Here is a great piece by Stephen Zunes on Huffpo about the three American hikers captured by Iran a year ago, evidently when they were on Iraqi soil, visiting a famous water fall. Zunes situates the travelers’ experience in leftwing activism. They had worked in a Palestinian refugee camp. They had visited their hospitalized friend Tristan Anderson, maimed by the Israelis. They are from the Bay Area, and Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal are from the Bay Area, and Bauer has published a fine investigative piece in the Nation on Bush-era sponsorship of Iraqi death squads. (He had support from the Nation Institute, too.) Zunes:
Perhaps as a testament to his own youthful idealism as a community organizer, President Barack Obama acknowledged their activism in a statement calling for their release, saying, “They are simply open-minded and adventurous young people who represent the best of America, and of the human spirit. They are teachers, artists, and advocates for social and environmental justice.” Overall, however, the Obama administration appears to place freeing them from Iranian captivity as a relatively low priority.
After months of working unsuccessfully through official channels, some of the friends and family members of the detainees have decided to publicize their plight — along with their history of activism — in the hopes that global civil society, particularly the progressive activist community, can take the kind of initiative not yet coming from Washington.
The fear-mongering and saber-rattling that U.S. hawks have directed at the Iranian regime make it difficult for some progressive activists in the United States to speak out against the repression of the right-wing theocratic regime in Tehran. Yet, while the military threat posed by Iran is often greatly exaggerated, the repressive nature of the regime is not. Indeed, the absurd notion that these three progressive anti-imperialist activists would be spying for the U.S. government is but one more demonstration of the moral and political bankruptcy of the Iranian regime. And, given that — despite all the extreme anti-Iranian rhetoric — Washington is not doing much in support of these American captives, it’s up the progressive community to organize on their behalf.
Leading progressives such as Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Angela Davis, Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin, Alex Cockburn, Christian Parenti, and the late Howard Zinn have called for their release. As Chomsky put it, "These young people represent a segment of the U.S. population that is critical of [U.S.] policies, and often actively opposed to them. Hence their detention is particularly distressing to all of us who are dedicated to shifting U.S. policy to one of mutual respect rather than domination."
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
somebody wake me when THIS statement is endorsed by Obama, Clinton, Chomsky, Cornel West, Angela Davis, Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin, Alex Cockburn, Christian Parenti and, in the event they might be communicating in the next world, Howard Zinn:
Furkan Dogan, that other American peace activist who ALSO represented “a segment of the U.S. population that is critical of [U.S.] policies, and often actively opposed to them. Hence [his death] is particularly distressing to all of us who are dedicated to shifting U.S. policy to one of mutual respect rather than domination.”
oh — and toss in a little tchotchke for Tristan Anderson and Emily Henochowicz and Rachel Corrie while you’re about it.
PG, I’m with you on that one; I find it somewhat suspicious that unlike to what didn’t happen after the tragedies of Furkan, Anderson,Emily and Rachel that you mentioned, as well as other Americans, now everyone is coming out for the 3 Americans held in Iran and maybe they’re not as innocent as we are assuming. I’m not saying these 3 are guilty and I know Iranians could be holding them for some political capital or other but there is a small doubt in my mind that we’re not getting the full story; young hikers in a war-torn country close to the Iranian border is a little heavy to take. How did the Americans authorize such a trip with the situation in Iraq as volatile as it was? Would young hikers have been permitted to go on a hiking expedition in Vietnam while the war was on close to the borders with North Vietnam?
Iran is still waiting for information on what happened to its 3 diplomats that had been hijacked in Beirut in the early 80s by one of the Christian militias and handed over to its ally Israel. Israel did not want Arad badly enough to cough them up in exchange for him back then as this is what was being negotiated at the time and Iran is probably where Arad ended up.
RE: “…while the military threat posed by Iran is often greatly exaggerated, the repressive nature of the regime is not.” – Zunes
FACEBOOK GROUP – Free the Hikers: Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer, and Sarah Shourd in Solidarity
Category: Common Interest – Current Events
Description: The purpose of this group is to appeal for the quick release of Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd. We are all offering our best wishes, meditations, and blessings for Josh, Shane, and Sarah, and hoping for their prompt return to their families and friends.
LINK – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119471126959
Iran is no innocent.
How many socialists were purged (killed, exiled if they were lucky) following the overthrow of the shah?
How many were killed last year for protesting the election process?
Its a dilemma as to how to advocate for real social justice in a place like that, without endangering many.
