Elections, participation and national security

By Mohammad Ghaderi

TEHRAN - Democratic establishments in the entire political structures worldwide have been founded based the people’s votes and views. It is for these reasons that people are considered the most main component in political, social, economic and cultural developments.

Normally, the most important component in analyzing the degree of a political establishment’s admissibility and legitimacy can be drawn based on the percentage of the people’s participation in elections to determine their own fate and set the path for future by voting for their own favored candidates. 

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which was established based on the people’s will following the victory of the Islamic Revolution and overthrow of the despotic Pahlavi regime in 1979, is not an exception. The entire affairs in the ruling system in Iran have been founded based to religious democracy. 

According to the Principle 6 of the constitution, the country’s affairs must be handled in accordance to the public votes (election or referendum), based on which the people’s vote plays a pivotal role in how to manage the country. 

In other words, according to an affirmation by the constitution, ballot boxes, as a national covenant is the only way towards materialization of proposed objectives which can meet the people’s demands in all areas. This is the point that has clearly demonstrated its effectiveness over the last 40 years. 

Based on the abovementioned issue, it can be understood that involving people in Iran in managing affairs is of high importance at least from two aspects:

*The people’s active role in envisioning their future and meeting their demands;

*Admissibility of the political establishment and symbol of unity and national solidarity. 

The importance of these two issues will be more obvious when we realize that the concept of national security in a democratic establishment is highly dependent on public participation. It is because these components that guarantee and reinvigorate the national security rely on the confidence principle as the most prominent pillar of the social wealth in any political establishment whose main sign is the percentage of public participation.   

The people’s involvement is only one side of a coin in democratic establishments. The other side of the coin is the role of the ruling system and political structure. The system, in coordination with the people, is tasked to fulfill its role properly.   

Accordingly, as the people’s role in this regard is vital, the role of ruling system is even more vital. 

It should be mentioned that proper fulfillment of roles by a ruling system’s pillars in legislating, supervising and executing affairs are essential in order to meet the people’s demands in the best way possible. In turn, this will ease living conditions, meet the people’s social and economic demands, and prevent spread of corruption and will ultimately bring about social justice.    

Spark your wanderlust: how influencers can help?

By Afshin Majlesi

In the current fast-paced realm of advertising and marketing, travel influencers have changed the whole game as they have succeeded to materialize a totally new and self-directed channels to reach audiences in a more authentic and personal way, even influencing to shape their wanderlusts.

We can say that the Instagram has backtracked old-school manners of travel advertising campaigns. Well-traveled influencers induce their avid followers to win sparking their wanderlusts by the means of the photo-sharing platform that enables sharing of wonderful moments and wandering adventures of their journeys.

Many believe that the Instagram has drastically changed the way people, especially the youth, travel, and it’s undoubtedly not all for the better. The trend, however, has its own harms, for instance, it may lead to overtourism, a relativity new term that you may cannot look it up in many dictionaries.

That’s why Iran’s tourism ministry has started to make the best use of new technologies in order to portray a true image of the country based on what travelers and influencers perceive during their visits to the country.

But, how does it work for Iran? It’s noteworthy to remind that Iran has been under U.S. sanctions and its anti-Iran propaganda for around four decades. Some Western media outlets have long tried to portray Iran’s global image as unsafe, unwelcoming and so on.

As an example, some of their messages carry themes from U.S. State Department’s travel advisory against Iran, which since 1979, warns about “the risk of kidnapping, arrest and detention of U.S. citizens.”

On the contrary, when you refer to people who have visited the country or even you read their travelogues on Iran, you usually perceive that Iranians are described as warm, friendly and eager to show off their country to foreigners. Moreover, almost all international tour operators and travel agents have the same attitude towards the country and its people.

The 2019 Travel Risk Map, which shows the risk level around the world, puts Iran among countries with “insignificant risk”, a category where the UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, and Finland are placed in.

Tourism minister Ali-Asghar Mounesan said on Thursday that the ministry supports certain the Instagram influencers to travel to the country.

“Instagram influencers’ trips to Iran are backed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts and, in the advertising arena, we do a lot of work to fight Iranophobia and introduce the true face of Iran,” Mounesan said.

“One of the areas [in travel & tourism advertising] is to bring famous figures to Iran, get the country known to them in terms of its rich culture, beautiful natural landscapes and historical monuments…this is part of programs to introduce the country that we will definitely continue.”

