Obama Factor In Present Tehran / Iranian Uprising

By  Afshan Khan

The current growing violence and uprising in Iran which might very well turn into full blown “Revolution”, is not a fluke to emerge suddenly, this is the result of growing discontentment which was boiling over years. There are two dominant Ideologies, like every nation has one the conservatives’ side, who are more nationalistic in their approach and another side which is more liberal in its approach. We in America certainly identify with these two clashing Ideologies. Like wise Iran has her own ideologues, on one hand the 1979’s conservative Islamic Revolutionaries and the other side is more liberal, modern and has secular outlook.

The real issue here is that we should stop looking what happens in every country around the world including Iran with our outdated biased and self serving standard. According to which in every country one faction is either leaning toward us and other faction is at war with us, which in reality is not true, the Mir Mousavi’s records prove that. He is not going bring the nuclearisation of Iran to a sudden halt, he not going to accept the Israel’s legitimacy overnight. In crux he not going to be much different in his foreign policy, at the most he might be willing to reciprocate Obama’s respectful gestures with some respect unlike Ahmadinijad.

The point is We need to start respecting the differences which exist in diffent societies. In the current situation we need to give people of Iran credit for believing in freedom and democracy for themselves not just because they are inspired by the western societies per say. If you look into Iranian politics since the famous revolution, it has been fairly democratic, and the recent election in which millions of voter turnout has proven that people have the freedom and they believe and value democracy.

Having said that I think it is not hard to say that Obama has played a very crucial role in the current Iranian uprising. Obama’s consistent friendly gestures toward Iran and his mere mention of Iran as “Islamic Republic Of Iran”, shows tremendous respect toward Iran, which no western leader has shown in years, at least not the Bush regime, in which Iran was always addressed as the “Terrorist Nation”. Obama’s historical and quiet remarkable Egyptian speech to Islamic world was another factor which has galvanized the Iranian youths.

To make matter worse for Ahmadinijaad, his continues rejection to Obama’s overtures has decimated his support among Iranian youth. It is clear that Obama factor has played a vital role in this present Revolution like situation in Iran. But I like to leave it my readers whether they agree with this or not? As we all know very well that Obama mania has swept not only our nation of America but the whole world. He has emerged as the most inspirational world leader of our times especially in the Muslim world, as he has shown the tremendous respect and a fair understanding of their grievances which no other western world leader has done in the past.

He is held in high esteem among Muslims around the world and there are lots of expectations from him and most importantly he enjoys great amount of influence in the Islamic World. We can not overlook the Obama FACTOR in current emerging Iranian uprising.

Please feel free to express your views on this or any other issue on my blog..

Check  Obama’s Speech in Cairo, Egypt..