations on Earth like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and many other so-called Gulf States. It is responsible from the dath of millions and suffering of billions. So, I have no respect for US. |
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Dīrī
Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Posts: 79
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 11:30 am Post subject: |
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But my dear friend... Switzerland isn't Homogenous at all... There are Freanch, Italian and German peoples there... Still they have managed to keep the peace - this can only be because of their implementation of democracy - because NOTHING is decided by the government... Everything is decided at LOCAL level... they have refferendums even for how many Cows people can own - if you knwo what I mean
But they are very loyal to their country because their country gives them ALL their rights... Not like Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq... Well Iraq is getting better... But the other states - they really need to get a grip and starts changing their mentality so that people won't rebel against them -
If they wanna keep their power over the people they must use the power in a wise way - not oppress or prosecute the oppositional parties - they must LISTEN to them... And if they can do this then South Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and othe rnations can be free and follow the democratic rolemodel that is in front of them....
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FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FEDERAL ARIA REPUBLIC!
MARG BER IRI!!! |
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azeriactivist
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 11:45 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | But my dear friend... Switzerland isn't Homogenous at all... There are Freanch, Italian and German peoples there... Still they have managed to keep the peace - this can only be because of their implementation of democracy - because NOTHING is decided by the government... Everything is decided at LOCAL level... they have refferendums even for how many Cows people can own - if you knwo what I mean |
You are right. That is why Switzerland Civl Law is one of the few codes in Europe where judges have "say" in everything. |
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Dīrī
Joined: 13 Jun 2005
Posts: 79
Location: Norway
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| Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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Let's hope they can implement this kind of DEMOCRACY to the ME...
But we must remove most of the remaining tyranism and the artificial borders....
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FOR A DEMOCRATIC AND FEDERAL ARIA REPUBLIC!
MARG BER IRI!!! |
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azeriactivist
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 4:01 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | But we must remove most of the remaining tyranism and the artificial borders |
YES! I pray for that. But it will be very hard. |
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