Neda For A Free Iran

In my opinion, the West should use the billions of dollars in aid it gives to offending governments as leverage to stop the persecution of minorities, including faith ones. (The U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has recently indicated that there will be no British aid to countries mistreating religious minorities.)
While the world continues to grapple with the issue of worldwide persecution of Christians, democratic governments must protect our own religious minorities, including those viewed with suspicion by some, and ensure that all can worship, live and work without fear. Author Ayaan Hirsi Ali observes, “the protection of the freedom of conscience and speech . distinguishes free societies from (those that are) unfree...” Presidential candidate John Kennedy made a similar point in 1960: “An attack on one religion is an attack on all.”
This is why it’s prudent to ban the incitement of hatred against identifiable religious and other communities at home, as Canada’s Parliament did years ago in our Criminal Code. Governments which don’t do so often find that the violent groups attacking others eventually turn on the very governments who sought to curry political favour with them by permitting the persecution of minorities.
Human dignity is ultimately indivisible today. It’s through mutual respect that we can build a world in which all peoples, religions and cultures can genuinely feel at home. Harmony and peace can occur in this century only if spiritual communities co-operate. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama--who incidentally will speak later this week in Ottawa—has called for a century of compassion based on equality for all faiths, cultures and peoples. We must all do so as well.

For the past decade, I have maintained that a lasting peace in the middle-east can only come about with the democratic transformation of Iran. This view is shared by many in the Iranian human rights movement. But today, it contends with the looming threat of war, foreshadowing a catastrophe that could set back the region for many years. In this light, how can we best understand the context within which Canada must craft a just and effective foreign policy towards Iran?
With the exclusion of Islamic reformists, the prospect of gradual change within the existing system has become increasingly remote. Iran has become a mercantile-militaristic state – as much a kleptocracy as a theocracy – intensifying the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the regime’s enforcers: the IRGC Revolutionary Guards. This radicalization is reflected in the dramatic increase of show trials and hate propaganda, widespread imprisonment and torture of dissidents, and an alarming rate of executions. According to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, there were at least 59 executions in January of this year alone. The picture that emerges is that of a regime terrorizing its citizens for want of power; a regime that is weak and fighting for its survival.