Christians and Jews in Iran: the reality of dhimmitude. From Kevin Sites, with thanks to Gurm:
The Armenians say they've been in Iran for hundreds of years. Many were brought by force, enslaved by Persian ruler Agha Mohammad Khan during his wars in the Caucasus.But now many claim Iran as their own.
"We identify ourselves with Iranian society and nationality because Armenians have been living here for centuries and centuries," says Bishop Sebouh Sarkissian of the Archdiocese of Tehran. "Sometimes they call us religious minorities -- a word I've never liked, even hated, because we are not a religious minority. We are citizens of this country."
Citizens who, some say, have more privileges under the Islamic government than even Iranian Muslims.
Because they can drink and dance:
In the Armenian Club near the church, a more festive New Year's celebration is under way. Dozens of couples twirl around the floor, their hands held high in the traditional style of Armenian dance, with live music performed by a band brought in from Armenia specifically for the occasion.One man tells me, pouring a glass of Johnny Walker Red whisky over ice, "We have more freedoms than even the Muslims. They would never be able to do this."
Christians are allowed to have alcohol in their homes and sometimes for holiday celebrations, but for the Muslim population it's strictly forbidden.
Others at the party agree, saying they don't face discrimination in Iran and can even travel more freely, usually to Armenia and to the United States.
Of course they will say that. What would you say if you were a Christian in Iran talking to a Western reporter? But the State Department's 2005 Religious Freedom Report says this: "Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians are the only recognized religious minorities who are guaranteed freedom to practice their religion; however, members of these recognized minority religious groups have reported imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on their religious beliefs."
One woman is more circumspect about life for Armenians in Iran. "We have a little hole here in Iran," she says, "but we're very good at filling it with happiness."* * *
Iran also has a Jewish minority, which at its peak numbered about 80,000. Shortly after the Islamic Revolution, many immigrated to the U.S. and some to Israel, leaving a community of about 25,000 today.
Still, it is the largest Jewish community in the Middle East, outside of Israel.
At the Jewish Community Center in Tehran, Dr. Unes Hammai-Lalehzar says the Jewish population has had its ups and downs, but he doesn't believe there's any discrimination from the general public....
And while they say they don't face discrimination from their fellow Iranians, Jews here can't be considered for jobs as teachers, unless they are teaching members of their own community. Government jobs, even junior level positions, are also off limits....
Shah Abbas forced the Armenians and Jews of Tabriz to convert overnight. And there is a direct line from that incident to the sign, required by a law of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the window of a restaurant that Ms. Nafisi, still counting her royalties from the inspirational "Reading 'Lolita' in Tehran," the book that shows there is nothing to worry about because Literature Offers Liberation and a Way Out, mentioned en passant -- very much en passant -- in her uplifting and feelgood narrative, a sign that let would-be diners know that they should watch out, because the owner was Armenian and hence "najis," unclean.
Kevin Sites is a Shia Islamofascist, nothing more, and all of his work should be read in the context of a man who cheers as Greeks, Israelis, and Maronites get the axe.
He goes to Iran, asks the Islamofascists to show him around, and they guide him to see what they want him to see, and they force the unfortunate christians and jews who were trapped that really want to leave to give a good review to him about the Regime, and when they do Kevin takes it at face value.
I wonder if he considers the fact that Israel has one million muslim citizens as proof Israel isn't intolerant, of coarse not he is a hypocrite who will instantly forget his Pro-Iran argument in order to trash Israel.
Stunningly poor reporting, even by Kevin Sites usual standards. He demonstrates no knowledge of the institution of dhimmitude, and is almost entirely uncritical of the iranian regime. An emulation of Walter Duranty's finest vision loss in both eyes.
The comments are more interesting than Sites' execrable effort. The comments on that blog are modified, at least in the sense that some (at least a couple of dozen) comments were removed between late Wednesday night and early Thursday afternoon. Sincerity by any, or all commenters, is of course, assumed, possibly in error... There are critical-of-Sites-reporting comments left, however. Comments seem to fall into quite well defined categories:
1) Largest number are clueless, but short and sweetly congratulatory to Sites, from Americans or Canadians
2) some critical of Sites for his blindness to the thugs of Tehran, and dhimmitude, and his avoidance of what is happening to Bahais under the iranian regime ; tend to be longer and better informed; some Americans; some expat Iranians
3) A few repetitive muslim dawa shovelers and spreaders
4) Iranian "nationalists" who do not mention much about islam, but are both effusive and defensive about Iran. These claim to be both in iran and expats.
Generally the more people know about Iran, the more strongly polarized their views seem.
Group 4 seem generally to be more critical of the US, for various reasons, than of the iranian theocracy, even among those claiming to post from the US (which is disappointing). If the US does, in some way, effect regime change in Tehran, it would probably be a mistake to expect gratitude from these people.
Of course, this is not necessarily a reliable sample....
We need to keep our eyes on Kevin, for his star is, unfortunately, rising.
Inetersting about the sign on the restaurant doors owned by religious minorities. In Iran I always thought it meant that the restaurant had teh right to serve Alcohol. It never occured to me that their dishes was unclean. But I guess this would have been different for really religious ones.
