- 17 April 2008
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- 7 Comments
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- Events in DC, Iranian American activism, Panel Discussion
Internal rivalries undo Iranian-American potential
17 April 2008 Posted By Arash Hadjialiloo
When one talks about a large ethnic group, it is not unusual to hear about conflict and rival organizations vying for influence and support. The Iranian-American community is a very diverse group in the United States, with huge populations on both coasts, as well as dense clusters in the middle of the country. With an estimated population of nearly one million Iranian Americans in the US, the sheer size and quality of the community (Iranian Americans are among the most educated and wealthiest ethnic groups in the US) means that the biggest obstacle to Iranian Americans reaching their full potential is, unfortunately, Iranian Americans.
At NIAC, we are constantly faced with defending our standing as a large and legitimate Iranian-American organization from groups that claim to represent Iranian-American interests better than we do. These groups have made it their prerogative to stop any event that is related to something they oppose (for example, diplomatic relations between the US and Iran). Civil discourse has always been a strong part of American culture and a tenet that we at NIAC strongly believe in. Therefore, we refuse to stoop to disgraceful levels of mudslinging and willful disruption of organized events. There is no doubt that Iranian Americans have a wide range of beliefs and that they have a right to voice these beliefs; but the problem is that many Iranian-American groups resort to acting like petulant children–shouting obscene and empty slogans at their adversaries– instead of choosing to engage in meaningful discourse with the organizations they oppose.
This came to an unfortunate head at an event which didn’t even involve NIAC. A congressional briefing on March 13 held by the Iran Working Group and the Leadership Council for Human Rights (LCHR) –aimed at exposing Iran’s abuse of ethnic and religious minorities– became a battleground for many Iranian-American fringe groups. The event went on without much incident until a self-proclaimed Iranian-American retired FBI employee and Colonel in the Iranian Army (during the Shah’s reign) began accusing the speakers of exaggerating, and (in one case) working for a foreign oil company. The commotion that resulted was saddening, with people up in arms and several face-to-face confrontations that threatened to explode into violence.
In my opinion, the most pathetic part of the event was when LCHR president and moderator, Kathryn Porter, had to bang on the table, like a Kindergarten teacher, in an attempt to stop the commotion. But I don’t blame her. Iranian Americans habitually misbehave at official events, hurting the efforts of Iranian Americans hoping to involve themselves in politics. The actions of fringe groups also disgust those in positions of power, keeping them from taking Iranian American concerns seriously.
As an Iranian American, I am in complete favor of Iranian Americans voicing their different opinions, especially on Capitol Hill. However, I do not believe that Iranian Americans should voice these different opinions at the cost of making our entire nationality look bad. Unless we learn to protect our community from the clamoring of loud fringe minorities, I fear we will find ourselves, like at the briefing, shouting at each other as everyone who matters files out of the room in disgust.
7 Responses to “Internal rivalries undo Iranian-American potential”
How do other people hear about the current stream of rival groups in our community?What is the best way to make sure all parts of the Iranian-American community are accounted for?
It sounds as though the NIAC should invest in licensed private security, and that its events and the ones it participates in should be carefully crafted in advance.
Much of the problem seems to center around the exile mentality of certain individuals and groups. This mentality should not be element of the NIAC. That is why I am critical of NIAC efforts at “improving” Iran, by means of activities relating to “pro-democracy” and human rights. All efforts regarding Iran should be made in the area of anti-war and restored relations. Other than that, I would advise the NIAC to focus more on the American side of the Iran-American experience, and to elect an Iranian-American in public office on the national level..
I think practically all these so-called opposition groups, currently, have as their purpose changing of the regime in Iran, no matter what path they take. Most of them claim that they want a better Iran but when we look closely, they are in fact motivated by a strong sense of hatred, revenge and other such negative emotions. In practice, they will sacrifice anything, including Iran, if they think that it will give them their revenge. So, these groups will object, of course, to any effort aimed at reducing tension between Iran and US or any other country. To them, Iran’s “enemies” must not have issues with Iran resolved! This is why we see the MEK, more or less directly, and the monarchists, a little less directly support any potential war between Iran and US.
I tend to agree with Mark Pyruz here in that NIAC should stay away from any confrontation with the Iranian Government – direct or indirect. NIAC should try to take on the role of a negotiator – completely impartial – just act as a medium for communication between the two governments.
