Iranian Nation:'Walking Down Death Row'*

...

Walking down death row,

I turned the corner and found to my surprise;

There were women there as well,

With babies in their arms, before my eyes.

...

The spaghetti like network of narrow lanes and alleys in south of Tehran metropolitan, locate thousands of small houses barely bigger than 40-50 square meters. The poor and low income families living in this part of the city used to be and still are the stronghold of religious clerics ruling Iran for more than two decades. These lanes which bear the names of thousands of young soldiers and volunteers killed in the eight year war between Iran and Iraq (shohada') reveal the cost for supporting the system. Beside this cost, these people have been under the toughest pressures of life in Iran. The increasing shrinkage of middle class has added to the number of people living in this area. Unemployment, drugs, prostitution and crimes are the least to be mentioned of their troubles.

In recent presidential election held in June 2005, the biggest number of voters for Mr Ahmadi-nejad has been from this very part of the city. Frustrated with the words of Freedom and Democracy repeated by the former president Mohammad Khatami (when hungry, Freedom is just a luxury!) and the reformists supporting him, they preferred to cling to the promises of a new man in the arena, speaking about bringing the oil money to the tables and getting back to the values of the Revolution. Mr Ahmadi-nejad whom even now is unknown personally, looked similar in appearance to ordinary people, spoke in the language they comprehended and behaved so humble. Despite all the analyses he was the one who won the race and joined to the circle of power in Iran.

Now seven months in office, Ahmadi-nejad hasn't revealed much of his plans and still is looked upon as a humble decent man willing to work in benefit of the people if is given an opportunity. That's the reason many believe that Mr Ahmadi-nejad should be given a chance to practice the promises he has made

Of the challenges the government of new president faces, is the nuclear row. He and the whole system have withstood uncompromising and are strongly defending the right of the country for having nuclear energy. The strange thing is that, although usually the biggest majority of Iranians are inconsistent to the views of the top rank officials, the issue of nuclear energy has turned to be a matter of national pride for most of the people. They are backing the official stance and support the challenging words of the president against the threats of West.

At the other side, the Bush administration is accusing the Islamic government to cooperate and having links to terrorists and is calling Iran ' the biggest threat against the United States'. Beside American President and the foreign secretary, the US envoy to UN are expressing their concern about Iranians ability in developing nukes and using it against the vital interests of the United States.

Just like Mr Ahmadi-nejad and Iranian government zigzagging in haze, the US administration has not clarified the punishments they plan to impose on Iran. Words are heard about 'smart sanctions', 'air strikes' and 'political pressures' when never it is mentioned any details on them.

Whatever the punishments the US and the West plan for Iran, the main target would be the Iranian people which is forgotten to be concerned about by both sides. The national radio and TV run by the government is fulfilling a vast propaganda in favor of nuclear energy. The independent dailies are warned to be extremely cautious when writing about this issue. They usually avoid even hinting to it. The independent critics prefer to keep quite these days and reject to be interviewed. When beside the official voice, nothing is heard inside the country, the people can not judge on the consequences of the circumstances in a correct or real way. They are blind on the price they are going to pay. If the people could be given a chance to be enlightened on the real effects of sanctions, embargos and air strikes , just as what their neighbors in Iraq have gone through, the views could be changed considerably. Now, in the absence of knowledge and awareness, primarily this is Iranian nation walking down the death row.

*Name of a song by legendary folk singer-songwriter Pete Seeger.