Jews and Christians indeed suffer lots of discriminations under the Islamic Republic of Iran that the article does not mention. I think when they say their muslim compatriots are as badly off as them, they mean that for the Islamic regime in Iran 90% of the population who don't buy into their political ideology (muslim and non-muslim alike) are pretty much treated the same.
You will not be able to find a government job if you are a jew. Or a Christian. Or a muslim who doesn't care for Khomeini's ideas. That pretty much excludes 90% of the Iranian society. The difference is that a muslim could hide his view, pretend to go along, grow a beard and keep his criticism to private friends, but how can a religious minority do that?
But one important point is that this treatment of religious minorities is merely political by the religious government and is not rooted in Iranian social and cultural norms (with exception of Bahais who have been treated shamefully by Iranian society in general).
In other words, in late 70s or immediately before the 1979 revolution there was much less discrimination against people of other faiths. We had Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian students in our school and never thought of them as anything but Iranian. Had many Jewish friends myself, and my doctor before and after revolution was Zoroastrian. Armenians were generally liked. It is ironic that Iranian-Armenians were a big part of the revolution and demonstrations against the Shah! But it is hard to fault them. The whole nation was going crazy in those days.
Once the Islamic government is removed from Iran, it is likely that the Iranian muslims, Jews, Zoroastrians and Christians will all gain equal rights and will start building again a nation in which they lived together for thousands of years.
Alas, but as long as islam and it's forceful down-the-throatness dominates in that part of the world, not much chance for your hopes to be fulfilled, my persian friend. It's only going to get worse for everybody down there and across the world. Great pains are ahead but no happiness will result from them.
Time for these happy Iranian Christians, etc. to get their Johnny Walker and take an extended vacation out of the region ... until Mahmoud and his mad mullahs take the country over the nuclear cliff... or are deposed, at the last minute, by a real student revolt (and not the theocratically-headlocked pseudo "student revolution" under the late, unlamented pedophile pimp K-K-Khomeini).
Seenathepersian:
the rest of the world, with few notable exceptions like syria and Hezbollah sincerely hopes that the mullahs and their particularly rabid frontman, Ahmadnejad, will be removed and would like to help if they could, but they look a whole lot harder to take out than Saddam was, even if 90% of the Muslim population of Iran hates the regime. Is it weaker than it looks from the outside?
BTW, I cannot comment as to how Jews were perceived in Iran in the period to which you refer, but I believe it was the last Shah's daddy who was on a par with the Mufti of Jerusalem. An article I read a few weeks ago noted that not only was that Shah providing Hitler with oil, it was at Nazi Germany's suggestion that the name "Iran" be adopted as it suggested an "Aryan" connection. Do you know anything about this?
Waterdragon,
That nonesense about Reza Shah of Iran during WWII came from an ignorant columnist who wanted to try to explain the Mullahs enemity toward Israel in Iranian culture. I have read that article and it was pure bullshit.
First of all, you may want to ask if Iranians or the Shah of Iran had any interest in Hitler/Nazis anti-jewish views, how come thousands of European Jews, in particular Polish, fled to Iran during the WWII?
It is true that in the first half of the 20th century, Iranians regarded Germans favourably as a counter balance to the British and Russians destructive influence in Iran. While the north of Iran was occupied by the Russians in 1910s, German and Austrian volunteers helped Iranian resistance against them. Around the same time, the British and the Russians had unofficially divided Iran among themselves. At that time, nationalist Iranians were looking toward any power that could counter balance those two powers.
For the same reason, Reza shah later (in 1930s) moved to enhance Iran's economical relationship with Germany. Most Iranian leaders at the time did not know or could not care about Nazis' racist views; for them Germany stood as a help in the way of independence from the British and Russians. It is quoted from a famous Iranian nationalist leader during WWII that: We don't give a damn about Hitler's crazy ideas, but we are ready to sign up with satan himself if in that way we could save our country from the British and Russians. It must be noted that there is no record of any pressure or persecution against Jews in Iran during this period.
The unofficial alliance with Germany (Iran officially remained neutral) was of course a huge miscalculation. Reza Shah was dethroned by the British and Iran went on the verge of disintegration in teh aftermath of the WWII, only to be saved by president Truman of the US.
As for the name change, "Persia" was the name of the country in English language, but we always called the country "Iran" in persian language for hundreds of years, which means "The land of Aryans". The word "Aryan" does not have any negative meaning in Iran, as we the Persians are descendants of ancient Aryan tribes who migrated from Siberia to the Iranian platuea 3500 years ago. 2500 years before Hitler and Nazis misusing the term, King Darius I proudly declared: "I am an Aryan, son of an Aryan, king of kings, king of the land of Aryans.", refering to the ancient tribes of Iran.
Hope this little bit of clarification helps.
BTW, as for the status of the Islamic government in Iran, while it has no popular support it remains firmly in control at the moment, mostly thanks to its military aparatus and brutal ways. As much as the majority of Iranian hate the islamic government, there does not seem to be any credible opposition leader at the moment. And a society that has just experienced a bloody revolution rarely dares going through another violent revolution. The Russian experience is a good example. As for what to do with Iran, as an ex-pat Iranian I simply don't know. I cannot blame the west or Israel if they decide to preemptively attack Iran, so I only hope that the current leadership of Iran stops acting stupid and avoids a war that would destroy the country. If that happens, it is going to be the Mullahs fault.