In Iran, if there is inflation, if teachers? salaries are not paid, or if bus drivers protest their low wages, if… blah blah blah, there is only one culprit, according to statesmen: International Zionism.
Correspondingly, most of the hardliners view multinational corporations as agents of Zionism and Israel. Adidas, Nestle, Timberland, Benetton, Royal Dutch Shell etcetera are supposedly supporters of Israel.
Of course, this doesn?t mean that I deny the Jewish Lobby?s influence. Even the Shah, a close ally of Israel, defended this theory [hyperlink], and I was reading a report about the Rothschild family and their unbelievable influence across Western Europe. And I admit that they act against Iran?s interests, but ascribing every blunder to the Zionist lobby is ridiculous.
Elections for Iran?s eighth parliament are here, and once again, the state-run TV station has immersed us in hackneyed rhetoric: voting is your right, voting is your responsibility, voting is your religious and patriotic duty, throw another fist into the mouth of global imperialism with your participation in the election (this is the punchline of all official pleading in the Islamic Republic?s short-but-full-of-crises history).
It?s that old song: ?I vote, you vote, we vote?for freedom, for independence…?, and when reporters ask them whether they vote and why, actors, footballers, singers, third-rate celebrities and ordinary people return a confident, ?Of course!? followed by ?…to give a strong response to America and to show them that we stand by the revolution.? Raised eyebrows? I think bringing up a hypocrite nation has been the main socio-cultural achievement of the Islamic Republic.
I am going to vote, although it?s so painful that my vote turns into a digit in the statistics to show that everybody is in love with the political system. But selection has become difficult. Most reformists have been disqualified to run for parliament by the notorious Guardian Council. Anyway, democracy is not merely achieved by participation in elections. Will vote, though with a broken heart 😉
?Tehran Post ord-per.blogspot.com
