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d on the t
or, possibr
r ran is un
dergoing a
.second
volution.
Yet in stark
miast to
| last one,
is revolu-
m likely
ill bo peace-
land ultimately will give
rnians what they want: free-
im, democracy and open re-
tions with the outside world.
They have become fed up
ith the oppressive revolu-
anary regime that has mis-
the name of religion to
solidate power, silence dis-
nt and drastically curtail cit-
ens rights.
■ioir resistance against the
ivernment is warranted, but
must be effected without
akivo recourse to violence.
:—
3F|;|reedom-miiidecl
\ Iranians should
^ oppose Islamic
hard-liners
ithout using
violence.
) B E. w
ture ♦ l 1 ^
s since 11
Cl 111099. Vic 1
saramago,Pcrffhe people’s demands for
fo itaiy B ,rm > l ec l by moderate Presi-
leilt Muhammad Khatami and
■ independent press, are he
re Heaney. Irela; ng met with with bitter oppo-
oe japan ition and violence by govern-
rrreon.u.s. Mnt hard-liners who stand to
;, x-, st Luc/a ose m a more open society.
■Until now, most Iranians
Mm have pressed for democratic
change in a peaceful manner.
there is the danger that
' t'’^lerepression-wary populace
Isuecumb to violent action
train of reform comes
^lowly or is derailed by the
-liners.
[owever, violence is not
)est solution,
feedom-minded Iranians
■channel their anger into
^telligent non-violent action
I Twin their demands, not
:ough riots and fights, but
■ugh civil disobedience and
n-cooperation.
Iranians must remember
lat while the right wing elite
lave
for both
ave the guns and the political
gue)
c 1
i Floor Ri
• i rfWer, they have the masses
, ™g | ®y t he social power.
|The people are the base of
Building)lie economy, without which
r MSC) pe government could not
is Buiftfnction. They must exploit
Jtis fact.
Kjran’s 1979 “Islamic” revo
lution, in which the dictatori
al,Iwesternized shah was over
sown and replaced with a
jiict theocratic state, has not
tuden j Ven p e0 pi e w hat they
FI9. Tin? dnted.
•brought |“\y e didn’t expect so much
s applied lUBterity,” political scientist
Bandy B f ”arideh Farhi said in the July
National Geographic special
^ Iran. “Severity is against
^t>nr nature. We like fun. We
like color. ”
l lran’s repressive fundamen-
iist regime has made people
unhappy and life gray, accord-
r tag to Khodadad Rezakhani, a
Texas A&M student from Iran.
1 “Nobody celebrates any-
n0 tjff more,” he said of his homeland.
[Iran’s government may be
jigiously fundamentalist, but
'people are far from it,
Izakhani said.
[The government attempts
[regulate citizens’ lives with
orality enforcers, men given
■duty of incessantly nag-
ng the people in public if
their activity appears “un-Is-
lamic.” The assault made on
their privacy is greatly resent
ed by Iranians.
“They don’t want people
telling them what to do,”
Rezakhani said of his people.
Some individuals feel that
the self-proclaimed Islamic
government is not Islamic at
all. Rather, many officials are
simply power-hungry men
who want to assert their au
thority and get rich.
“Islamic government is a
myth; it’s propaganda,” one
Iranian villager commented in
the National Geographic re
port. “I doubt these people are
working for Islam. They’re
just collecting money for
themselves.”
So what type of govern
ment do the Iranians want?
First, they kicked out the
shah partly because of his at
tempts at westernizing Iran
and minimizing the role of Is
lam. Now they feel oppressed
by a staunchly anti-west gov
ernment that has made Islam
the cornerstone of society. It
would appear Iranians cannot
make up their minds.
But they have.
And newly-elected Presi
dent Khatami embodies their
democratic vision.
“He is ideal in all respects,”
Islamic law student Ali Sa-
faryan said in National Geo
graphic. “He talks about Is
lamic democracy. He brings us
this gift of dialogue between
cultures. And he has improved
the view Iranians have of
Americans.”
Khatami is seeking to mod
erate the role of religion in
Iran's government.
“The future of religion is
that it has to cope with free
dom; otherwise it has no fu
ture,” he said at a rally in Iran.
But to do so, he will have
to overcome considerable op
position. Hard-liners are al
ready making desperate at
tempts to prevent reform.
Recently, eight Iranian in
tellectuals were assassinated
by members of the govern
ment’s ministry of informa
tion. Right now, independent
newspapers are being shut
down to stifle criticism and
debate.
In July, right-wing militias
raided the dormitories of stu
dents who had protested the
crackdown on the press.
At least one student was
killed in the confrontation.
Now, the revolutionary
court, much to the outrage of
the people, has condemned
four leaders of the student
demonstrations to death.
While the court accuses
them of inciting the people, a
Human Rights Watch report
explains the real motive be
hind the sentences is “appar
ently to intimidate Iranian stu
dents as they return to
classes.”
President Khatami must
work diligently behind the
scenes to ensure that the four
leaders are not executed.
If his efforts are not suffi
cient, Iranian citizens should
be prepared to use drastic
forms of civil disobedience,
such as strikes, sit-ins and
mass protests.
In the meantime, they must
wait for the February parlia
mentary elections, in which
they will vote the hard-liners
out of power and the pro-re
form candidates in, thus seal
ing Iran’s democratic future.
Caesar Ricci is a junior
plant and soil science major.
m
itolerance problems
A&M overrated
Iresponse to Eric Dickens’ Sept.
I column.
■Dickens talks about how inter-
fctional students wearing tradi-
linal clothing inspire people to
lokatthem.
That is human nature.
Wouldn’t a student in Tehran
wearing a Stetson and Wranglers
get the same response?
