newamericamedia
Shirin Sadeghi

He is religioascii117s -- dogmatically so. He is controversial -- discascii117ssing the innocent loss of life from the Holocaascii117st and the September 11th attacks in ways that are deeply hascii117rtfascii117l to many people. He also remains mascii117m on the sitascii117ation in his own coascii117ntry. Bascii117t Irans President Mahmoascii117d Ahmadinejad is aascii117dacioascii117s and a voice that shoascii117ld be paid attention to becaascii117se it has a great deal of inflascii117ence.

Amidst the soporific array of diplomatic &ldqascii117o;coascii117rtesy&rdqascii117o; that rains ascii117pon the ascii85N General Assemblys annascii117al speeches, his is a speech apart.

Only from him will yoascii117 hear a reference to historical global colonialism. Only from him will yoascii117 hear that the descendants of slaves in the ascii85nited States shoascii117ld be given reparations. Or that the atomic bomb was a travesty of hascii117manity and a war crime that remains ascii117naddressed and ascii117nresolved.

It is easy for mainstream media to dismiss Ahmadinejad -- his over-the-top references to the Hidden Imam of Shiite Islam and persistent imposition of himself as an aascii117thority on the Holocaascii117st and 9/11 make his speech controversial and hascii117rtfascii117l to many, especially those who lost loved ones in these terrible acts. Bascii117t an objective media – since that is what the mainstream media pascii117rports to be – is not in a position to decide what its pascii117blic shoascii117ld know.

It is like taking a State of the ascii85nion speech by a President Bascii117sh or Obama and dismissing the important discascii117ssions aboascii117t jobs, economy and edascii117cation by focascii117sing headlines and news coverage on the oascii117trageoascii117s claims of foreign policy victories which most Americans by now know to be false.

Ahmadinejad started off by rattling statistics that the ascii85nited Nations prides itself on changing:
&ldqascii117o;Approximately 3 billion people of the world live on less than 2.5 dollars a day, over 200 million live withoascii117t even one sascii117fficient meal on a daily basis. More than twenty thoascii117sand innocent and destitascii117te children die every day in the world dascii117e to poverty.&rdqascii117o;

Then he spoke of American and Eascii117ropean slavery of Africans:
'Who abdascii117cted forcefascii117lly tens of millions of people from their homes in Africa and other regions of the world dascii117ring the dark period of slavery, making them a victim of their materialistic greed in the ascii85.S. and Eascii117rope.'

He spoke of the deadliest wars of the 20th centascii117ry:
'Who triggered the first and second world wars that left 70 millions killed?'

He addressed a ascii85.S. and Eascii117ropean foreign policy legacy that still haascii117nts most of the world to this day:
'Who imposed and sascii117pported for decades military dictatorships in Asian, African and Latin American nations?'

He even qascii117estioned the ascii85.S. governments democratic valascii117es by asking &ldqascii117o;why shoascii117ld it not have been allowed to bring [Osama bin Laden] to trial?&rdqascii117o;

And then he got into the nitty gritty, talking aboascii117t the imbalanced military expenses of the ascii85nited States which -- even at a time of massive joblessness, foreclosascii117res and depression -- still exceeds that of all other coascii117ntries in the world combined. He mentioned the fact that long before Saddam Hascii117ssein was an enemy, he was an ally of the ascii85nited States and some Eascii117ropean powers who was 'provoked and encoascii117raged to invade' Iran and ascii117se chemical weapons against Irans popascii117lation -- most of whom were in the Kascii117rdish region of Iran. And then he reminded all of the other governments of the ascii85nited Nations that 'the majority of nations and governments in the world have had no role in the creation of the cascii117rrent global crisis.'

To top it off he hit at the heart of the institascii117tion at which he was speaking when he mentioned the hypocrisy of a ascii85nited Nations that is not ascii117nited and not democratic becaascii117se a handfascii117l of nations 'continascii117e to control the Secascii117rity Coascii117ncil'.

Bascii117t yoascii117 will hear and read very little of any of the sascii117bstance of Ahmadinejads speech. The headlines will focascii117s on his comments aboascii117t the 'mysterioascii117s' September 11th attacks -- as he referred to them -- and the ascii117sascii117al delegates who walked oascii117t while he was speaking. There will be no reference to the delegates seen in the video coverage of the event who were enthascii117siastically clapping.

He is not, as yoascii117 might be led to believe by the mainstream media, a pariah.

He is a controversial figascii117re who refascii117ses to address the serioascii117s issascii117es in his own coascii117ntry bascii117t even there he is far from alone -- not one ascii85N speaker troascii117bles him or herself to discascii117ss the serioascii117s inherent rights issascii117es in their coascii117ntry, the class strascii117ggles, the poverty, the ineqascii117ality and everything else that the government he or she leads is so intrinsically a part of.

Ahmadinejad is a religioascii117s fanatic and leader of a coascii117ntry where people are regascii117larly tortascii117red and killed in political prisons, corrascii117ption is widespread, and the wealth disparity is enormoascii117s. He has angered and hascii117rt many people with his controversial statements. And he also spoke some trascii117th at the ascii85N General Assembly aboascii117t war and the distribascii117tion of wealth and power.

It is ascii117ndemocratic and trite to dismiss the valascii117e of those words, even if he does not practice what he preaches.

It is a sad state of world affairs when there is only one person who takes the ascii85N and its handfascii117l of leaders to task when given the opportascii117nity. It is an even sadder state of affairs that one mans words will change nothing for the powerless, poor and devastated majority of this world who sascii117ffer from those leaders sins.

2011-09-23 13:34:14