It’s 9 p.m. on a Sunday evening in Iran as I
sit down for a repeat stint as co-host of
The Voice of The New Iran television
program that airs from Los Angeles via satellite. The program, which airs
several times each week, is the product of The New Iran, one of the leading
Iranian opposition groups, and according to the program’s participants, provides
a welcome alternative to efforts by the regime to control information flow as
well as behavior of its subjects.
The program is anchored by Dr. Iman
Foroutan, who also provides the consecutive translation to and from Farsi of my
conversation with callers phoning in from across Iran, including on this
program, Tehran, Karadm, Shiraz, Tabriz, Fars and Mashad.
Only minutes
into the broadcast, it becomes clear that the regime’s chokehold on
communication denies those of us in the West a full picture of life under
Ayatollah Khamanei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It also makes it difficult for
Iranians to stay in touch with what the rest of the world is saying about their
country and, perhaps even more important, what the Iranian leadership is telling
the world.
One interesting paradox that becomes apparent is that while
international sanctions are clearly having an impact on the quality of life for
Iranians – witness 30% increases in food prices; and shortages of bread, wheat
and chicken while the government has been unable to pay last month’s salaries –
the resulting situation provides the government with new pressure points through
which to manipulate the population.
Several callers, for example,
provided vivid illustrations of the lengths to which the government goes to
stage-manage the population into serving as unknowing pawns in its schemes.
Unsurprisingly, one of the first phone calls, from a man who identifies himself
as a laborer, deals with the issue of Iran’s nuclear energy program. But it was,
indeed, surprising to hear him dismiss the entire issue, saying, “we don’t want
atomic energy; we don’t have chicken or food to eat.” Although other callers
differed and some defended the right of Iran to pursue nuclear energy, I learned
that one way to ‘earn’ one of those elusive chickens was to show up at an
appropriate location where the government is filming “spontaneous” street
demonstrations and receive a chicken in return for chanting, “Death to America;
Death to Israel!”
Another example came from the conference of non-aligned
nations, whose $600 million price tag angered Iranians. Officials there decided
it would be a good idea to reduce the number of locals hanging around the city
fearing that the large foreign presence would make a good audience for protests.
By way of inducement, a one-week holiday was declared and lest residents failed
to take the hint, a gift of 30-liters of free gasoline was added to the
mix.
Sometimes still, it boils down to hard cash. A caller told of
printed notices that alerted cash-strapped Iranians to a drawing to be held at a
mosque, with winners to receive gold coins. Embracing the same new technology it
seeks to control, the government also alerts the masses through SMS messaging.
Once at the scene, though, the price of entry remains the same: photogenic
chants of anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans. Foroutan confirmed the
positioning of trucks nearby used for filming the crowd scenes.
Foroutan
claims the power of sanctions is a double-edged sword that is, in reality,
adding to the hardships felt on the streets while not affecting nuclear
capabilities and advancements. Because the Revolutionary Guard controls about 50
percent of the economy -- including food distribution -- it compensates for the
effect felt by sanctions by doubling the prices to consumers.
Control of
news content is apparently a priority for the Iranian government. Callers
described the abundance of game shows and programming devoid of hard news,
aimed, they said, at “keeping the public in the dark from news of war.” When I
asked the audience whether it believed Israel would launch an attack against
Iran’s nuclear facilities, the first caller turned it back at me, demanding,
“You’re the reporter, you tell us.” Another showed the government propaganda
machine’s success, suggesting Israel is not in position to attack anyone after
“losing its last two or three wars in Lebanon, giving encouragement to Islamic
leaders regarding what Israel might or might not do.”
Yet, notwithstanding
opposition to Iran’s rulers, nationalistic fervor was not absent from the
population sample represented by the callers. One averred that, “I hate the
regime and I’ll be one of the first to attack it, but if Israel attacks Iran,
I’ll be the first [to fight] against them.”
Producing and being able to air
The
Voice of The New Iran does not come without difficulties. Dr. Foroutan told The
Media Line that as the government catches on to the use of the program’s
technology, it has been necessary to change the encrypted phone lines several
times as officials intensify efforts to block the access of the Iranian people
to the outside world. “Every time we have a television program, the mullahs have
teams that jam or scramble our phone lines or line-up multiple callers cussing
us.” The primary goal of The New Iran is to foment non-violent regime change and
facilitate transition to a constitutional democracy.
Sensing an
approaching critical mass of opposition to the regime, Foroutan believes the new
momentum is encouraging the uniting of opposition groups inside Iran including
S.O.S. Iran, Secular Greens, and the Constitutional Party of Iran. He said their
common message is to hold out a little longer “until there is more support from
the United States and European countries.” He acknowledged that “it’s premature”
for a popular uprising to overthrow the regime, pointing to Russian and Chinese
interference with the plans of Syria’s opposition to overthrow the regime of
Bashar Assad. Nevertheless, Iran’s opposition desperately wants the United
States to provide wireless Internet “as they did in Afghanistan.” Foroutan said,
“It’s the one weapon Iran is most afraid of. At this moment, Iran can shut down
Internet or bring it to a snail’s pace.”
Still, Iranians are willing to risk a
great deal to maintain contact with the outside world. A university student
fluent in English said he was grateful that I was looking into the Iranian
people’s civil society. “The peoples’ priority was never nuclear power,” he said
on-air. “When we sleep, and see the next morning that our shopping bags have
shrunk, that’s what counts.
For more stories from The Media Line go to www.themedialine.org