In defence of Walberg article (letter to People's Voice)

In defence of Walberg article

(Letter to People's Voice, Feb 1-14 2013)

A letter to the editor (“Article gives wrong impression of the Iran regime”, People’s Voice, Dec. 1- 31, 2012) complains that the article “Canada’s toxic spill of anti-native racism” by Eric Walberg from November, about Canadian native activists getting a voice in OPEC, portrays Iran “in a very positive light and characterizes it as democratic.” But the article doesn’t anywhere call Iran democratic. Rather, the article exposes the imperialist double standard in calling Iran undemocratic while Harper suppresses Native voices and the EU bans Iranian television, something very different from characterizing Iran as democratic.

Further, the letter-writer mischaracterizes “vilayet-e-faqih” (vice-regency of jurists) as being appointed by “fellow mullahs” and above parliament. In fact the Assembly of Experts is directly elected by the voters, and while there is a law specifying they have to be religious scholars, this is not in the Constitution and is being legally challenged. There is also a Guardian Council, which is above parliament, but only half the members are appointed religious scholars, the rest are lawyers with secular specialties elected by parliament itself.

The letter-writer expresses concern about communists losing credibility, but surely credibility requires being accurate about facts? Inaccurate information does not serve the cause of international solidarity with the Iranian people. Rather, both international solidarity and our credibility are best served by countering imperialism’s propaganda, as Eric Walberg has done.

The letter-writer suggests that Walberg and others have joined “that league of the enemy of my enemy is my friend” because they are bribed by Iran’s public relations budget. Perhaps instead of speculating about Walberg’s motives we should pay more careful attention to the suppressed information he is bringing us. This is why I hope you print more articles by Walberg and PressTV.

Perhaps Walberg was right the first time, that Iran is not the enemy the demonization of war propaganda would have us believe.

S. Saleh Waziruddin,

Niagara Falls, ON