Arrests in the USA and the response
Interview
with Ali Javadi
December
30, 2002
The USA has recently arrested hundreds
of the Iranians and many others born in the Middle East residing in the USA. What
are the USA government's objectives?
Ali Javadi: With the September 11 atrocity, the world entered a
dark and bloody era. The war that the USA administration calls the 'war on
terrorism' is in fact the beginning of a war between two poles of reactionary
Islamic and state terrorism. One of the consequences of the September 11
atrocity is the attempt by the ruling USA administration to turn American
society towards the Right. This is part of the battle to define the details of
the New World Order and accordingly give meaning to the 'internal' dimensions
of this reactionary order. The general path of such efforts is through the imposition
of much more police control and restricting the civil rights and prerogatives of
citizens. All these restrictions and police controls are pushed forward under
the pretext of 'people’s security' and 'internal security'. On the other hand,
in its war against political Islam, it was expected that the USA ruling
administration will impose more police control and restrictions on the citizens
of Islam-ridden societies and Iranians in the United States. The people who
have themselves been victims of Islamic terrorism or fled this reaction
suddenly find themselves victims of the war of the terrorists. The USA did this
during the 2nd World War too. Japanese residents of the USA were
rounded up and taken to 'concentration camps' in an inhumane act. In my
opinion, within this framework, these are the objectives of the USA government;
it will continue to pursue them in the future.
What has been the response and protests
to these arrests?
Ali Javadi: A local radio station, which occasionally deals with
social issues of Iranian immigrants called for a demonstration
on Wednesday of last week. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees
(IFIR) also called on progressive Iranian people to take part in this demonstration
with the slogans of 'Freedom for all Detainees', 'An Immediate end to mass
Detentions,' 'No-one is Illegal,' 'No to Islamic Terrorism, No to USA state
Terrorism' and 'Down with the Islamic Republic of Iran.' The social fabric of
the participants in the demonstration was particularly different from other
demonstrations in this city. The presence of the young generation was
noticeable. Two generations of Iranian immigrants residing in Los Angeles that took
part in the demonstration, both those who were born in America and those who had
left Iran because of the dark rule of the Islamic Republic, saw the action of
the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) as inhumane. The press
release issued by the Worker-communist Party of Iran and the IFIR was very well
received.
The Islamic Republic tried to pose as
the defender of the detainees and the BBC announced that ‘Muslims’ were arrested
and that Iranians had demonstrated. What is your assessment of these attempts?
Ali Javadi: The Islamic Republic of Iran tried to take advantage of
these protests. The regime's 2nd Khordad faction (also known as the
reformists), the Tudeh-ists, the Fedayeen Majority and other supporters of the
Islamic regime followed the same policy. Clearly, their attempts had nothing to
do with the essence of this protest. The aim and objective of the Islamic thugs
and their supporters are clear; they are promoting their own policies. The BBC
however, provided them with the publicity they wanted. The BBC announced that:
‘the detention of Muslims was met with a demonstration by Iranians.' To falsify
the fact and reality is part of the BBC's job specification. In this saga, no
one was arrested for believing in Islam. This action of the BBC is another
example of the very same policy that brought Khomeini from the depths of
political Islam's sewage to the forefront of Iranian politics, called him the
'leader' of the revolution, called the people's revolution 'Islamic' and
employed its broadcasting machinery in the service and support of the despicable
Islamic movement. Some of the USA extreme-right media also tried to portray the
same image of the protests. They tried to portray these protests as being in
the camp of the Islamists and not the protest of the civilised world against the
inhumane and right wing policy of the US ruling administration. The massive
majority of the people who took part in this demonstration are those who day
and night are cursing the Islamic regime.
How different was the reaction of the
Monarchists and the right wing opposition to the people’s protests against the
detentions and what is your assessment of these reactions?
Ali Javadi: The reaction of this rank was amazing! In their bizarro-world there is nothing outside the two camps of
reactionary Islamic terrorism and state terrorism; there is nothing called
civilised and progressive humanity. Exactly like the USA right wing circles,
and to justify their policy, they linked these protests to the Islamic regime
and groups associated with them. Some of their circles, in the same manner of
the fascist US attorney general, openly defended the inhumane policy of the USINS.
The situation was so bad that Reza Pahlavi, was forced
to write to George Bush ten days later and ask for a softening of the detention
policy while asking for US support for himself in order to save face! The
Monarchists and generally the grouping that does not have any other means of
achieving power apart from guns, tanks, cruise missiles and the USA propaganda
machinery could not be seen to side with this protest. In the war of the
terrorists, they are unconditionally on the side of the USA and Israeli state
terrorism. The right wing US government is their only saviour and hope to get
to the throne. Their hysterical propaganda is because of their policy. Do they
have any history of defending the civil rights of the people during their time
in power? The people have not forgotten the SAVAK machinery and denial of even
smallest of civil rights during their rule.
The above is an interview conducted in
Persian by International Weekly number 139 dated December 27, 2002. It was
first published in English in WPI Briefing number 89 dated December 30, 2002.