Imagine how the death toll could have been avoided or reduced had the Shah not been installed by coup. It is also telling your mention of the deaths and injustices post-Shah, but not a word of the Shah’s history of torture and murder, nor the undemocratic nature of his rise to power.
Do you feel you need to be so dishonestly selective of your facts to try to support your positions?
Could that be an indication that your positions are somewhat weak to begin with?
Why not a “warts and all” examination? Do you at least concede that prior abuses, missteps, and outrages are what brought about the regime you find so reprehensible to power in the first place?
Are you serious Lance?
You can be critical of the US and of Iran in the same breath, and still represent reality.
And a coup will create great suffering and strife for decades after because of unintended consequences. Maybe a good reason to stay out of it and let the people of a given nation determine their course themselves. Bombing Iran into a Western friendly political structure is just more of the previous insanity. Might just further radicalize the region.
If one followed your reasoning in justifying the Israeli massacre in Gaza where you called it self-defense, then by the same token, Iran’s actions were tantamount to self-defense.
you know Witty, that’s one of the major problems emerging from Israel’s incessant propaganda war against Iran: nobody can know with any degree of credibility “how many socialists were purged” and “how many were killed last year for protesting the election process.”
The information stream has become irreparably polluted. Israel does not have exclusive rights to propaganda, but Israel certainly does excel in its use. Imo, abuse of the power of the Word and of communication is one of the most destructive forms of violence; St. John Chrysostom said, “Who sins not with his tongue sins not at all.”
One more reason why Phil Weiss, Jane Hamsher, Glenn Greenwald, Richard Silverstein, Max Blumenthal, Flynt and Hillary Leverett, are the Resistance Movement, the heroes of our day.
Your team has failed, Richard Witty; propaganda is NOT the same as information and the public knows it.
I knew someone that hypothesized that the act was meant to set-up Iran when he first heard of it. To “erroneously” venture across the border in order to garner a response would generate more bad press for Iran. That the students had leftwing activist credentials certainly puts that in a different light, though doesn’t necessarily refute his conjecture entirely as false flag actions often involve plants and moles meant to lend credibility. It does not seem the case here but is always worth remembering.
In the anti-war movement, there were documented examples of undercover law enforcement who infiltrated groups and then sought to incite violence. The same goes for demonstrations where the initiation of violence was done by people not with the activist groups but positioning themselves amongst them to paint them as the source for the violence.
What happened to the ‘youthful idealism’ that Zunes attributes to Commander-in-Chief Barack O’Bomber, who just blood-sacrificed another 21 US troops in his Dick Cheney-style ‘surge’ in Afghanistan?
‘Progressives’ — don’t they just kill you?
I don’t think they are spies. But I have to always be skeptical. I do not KNOW they were not spies. I don’t believe in God, I really think it is extremely doubtful, but I have to leave open the possibility. I am not all knowing.
So having said that, we should consider the remote possibility that they are US agents. (Just like there is the possibility that there is an old white guy with a big white beard looking over all I do). After all, this is Top Secret America with a supervast network as documented by the Washington Post, so large it can’t even keep track of itself.
If we found 3 Iranians on our Canadian border, our government would probably be skeptical. Hell, look what happened to Zeitoun in New Orleans. The point of the article above is that leftists should be against Iran because it is so repressive. And that is true. But then that argument can be turned on its head. Instead of, “They are progressive activists, they are innocent” it can logically become, “They are progressive activists, they are guilty.”
It is unfortunate that they have been held so long. Considering the recent Goldberg article and the ongoing bombing and sanction threats, it seems Iran is holding them as pawns in this larger game. The threats against Iran and the use of hundreds of millions of dollars to destabilize Iran is pretty outrageous, even if they are a heinous regime. No doubt they wish to bite back however they can.
I also recall the 5 Revolutionary Guards that were in Iraq as guests of the Iraqi government. The US detained and held them, or most of them, I believe for over 2 years around 2007. This could be payback for that, albeit unjust payback.
You can not imagine how funny it is that 3 Anti-Israel activists (now 2), are rotting away in an Iranian prison, on charges we all know are bogus.
In fact, they visited Israel without incident, even though the government knew their politics. Even if they crossed the border illegally, they would have been arrested, questioned for a few hours and shown the door. And they would have gone on Democracy Now and told their “harrowing tale”.
I have a feeling that IF they ever get out, they will not go back to Syria to tell everyone that President Assad is good and Israel is evil.