Roger Cohen und seine iranischen Juden

Roger Cohen hat in den letzten Tagen nichts dazugelernt. Jetzt schrieb er eine „Apologetik“, die bei den Amirpurs dieser Republik besonders gut ankommen dürfte. Ein paar Kostproben:

I was based in Berlin for three years; Germany’s confrontation with the Holocaust inhabited me. Iran’s Islamic Republic is no Third Reich redux. Nor is it a totalitarian state.

Totalitarian regimes require the complete subservience of the individual to the state and tolerate only one party to which all institutions are subordinated. Iran is an un-free society with a keen, intermittently brutal apparatus of repression, but it’s far from meeting these criteria. Significant margins of liberty, even democracy, exist. Anything but mad, the mullahs have proved malleable.

Munich allowed Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland. Iran has not waged an expansionary war in more than two centuries.

Most of Iran’s population is under 30; it’s an Internet-connected generation. Access to satellite television is widespread. The BBC’s new Farsi service is all the rage.

Of course, Israel’s unfinished cycle of wars has been with Arabs, not Persians, a fact that explains some of the discrepancy. (Dümmer geht's kaum noch)

One Iranian exile, no lover of the Islamic Republic, wrote to me saying that my account of Iran’s Jews had brought “tears to my eyes” because “you are saying what many of us would like to hear.” (Muss wohl ein Verwandter von Amirpur sein)

Jews elect one representative to Parliament, but can vote for a Muslim if they prefer. A Muslim, however, cannot vote for a Jew. (grübel...)

Dass es im Iran anders aussieht als von Cohen beschrieben kann man unter anderem hier, hier und hier nachlesen.

Weitere interessante Informationen (Homepages, nicht Permalinks) zum Iran bei Lizas Welt, Heplev, Zeitung für Schland, Wind in Wires, Matthias Küntzel , Achgut und Kritiknetz. Ich bitte um Nachsicht, wenn ich mich auf diese Adressen beschränkt habe.