A Voice From Iran

A thought-provoking op-ed from Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji:

The American policy of confronting the Iranian regime’s nuclear adventurism is correct. But the rationale for opposing this adventurism should not be that the mullahs oppose the West and the United States. The West’s double standard on nonproliferation is not defensible. The entire Middle East must be declared a nuclear-free zone. Opposition to the dangerous process that has begun in the region — a process that the Islamic Republic has helped turn into a crisis — must be based on a more general call first for regional, then for global, nuclear disarmament.

In July I traveled to the United States to offer a view of Iran altogether different from the one presented by the mullahs. Many Iranians want freedom; we fight for it, and we do not fear prison and oppression. Our demand is for a secular, democratic political system in Iran. Many of the Iranian people, who are incidentally deeply devout, support this demand.

The best help the world can offer us is to listen to the different voices of our society, and when forming a policy toward Iran or an image of its people, do not reduce our country to the regime that rules it most brutally.

Image: mohammed.akkasee.com.

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