With over one billion active monthly users, it seems reasonable that the Instagram has enough power to set new trends on traveling to a country that boasts hospitable people and some of the world’s oldest cultural monuments such as bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, gardens, rich natural, rural landscapes and 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites to name a few.

Is Iran safe for Americans to visit?

By Afshin Majlesi

TEHRAN – The matter of security in Iran is essentially considered as a complex question for any U.S. citizen willing to visit the Islamic Republic.

In this regard, Skift Inc., a New York City headquartered media company that provides news, research, and marketing services for the travel industry, has tried to answer the question from two different points of view; one from the U.S. government and the other by U.S. travel agents and tour operators.

On a Monday article, the media outlet noticed a hint of a “perception problem” deemed to be fueled by the Trump administration’s rhetoric toward Iran.

Official answers to the query comes from the U.S. State Department, which has had a travel advisory against Iran since 1979, citing “the risk of kidnapping, arrest and detention of U.S. citizens.” On the other hand, tour operators who spoke with Skift strongly disagree, maintaining that Iran has proven to be a safe and remarkably hospitable place for travelers, including Americans.

The dilemma arises when an antagonism intensifies between the Trump administration and Iran that makes some American tourists rethinking plans to visit the country though nearly all tour operators say Iran is a safe and hospitable destination even for U.S. visitors.

“It is a country that is often portrayed as unwelcoming, but the reality is quite the opposite,” said Jenny Gray, the global product and operations manager of the Australia-based Intrepid Travel.

“Iranians are warm, friendly and eager to show off their country to foreigners. The feedback from our travelers is a testament to this.”

“Once they [Iranian authorities] have been approved for entry [issuing visas], people are welcomed warmly—we’ve never encountered a problem or even a cold shoulder,” said Robin Pollak, the president of Journeys International, which is offering Iran tours since 2015.

 “People in Iran are very curious about visitors from a culture that is off-limits to them. They understand that American visitors do not reflect the way America is portrayed to them by their government,” she added.

Janet Moore, owner of Distant Horizons, which has offered customized tours to Iran for over 20 years, says “We’re used to getting questions on politics and safety, but this time frame seems more serious than what we’ve been through before.”

“People are worried about the rhetoric from (President) Trump and (national security advisor John) Bolton. They don’t want to be anywhere where there’s military activity.”

With an Iran tour scheduled for September, Moore said she’s uncertain whether the trip will actually go forward.

“People have really started to get skittish,” she said. “We’re not getting new sign-ups and most of our American travelers have pulled out and are making alternative plans. While people feel Iran is probably still safe, they also feel it’s something they can do later when things calm down.”

Reverting to foreign arrivals, Skift reports that Journeys International has seen interest fall off sharply among its clientele, which is primarily from the U.S., during the past month.

G Adventures, which offers a 14-day Iran itinerary, says that bookings among American travelers has fallen by 14 percent this year, said communications director Kim McCabe. At the same time, she noted that bookings from non-U.S. travelers increased by about that same amount.

“Global visitor interest in Iran seems to be modestly growing,” Kim said.

“Demand for Iran has been a real up and down situation,” Moore said. “Four years ago it was at a high point. Then we ran into problems in 2017 when Trump announced the travel ban on Muslims. Some people cancelled travel plans to Iran because they feared Iran would stop issuing visas or that they would be met with antagonism.”

Skift concludes that despite setbacks, the tour operators are optimistic about long-term growth in tourism to Iran, which in recent years has stepped up efforts to increase international visitation and has the stated goal of attracting 20 million annual visitors by 2025.

Last December, Ashely Duncan, an American fashion psychologist who accidentally landed in Iran, announced that her perception of the country was “totally different” from what mainstream Western media outlets portray.

Duncan told IRNA in an interview that “As an American, I did have a pleasant experience. I did not allow the politics and the diplomatic relationship to taint my view of Iran’s people.”

Iran hosts some of the world’s oldest cultural monuments including bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, gardens, rich natural, rural landscapes as well as 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites. 

 
 

Global peace and security: World leaders betray canons of truth, wisdom and humanity Opinion

By Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.

