Nasty Little Man

What is really happening in Iran?

The media loves conflict. Conflict sells papers and draws viewers and listeners. And that is why few American media outlets have taken note of student protests against President Ahmadenijad in Tehran.

A conference of the world's most prominent Holocaust deniers opened in Iran yesterday amid international condemnation and protests by dozens of Iranian students, who burned pictures of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and chanted "death to the dictator".

Never has the hardline leader, who was giving a speech at a university in Tehran yesterday, faced such open hostility at home.

This quote is not from the NY Times or the Washington Post and certainly not from the Washington Times or the NY Post. Nope, it's from The Scotsman, and a Google search for "Iran Holocaust conference student protests" brings up mostly European press.

Now, there is some uncertainty about what the student protests were all about. Some are now saying that the students were actually protesting a new rating system that can potentially deny young people admission to universities if they are too politically involved. But even if that was the motivation for the protests, outrage over the conference was also present.

One student said the crowd was protesting against the "shameful" Holocaust conference - which was organised after Mr Ahmadinejad described the murder of six million Jews by Nazis a "myth" invented to justify the occupation of Palestinian land - and the "fact that many activists with student movements have not been allowed to attend university".

The conference "has brought to our country Nazis and racists from around the world", the activist added.

The protest will be deeply embarrassing for the president, who has portrayed Iran as champion of free speech in hosting the event, organised by the Iranian foreign ministry.

And the American media missed it. Once again, the media is falling into the same trap it helped spring in the lead-up to the Iraq war. It is helping to create the climate to justify military action against Iran.

You probably don't recognize these pictures.


These are photos from a candlelight vigil held in the streets of Tehran on September 18, 2001. Participants mourned the loss of innocent lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Iran is not the monolith that some politicians and, out of laziness, the media are trying to create. Keep in mind that 70% of the Iranian population is under the age of 30. We would be well-served to nurture the Iranians' push back against Ahmadenijad's wackiness, not bomb it.

Labels: Iran

posted by Kinder Gentler Little Man @ 9:10 AM