Gay group wants Iran-talks invite
Gay rights activists have asked to meet former Iranian president H. E. Sayed Mohammed Khatami during his visit to Melbourne, hosted by Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier.
After outrage from the Jewish community, Freier extended an invitation to them and other religious minorities persecuted in Iran under Khatami’s regime from 1997 to 2005.
Australian Coalition for Equality spokesman Rodney Croome said if Freier’s invitation was sincere he would extend it to GLBT groups.
We want to ask Mohammad Khatami whether he supports the persecution and execution of homosexuals, and what, if anything, will bring the harassment and killing to an end, Croome said in a statement today.
Khatami was invited to Australia by La Trobe’s Centre for Dialogue and will give a public lecture on 26 March. The Centre asked Freier to host a function at his Anglican Archdiocese residence for Khatami.
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria resigned from the Centre’s board of advisors in protest this week. But the Centre’s director Professor Joseph Camilleri told The Age that the response was an over-reaction.
Here’s an interesting link that includes casualty figures under Saddam Hussein:
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat3.htm
It also includes other figures such as casualties from the Iran-Iraq War – a war pretty much the responsibility of Hussein and nothing to do with US-Zionist machinations. And Israel and the US also have nothing to do with the anti-gay policies of Muslim regimes (not to mention the appalling treatment of Kurds or Palestinians for that matter in Muslim countries).
If people in the Arab world are getting behind the Iranian regime as some sort of saviour they will be disappointed going by Tehran’s policies to date.
David, while it’s true there are some concerns among Sunni Arabs about the growing influence of the (sometimes Iran-backed) Shiite populations present in many Arab countries, anti-Americanism now runs much, much deeper than any concerns about Iranian or Shiite influence. That anti-Americanism has been hardened by the policies Washington has pursued toward Iraq and the Palestinian territories, and toward Israel during its destructive attacks on it’s neighbours. Israel has 340 thermonuclear devices with which it has already threatened Syria. Even in US-friendly Kuwait, the government-sponsored Al-Rai newspaper has published stridently anti-US editorials.
The Iranian regime will not collapse, it has been given dominance in the region by the coalition of the witless. However, there is hope for change, including bringing them into line with Western ideals of human – and glbqti – rights. Barack Obama has welcomed -œnew beginning with Iran, he said that the US wanted to engage with their country and end decades of strained relationship -” but it will take change on both sides. Iran has agreed. Of course while the guards are still gouging Arab eyes at Gitmo and occupying Muslim countries, it may take some time. And of course Israel is a huge part of the formula.
I recently watched a very moving documentary about the first Arab/Jewish school in Israel. The parents of the children were, of course, hateful and bitter but the kids learned each other’s cultures and prayers. They were soon asking, “how do you say ‘I love you’ in your language?” and were leading each other blindfolded by the hand in an exercise of trust. At the very end, Jewish children told the Arabs, “when we grow up we will have to join the army and kill Arabs,” to which the response was, “if you do that we will have to bomb your house..”
Change can come, and eventually will. But it will require a lot of work, precipitated by dropping the willful ignorance and prejudice that characterises both the Western and Muslim worlds.
p.s. you might like to check your facts about the number of Muslim deaths under despots like Hussein vs. US/Israel attacks.
I think you’ll find that many Arabs loathe Iran – and not just the Arab ruling elites (who naturally fear Iran’s destabilising influence in the region). Many Arabs are Sunni Muslims and Iran is Shiite Muslim. This is not an insignificant difference.
In terms of engaging with representatives of the Iranian regime, I personally wouldn’t. I think they should be treated like Zimbabwe or North Korea. How can you reason with a regime that wants you dead? Any dealings with Iran must be underpinned with a scheme to make the regime collapse.
Also, I’ll think you’ll find that the responsibility for the greatest number of Muslim deaths lies at the feet of local governments – Iraq under Saddam Hussein, the Saudi monarchy, Iranian theocrats and the Assads of Syria are among the culprits.
Khamenei isn’t a military leader, he’s a cleric, so how is it a military dictatorship? It’s a theocracy propped up by a religious secret police and an army.
“Khamenei does not have the qualifications to be the Ayatollah”- and yet HE IS!
I think you’d find many people in the Middle East dismiss the notion that Hezbollah is merely an Iranian proxy as US/Israeli propaganda.
Hmmm. I assume we’re discussing the best way to effect ideological change in Iraq, and other countries where glbqti are persecuted and executed. And I’m contending that jumping up and down shouting uniformed abuse may not be the best way to effect that change. The real world may be a little more complicated.
Arabs have suffered humiliation in the Middle East for over a hundred years, that is why they support Iran. We’ve lost the anti-colonial game and the Iranians have won it. The US, under Obama, is finally beginning to ackowledge Iran’s dominance in the Middle East and that long term detente has to be negotiated with an acknowledgment of the reality of the West’s treatment of Arabs, particularly in regards to Israel’s policies in Palestine. Recently, Iran has responded, ‘you change and we will.’
merlot, no one said Khatami is a top bloke, or that human rights abuses, whether it be executions in Japan, Penang or Tehran; torture in Guantamo or Abu Graib or any of the fundamentlist Islam nations are ever excusable. Nor are the million Muslims killed by the West in the last decade. Etc etc.
Andrew, Google seems to have bred a new genus of uncritical pedants. Iran is not run by the Mullahs, it is a military dictatorship. Khamenei, the supreme leader, controls the country. It’s a military dictatorship. Ahmadinejad for example, often will not be invited to meetings of the Iranian security council. Khamenei does not have the qualifications to be the Ayatollah, yet he runs the army. He is the man we need to talk to.
PS- under the Iranian system, the Mullahs (the “Assembly of Experts”) elect the Ayatollahs from within their own ranks. Although Khatami is a Muslim cleric, he is not and has never been a Mullah. He is a member of the Iranian Parliament (or “Majlis”) which aside from the Mullahs striking out candidates they don’t like is elected democratically. So the Mullahs (of which the Ayatollah is one) ARE in control.
Your statement: “Iran is not run by the Mullahs”
Shayne, so really Khatami is a top bloke with the very best reasons for calling for our execution. I wish you were as quick to understand and excuse western governments as you are this fascist dictatorship.