Journalist discusses Iranian politics

Iran's political culture is more vibrant than most Western democracies, journalist Danny Postel told students during a lecture in Woodburn Hall Tuesday night. \nIranian intellectuals continue to debate Western political philosophers, including Isaiah Berlin and Hannah Arendt, to reach a consensus about the future direction of Iran, he said.\nSome of the most passionate proponents of secularism, Postel said, are deeply religious Muslims who see the damage that the Iranian Revolution and the current government have done for the image of the Islamic religion -- merely political Islam -- among Iranian youth.\nPostel is a Chicago-based journalist and a senior editor at openDemocracy, a political and cultural journal Web site at www.opendemocracy.net.\nHe was invited to IU by political science professor Jeffrey Isaac to speak about his most recent book, "Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran: Iran and the Future of Liberalism," and about the political climate in Iran.\nPostel warned the attention paid to Iranian human-rights activists and democratic reformists by American neoconservative leaders will only have a damaging effect on their cause.\nHe said activists are fearful of being seen as allies of American interests in Iran, so they seek to distance themselves from U.S. government rhetoric.\n"Neocon rhetoric puts Iranian human-rights activists and progressives in an impossible position," he said. "... The best gift that could have been given to (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad was the neocons."\nHowever, even members of the hard-line Iranian government recognize that politically liberal values are not mere Western impositions, Postel said.\n"Ideas of feminism and participatory secular democracy have been circulating in Iran for 150 years," he said. "Liberalism is more deeply entrenched in Iranian society than Khomeinism" -- the Islamist theory of government promoted by the late Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1950s.\nAhmadinejad himself recognized that in a speech given last summer upon announcing a purge of liberal and secular professors from Iranian universities. He argued for the need to uproot these philosophical ideas, "which have influenced Iran for 150 years," Postel quoted the Iranian president as saying.\nEven so, because of the danger in the current political climate, some Iranian activists have publicly rejected the support of Western governments and have asked instead for the assistance of international organizations and the moral support of the global community, Postel concluded.\nMore of Postel's writings, including interviews with well-known activists and political figures, can be found on his Web site, www.postelservice.com.