Today's Political World at a Glance

Global politics is overwhelmingly becoming robotic when question of safeguard of the mankind comes up. Global political leaders are fast becoming actors on stage - issuing abstract statements of outrage and phony sense of grief when thousands and millions of human lives are constantly bombarded by the weapons they manufacture and sell to crush the human soul and to support the war economies. The UNO and its Secretary General and the UN Security Council - all are just debating clubs engaged in time killing exercises to deceive the mankind and to betray the ideals of the Charter to "safeguard the humanity from the scourge of wars." Many top UN officials are paid employees with no sense of accountability to the global community. The reality of man-made catastrophic conflicts enhanced by national interests and war-led economies are ingrained in the war racketeering plans across the globe. The 21st century knowledge-based informed mankind is the net victim of the global political monsters. Millions of human beings are forcibly displaced, evicted by plans and charcoaled by forbidden chemical weapons across the Middle East yet; most global leaders do nothing to prevent the aggressive catastrophes except statements of fake 'outrage' reaction as if others were inhuman casualties. We are witnessing abnormal political culture of human bloodbath as being normal.

The global community - a divided and dispersed mankind is unable to challenge the war racketeers and global hangmen who claim to be political leaders. They are egoistic professionals with big mouth without wisdom and full of self-engineered false democratic clichés, contradictions, distortions and misrepresentation of the rights of common citizens in modern democracies. These are frightening trends for the present and future generations to survive. Most of the economically influential actors occupy the political platforms - either through backdoor conspiracies or entrenched political intrigues. They profess to be intelligent and outspoken for the rights of the people but in reality are offensive to truth and listening to voices of reason and honesty. How do we call for a balancing act in a world terribly imbalanced by nationalism, political and economic ideologies of supremacy and shallow imaginations and practices of human equality, human rights, peace and harmony amongst all the diverse segments of the living humanity?

We cannot abandon the search for a better and more rational world of systematic mechanism to protect the peace and security of the mankind on this One Planet. We, the People, We the Humanity and conscientious thinkers and scholars must wake-up to the immense sophisticated and technologically advanced challenges to disconnect us from the Nature of Things and to dehumanize us by global scenarios of ethnicities, nationalism, state borders and cultural superiorities and ruling class distinctions. William Godwin (Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Modern Moral and Happiness, 1793), said it right:

Men of genius must rise up....to analyse the machine of society to demonstrate how the parts are connected together... and point out the defects and remedy. It is thus only that important reforms can be produced...He who is a friend to general happiness will neglect no chance of producing in his pupil or his child, one of the long-looked for saviours of the human race.

Do We, the People, Realize to be One Humanity on One Earth?

We are One Humanity on One Planet and we have a right to be here in peace and harmony, not in conflicts, not collaborators to kill the mankind and destruction of the human environment and habitats. This will be contrary to our Nature and inhuman if we cannot come to terms with our peaceful co-existence, identity and responsibility being the chief guardians of the living planet in a living Universe.  We, the humanity lives on a balanced Planet - Earth located at a measured distance from the Sun and Moon and other stars. God created the Universe and blessed it with all functionalities and provisions for life-sustaining factors since millions and billions of years. Do you realize if there was no water, no oxygen or hydrogen and other gases or sun light to support all the living creations - what would have been the shape and form of life on Earth? 

Could we the human kind count the blessings of God to maintain life for millions and billions of years on this planet?  All things exist in a mathematical order, whether we recognize it or deny it. So strange, we know all about other material things and scientific - technological developments but we are ignorant and arrogant to learn about our own origin and existence on a living planet. We are born from mother's tummy - one and the same all over the globe - One Humanity. Yet, we dare to challenge each other with nationalism and ethnic superiorities and indulge in wars and deaths and destruction of our own beings. Are we the human being intelligent enough to know about our own existence and Purpose of Life?  How could we imagine peace and harmony amongst ourselves when we bomb and destroy each others with weapons of destruction as if we were not the human kind but some kind of animals without any sense of rational thinking?

 We, the People of Conscience can only correct the political fallacies if we are united and blended together with reason and accountability to be the savior of our own world. We must awaken the minds and soul of the 21st century humanity to synthesize the vitality of peace and human security in a world of time and opportunities for political justice, equal rights and participation to be part of the change phenomenon for a better and more promising world of tomorrow.  The voices of reason will echo across the globe if we together are committed and united for this idea and human ideals. We strongly believe that knowledge-based wisdom, plans and actions will lead to benevolence and global harmony, peace and justice and will nullify the malignity and political tyranny from the 21st century highly challenging and competitive world. When We, the People articulate cooperation and understanding in societal diversity, it will replace the impulse and urge for competition and unjust indulgence to destroy fellow human beings.

