In 2006, I
was living in Salt Lake City and attending the University of Utah's Middle East
Center. I had been recommended as an
interpreter for Shirin Ebadi by someone who knew me at the University of
Southern California. At the time, I felt proud to be assist a Nobel Laureate,
especially one from my own native country.
It was more
than my language skills that were required.
It was thought that I shared the same political views - and I was also
told by her agent over the phone that although 'Shirin is really quite funny,
she comes across as very dry and humorless', and basically I understood that it
was desirable for me to offset her shortcomings -- for lack of better words. I cannot say if this was required of all
interpreters
I was
having butterflies waiting for her at the lobby of the Millennium Hotel in New
York. When she approached me, I noted
that she would have been lost in a crowd.
On our first working day, we had a 'closed' meeting with the members of
the press, including NYT, etc as she was promoting her book. I could see why they needed someone who would
convey humor as much of what she said was nonsense and I had to smile as if
making a joke although she was serious.
For example:
When
speaking about democracy and Iran, she made a point of mentioning Iran's
nuclear program and said: "Nobody is afraid of a democracy having a bomb,
who is afraid of France or India having a bomb". This Nobel Laureate had
to be reminded that the only person who used the "bomb" was a
democracy - that India was a nuclear-armed pariah state. (Of course India had its appeal given its
cooperation in illegally sending Iran's dossier o the UNSC). She
was also asked: "You have two daughters, what do you wish for your
daughters?". Her answer was for
them to live in freedom like they do here, "so that they wont have any one
eavesdrop on their telephone conversations". The reporters could not restrain their laughs
-- this was at the height of the Bush eavesdropping controversy.
After
the press conference, she gave a one-on-one to a representative from 'O'
Magazine. She told her that the Iranian
people don't support the nuclear program and all this was a show put on by
'paid Basij'. It was a real struggle for me to translate a
lie versus doing a job I was asked to do.
The ''O' Representative looked very surprised and insisted on repeating
the question, thinking the question or answer had been lost in translation. Interestingly, the uniting factor in Iran is
the nuclear program. A 2004 poll showed
that , 75-80% of the Iranians rallied behind the Islamic Republic of Iran in
support of its nuclear program including the full fuel cycle (Takyeh, Ray. Interview with Steve Inskeep. National Public Radio Morning. Morning
Edition. 25 Nov. 2004) . A 2007 poll not only confirms this, but goes in detail
and states that 2007 poll of the Iranian people conducted by the U.S. Institute
of Peace, it was revealed that 84% of the Iranians thought it very important
that Iran should have a full fuel-cycle
nuclear program,. Even with the crackdown on liberties, free press, and the
increasing oppression in the country, the poll found that 64% of those polled
said that US legislation repealing regime change in Iran would not be incentive
enough to give up the nuclear program and full fuel-cycle.( downloaded December
5, 2007 http://www.usip.org/iran/iran_presentation.pdf)
Her
distortion of facts, her behavior, left me so stunned that I called her agent
and made some excuse that I could not continue to be her interpreter. At William and Mary college she continued to
play into the hands of 'Bush' policies. This
was pointed out to her by a Georgetown professor and since I do not have the
liberty of mentioning her name, I will refrain from doing so.
She claimed
one million people came to greet her (not even Khomeini had that many come to
greet him at the height of his popularity when he first arrived) and it soon
became apparent that the more she exaggerated the difficulties she faced, and talked
about the 'dangers' surrounding her,
real or not, the more she was admired and they likened her to Dr. King and Nelson Mandela.
Today, I
wonder what the Islamic Republic has to gain by taking her 'medal' and what
Ebadi has to gain with her claim since the IRI has denied it.
I draw my
conclusion from her track record.
I wonder if
anyone has questioned how this woman who was awarded a Noble Prize managed to
be a judge during the Shah's regime who was known for his brutality, his
oppression, and his use of SAVAK -- known for their tortures? Did she ever protest, defend the rights of
the Iranians at that time? No she became
a judge. What a wonderful and cushy job
to have in the Shah's dictatorial regime.
What had
she has done that others in Iran have not done -- indeed, she was an unknown
and many others in Iran work as hard for the 'liberties'
that the Western perspective can recognize and relate to - yet she was
hand-picked. I am not certain who
nominated her. There is a wonderful book
by Tony Smith called "A Pact with the Devil; Washington's bid for world
supremacy and the betrayal of the American promise" (Routledge, NY 2007) --
a must read for anyone who has not. Citing Noah Feldman (from his book After Jihad: America and the Struggle for
Islamic Democracy) who was active with the occupation of Iraq as a law
professor to help write the constitution for the country, Feldman argued that
"democracy and Islam are both what might be called mobile
ideas". It does not surprise me that Ebadi received a
Nobel Peace prize. Iran was next on the
agenda to be 'occupied' -- or "democratized'.
Two short
months after the invasion of Iraq, neocon William Kristol, cofounder of PNAC
wrote: “[T]he war in which we are
presently engaged is a fundamental challenge for the United States and the
civilized world ….The liberation of Iraq was the first great battle for the
future of the Middle East. The creation
of a free Iraq is now of fundamental importance…But the next battle ..will be
for Iran.”(Weekly Standard, May 12, 2003).
Smith cites
many sources on neoliberal literature in promoting 'democracy' (which he refers
to as "liberal imperialism")
in places of interest, i.e. Iraq and Iran. which is very interesting. A new
wave of neoliberal thinking began to
emerge that the way for 'democratizing' was to promote an individual. "And even more important, one could point
to the success of leaders like Kim Dae Jung, Nelson Mandela, ....."
"Transition
from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for
Democracy" (Edited by Guillermo O'Donnell) proposes that focusing on
"political strategies" and introducing "indeterminancy" and
"uncertainty" into the process of political change was ground for
cautious optimism that democracy could catch on (Smith).
Neocon
William Kristol, cofounder of the Project for New American Century,
wrote: "Moral seriousness means political seriousness.. Make a real
effort to destabilize Ahmadinejad in Iran. Do what it takes to defeat
Zarqawi and secure Iraq." (source: Weekly Standard, March 20,
2006).
It is also
interesting to note that Ms. Ebadi, this devout Moslem (who loves her alcohol),
has not once spoken up in defense of the Palestinians. This would not help her ambitions, would it?
No comments:
Post a Comment