Various Flavors of Activism

[Guest guest]

Various Flavors of Activism

Below is an article about the Iranians response to national

geographic's gaffe regarding the Persian gulf. just imagine for a

second if this were put into an Indian context. Put in the word

Indian instead of Iranian and compare the response of India's 'elite

secular' establishment to a similar hypothetical case. The fact is

around the world people have cultural pride but only in India is

there an established system dedicated to downgrading, demonizing or

trivializing this cultural pride.

 

It is also interesting to note the 8000+ signatures on behalf of the

Shankaracharya. Compare that to the 263,390 signatures that have

been collected in defense of a US Marine that killed a near-dead

insurgent or the 47,000 signatures collected by Iranian activists in

defense of the name 'Persian Gulf.' The Indian response appears

tepid and weak in comparison.

 

Lets also highlight the dedication of that 'Orange' bannered

activism we have seen so much of lately. The massive outpouring and

flooding into the streets. The Unity and common sense of purpose of

those engaged in the peaceful blockades of the centers of power.The

willingness to bring a nation to a halt until their demands are met.

What 'orange' bannered activists, one may ask.

 

No not the Hindu activists of India but the Ukranian activists.

There in the Ukraine, activists, united under flags and banners of

orange, have stood up and the world listened. Meanwhile, the

other 'orange' bannered activists, the Hindus are still trying to

explain why its ok to have pride in their culture and why its not ok

to treat a cultural leader as a common criminal.

Vrndavan Parker

 

Geographic's Gulf gaffe has Iranians irate

 

By Frank D. Roylance

The Baltimore Sun

or thousands of years, the people of ancient Persia and their

descendants in modern Iran have called it the Persian Gulf.

 

But the National Geographic Society's mapmakers noticed that some

U.S. military agencies and other map gazers use the name "Arabian

Gulf" for the body of water on Iran's southwestern shore.

 

So they altered the 8th Edition of the society's influential Atlas

of the World to include Arabian Gulf as an alternate name (in

parentheses) under the traditional title.

 

That has landed them in hot water with Iranians from Los Angeles to

Iran. Not to mention the Iranian government, which on Tuesday banned

National Geographic's publications and journalists from the country

until the organization "corrects" the atlas.

 

The anger had been brewing for weeks. "A spit in us Iranians'

faces!!" says Padina Abbaspour in a reader-review of the atlas on

the Amazon.com Web site. "This is you people trying to change and

alter History and what is written down for generations!!"

 

Deep cultural pride

 

The emotion reflects Iranians' deep pride in their own ancient

culture, and a long history of enmity toward regional Arab powers

such as Iraq, with which Iran fought a bloody eight-year war in the

1980s.

 

National Geographic has received thousands of e-mails on the

subject, and Amazon.com has posted hundreds of reader reviews of the

$165 atlas, mostly from angry Iranians.

 

"We try to retain our independent judgment and not to be swayed by a

response from a group with a particular interest," Carroll says. In

a statement on the society's Web site, he defends the atlas but

promises to add "explanatory" and "clarifying language" to future

editions.

 

 

 

 

Carroll has seen similar uproars before. "For instance, the Sea of

Japan. ... The Koreans want us to use the term East Sea," he says.

And the new atlas includes East Sea in parentheses.

 

Other insults alleged

 

Iranians are alleging other mapmaking insults, including a

description of three tiny islands in the Gulf. Designated as Iranian

in the last edition of the atlas, this time they're labeled

as "Occupied by Iran" but "claimed by the UAE (United Arab

Emirates)."

 

That change triggered this online eruption from an entity in Los

Angeles called the Iran National Front USA: "The enemies of Iran

should know, so long as there is one Iranian alive with blood

pumping through his or her heart, even the thought of taking one

grain of Iranian soil, will strongly be opposed and defeated. Long

Live Iran."

 

Experts agree that the name Persian Gulf, or Khalij-e Pars, predates

Arabian Gulf by a long shot. "The earliest references stemmed from

the time of the Sumerian rulers in the 3rd century B.C. That ought

to be old enough to establish it," said James Bill, an Iranian

specialist at the College of William and Mary.

 

British cartographers adopted the name Persian Gulf at the turn of

the last century when the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed to

tap Iranian oil, James E. DiLisio, professor of geography at Towson

University, says. When Standard Oil of California found oil on the

Arabian side of the Gulf, he says, the Americans began using Arabian

Gulf on their maps in deference to their hosts.

 

Pan-Arab nationalists adopted the use of Arabian Gulf in the 1950s

as an icon of their movement.

 

"There's nothing people get more exercised about than the names of

things," Bill says.

 

Some organizations simply call it "the Gulf" to avoid ruffling

feathers, which also angers Iranians. "History is not a commodity

you buy at Wal-Mart and discard after you get your immediate use out

of it," says Mojtaba Aghamohammadi, an Iranian-born professor of

diversity studies at the University of Phoenix. Iranians

identify "existentially" with the name Persian Gulf, he argues,

and "when you mess with people's identity, that's when war begins."

 

 

2004 The Seattle Times Company