Earthquake solidarity, new East-West relations
Tehran (AsiaNews) The toll of the Bam quake victims keeps getting higher. According to some unconfirmed reports, the figure could rise to 50,000 deaths. In the meantime, the situation in Tehran is inspiring. On every street corner people from all classes are gathering water, food and clothing for the earthquake victims. In only 48 hours Iranians collected more than 10,000 liters of donated blood for transfusions. However, among emergency supplies still needed are plastic bags for corpses, women's sanitary napkins and X-Ray machines. Iranian solidarity lives hand in hand with international solidarity. Until just a few months ago, Iran was listed among the Axis of Evil countries. Then, following the intervention in Iraq and closeness to Americans, Tehran's government made important steps: it accepted UN nuclear inspections, stopped uranium enrichments and took away any support to Al-Qaeda and the so-called "Iraqi resistance".
Some Iranian students told AsiaNews that during the American bombings in Baghdad, students launched a campaign via e-mail, asking the United States to bomb Iran as well in order to dispose their country of the ayatollah's government.
One scholar interviewed in today's Telegraph said: "At least 90% of people in Iran are dissatisfied. The regime here is cruel. We must begin opening doors. I am for the modernization of life and social norms. We need a modern system.
Unemployment in Iran is officially at 14%. However, actual figures are almost double that. The cost of life is always more, increasing together with inflation. The corruption of ayatollahs is at its highest level. Many Iranians are also deluded by president Khatami, who is obliged to conform to the dictates of mullahs and hasn't kept his promises for a greater liberalization of society.
Will the earthquake and international solidarity have political consequences? AsiaNews conducted a telephone interview with the Hon. Roberto Toscano, Italy's Ambassador to Iran in Tehran. Hon. Toscano, age 61, has been in Iran for six months. He has also served in diplomatic services in Chile, Spain, the USSR and United States as well as at the UN in Geneva. He has also taught international relations at Rome's LUISS university.
Ambassador, what impact will the earthquake have?
Perhaps one can say that even good things can come from disasters. The solidarity the international community has shown is changing the way Iranians see themselves: "We are not alone, don't feel rejected." But even from the outside there is a new perception: one realizes that here there are human beings who suffer like we do and who react to tragedies with sorrow and help, just like us. And all this makes us put our political and religious differences aside, emphasizing our common humanity.
We still don't know how this is also translated in terms of politics and international relations. Certainly this new experience faces the problem of how to live together politically. For some time, president Khatami has emphasized relationships and dialog among civilizations as the only way to live together in this world. For us Italians, then, such dialog is easier. Here in Iran, there are ancient cultural roots. Iranians are a learned people. Our literature (From Dante to Manzoni to Calvino) is translated into Persian. All in all, we realize that people here are less different that what we expect.
What difference is there between Iran's people and its leaders?
Right now there has been a great leap made for solidarity. There exist certain polemics between Iran's people and its leaders, but much less with respect to us in Italy. The tremendous solidarity seen these days gives one hope for the future. People are now starting to say: since we are victims of natural disasters, perhaps we should avoiding adding pain to sorrow, afflicting ourselves will man-made disasters. This doesn't mean that living together will become easy, but it will help us put criteria for solidarity into play in terms of other political and economic issues.
Iran is located in a region where a war has been waged against terrorism, seen by many as war between East and West. Do you think that this solidarity can influence or change such tension?
Probably not change it, but indeed differentiate and distinguish it. Not all Muslims are fundamentalists and not all fundamentalists are terrorists. The risk we run, in the East and West is that of reducing either one to a cartoon figure. The pain and solidarity (really felt here) helps one ask who's out there, who's hiding on the other side.
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