Iran Beacon of Hope to Oppressed Peoples across Globe: US Author

“Iran once again became an independent nation with control over its own resources, free to pursue its own vision of a just society. As such, it became and remains a beacon of hope to oppressed peoples around the world. Iran’s ability to withstand all foreign attempts to undermine its government and again subject it to a colonial status may be its greatest contribution to those who fear that Western domination cannot be successfully challenged,” Phil Wilayto told the Tasnim News Agency.

Wilayto is an author and activist based in Richmond, Virginia. A co-founder of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, he edits that community organization's newspaper, The Richmond Defender. He is a founding member of the Virginia Anti-War Network and national board member of the Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran. In 2007 he organized a People's Peace Delegation to Iran, a project that became the basis for his latest book, "In Defense of Iran: Notes from a US Peace Delegation's Journey through the Islamic Republic".

Following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: As you know, the Iranian nation toppled the US-backed Pahlavi regime 38 years ago, ending 2,500 years of monarchic rule in the country. Since then, on February 11 each year, Iranian people pour into the streets in their millions to commemorate the great victory of the Islamic Revolution and voice their support for the country’s establishment. What is your take on the victory?

Wilayto: The Iranian revolution of 1979 changed the face of the Middle East and South Asia. Under the brutal reign of the US-installed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran was subjugated by the West for economic gain and geopolitical advantage. Its oil resources were exploited by foreign companies. The US embassy in Tehran was used as a base to conduct espionage against the Soviet Union. Believers who followed traditional norms and culture faced official ridicule and discrimination. All across the region, the US government faced popular opposition, but, as then-President Jimmy Carter famously remarked, Iran was seen as “an island of tranquility in the sea of turbulence.”

Carter made that statement on Dec. 31, 1977. Thirteen months later, the shah was fleeing for his life and the world had been fundamentally changed. Iran once again became an independent nation with control over its own resources, free to pursue its own vision of a just society. As such, it became and remains a beacon of hope to oppressed peoples around the world. Iran’s ability to withstand all foreign attempts to undermine its government and again subject it to a colonial status may be its greatest contribution to those who fear that Western domination cannot be successfully challenged.

Tasnim: It has been 38 years since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and during this time, we have witnessed the hostile acts of the US against the Iranian nation, from the unjust sanctions to the 8-year war with Saddam's regime and US support for the MKO (Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization) terrorists. Every American administration has found some excuses and methods to continue these hostile acts against the nation of Iran. Considering that Iran has not attacked another nation in more than 300 years, what is the reason for such animosity against Iran?

Wilayto: If this hostility by the US government were directed only against Iran, it would be very difficult indeed to understand. But the reality is that Washington has always been hostile to any country that defied its rule, actual or potential. Take the case of Haiti, routinely described as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. At one time it was the richest of the French colonies, producing fabulous wealth for French merchants. Then the oppressed Black people rose up and expelled the French in what historians describe as the most successful slave revolt in the Western Hemisphere.

You would think this victory for freedom would be celebrated by the country that prided itself on its own successful revolution against a European power. But instead, then-US President Thomas Jefferson, himself a slave owner who understood very well the dangerous example that Haiti had set for other enslaved people, imposed severe sanctions on Haiti that lasted more than 30 years. The Haitian people won their independence in 1804, but the US refused to formally recognize it until 1862 - long after France. US-Haitian relations ever since have been marked by invasions, exploitation, coups and the promotion of repressive regimes subservient to US corporations.

A similar history of official hostility followed the Chinese revolution of 1949, the Cuban revolution of 1959, the successful African liberation struggles in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, the Congo and Zimbabwe, as well as those of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and so many other countries formerly colonized by Western powers.

The reality is that, regardless of who is president, the internal workings of US capitalism compel it to constantly expand or it will contract and die. It must be “free” to extract raw materials from other countries at low prices and then sell its manufactured goods to the same countries. It must have trade relations that guarantee captive consumer markets and ready pools of low-wage labor. And to ensure this ability to exploit and profit, it must have a powerful military capable of defeating any attempt by its targeted countries to achieve economic and political independence.

So it was inevitable that when the Iranian people removed the boot of US imperialism from their necks they would be rewarded with endless hostility by the US government and endless attempts to undermine their revolution.

Tasnim: It is said that one of the achievements of the Islamic revolution of Iran is standing against American domination and hegemony in the region and the world. Would you agree with this observation? Please elaborate your opinion.

Wilayto: As I stated above, yes, I believe that its simple survival over the last 38 years as a sovereign country independent of the exploitation of Western corporations and domination by Western governments is one of the great achievements of Iran’s revolution and an inspiration to exploited and oppressed peoples everywhere, regardless of race or religion.

Tasnim: US cruel sanctions have targeted the Iranian people. Under the pretext of support for human rights and democracy, the US has even prevented the Iranian nation from obtaining medicines and medical equipment. These sanctions were undertaken during the so-called peaceful Obama administration and the new president Donald Trump gives every indication that he intends to keep the pressure on. Do you think that the American public will come to see this trend of injustice towards Iran, especially as they begin to witness extreme measures taken by Trump?

Wilayto : One great irony of US society is that our people are among the most educated in the world, but also among the most poorly informed. It’s not that our government suppresses the truth. We are free to research, write and speak about history, politics, economics and the realities of the world in which we live. But the super-wealthy 1 percent of the population effectively controls the flow of information we receive - not by banning truthful information, but by burying it under a churning sea of distraction. There are comedy shows on television that interview people on the street, asking questions like “Who is the vice president of the United States?” “What country did the US rebel against in the American revolution?” “Which side won the US Civil War?” And the person being interviewed doesn’t know the answers. Then they are asked a question about a popular TV show, a sports team, a movie star or other entertainer and they immediately answer correctly.

Besides the distractions, there is the biased reporting that is the hallmark of every corporate-owned news media. Here in the US, every news story about Iran, or Russia, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea or China starts with the same assumption that these countries are ruled by evil people. That’s where the reporting begins. Every “fact” that follows is viewed within the context of “us” versus “them.”

There have always been those who resisted this view and tried to educate the public about the reality of US foreign policy. The famous US author Mark Twain was a member of the Anti-Imperialist League that opposed the Spanish-American War in which the US effectively took over Cuba. US citizens opposed to war in general went to prison during the first and second world wars rather than fight.

But it wasn’t until the Vietnam War that a mass antiwar movement was able to develop within the United States, the center of world imperialism. That movement, like all movements, has had its high and low periods. The last eight years, under the presidency of Barack Obama, saw a severe weakening of this movement. The stunning change in US society represented by the election of the country’s first Black president unfortunately blinded many people to what the government was doing in their name around the world, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.

As a result, many young activists today who are displaying such amazing courage in fighting against police murders of Black people, environmental destruction, attacks on poor and working people are severely limited in their understanding of world affairs. A great deal of educational work needs to happen, which is why I am spending all my time now building an inter-generational conference to be held this June in my city of Richmond, Virginia, under the theme of “Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad!” Hopefully there will be many such efforts, because millions of people here are now waking up to the need to become politically active, Now is the time to help them break through that churning sea of distraction and reconnect with the struggling peoples of the world.