Persia, Iran, the Orient — images of cruelty, despotism, oppression and suffering of the masses beneath their tyrannical overlords, extremists, bloodthirsty, unnaturally libidinous, filled with murderous rage against the modern outside world that they cannot understand, deceitful, conniving, greedy, bribers, disloyal, cowardly, servile, childish even …. that is the Orientalist view that still today pervades so much of mainstream media, including much of the mainstream news in recent years and months relating to Iran. In one image they are called out in their millions by their blood-crazed leaders to chant in the streets “Death to America”; in the next image they are again out in the streets by their millions but this time trying to overthrow their tyrant rulers and being slaughtered in their tens of thousands. Maybe we are missing something here. Maybe the images we are being shown are not what they appear to be. Maybe they are both being framed by Orientalist perspectives. Maybe we should pause and dig a little to learn about the messages pushed into our homes and phones.
But Iran is not Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Its Islam is not of the Wahhabist variety so infamous in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban hate Iran. The world’s most deadly terrorist organizations are materially supported today by both Israel and the United States (in Syria, in Sudan…) — I mean Al Qaeda and ISIS — and they are also enemies of Iran.
Don’t get me wrong. I personally have no wish to live in any kind of state, constitutional and democratic or otherwise, where religion is a dominant cultural factor — and that includes not only Iran but also Israel and the United States. No thank you. One of the few (there are only a few) things Australia has going for it is its comparative secular culture — though we could do better even in that department.
But I do like the idea of learning about other cultures, of understanding them, even appreciating both their uniqueness and what they share in common with everyone else. And I am frustrated so often trying to find information about Iran that is not skewed by Orientalist bias.
Re the current war, some names I have found to be more informative than others — in their writings and in online interviews:
- Glenn Diesen
- Alastair Crooke
- Pepe Escobar
- Chris Hedges
- Larry C. Johnson
- Douglas Macgregor
- Seyed Mohammad Marandi (a loyal Iranian but an academic who presents hard evidence that needs to be faced, not dismissed out of hand)
- John Mearsheimer
- Scott Ritter
- Jeffrey Sachs
- Lawrence Wilkerson
Also Jonathan Cook and Gideon Levy
There are many others and many names who are gateways to the above and others:
You will no doubt have many others on your lists, as do I. These are some of the more regular names I turn to.
And for some glimmer of light relief through sarcasm check out Normal Island News from time to time!
Meanwhile, I am beginning to think we can expect eventual regime change as a result of this war — I mean regime changes in the USA and Israel and Europe. The Middle East of Sikes-Picot will come to an end. The Gulf States may even cease to be. The US will be forced to withdraw from the Middle East. And the Zionist wings of Israel finally deeply clipped. Or am I dreaming? Should I be paying more attention to Trump and Hegseth and the Bible’s prophecies of Armageddon and CNN for the “facts on the ground”?
