The frustration of Iranian refugees was characterized by a sign
stuck in front of the Wilshire Federal Building Monday evening:
“We Know the Lies You Tell / Islamic Regime, Go To
Hell!”
This sign and others like it were much in evidence throughout
Westwood as roughly 1,000 members of the Persian community marched
down Wilshire Boulevard, deploring the 24-year-old Islamic
government in Iran and applauding the United States for its
hardline stance against such regimes.
“The people of Iran want a referendum monitored by the
United Nations to decide their form of government,” said
Roxanne Gangi, a member of Iranians for Democracy and one of the
organizers of the event. “They don’t want the Islamic
regime anymore and we’re here to voice that.”
Armed with signs, banners and bullhorns, protesters moved from
the Federal Building to Westwood Boulevard, marching all the way to
the threshold of UCLA at Le Conte before turning around. Black
balloons, symbols of sorrow and solidarity with the Iranian people,
trailed in the wake of dozens of American and Iranian flags.
Police estimated the crowd to be around 1,000. Protest
organizers put the number between 3,000 to 4,000. The vast majority
of protesters were first, second or third generation Iranian
immigrants.
An important point many protesters emphasized is the distinction
between the Iranian people and the Iranian government, which
President Bush branded as a member of the “Axis Of
Evil” alongside Iraq and North Korea.
The Islamic regime in Iran, a theocratic republic, gained
notoriety in the United States when radicals seized the American
embassy in 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Since
then, U.S.-Iranian relations have been strained.
Protesters accuse the Iranian government of corruption, torture
and abuse of power, saying the state is in dire need of reforms in
administration, justice and civil liberties.
“The Iranian people do not stand for the Iranian
government,” said Mike Kazerouni, a fourth-year political
science student at UC Irvine.
“The Islamic government, as the Bush administration points
out, is one of the hugest sponsors of terrorism in the world.
Unfortunately, the Iranian people are one of the first victims of
that terrorism.”
As a show of their solidarity with the United States, marchers
leading the procession carried a large portrait of the Columbia
astronauts and three huge American flags.
Feelings about an America-led war with Iraq, though, were
mixed.
Many protesters support the U.S.-led war on terrorism, carrying
signs professing their thanks and hoping President Bush would turn
his attention to the plight of the Iranian people after dealing
with Iraq.
“President Bush very clearly stated he has heard the calls
for democracy and freedom in Iran,” Gangi said. “The
people of Iran are very hopeful that the world will look at them
and see that we need a democratic government in our
country.”
However, such feelings don’t always turn into a pro-war
stance.
“It would definitely hurt,” said Pedraum Malekzadeh,
a third-year applied mathematics student at UCLA, in regards to war
with Iraq. “Bush going into the Middle East would hurt
relations with many countries.”
Malekzadeh had visited Iran two years ago and had seen the
situation of the Iranian people first-hand.
“The situation is bad, the economy is terrible, and people
are looking for an answer,” he said.
Babak Satiran, who graduated last year from UCLA with a computer
science degree, said a coup in Iran would be the ideal form of
change and offer the best hope to the Iranian people.
“If we can create a democracy, hopefully there won’t
be a war with Iran and we can go home,” he said.