User:Inahet/Iran

Anti-Arabism among Iranians
I have made some additions to the article you proposed:

(A)Anti-Arabism in Iran is related to the notion that Arabs forced Persians to accept Islam in 7th Century AD.

(B)Anti-Arab sentiment among Iranians can range from distrust to outright hatred. There are some who advocate purging Arabic culture and even Arab civilians from Iran. Racial-based politics are limited to a number of small factions in Iranian society and are not believed to be popular in the mainstream. Such advocates include popular Iranian media outlets like The Persian Journal. They suggest ways of "de-Arabizing" Iran:

(C) "
 * 1- Take out Arabic words from your language as much as possible.
 * 2- Do not listen to any speaker who uses too many Arabic words, especially the Mullahs.
 * 3- Try to explain for as many as possible people around you, starting from the family members, and extending to the people you meet at work place, neighborhood and so on and take any occasion to explain that Iranians are not Arabs.
 * 4- Explain your Iranian sentiments about the nomadic Arabs who invaded Iran in every occasion.
 * 5- Do not let the issues about Islam, as a religion, which is like any other, block your view about the barbaric Arabs who plundered Iran and changed the fate of a civilized nation to the course of nomadic Arabs.
 * 6- Find new ways to do this task and let others know them.

(D)None of the main political groups either in Iran or in the Iranian diaspora make Anti-Arabism a part of their agenda, even if Arabs often feel excluded from these movements. However, president Khatami’s former Vice President, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, was running for election on an anti-Arab platfrom. Abtahi had also written a letter to the government departments proposing a process of eliminating Arabs and Arab culture from Khuzestan. This letter sparked protests among Khuzestani Arabs in April of 2005.

(E)Anti-Arab Iranians may also share anti-Islam feelings. They oppose any Arab or Islamic influence and elements in Iranian culture and they advocate a process of "De-arabization" of Iranian culture, in which Persian words of Arabic origin are removed from the language, the Arabic script is replaced with the Latin script, and the rejection of Islamic customs (which are perceived to be Arab in origin). Some even advocate the expulsion of Arab people from Iran.You need a source here

(F)Anti-Arab prejudice was inflamed by the hostilities between Iran and Iraq. Iranians Arabs were mistrusted and accused by fellow Iranians for supporting and collaborating with Iraqi forces in the Iraq invasion of Iran of (year). However, many Iranians have stressed the role Arabs played in defending Iran during the Iran-Iraq War.

(G)Furthermore, many anti-Arab Iranians begrudge Arabs for bringing down the Sassanid Empire. Author Richard Foltz in his article "Internationalization of Islam" states "Even today, many Iranians perceive the Arab destruction of the Sassanid empire as the single greatest tragedy in Iran’s long history.

Discussion:

Dear Ahwaz, Section E seems redundant since the points presented has been stressed in sections B and C. The words that are in bold are suggestions, feel free to delete them if you don't think that they belong there. Also I think we have to reorder the sections. I think there is enough information, but we should include information on the Anti-Arab policies of the Iranian government as you have mentioned if I'm not wrong. I hope to do this in the next couple of days. --Inahet

Sources:
 * ETHNIC TENSION IN KHUZESTAN ,

BINESH HASSANPOUR -SHAHRVAND ISSUE 983 5/3/05,

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Ethnic Tension in Khuzestan Binesh Hassanpour After three weeks of clashes between ethnic Iranian Arabs and security forces in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, tensions remain high, and many questions remain unanswered. A letter allegedly written by President Khatami’s former Vice President, Mohammad Ali Abtahi in 1999, seems to have sparked the protests by the Iranian Arab population, the province’s ethnic majority. On April 15, approximately 1,000 demonstrators gathered in central Ahvaz (Shalang Abad) to protest about the contents of a letter that had been circulated throughout the city since April 9. Although the authenticity of the letter has been vigorously denied by Abtahi, and the government of the Islamic Republic, it has infuriated Khuzestan’s Arabs. The letter outlines a programme with a number of measures intended to diminish the Arab population and language in Khuzestan, by forcing Arabs to emigrate, and encouraging the immigrating of non-Arabs into the province. (See the end of the article for a complete English translation). “Anyone who read the letter,” said Abtahi, “will realize that such a decision. . . cannot be implemented in Iran .” Abtahi has been accused of advocating anti-Arab politics before. Mahmud Ahmad al-Ahwazi, the official spokesman for the London based Popular Democratic Front of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran, told the Qatar based al-Jazeera news agency that, “Abtahi. . . campaigned for election on the anti-Arab platform – telling local Iranians that Ahwazis would be prevented from buying land within 20km of the [Iraqi] border.” Anti-Arabism is not unfamiliar to Iranians – what’s disconcerting to those who recognize the danger of racism, is the growth of such positions, and the escalation of tensions between parties within the Iranian population. Arab advocate groups based outside Iran mention, as an example of anti-Arabism in Iran, the severe underdevelopment of Arab areas within Iran, and the government’s tendency to under-fund programmes that would benefit Arabs. [B]Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani, an ethnic Arab, was in the region and admitted the plight of Arabs in Khuzestan, but laid the blame of underdevelopment on the destruction the Iran-Iraq War (1980-‘88) brought, when the province was invaded.

Dear Inahet,

Here are some articles that mention the ethnic cleansing of Arabs in Khuzestan:

Michael Ledeen: "Worst of all is the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing directed against the Ahwaz Arabs in Khuzestan, where up to three divisions of the army, the Revolutionary Guards, and the infamous thugs of the Basij have been deployed, following the sabotage of a major oil pipeline by anti-regime dissidents. Radio Farda, our official Farsi-language station, quoted a local journalist, Mr. Mojtaba Gehestani, who says that 28,000 Ahwazi Arabs have been jailed in the past ten months, hundreds have been summarily executed, and many corpses have been fished out of the Karoon River, with telltale marks of torture. Nonetheless, the regime’s interior minister recently announced that there is no "ethnic problem or issue" in Iran today." http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200603280728.asp

Paulo Casaca MEP "... ethnic cleansing by the Iranian authorities of the Ahwazi people in the South-Western region of Khuzestan" http://www.cafebabel.com/en/article.asp?T=A&Id=1626

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation "Ethnic Cleansing in Full Force in Iran ... The regime is encouraging ethnic Persians to settle on the land confiscated from Ahwazi Arab farmers by placing advertisements in Farsi-speaking provinces and cities. The adverts promise cheap fully furnished apartments with all amenities, which is in stark contrast to the squalor of the slums and villages where most Ahwazi Arabs reside ... The land confiscation programme - including the Arvand Free Zone - is in line with the "ethnic restructuring" programme outlined in a top secret letter written by Sayed Mohammad-Ali Abtahi when he served as Iran's Vice-President. The letter was leaked to the international media last year, prompting the April intifada in Al-Ahwaz." http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=06&par=3857