[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

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-= Reza Pahlavi's interview with PBS (Public Broadcasting System) =-

This interview will be aired on various PBS Network Stations in the U.S.:

KVCR TV -- (Los Angeles)
Friday, September 9th, 2005 -- 10:30 AM (PST) http://www.kvcr.org/

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KRCB TV -- (San Francisco)
Thursday, September 8th, 2005 -- 7:00 PM (PST) http://www.krcb.org/

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WHUT -- (Washington, D.C.)
Sunday, September 11, 2005 -- 9:30 AM (EST) http://www.howard.edu/tv/

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For a complete listing, visit:

http://foreignexchange.tv/?q=node/135

Please forward the above information to friends and family.

RP Secretariat




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[Spenta]

It would be great if RP could come to the Wed protest at the UN!

[Spenta]

Thank-you Reza Pahlavi!

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http://raminparham.blogs.com/iranshahr/2005/09/the_school_of_h.html#more

Reza Pahlavi of Iran in an Interview with Fareed Zakaria of PBS

September 12, 2005
Iran-Shahr
Ramin Parham

Reza Pahlavi of Iran, one of "the most tireless Human Rights and democracy advocates" in Iran, was the guest of Fareed Zakaria on PBS on September 9. Pahlavi responded to questions pertaining to the many aspects of the ongoing crisis in his homeland.

To listen to this interview click here:
http://www.rezapahlavi.org/audiovideo/rp-91105.html

The Crown Prince of Iran "has spent many years organizing the opposition" to the current regime in Iran. In what follows, I have summarized for the readers of Iran Shahr the main points that have been discussed between Zakaria and Pahlavi.

"The more conservative elements have won over the more worldly but also the more corrupt elements in Iran", said Zakaria while making a reference to the ousting of Rafsanjani in the last presidential "elections" in that country in favor of Ahmadinejad. "What is going on in Iran" wondered Zakaria.

In response Pahlavi said that "what you have is a choice made by the regime" in order to "gather its last strength for its own survival." Whatever hope of reform you had in Iran, said Pahlavi, "is now completely dead as a movement and instead you have even a more radical system" which pre-existed the so-called reform movement.

"I understand that the system is rigged but why did the people vote? Does this suggest that there is some constituency for the mullahs", asked Zakaria.

As you said, emphasized Pahlavi, the numbers are rigged and, "by most statistics that exist" the majority of the people boycotted the elections. "The bottom-line is that the appearance of Ahmadinejad was a total surprise to most of the people". Ahmadinejad's election puts at least the "higher ranks of the regime" in direct control of the Supreme Leader Khamenei. As a result, there is even a greater instability where "the bureaucracy is dysfunctional [and] the middle class is totally uncomfortable with this ... It is also hurting the lower classes because", said Pahlavi, "in the absence of a functional bureaucracy" the lower classes are not going to have the kind of goods and services they could had expected prior to the elections.

"For two decades, people like you have been saying that this regime is about to crack and crumble" said the PBS host before inquiring for the reasons of this apparent stability of the current regime.

In response Pahlavi said that, "oddly enough" and despite the many facts pointing to the contrary, foreign countries until recently had not felt a "direct threat emanating from" this regime. "Now the nuclear question is coming into the big picture and people are taking the threat coming out of Tehran more seriously. Until recently, business interests had prevented foreign countries to give more attention to the issues of terrorism and Human Rights in Iran, said Pahlavi. "Without outside pressure", one could not had expected a rapid fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa nor it would had seem possible to bring down former dictatorships in the eastern communist bloc.

But, with oil at "$66 a barrel, would it be possible to see much weakness internally or pressure externally" ponders Zakaria.

"If that means that the regime's coffers will help it maintain its war machine in power", one could not argue with that, replies Pahlavi. But, will this newly cashed in wealth "affect the people" asked in turn Pahlavi . The people are even poorer and more disenchanted than ever before, he says, reminding his host that Iran's population has doubled since the revolution in 1979 and that half of all Iranians are 25 or younger, meaning that "a whole new generation aspires to a better future" where they can enjoy the same liberties and opportunities as there exist in other countries in the West and elsewhere in the world. "What we have today in Iran is the total opposite of that dream".

With regard to the nuclear crisis, Zakaria reminds his audience that the nuclear program started under the late Shah of Iran, when Iran "was a great power in the region". Then, "what's wrong with the mullahs fulfilling that policy", he asked.

In response, Pahlavi said that "talking about nuclear technology is one thing and Iran was a signatory of the NTP and therefore there was no question of developing nuclear weapons at any point". The point is that the current regime has been involved time and again in all kinds of terrorist activities and giving them such technologies is like "giving the keys to a drunk driver". Pahlavi says that he defends his country's and other countries' right to nuclear technology but that the main issue here is not the nature of the technology but that of the political regime. In Pahlavi's view, "what is accountable at the end of the day are regimes and governments that are answerable to their own citizenry and to the rules and norms of the international law", meaning that there should be "a democratic system in place".

Turning to Pahlavi's efforts throughout these years to "organize an internal opposition to this regime", Zakaria asks about the success or failure of this enterprise.

On this, Pahlavi said that "success is based on the fact that we have an entirely new generation coming into the picture. A new generation of leaders, thinkers, and managers who, once in the position of power and authority, would be able to redress the situation, in Iran and outside Iran". So the question is, he says, how can we identify them, how can we engage them, and how can we communicate with them. Not only this should be the "burden of the democratic opposition", but also that of "foreign governments". "The only way to bring down the regime in Iran is to help the people of Iran decide" for such change and "not the outside world". "The best way to do it is to help the pro-democracy movement." The regime's weakness, Pahlavi said, is not in air strikes but in the democracy movement. "We have to invest on this youth because they represent the future of not only Iran but of the region."

As his last question, Zakaria inquired Pahlavi's mood and intimate approach to his own past as the Crown Prince. "Do you sometimes look back wistfully at the world that you lost"?

"I have been brought up with the moral of feeling comfortable in two ways and the biggest principles of my life have been: never loose faith in the creator and always have a clear conscience; and as far as my political judgment goes, I always look ahead and never back. That has been my commitments to my compatriots and to my country. I am an Iranian above all and I very much doubt that, had I been there and had I simply transitioned as the Crown Prince to the next Monarch in the country, I would have had all the experience and knowledge that I have had since I have been outside the country. I consider that a blessing not a curse."

Zakaria: "the school of hard knocks!"

Pahlavi: "Exactly!"

[Oppenheimer]

Thank you Spenta for posting this translation.

This old box has problems, and is too deficiant to handle audio or video... a text-only limitation I hope to have corrected soon.