I was a little disappointed when, recently, Trita signed some petition regarding human rights violations in Iran. I think that causes the Iranian government to consider NIAC part of the broad range of all who attack them. And that weakens NIAC’s position as a medium for communication between two sides.
I think Iran, both its government and people are showing strong signs of desire to resolve issues and normalize relations with US as well as the rest of the world. That can do far more for human rights in Iran than any direct confrontational approach. There is more than enough groups outside of Iran involved, one way or another, in making normalization of relations more difficult. We need at least one group, one force, bringing the two sides together and not push them further apart.
I don’t feel responsible for the actions of other Iranian-Americans within our community. We are not the official ambassadors of every Iranian who has immigrated to the U.S.
So what if some people are disruptive during events? There are plenty of non-hyphenated Americans who disrupt any event. Disruptive individuals should be escorted out of the event. In our case, we should be well prepared to deal with disruptive individuals.
We should only speak for our organization as our legitimacy will be validated by the size of our membership. We will continue to attract more members as long as we stay the course. Let’s not get entangled with the mess and dragged down with it.
Mehdi,
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you that it is important for NIAC to remain neutral. NIAC is not in the business of supporting or opposing governments. However, we do believe– and strongly so– that government policies deserve criticisms.
NIAC has been vocally critical of both Iran’s policies and US policies– specifically, Washington’s unwillingness to negotiate with Iran without preconditions.
Similarly, we believe that it is important for NIAC to be vocal on foreign policy issues. This includes both the prospect of a US-Iran war and the human rights situation inside Iran.
Our decision to be vocal on these two points, in particular, comes directly from our members. NIAC members mandated in January 2006 for the organization to speak out in favor of diplomacy between the US and Iran. Similarly, in February 2008 NIAC members mandated that NIAC speak out against Iran’s abysmal human rights record.
On a very personal level, I love my heritage as much as the next Iranian American. And that’s why I think it’s important for Iran to clean up its human rights act. I also don’t want to see the US enter into another war while its still entangled in a heavy war in Iraq; or see the Iranian people pay the price of a military confrontation between Iran and the largest country in the world, the United States.
Good conversation – this is what this Blog was meant to be. Thank you all for the input…
Arash – great article man. we will miss you. Arash was one of our interns this semester. He is likely to re-join us in the summer as a paid intern and I hope it all works out. I also hope you have all enjoyed his articles and blog posts as much as I have.
ok – one by one…
Mark – I think we are pretty much on the same page actually. On the security thing – we have not had to resort to private security because the Capitol police have been cooperative for our events – and we have had volunteers to help with the crowd control. I can say we have gotten much better over the years and none of our events have been disrupted – fund raisers, conferences, briefings or panels. On the Iran issue – I think Shadee addressed it and my answer to Mehdi may be helpful too…
Mehdi – Obviously our #1 goal, and that of our membership, is to prevent war with Iran. part of that requires us to criticize US policies that are leading towards confrontation, including sanctions, the ‘regime change slush fund’ as we call it, and the saber-rattling rhetoric that is counter-productive. But at the same time, we take the view that we should not shy away from criticizing the Iranian policies that also affect these issues. The Human Rights issue in particular is a touchy one, you are right. But at the same time, it is VERY important to most of our members as well as the Iranian American community at large. In the end, NIAC’s fear is that if it is not included in the context of diplomacy, it may be swept under the rug as it has been in regards to US policy towards Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the other “moderate” Arab countries around the world and in the ME.
I just don’t think that ignoring it will make it go away. And I also don’t think it increases the likelihood of an American attack – there are far bigger dangers in that regard.
Behnam – Absolutely the right attitude I think. Very key for our community to help distinguish the rotten apples. The only problem is that the members of Congress and their staff don’t know this stuff – so we do have to educate them.
Shadee – good points about the 501c(3) requirements and of course our member’s votes.
Ugh, the old “Iranians are their own worst enemies” dilemma rears its ugly head yet again. Great article Arash, and great responses from everybody. This is one of the biggest challenges to our culture that I want to see fully elminated in my lifetime, that of the pettiness stemming from butting heads over religious and political beliefs to caring about what kind of car your fellow Iranians are driving and what designer clothes are in their closet.
I am delighted to be a NIAC member and I fully support the goals the goals, objectives, and dare I say attitudes of the board members and other members. Truly, I feel like this is an organization I belong to.