History has taught us that power-obsessed governmental administrations are never good, especially when one hates the other with a passion (or at least feigns it for a secret greedy objective). We can see the increasing rhetoric between the U.S. and Iran and recently the Bushies have been trying to escalate matters. Iranian figureheads and clerics are no saints either, who demonize America, Israel and all things western. So who is going to have to break the ice? Well, the people of course, that is where the true, yet mostly unearthed power actually resides.
From the AFP:
NEW YORK (AFP) — A US group lobbying for Washington to engage Tehran in direct talks is to invite members of the public to chat with people in Iran at the weekend using three hotlines set up in a New York park.
"Americans and Iranians will begin an important conversation Saturday from 11 am to 1 pm," the Enough Fear campaign behind the stunt said in a statement.
The group will be using three vintage red telephones, meant to evoke the hotline that connected US and Soviet leaders during the Cold War.
"Our goal is to initiate dialogue, person to person," said Nick Jehlen, Enough Fear co-founder.
"Our two governments won't talk to each other so we decided to take it into our own hands, to get to know each other and begin to work for peace. It's a lot harder to go to war against people you know," he added.
Volunteers in Iran will be on the other end of the lines, where translators will also be on hand if needed.
"There is this false impression that Iranians are angry at Americans," Jehlen said. "Hundreds of Iranians have expressed interest in this campaign because they are really interested in talking with the American people."
False impressions are what people like Bush and Ahmadinejad rely on to spread their propaganda. If people got to know their international brothers and sisters more through projects like this, we would see our similarities more than our differences. Of course that isn't good for things like starting wars and keeping the military-industrial complex humming, which is why fear is crammed down our collective throats again and again.
So pick up that phone and call (though Skype is way more reasonably priced) someone you are told to fear.
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