I woke up to this image:
A couple hugging, dead, under the rubbles.
Another earthquake has shook Iran. The beautiful North West, Azerbaijan-e Sharghi. So far, about 250 are dead. I know how fast these numbers grow in Iran.
The first thing that comes to my mind is to send money to an NGO in Iran. But, the sanctions have made that impossible. The sanctions that have blocked the personal hard earned cash of my Iranian friends, for instance in Azerbaijan, prohibit transferring money to Iran. A friend suggests, give money to someone abroad and have them pay the equal in cash to charities in Iran. Why should I? Like any immigrant, I should have the right to send a small portion of my income "back home". No?
On this thought, I cringe, and remember the last earthquake, where the "humanitarian" offer of Israel included sending their sniffer dogs to Iran. Iran refused help from both Israel and America.
In reality, Iran is NOT a poor country. According to CIA's factsheets, Iran's gold reserves ran 22nd in the world, only three behind the United States, and with a marginal difference. In purchasing power parity it ranks 18th; and in labor force 24th. However it's growth swamps it to 149th position, its inflation tops the chart, and its inductrial production growth rate has turned negative, BECAUSE it is kept in isolation, preventing its wealth to flourish, preventing it from becoming another India or China--something that the collective intellect and ambition of the country is well capable of; a capability that frightens the neighboring sand-despots, the geopolitical rival Israel, and the never fading greed of the anglo-franco-russian colonizers who never had their real chance in Iran. And of course, America being the empire built after occupation of the land and extermination of the aboriginals, and with slave's flesh, can just not survive without being the predator--UNTIL some true civilization, like China kicks its ass and forces some sense and modesty to its political/economic head. From the economic isolation of Iran, only Israel and Saudi Arabia gain. America too loses.
Besides economic "pride", Iran cannot TRUST any Israeli "search and rescue" team. Why should Iran not treat any Israeli as a potential spy? After all, don't Israeli's have the "hand-of-god" helping them assassinate the Iranian scientists on broad daylight and then boast about it on TV? (Sometimes it seems like one hand of god is helping the Iranian regime, and the other hand the Israeli one! Except that when Iran wants to get rid of the Israeli regime it gets sanctioned, but when Israel uses the exact same words, it gets awarded more military goodies!)
On these thoughts, I "sense' a deep visceral hatred arousing in my gut about these sanctions, and the reason for them: effectively the cacophony of the AIPAC, aided by the particular brand of diplomatic chutzpa in the rhetoric of Ahmadinejad, and the Saudi Arabia's rivalry ... it takes a lot of restraint to not burst my hatred at Israel and America out before my little Jewish boy, who is enrolled in a Sunday Jewish school, who considers himself a Citizen of Israel (at the age of 11 and after only one trip), and who is afraid to step foot in a catholic church because he is afraid that if his Sunday school friends know, they will reject him. I fail; and I scream: I hate Israel, I hate this country where I am living and is sanctioning Iran, and I hate the fact that I am going to spend my money in the USA, vacationing with the rest of my family who is visiting from Iran!!
I am not proud of my visceral hatred; it is a knee jerk reaction in some ways. In bio-principle, I think humans, like animals, are not equipped with hatred; I think hatred is just a reaction to chronic FEAR when fight or flight ability is taken away by the mere fact of civilization. I suspect there are Israelis, Lebanese and Syrians who feel the same kind of chronic fear/hatred about Iranians. For sure, I have seen a lot of hatred against "Persian Arrogance" expressed towards Iranians by other persian speaking nationalities. It is in some ways, an inferiority complex in people who think their right at equality is stripped by unfair politics.
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Yesterday, I visited the Peace Palace in den Haag: In the introduction to the history of International Court of Justice, it was stated that it was the invention of telegraph and photography that by bringing the reality of war to the people, forced a response, a pacifist response that rejected the previously glorified notions of honor, battle, dying a soldier.
Perhaps now, the introduction of these little diaries, blogs, facebook pages, where we can deconstruct "hatred" as it happens in each of us, we will develop a dialogue about that which separates us, that which frightens us, chronically, and turns us into aggressive nations/individuals ...
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I am not crying any more. I am going to eat breakfast now; finish working; hug my Israeli boy and try to explain to him how unreasonable I behaved, and then pack up and fly to America where strangers hug me when they find me helpless in a medical clinic where my sisters infamous advance cancer verdict is delivered ... and yes, America has saved my sister ... and yes Iran HAS the right to nuclear science/technology and even a weapon ... but if we work together, against CHRONIC THREAT on other nations, none of these toys will be necessary any more ...
