by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog
Like illegally jailed PressTV anchor Marzieh Hashemi, I am a journalist at Iran’s PressTV and also a dual-citizen of Iran and the US, with family in both countries. So should I cancel my next trip to the United States, then?
Well, I refuse to.
I visit the US at least once a year, and nothing could possibly prevent me from returning whenever I want – full stop.
So I take a special interest in the illegal and immoral 10-day detention of my PressTV colleague by the United States FBI, and not merely because it would certainly start my next vacation on the wrong foot.
Frankly, I was not terribly worried for Marzieh, and you – kind reader – should not worry for me: Marzieh and I have both surely always known that working for Iran would cause us problems in the West eventually. We would be naive to think otherwise, given the West’s brutal, deadly, illegal, inhumane, four-decade war on Iran – we knew what we were getting into (and were proud to do so).
I wish it had been me instead of Marzieh, but the US really took on the harder case: Marzieh is 59 years old, and in journalism that is very rare these days, given the fact that young, cheap labor is prioritised over experienced, difficult, knowledgeable, older journalists who are much more difficult for editors to control. I was certain that Marzieh would remain principled during her detention: in fact, I imagined Marzieh’s attitude towards her captors was akin to Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies: “Go ahead – make my day.”
Such is the combative, defiant, principled outlook of a good journalist, and Marzieh certainly is that. Her place is empty at PressTV, but, Insh’Allah, she will return soon.
So who among us is next to be arrested?
Is it me? Is it one of my PressTV colleagues working in the United States? Is it one of our journalists working in a country allied with the US?
Or what about journalists for Russia’s RT or Venezuela’s Telesur? The leftist press in the US is certainly never found in any of their Mainstream Media – they are usually “fake-leftist” – but are American anti-imperialist & anti-capitalist journalists going to be chilled into silence?
Perhaps. Producing this chilling effect is the only plausible motivation I can come up with for Washington’s decision. Arresting Marzieh was only a major disgrace on the international level – but the US simply does not care.
I think that was the real motive behind the arrest: when it comes to Iran, the US simply does not care and will do anything, no matter how unprincipled. Look at Washington’s pulling out of the JCPOA on Iran’s nuclear energy agreement after years of multinational work and promises – Washington’s word means nothing. They have no honor. Indeed, they will arrest a grandmother if it can possibly hurt Iran; or if it can embolden other Western nations to similarly harass PressTV journalists.
Washington behaves without honor precisely because they are so very, very desperate to hurt Iran – obviously, the US has lost, is losing, and feels it will continue to lose in its undemocratic and shameful efforts to topple the popular 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution.
The US wants to show Iran it can act with impunity. News flash: Iranians already knew that! But Washington keeps willfully ignoring Iran’s collective response: Iran will not stop, no matter how many of our commercial airliners are shot down, how many foreign groups are encouraged to wage terrorism inside Iran, no matter how inhuman the economic siege, no matter how many journalists are arrested, etc.
The Iranian Revolution is not strong just because of the massive economic and democratic redistributions it undoubtedly created and cemented – it is strong because of its culture. This culture of resisting fear, intimidation, oppression, imperialism and arrogance is up, down and all around Iran and has been since 1979. Marzieh has discussed, defended, criticised and encouraged revolutionary social-economic-political culture during her work at PressTV – these acts of political modernity are the only reasons why the US arrested her. Indeed, there are very few people like her in the US! This is why Iran wants her back right away – Iran appreciates how special she is.
Iran is not so very unique: false sonic attacks in Cuba, napalm in Vietnam, bombing dikes to force agricultural famine in North Korea, funding fascists in China, economic sabotage in the USSR…any country which had a revolution after 1917, and is thus socialist-inspired and opposed to backwards, 1%-protecting Liberal Democracy, has faced or is still facing war from Washington.
It’s important to note that I write “Washington”, because Iran is not at war with the American People. That would mean that they are at war with Marzieh and myself – we ARE American! I will never not return to the US because I am American! I simply must re-connect with it periodically, and if it means a stay in jail…well, jails are a huge part of American culture, after all.
Especially for African-Americans, and that only added another layer of disgrace in their treatment of Marzieh. The aspect of racism in this case is noted from top to bottom in Iran and elsewhere, even if US media is too cowardly and intimidated to even mention it. Israel doesn’t like to mention their own Apartheid, either. Iran, however, freed the African-American embassy workers and diplomats during the hostage crisis in 1979 because their oppression has been appallingly obvious for not just decades but centuries.
