> On Jun 21, 2009, at 6:33 PM, Lajany Otum wrote:
>
> >This is a true and accurate statement, provided we add that the only Court of World Opinion that counts in such matters of "embarassment" is the one constituted by the former colonial powers of Western Europe plus the states of North America and Australasia.
>
> You mean educated Iranians aren't themselves embarrassed by Holocaust denial?
>
A minor point I know, but how do we leap from educated Iranians, including Dabashi, being embarrassed by Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial, to the claim that Iranians as a whole want to "stop being seen as a pariah state, get rid of a president who embarrasses them around the world, etc"? Is it unreasonable to conjecture that, as embarrassing as Dabashi might find Ahmadinejad, many ordinary and poorer Iranians might base their decision on whether to vote for Ahmadinejad our Mousavi on other immediate and pressing concerns than trying to ensure that their educated elites don't lose face before the Court of World Opinion, however dubiously the latter may be defined?
>> For instance, I seem to recall that Ahmadinejad's speech before the recent meeting on racism, Durban II, being pretty well received by the nations of the South, while the ex-colonial powers of Western Europe marched out in a pique, the US and Australia having boycotted the meeting altogether.
> Hmm, Dabashi says that Ahdmadinejad's speech at Durban turned all attention away from condemning Israel's invasion of Gaza. There's a reason that hardcore Zionists cherish him.
Pardon? That Ahmadinejad's speech may or may not have done anything to advance the Palestinians' struggle for their national rights is irrelevant to, does nothing to diminish, the fact that it was largely well received by the majority ex-colonial countries of the South at Durban II, while the racist former colonial powers stormed out in a pique. Therefore, and being from the South myself, I do think statements such as Ahmadinejad "embarrasses Iranians around the world" and Iran is a "pariah state" are dubious to say the least.
Lajany Otum