April 6, 2007
Sailors have returned home and the hysterical Blair has calmed down. Before he realized that he is dealing with a new reality, however, he ran hither and thither: he cooked up rhetoric, he went to the European Union to get a rather strong statement, he called his old chum in Washington DC, but without much luck. He spoke in the name of the indefinable international community—all to no avail. All of this happened in the heat of the first days of the capture of fifteen sailors who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. What turned out to be a non-issue in the end was, nevertheless, an important show of wits between Iran and Britain—a sort of overt manifestation of a new reality one could not have even imagined a few years ago.
Compared to the hype in London during the initial days of the incident, there was only a muted silence in Iran, as if no one was ready to spoil the Nawroze holidays for the sake of fifteen sailors who, according to Iranian officials, had strayed into Iranian waters. The actual location of the sailors at the time of their arrest is, however, not the real point in this psychological war. The real conflict is between a country which has not yet recognized that the days of its empire have passed and a country that has regained its self-respect through a revolutionary effort of unprecedented nature in modern history.
The Western world in general and Britain and the United States in particular cannot understand why countries like Iran and Venezuela are no longer afraid of them. They cannot understand that people in these countries have suffered so much and for so long that they are no more afraid of anyone’s terror of shock and awe. While there are many countries in South America where a new dawn of confidence and strength is visible, Iran is by far the only country in the Muslim world where one sees this level of self-respect; most rulers in the rest of the Muslim world cannot even stand a phone call from Washington DC.
What is so remarkable in the case of Iran is not only the self-confidence of its leadership, but also a fundamental change in the entire outlook on global politics. Iranians have witnessed a sea change in their relationship with the rest of the world during the last 28 years. This change has taken place on the strength of a revolution that not only overthrew a corrupt and cruel self-proclaimed king, but also produced a fundamental change in the entire system of governance. New institutions have been established, educational curricula has been thoroughly revised, developmental plans have been totally revamped and the entire socio-economical thrust has changed course. All of this has taken place amidst continuous dangers and strife at many fronts.
One of the most important and often forgotten processes through which Iranians have regained a new degree of self-confidence not to be seen anywhere in the Muslim world is the rekindling of hope. What Imam Khomeini did for Iran was not merely the overthrow of a dictator; his most important contribution to Iranian history is this rekindling of hope. And he did this through a passionate recall of the historic role of Islam. I can never forget the remark of a young Iranian in 1985, during the dark days of the war with Iraq. He looked into my eyes and said, “Imam Khomeini taught us to be free of fear, and he taught us to trust God. He made us conscious of Allah’s Might and Power. That Might and Power is with us. And no one can defeat us.”
This strength and confidence is perhaps unimaginable for those who base their might and power on cruise missiles and daisy cutters. This otherworldly source of confidence makes the gadgets of the world’s most advanced armies mere toys. No one can threaten people who are not afraid of dying.
If the Blairs and Bushes of this world do not wake up to this new reality, they will only create havoc for their own nations and people. The Iraqi quagmire should be a wake-up call for them. Days when a puppet king could grant men like Baron Paul Julius de Reuter exclusive rights over extensive parts of a country’s economy (including railways, roads, tramways, irrigation works and all minerals except gold and silver) are over, just as those days are gone when the entire oil exploration and extraction enterprise could be granted to one Brit, a man named William Knox D'Arcy, for twenty thousand pounds. 2007 is not 1951, when CIA and M16 could successfully launch Operation Ajax by co-opting monarchists, nationalist generals, conservative mullahs, and street thugs to overthrow a man when they did not like.
British sailors have gone home, but will Britain change its attitude toward Iran? Will Blair, Bush and their kin recognize the new historical reality that is taking shape around the world? Will they stop their misadventures? They are carrying blood of thousands on their hands. Will they recognize their misdeed in Iraq, where millions of human beings are suffering because of what they have done?
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