My work at PressTV (and I think Marzieh feels the same) is in order to benefit ALL people and not just Iranians. It is not a crime. My work from France is not anti-French, either: it is expressly designed to benefit the French most of all! What PressTV allows me to do is to give voice to those many, many French people who say that Paris is pursuing economic and foreign policies which are against French values and which hurt not just France but the entire world. Alas, just like Washington, France’s elite calls such people “propagandists”, “agitators” or sometimes even “terrorists” – it is nonsensical, sad, and doomed to failure.
If Iran was the one crushing the US with sanctions and Cold War – doing everything it could on a macroeconomic level to cause the most suffering possible to the greatest number of people – I would certainly be working for PBS or National Public Radio. Marzieh and I, and the other dual-citizens of PressTV, are NOT disloyal – it is the US government which betrays their People with their treatment of Iran (but, of course, not only Iran).
The US has not made and cannot make a criminal out of Marzieh – they have proven she is a true patriot of both Iran AND the US.
I always knew she was.
And I see no contradiction whatsoever. Those who do foolishly conflate “patriotism” with “jingoism”. Marzieh, allegedly arrested for her role as a journalist filming a Black Lives Matter demonstration in St. Louis, was doing what any patriotic American with her training would do: documenting injustices which are not only anti-American but against Americans themselves.
So whatever nefarious plots the US has in store for me upon my next return: I am aware of history, I read the paper and I am quite lucky to say that I have talked with, learned from and been inspired by Marzieh Hashemi – I am neither surprised nor afraid. I will continue to work for the cause of humanity and the related causes Iran stands for: Muslim democracy, anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, anti-privileges, Islamic feminism and anti-sectarianism (racial, ethnic, religious, etc.).
The arrest of Marzieh proves to us Americans that Washington is not defending our uniquely American morals, laws and priorities: freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from unlawful search and seizure, freedom of due process, the guarantee to equal protection under the law for all citizens and other rights which are both found in our US Constitution, American law and American custom.
If Washington would adopt Iran’s modern political struggles and actually defend America’s beliefs – instead of attacking both – what a wonderful world it could be!
Marzieh Hashemi has been freed, finally – that was the first step Washington had to take. The second necessary step is to listen to her.
Stop the West’s war on Iran!
Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for PressTV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. His work has appeared in various journals, magazines and websites, as well as on radio and television. He can be reached on Facebook.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Bush 43> “Just a godxxm piece of paper”.
It is good to know precisely what to expect from what sort of people rule occupied US.
Amendment 2, Well regulated Militia… (means adult males of fighting age have military arms in their possession)
“They” are victims of their own policy of terror…
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment XIV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
I hear you Ramin. And you have proved what it means to be a Patriot – of the People.
But of course we worry about you.
We are with you brother! Washington clique is what it is; satanic organization with endless funds and appetite for destruction and oppression. Arresting journalist in a “free west world” is a sign of things to come. We already have News Guard plugin, and likely, more sophisticated (undetectable) censorship methods will surely be implemented very soon.
They’re like a thuggish big gang now, if they are not kidnapping a Chinese party princess, then they are detaining an important journalist from Iran.
…a journalist WORKING for Iranian PressTV, who happens to be a natural born US citizen, Trumpetting older pedigree than The US president himself. Marzieh is a distant descendent of kidnapped African-American slaves, who converted. She is now proven to be considered a second-class citizen by Donald Tramp, as her ancestors were by his predecessors.
