Monday night, UW-Madison had the incredible honor of hosting Dr. Shirin Ebadi as part of Wisconsin Union Directorate's Distinguished Lecture Series. The DLS offers students extraordinary (and free) opportunities to see some of today's most influential thinkers. I can't recommend them enough to any and all students. Monday night was no exception.
Ebadi is a former Iranian judge, becoming the first woman promoted to such a post in 1969, and the 2003 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering work in human rights and democracy, becoming the first Muslim woman and first Iranian to be awarded the honor. Her lecture centered around democracy and human rights. What she spoke of Monday night was impressive in its simplicity. What also struck me was the view she offered seemed to be in such a contra-position to the everyday views of Iran in the United States (and not just The Bush Doctrine).
It is almost impossible to say anything with certainty about the Middle East and this is especially so for a 20-something student. So I am not going to try to fool anyone in thinking that I know anything about anything on this incredibly complex topic. But I would like to present a little of what I heard and interpreted Monday night.
Iran is a proud country with a proud history and a proud citizenry and this identity needs to be separated from the acts of its government, an idea that I think is lost on many Americans. Iranians have a contiguous history spanning centuries (one of the oldest). It is a history that they hold very dearly and rightfully so, one of a unique people, and their struggle to find identity, peace, prosperity and happiness in a region of the world that we, as Americans (or Westerners) have trouble fully appreciating.
Western culture has gotten into the bad habit over the last half century of viewing the world through myopic lenses. In doing so we, in many instances, lose perspective on what kind of world we are living in - a terribly complex one without any black and white answers - and what kind of goals we ought to have - peaceful ones.
In attacking Iran you are attacking the people of Iran, and we will fight to defend her"" Ebadi said about calls for American intervention in Iranian affairs. Nations 'intervening' (in other words, attacking) in other nations' affairs essentially amounts to citizens attacking other citizens. The citizens of Iran, whether they agree with their government's positions on any number of issues or not, will quite naturally rise, as a people with a shared history and culture, to defend what they view as an attack on their way of life.
That this reaction isn't entertained by some as one, plausible, and two, acceptable is puzzling. Dr. Ebadi said it best, claiming that the Iranian people will not let their country turn into another Iraq by the hands of Americans.
Ebadi instead chose to focus on the confluence of democracy and human rights. She called for the grounding of peaceful, democratic governments in human rights, because human rights are the medium through which citizens become free.
The idea that democracy can be instantiated in the Middle East, and a nation built, as we have tried to do with Iraq, has proven to be a tragic failure. What Ebadi had to say reminded me much of Mahatma Ghandi's great book ""Hind Swaraj."" The movement, the impetus, must come from within; it must reach a critical mass where the people become unified behind the ideals of democracy and self-rule, not behind a certain religion or ideology. That these sentiments should be fostered is not a point of contention.
The question is how best to do so? Ebadi mentioned one idea worth repeating. The U.S. must stop propping up, arming and legitimizing autocratic and/or plutocratic Middle Eastern regimes (Saudi Arabia to name one) that deliberately and openly oppress and abuse the basic human rights of its people. By doing so we, as a nation and people, reinforce and augment the insideous political machinery that must be broken down. Her call ought to be viewed as a challenge: demand more from ourselves and our government. The fight for human rights, the basic principle that everyone is worthy of equal respect and concern, is to be fought for all by all.
Joseph Koss is a junior majoring in secondary education in social studies. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
