A few days ago Iranians all over the world celebrated the Persian New Year, Nowruz. Nowruz literally means "new day" ("now"=new "ruz"=day) and is the first day of the spring season and emphasizes new beginnings and hopes for good days ahead. Many Iranians celebrate the holiday by gathering with family and friends and eating really, really good food.
In the hopes of creating a dialogue with the government of Iran and goodwill with her people, President Obama posted online an unprecedented New Year's video message. Never before had any US official--let alone president--offered such greetings to the Islamic Republic since 1979. He offered an open hand and dialogue to the Iranian regime and expressed hopes for a bright and open future between the two nations.
This year President Obama has sent another Nowruz message to the leaders and people of Iran. Again, the president expressed his hope for cultural exchange and understanding, hoping to somehow find common ground on the big issues--Iran's nuclear program and human rights violations. Obama also emphasized his desire to provide all Iranians opportunity to open access to information and internet. Unfortunately, in his own Nowruz message Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuffed Obama's offer, continuing the trend of ignoring pretty much anything anyone from the West has to offer. It is terribly unfortunate that Iran's government chooses to further isolate itself from the rest of the world, on top of brutally oppressing Iranian citizens.
The internet has proven a valuable tool for the Obama administration in its efforts to reconstruct the US's reputation around the world, especially with regard to its Iran policy.. The president ran his campaign knowing full well the powers of the internet--it is not a mistake: he recognizes that it is a growing force--one key to the spread of democracy and free society.
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I think that this is a remarkable gesture, but one has to ask themselves how profound an impact this video was expected to have. I may be slitely ignorant when it comes to the rest of the worlds use of youtube, specifically what they view, but I feel as if Obama's message was seen by Americans as a very generous and kind move. The problem is, as you reported, it had literally no positive outcome, aside from American's thinking that we are the good guys, as usual, as we try and extend the olive branch to another volatile country. Do you think that I'm being shortsighted in thinking that the message was mostly viewed, and in a positive light, by the American people?
ReplyDeleteGood shit though. Might want to make sure you edit a bit more but I'm loving it. Keep up the good work man.
No, thats not shortsighted at all. It's a legitimate observation--but number of internet users in Iran is huge. The developing world accounts for a massive percentage of technology use. According to the World Bank 32% of Iranians use the internet--compare that with 27.9% from Israel, 29.2% from Saudi Arabia, and 22.5% from China. It may not be a huge difference but Iranians are a very connected people. The goal of the message was to connect with the people and show the people we mean business--the government's reaction was hardly a surprise but the fact that we're showing them we want something is important.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, N.