Fall of Iran as intellectual giant ?
OUR CORESPONDENT

Bangalore: Our suspicions on Iran are coming true. Even after being denounced by America as part of the "Axis of evil", Iran's behaviour as a revolutionary Islamic country had a big question mark.

In DV, we had many times expressed our doubts about Iran and our worst fears have been confirmed by the President of Iran himself.

Khatami on fall of Iran
Tehran: Iran, homeland of some of the Islamic world's greatest thinkers, has lost its knack of turning out genius, President Mohammad Khatami lamented in remarks carried on the official IRNA news agency on Aug.23. "What has happened to our country?" the reformist President asked.

"Today great thinkers and philosophers can no longer be found in our society". He was speaking at opening of a conference on Avicenna, the 11th century Persian philosopher who shaped not only Islamic but also mediaeval European thought. He asked young Iranians to break the intellectual sterility of modern Iran and follow Avicenna's example. Iran has one of the world's highest rates of "brain drain" with its best graduates rushing to better wages and greater social freedoms in Europe, Canada and Australia. Khatami, a German and English speaker with a firm grounding in European philosophy, has tried to ease the Islamic Republic's strict censorship of books and journals. (Reuters — Asian Age, Aug.24, 2004).

Revolution fades
Earlier, Iranian intellectuals and revolutionary leaders used to be in regular touch with Dalit Voice. The Editor used to be invited to its Embassy in Delhi. There used to be regular communication between us. We used to receive lot of revolutionary literature from Iran. But in the fast couple of years, nothing is heard.

If this is Iran's relationship with India's most revolutionary journal of the oppressed, then we can imagine what is happening inside Iran itself.

Why the Iranian elite are becoming pleasure-seekers? Why Iran is silent on the White Western racist reign of terror on Muslims all over the world? When there is no change in the attitue of Israel or USA towards Iran, why Iran alone is growing soft? All these fears are bothering us.

Next attack on Iran
Imam Khomeini, founder of the Muslim world's most revolutionary country, had raised lot of hope among the oppressed, particularly India's Muslims and Dalits. But with his death, the revolution slowly faded. And today we get the suspicion that Iran is compromising with the Great Satan, the name given by Khomeini to America.

But the zionist-controlled America continues to target Iran. Preparations are going on to attack Iran after it completes the "eradication" of Iraq.

Instead of giving leadership to Islamic revolution and supporting the struggle of the oppressed of the world, Iran is displaying its weakness and disappointing its admirers.

Will the Iranian leadership clear our doubts and fears?