An Insult that Began In Iran

I am an Iranian journalist. I do not care whether Israel was the “main loser” of the Columbia University event or not; whether the president of Columbia University will retain his high post or not. Rather than being concerned with “political manners,” I am concerned with reality. And reality says: prior to appearing at Columbia, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was insulted and belittled in Tehran. He set himself up when he disrespected the Iranian nation.

There is a rumor that Mrs. Haleh Esfandiari was released from jail in exchange for Ahmadinejad giving a speech at Columbia. It is unclear whether that rumor is true or not. But even if it is not, who can deny the President’s passionate desire to appear in news headlines?

Let us revisit the speech that was delivered at one of the world’s most prominent universities. I am interested to see what a president that has been called “Socrates” and “miracle of the third millennium” has to say in Columbia.

To give credit where it is due, Ahmadinejad’s translator added all of her emotions to the translation. She lowered and raised her voice and changed the rhythm of her speech. But what else can be done with a simple high school essay? Sentences like, “[c]orrupted independent human beings resist acceptance of reality,” and “I wanted to go to the site of the September 11th tragedy to show respect to the victims of the tragedy,” are of no use in an academic community, especially when people are ready to hurray when they hear “petty and cruel dictator.”

Was it necessary to go to Columbia to ask to “Holocaust” questions that have been raised a thousand times in the past two years? Especially when a considerable number of students – who are not necessarily Zionists and perhaps have not even been to Israel – are wearing yamaka’s to indicate their faith?

Was Mr. Ahmadinejad the representative of Iranian people or the Palestinian people? Was this a chance given to Maqtada Sadr and Hammas or the President of Iran?

No, the problem was not that. The problem was that a person, who says hearts must be free of hatred, resides over a government that subjects students to solitary confinement and tortures that shock the country’s own minister of justice. The country’s publications are shut down one after another only because they do not praise the government enough – let alone criticize it on anything. The problem is that the President says in Iran we kiss our mothers’ hands, but young women who peacefully pursue their rights are sentenced to torture and flogging. The problem is that he says we do not have homosexuals in Iran, ignoring what goes on in the Daneshjoo Park. The problem is that we speak of knowledge and science but keep our academics under house arrest. The problem is that we speak of free elections but appoint a military commander to oversee them.

I can go on and on. But suffice to say that Mr. Ahmadinejad, before he even set foot on Columbia, set himself up for disrespect and insult when his agents beat student activist Ehsan Mansouri so brutally that his mother’s tears have not yet stopped.

After that entire shameful escapade, I only look at a placard that says: “Neither is Ahmadinejad Iran, nor Bush America.”