Thank you, Ramin Mazaheri. I initially had doubts that Iran’s 1979 was socially inspired. As a spiritual Marxist anti-imperialist socialist/communist, I see now that every anti-imperialist revolution beginning with and after the great October revolution in Russia, was a rupture in the very fabric or matrix of international global capitalism. Marx, In his masterful critique Of Hegel, the “Economic and Phiosophic Manuscripts” describes the difference between atheism which he calls “theoretical humanism” and communism or “practical humanism” which can only be realized by the abolition of private property. Only in real communism can humanity realize it’s full spiritual potential. Marx is not interested in atheism which is a kind of inverse metaphysics. What Marx is interested in, is the praxis of the abolition of private bourgeois property. This aspect of Marx is unfortunately not well known. There is no perfect revolution, mistakes will be made and setbacks will enevitably happen as well as many unintended consequences, but that is the reality of life. Nevertheless, for humanity to survive, it must move forward and never give in to the forces of capital and power. The global working class will always be the catalyst of socialist revolution, despite the anti-class analysis of the post-modern so-called “cultural Marxists.” 2019 is shaping up to be a pivital year for the global socialist revolution. The neoliberal capitalist plantation is slowing down and heading for a global recession. The French yellow vest protesters are setting an example for the working class everywhere. The Mexican autoworkers are having a massive strike and are linking up with the striking autoworkers in the US. In India, millions are protesting the neoliberal Modi BJP government’s austerity policies. With over a billion people, a socialist revolution could change the course of world history. Islamic socialist Iran must express solidarity with the world’s working class and the multipolar world alternative to the dying US Zionist unipolar world. The socialist revolutions of 1917 in Russia, 1949 in China, 1959 in Cuba, 1975 Vietnam and 1979 in Iran are historical markers that can never be erased by the capitalist powers.
Zalamander, Ramin, and friends: This is very good and helps me. Marx’s theoretical humanism as his conception of atheism, is not a statement of absence, in his understanding. It is a statement of presence. His atheism articulates the theory that “the highest divinity is human self consciousness.” To make that point Marx felt he had to run an “atheist” number on the mass mind. In favor of the theoretical assertion of, as he put it, the “divinity” within human self consciousness. For Marx Self consciousness is the inner heart and light of humanism. However he interpreted all this from within his own romantic philosophy. As with Hegel, Reason being understood in the classical, rather than modern bourgeois sense, as a “conscious opening” to the unmeasured life of the universal. That force that is the living magic within all true philosophy. So to integrate Marxian theoretical humanism with its practical humanism, as socialist liberation struggle, human self consciousness must become the central driver of socialist praxis. For this reason it becomes a critical issue of struggle to integrate the Marxian classical understanding of reason into contemporary humanism. All of this is solid and unavoidable theoretical logic inside Marx’s humanist “atheism.” It is an atheism that upholds that the Reason within the human essence is of a potentially higher order of spiritual awareness than that which we have historically conceived of via the religious traditions. Here Marx is It is actually upholding classical aristocratic philosophy. Plato would have no problem with it. Marx’s atheism is really radically spiritually progressive. The only way to successfully hold these connections and make them work is to open into a culture of the unmeasured, “universal” quality of the expressive human essence. That however is supportable as it is consistent with the overall development of European culture. Consequently Marx’s theoretical and practical humanism obliges a culturally meaningful embrace with contemporary spiritual culture. There is no other coherent interpretation. In some way or another for Marxism to work it must be found organically compatible with progressive Shia Islam, authentic Christianity, and the spiritual currents showing themselves in Russia, China and many other paces. Marx’s full atheist criticism of capitalism even goes so far as to oblige some form of movement into a new form of “global spiritual culture.” The dialectical movement of Reason itself carries the seed of this vision forward inside the world world liberation struggle. The thing I really like about Marx is that his theoretical logic is so incredibly potent. To the point of being truly very revolutionary. So comrade Zal thank you for helping me tie these pieces together. Does the logic hold together for you?
Snow Leopard, yes the logic does hold together. Marx’s atheism was a method apparently to clear away all of the false spirituality promoted by bourgeois capitalist society that really amounts to mere hypocritical sentimentality and not a truely deep universal spiritual humanism. Christ told his accusers, the pharisees, that the kingdom of God was potentially even within them as it is potentially with all of humanity if they would only look within themselves. The illusions and false consciousness of capitalist society are only really tools of the capitalist class to continue to equate religion, spirituality and God, with the mythical invisible hand of the free market. This mythical ideology is the ideology of the ruling capitalist class. The ruling capitalist live in constant fear that the working class will cease to believe their self serving ideology, and begin to formulate a revolutionary spiritual humanism.
Thanks Ramin for highlighting Marzieh’s case. Few if any outlets have covered her politically detention, glad to learn she’s been freed. Keep em’ coming.
She was black, so as you can expect, US government treats her more equally than other critical journalists.
Marzieh should sue for illegal detention to the fullest of the law. Hurt the sickos where it hurts most, in their wallet.
