Hooman Majd

On Thursday Hooman Majd came to SBCC, and gave a lecture on Iran. Political Science majors were encouraged to attend, as he is such a high profile figure in Iranian-American Politics. He is an author, a journalist and a former advisor/translator of the previous President of Iran, Ahmadinejad. His family is quite high profile in Iran, his grandfather was an Ayatollah, and his family are heavily involved in the diplomatic world. He was educated in England, and then went on to attend the George Washington University.

The lecture was really interesting, and I had friends who went who weren't Political Science majors, who still found it particularly informing. He spoke a bit about the way Iranians view America and what they want from America. What seemed to be the most prominent feeling was that if Iran is given respect from America they will cooperate over their nuclear weapons. He spoke about how Iranians are really patriotic, they love their culture and don't want to be spoken to in a disrespectful, condescending tone by America. Majd emphasized how the new President Rouhani is a new chance for US/Iran relations.

What I had not taken into account was that Iranians want change, both the government and the people want this, as it results in economic prosperity. The change he discussed was not regime change, Iranians do not want the Western Liberal Democracy, but they want some form of interaction internationally. If they have this interaction it means that Iranians will have more opportunities and a better standard of living. He touched on women's rights that whilst the West may think wearing of the Hijab is impeaching freedom, this is the least of worries for Iranian women's rights activists. Instead they care more about the fact that women cannot be judges, or that it is incredibly hard to get a divorce. This argument related to the fact that if you saw Iranian women dressed in western styled clothing, you may be under the impression it was a democracy when in fact the same restraints existed. He highlighted how Iranian youths are so informed about social media and America, however this does not mean they want Western culture forced upon them. Iranians want a mix of Western music, internet and Iranian music, film and culture.

Majd finally placed particular emphasis on the Geneva Convention taking place next week. He said that if America give Iran the respect they want this will be great, if not the radicals in Iran will have been proven right. This would mean that cooperation between the two would be unlikely in the future, and Iran will be unwilling to bother trying to cooperate again.

I came away feeling much better informed in understanding the way Iranians are looking at America. We are so lucky at SBCC to have the opportunity to be able to listen to someone on that level.