The leader of the Islamic Revolution has once again addressed western youth, who either for the most part are misinformed about Islam because of the bias in media and society in favour of Israel and Zionism, or are Muslim but living in a climate of Islamophobia and in desperation have drifted to the militant jihadist movement which began in Afghanistan in 1979 with US blessing, and is now a permanent feature of world politics. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls on them to "reconsider the threat of terrorism in the world, its roots and to find a deep insight into Islam."
The tone of the Ayatollah's reflections is calm and friendly, the content intelligent and at the same time heartfelt. You can feel his spirit of universal love and his anguish at the suffering that terrorism brings. It is sad to note that western media and politicians have an obsession against Iran, despite Iran's constant reaching out and attempts to help the West fight terrorism. The reasons, of course, are Iran's staunch support for Palestine and its refusal to submit to the dictates of imperialism. Both unforgivable 'sins'.
These are not rational reasons. Following 9/11 Iranian intelligence shared information with US intelligence--until President Bush found out and put a stop to it. Iran made intelligent proposals to resolve the nuclear energy stand-off for the past decade, all rejected by the US. The world is blessed by Iran's support for Palestine, as the Arab states are just not up to the task.
Like his earlier appeal, once again the Ayatollah calls for dialogue on the most painful matters to "create the grounds for finding solutions and mutual consultation", or the situation will continue to spin out of control.
For the Ayatollah, each life is important and each unnatural death is a tragedy. "The sight of a child losing his life in the presence of his loved ones, a mother whose joy for her family turns into mourning, a husband who is rushing the lifeless body of his spouse to some place and the spectator who does not know whether he will be seeing the final scene of life -- these are scenes that rouse the emotions and feelings of any human being ... whether they occur in France or in Palestine or Iraq or Lebanon or Syria. The Muslim world shares these feelings and are revolted by the perpetrators".
The supreme leader explaining that Muslims have suffered far more than anyone else due to colonial occupation and the trauma that Israel inflicts daily on Palestinians. Westerners mourning the French tragedy should pause for a moment. "If the people of Europe have now taken refuge in their homes for a few days and refrain from being present in busy places -- it is decades that a Palestinian family is not secure even in its own home from the Zionist regime’s death and destruction machinery. What kind of atrocious violence today is comparable to that of the settlement constructions of the Zionist regime?
"This regime ... every day demolishes the homes of Palestinians and destroys their orchards and farms. This is done without even giving them time to gather their belongings or agricultural products and usually it is done in front of the terrified and tear-filled eyes of women and children who witness the brutal beatings of their family members. Shooting down a woman in the middle of the street for the crime of protesting against a soldier who is armed to the teeth -- if this is not terrorism, what is? This barbarism, just because it is being done by the armed forces of an occupying government, is it not extremism? Or maybe only because these scenes have been seen repeatedly on television screens for sixty years, they no longer stir our consciences."
The Ayatollah laments the ongoing invasions and violation of the Muslim world by the West, "another example of the contradictory logic of the West. The assaulted countries, in addition to the human damage caused, have lost their economic and industrial infrastructure. Their movement towards growth and development has been thrown back decades."
The Ayatollah looks to the youth of today, who he hopes will be educated to understand the beauty of Islam, its compatibility with both Christianity and Judaism, its long history of peaceful relations, its rejection of imperialism and colonialism. They must "discover new means for building the future and be barriers on the misguided path that has brought the West to its current impasse."
The Iranian leader optimistically assumes that people in the West mostly understanding of the true nature of modern politics. That westerners understand the role of the US in "creating, nurturing and arming al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their inauspicious successors, [that] these forces behind terrorism are allies of the West, while the most pioneering, brightest and most dynamic democrats in the region are suppressed mercilessly." I wish his words reflected the reality that I see around me in Canada. People are willfully ignorant about these matters, not wanting to see their governments as guilty of nuturing terrorism. My goal in writing is to inform people in these matters, but it is hard to get the message out. It is primarily time-servers who are welcomed by the mainstream media to 'inform' citizens.
I admire the Iranian leader's honesty in pointing out that it is western 'culture' that promotes "aggression and moral promiscuity", and tries to destroy other cultures. "The western world with the use of advanced tools is insisting on the cloning and replication of its culture on a global scale. I consider the imposition of western culture upon other peoples and the trivialization of independent cultures as a form of silent violence and extreme harmfulness."
He does "not deny the importance and value of cultural interaction, but warns against "inharmonious interactions". That conjures up the image of westernized youth sneaking into a Russian Orthdox cathedral or a Tehran public place and loudly promoting a western 'human rights' agenda, with western photo-journalists on hand, waiting to send some distorted image out on the internet. The upshot is either Russophobia or Islamophobia, whereas the real violation is of national dignity.
This shows that western culture is in fact nonculture, and promotes apathy, decadence, or nihilism, which oppresses us all today. But, disillusioned as I am with western media and its brainwashing, I was heartened after the Paris bombings to hear sensible Canadians reject the jihadists' plan to promote Islamophobia, forcing Muslims to join them in their will-o'-the-wisp caliphate. There are many Muslims in Canada now -- ten of them are members of Parliament in the ruling Liberal Party, a 30-year-old Afghan woman Maryam Monsef is Minister of Democratic Institutions. Muslims are first rate Canadians -- hard working, quiet, educated, devout. They are slowly transforming Canada for the better, including acting as examples of what Islam can do to benefit society.
I am also encouraged by the election of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister, ousting the ultra-Zionist Iranophobe Stephen Harper. Muslim Canadians voted for Trudeau en masse. He has a silver bullet against terrorism: the only way to fight ISIL responsibly is to 'do the right thing', and expose their policy of violence as bad for Muslims, bad for everyone. Already thousands of communities across the country have pledged to sponsor Syrian families and are busy hosting fundraisers.
Terry Nelson, Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs Organization, says Manitoba's plans to bring refugees in from other countries should not be impacted by events in Europe. "There's been an invitation for 2,500 Syrian people to be here in Winnipeg," he said. "They should not be judged by a small minority of people that are terrorists. We live in the greatest country in the world. The most peaceful country in the world. We are blessed."
So please tell Ayatollah Ali Khameini that there are voices of reason, and thank him for his great leadership of a wonderful nation.
Eric Walberg is a Canadian writer specializing in the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and has lived in both the Soviet Union and Russia, and then Uzbekistan, as a UN adviser, writer, translator and lecturer. He has been writing on East-West relations since the 1980s, presently for Al-Ahram Weekly and is a regular contributor to several globally-recognized websites, and a commentator on Voice of the Cape radio. His articles appear in Russian, German, Spanish and Arabic and are available at his website
LR