It does not hurt the regime in the slightest. They simply raise taxes on We the Pimple [sic].
‘Could Be You Next’: Iranian News Anchor Detained in US Warns of Abuse of Power
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201901261071834151-iranian-anchor-detained-warns-power-abuse/
“People gathered outside the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse at Constitution Avenue and Third Street NW on Friday to demonstrate against Hashemi’s treatment by the US government. According to MintPress News correspondent Alex Rubinstein, demonstrators held up signs that said, “No one is free when others are oppressed”; “I am a human”; “I am a Muslim”; and “It could be you next.”
Hashemi joined Loud & Clear on Radio Sputnik ( https://www.spreaker.com/show/loud-clears-tracks ) for an interview Friday to discuss her 10-day detention, which ended Wednesday.
On Friday morning, Hashemi told RT, “What I realize is how easy it is for them to make someone disappear. If he [Hashemi’s son] was not there, anything could have happened to me, and no one would have known where I was. And I’m just wondering how many people this happens to.”
Very interesting post.
I had no idea that Ramin was an Iranian American, or American Iranian.
I also didn’t recall, or know, that African American hostages had been released during the hostage crisis of 1979-80.
I just wish the Iranians had not made the deal with Reagan/Bush Senior.
Carter wasn’t perfect, but I believe the Iranians helped put Ronald Reagan in the White House, which was a fateful event for the USA and for the world.
As an American I am deeply ashamed of the strong-arm tactics and violence that US governments are inflicting on the world and its people and have inflicted on Iran since at least 1953
The latest theater of “reconquista” (by Wall Street interests) is Latin America, specifically, now, Venezuela. It is beyond shocking and leaves me speechless that not only the US govt but also Canada, European govts, etc. have joined in this coup. Yet, it is reminiscent of how the State of Israel came into being. Just declare yourself a state/government and wait for “recognition.”
At least this dynamic has to some extent benefited the Palestinians. But OTOH there is no recognition of Hamas as the chosen government in Gaza.
I don’t have any sense that Latino/as and Chicano/as in the USA represent a bloc against these attacks on Latin American governments. The arrest and detention of journalists is part of the general unilateral attack on all of those who question even a small part of “the program.” Does Trump go along with the Venezuelan travesty, or is he under enough pressure so that he has to play the game? There is simply no way to tell. We are reduced to reading the tea leaves and guessing what really lies behind “state” announcements etc., similar to citizens of the USSR.
How long will it be before the USA declares that the MEK is actually the government in exile of Iran?
Katherine
We are in a terrible mess.
Katherine
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“I was kidnapped. Illegally kidnapped, shackled and my hijab was taken off. They can call it legal but we know it is not legal! If they want to kill me, kill me. I don’t mind dying but I will make my life count!”
– Marzieh Hashemi, speaking live from Washington
Press TV has shown itself to be more interested is toppling Trump and discrediting the US than in honestly reporting the news from an Iranian perspective. They no longer permit critical and reasoned comments to their often over-biased stories and too often rely on obscure
‘political commentators’.
You mean, they are the mirror image of Fox News and MSNBC? Or do you expect them to wholeheartedly support the cruel policy of Trump in the Middle-East in general and against Iran in particular? Should PressTV join in eating beautiful chocolate cake while cruise missiles are launched by Trump towards sovereign Syria? Should they trumpet the virtues of USG sanctions, leading to blockage of imports of basic goods and medicine to Iran?
This whole US internal politics kabuki theater, has no bearings on the US foreign policy. If Hillary was president, she would have been exposed by PressTV for her aggressive policies, as without doubt she would have followed Nitten Yahoo’s policy.
As an eleven year old British schoolboy I stood in the crowd outside the occupied US embassy in Tehran in 1979. Forty years later I still remember the power of those events, and the crowd’s chants of ‘Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini…America Shaitan!.’
Lately, I have also started to think that their chorus of ‘America-Satan’ might actually be quite a good summary, because this is not just a conflict between imperialism and self determination, between capitalism and socialism, it is also a struggle between those who would ascend to a greater humanity and a better world, and those who are tumbling down into darkness, may heaven protect them.
In the words of the Dhammapada, ‘Good people shine from afar, like the Himalayas at sunset, but the wicked are not seen, like an arrow shot into the night’.