Political Propaganda:   War as "Noble" but Truth and Peace are Offensive

Strangely enough, warmongers hire war propagandists to classify wars as "noble", "good", necessity of the ruling nobility and to protect the flag, borders and national interests. George Bush claimed being "Man of God" who started the day with the Bible, to orchestrate the bogus war on terrorism. These are cynical notions implied to enforce the monstrous viewpoints of the few warlords in every age.  Professor Camillo "Mac" Bica, School of Visual Arts, New York City and an activist of Peace and Justice ("Atrocity and War", OpenedNews), offers a penetrating insight on the inequality criterion and falsification of information and facts of human life.

Having been indoctrinated by the propaganda of those whose militarism and warist agenda requires acceptance of the mythology of the "good war" and the "noble warrior," the uninitiated and unaffected most civilians and many non warrior members of the military fail to realize this truth, that all war is barbarism in which cruelty and brutal atrocity is the norm rather than the exception. During World War II, for example, often cited and celebrated as the "good war," over 50 million civilians were murdered by both Axis and Allied Nations. The American servicemen in the Wikileaks video who so nonchalantly "engaged the target" slaughtering some 12 human beings are no different from the pilots and bombardiers from the "greatest generation" who with equal nonchalance, incinerated millions of civilians during the terror bombings of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc. Despite the moral depravity of their actions, these individuals were not born killers. Rather they were created to do our bidding, first conscripted or lured into the military with promises of employment, a college education, or U.S. citizenship, then subjected to sophisticated indoctrination techniques of value manipulation, moral desensitization, and psychological conditioning, aimed at destroying/overriding their humanity, their moral aversion to killing, reinforced by the violence and horrors of the battlefield environment.

Blame Games of Distortion and Prejudice against the Informed Humanity

To be united in global political diversity, We, the People must exercise forbearance, canons of rationality and strive for blended unity of mankind - the core of human understanding and harmony. Leaders who want to lead must have rational thinking and followers to claim leadership effectiveness. Most contemporary leaders are devoid of REASON as the focal point of policy formulation and decision-making in global human relationships. Often they use blame game and popularity numbers to score fictitious rating in public eyes. Most leaders are infected with this syndrome and egoistic sickness to remain influential and powerful.

To protect the mankind from further dehumanization and annihilation, People of new ideas (Idea Men) are needed to take initiatives for political change - indeed a navigational change at  this critical moment: a New UNO with people's leadership, New Global Political Systems of Governance planned and developed by the people of knowledge and integrity and rejecting Hobbesian "wars of all against all"; and producing a rational rebuttal to the war of insanity, torture, political tyranny, inept global leadership and offer a balanced new vision of a world enriched with learning knowledge of rational policy-making and decision-making, human equality, fairness, protection of life and its natural support systems, and the Universe and equal justice for all the living beings on this planet. The leaders have not learned from the imposed deaths and destruction of the Two World Wars. The Third World War is already in progress in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and soon to engulf many self-made tribal Arab kings, princes and authoritarian dictators.

Surely, We, the People could create a better and more sustainable world of today and tomorrow. A natural sense of piety and political wickedness cannot co-exist in one human character as most of the world leaders pretend to be. We must THINK and ACT outside the global box of political wickedness and cult of political allegiance to the few and sickening political minds of egoistic leadership. Time and history are not going to wait for the few insane outrage, phony statements on human deaths and destruction unless we take this challenge in its time and opportunity to make things happen  for change and for the best of all mankind. The Divine Revelation (Al-Qur'an) states clearly: "Intelligent people always readily accept advice." 

American historian Harry Elmer Barnes ("Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: A Critical Examination of the Foreign Policy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and It's Aftermath"), offered this stern warning to American politicians if the US led wars continue leading to man's annihilation from this planet:

"If trends continue as they have during the last fifteen years, we shall soon reach this point of no return, and can only anticipate interminable wars, disguised as noble gestures for peace. Such an era could only culminate in a third world war which might well, as Arnold J. Toynbee has suggested, leave only the pygmies in remote jungles, or even the apes and ants, to carry on 'the cultural traditions' of mankind."

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs - global security, peace and conflict resolution and IR with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution: Approaches to Understand the Current Issues and Future-Making. Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, October 2017.