Yesterday our Iranian citizen’s diplomacy group had a conference call to meet each other and 
discuss pertinent issues before our departure for Iran. During the course of the discussion about appropriate dress for women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sanaz, our trip coordinator, pointed out that “Iranian women can push the envelope, but American women need to respect legal and cultural norms.” This might be a good piece of advice for Americans in the political arena as well. It was a lesson that we neglected to heed in our rush to install western democracy in Iraq. We seem to be going down the same path in our call for “regime change” in Iran. Iraq had and Iran still has a large relatively wealthy, 
educated population who would like to see changes in their political and economic situation. While it may be difficult for the poor uneducated populations of authoritarian counties like Zimbabwe to effect change, the people of Iraq probably would have and the people of Iran probably will figure it out without an invasion or a second CIA coup. Many Iranians are working within legal and cultural norms of Iran to effect change and “push the envelope”. You can see this happening in these pictures and by visiting blog sites like “View from Iran”. (To see click here or on the link to the left- I recommend it) As Tom Friedman pointed out in a recent column “Probably the best thing that we can do to effect change in Iran is to issue 50,000 student visas to Iranian students.”
discuss pertinent issues before our departure for Iran. During the course of the discussion about appropriate dress for women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sanaz, our trip coordinator, pointed out that “Iranian women can push the envelope, but American women need to respect legal and cultural norms.” This might be a good piece of advice for Americans in the political arena as well. It was a lesson that we neglected to heed in our rush to install western democracy in Iraq. We seem to be going down the same path in our call for “regime change” in Iran. Iraq had and Iran still has a large relatively wealthy, 
educated population who would like to see changes in their political and economic situation. While it may be difficult for the poor uneducated populations of authoritarian counties like Zimbabwe to effect change, the people of Iraq probably would have and the people of Iran probably will figure it out without an invasion or a second CIA coup. Many Iranians are working within legal and cultural norms of Iran to effect change and “push the envelope”. You can see this happening in these pictures and by visiting blog sites like “View from Iran”. (To see click here or on the link to the left- I recommend it) As Tom Friedman pointed out in a recent column “Probably the best thing that we can do to effect change in Iran is to issue 50,000 student visas to Iranian students.” 
2 comments:
I wonder how your trip went?
I think your guide, Sanaz, gave you bad advice about hejab. “Iranian women can push the envelope, but American women need to respect legal and cultural norms.” American women should push the envelope on hejab. There is no reason for them to dress more conservatively than Iranian women.
Dear Marcia and Don,
So great to hear about your travels and to know you are safe. I will forward your articles to VOW.
Stay well and safe.
Love,
Ellen
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