It even happens here in Ameri
ca. I spent the last seven years in
Seattle and got strange looks
every time I left the house wear
ing my Stetson.
Were they being intolerant?
No, it was just unusual.
Dickens also refers to the di
versity at Texas A&M. What do the
o PINION
Page 11 • Friday, October 1, 1999
ACCESS DENIED
Campus parking policy unfairly handicaps disabled students
E ach semes
ter nearly
400 stu
dents at Texas
A&M register as
disabled.
These stu
dents, in addition
to many more
who go unregis
tered, not only face overcoming
their disabilities but are further
hampered by the ongoing obsta
cles the University continues to
place in their paths.
Recently, handicap notices have
been posted in all pay parking ar
eas on campus.
As of today, individuals with
handicap license plates, hang tags
or placards are no longer exempt
from paying parking lot fees.
While the notice is in accordance
with a new state law. House Bill
1032, it does not require A&M to
enforce it.
University policy states, “Texas
A&M does not discriminate on the
basis of disabilities in admission or
access to its programs.”
The policy clearly implies that
handicapped individuals who are
enrolled or staffed by A&M should
not be forced to pay to attend their
classes or jobs.
The pay lot behind the Wehner
Business Administration Building
and the West Campus Library,
Parking Area 72 is affected by this
change of policy. The nearest
handicap parking spaces, aside
from those in the Wehner lot, are
on the other side of the Heep Cen
ter in Parking Area 74.
In the event that a disabled per
son has to park in any of these
spaces it is a considerable distance
to the West Campus Library,
Wehner, even to the Biochem
istry/Biophysics Building.
Handicap tags are issued on a
merit basis; it only makes sense
that anyone with a tag needs to
park close for a reason. With the
new policy, the University stands
to gain minuscule amounts of rev
enue at the cost of the disabled.
In PA 72, there are 14 spaces
designated for handicap parking. If
one of these spots was occupied
for an entire day, A&M only stands
to earn $8. Swallowing the cost of
these handicap spaces would cost
the University negligible amounts.
The new pay-lot notice is not
the only handicap issue. Simply
getting to and from classes can be
difficult for students who are both
permanently or temporarily dis
abled. Buildings with central loca
tions, such as Sterling C. Evans Li
brary, Harrington Education
Classroom Center or the Biochem
istry/Biophysics Building, leave lit
tle alternative for students, besides
walking or riding in a wheelchair.
Even buildings located along
streets or adjacent to parking lots
are becoming more inconvenient
to reach due to road closures and
construction.
Handicapped individuals who
drive themselves or are driven to
campus face parking problems
with a twist.
On main campus, there seems
to be a sufficient number of spaces
available around the Blocker
Building and Zachry Engineering
Center, but on the other side of the
library, one faces a maze of gates
and drives when looking for a
parking space.
With a handicap placard and an
A&M parking tag, a person can
park in any space that is not Uni
versity business or 24-hour re
served. The most central option for
handicap parking is the new park
ing garage next to the library an
nex. But disabled people must pay
to park there after today.
A&M offers the illusion that
they are dedicated to helping stu
dents who face disabilities. A sim
ple manor in doing so would be to
supply easy access to the available
spaces for disabled individuals.
The ethics and morals of A&M are
in serious question if they choose
MARK MCPHERSON/The Battalion
not to offer as much assistance as
possible.
Remedying the situation is not
just an option.
It is a social obligation.
Elizabeth Kohl is a junior
accounting major.
Military's domestic power needs restraint
L ast week, Washington
issued a wake-up call
for the entire nation.
The public should not roll
over, hit the snooze button
and go back to sleep.
Several years ago, the sec
retary of defense realized the
world is operating on a new
and different set of rules than
previously this century and
established a committee to investigate what
kinds of vulnerabilities the United States faced
in the coming years.
The committee and the RAND Institute, a
hired policy think-tank, came up with a num
ber of interesting conclusions, which were
reported in a recent issue of the Wash
ington Post.
The committee concluded that the
United States is increasingly vulner
able to terrorist attacks within its
borders.
Since few could ever forget the
World TFade Center and Okla
homa City bombings, this revelation
might come under the heading of
“things we learned too late.”
The situation is frightening, but even more
frightening is the proposed solution: giving
the military more responsibility for internal
domestic security.
Anyone who does not understand the
trouble with this idea is cordially invited to
pay a visit to East Timor. The dividing lines be
tween the military and the police disappeared
there a long time ago.
But the most humiliating lessons in history
are the repeated ones.
The feeling that one should have seen the
event coming does nothing to alleviate the mis
ery of the catastrophe.
If the American public does not want mili
tary police patrolling its streets in Hum-vees
and tanks, it should abort this mission before it
gets off the ground.
The more time there is between inception of
the plan and the call to rethink the solution,
the less likely the opponents of the military
policing are to succeed. Therefore, the time to
protest these conclusions is now.
Human nature is essentially unchanged.
Give kids toys, and they will want to play with
them. Give soldiers weapons and some ammu
nition, and they will want to shoot them —
even if it means firing at civilians.
Yesterday’s newspapers confirm such a sce
nario is not motivated by alarmism.
The Associated Press has uncovered evi
dence that American soldiers killed hundreds
of civilian South Korean refugees in 1950 at a
bridge named No Gun Ri.
Soldiers who participated in or witnessed
the massacre have confirmed that their superi
ors told them to fire because North Korean sol
diers disguised as peasants may have been in
the mob, even though the crowd of harmless
victims included women, children and
elderly men.
to the war. Their deaths were indelibly etched
into the national conscience by poignant pho
tography and evening news films. Those im
ages must not be forgotten.
All over the world, there are police forces
armed with automatic weapons who ride
around in tanks.
These are often called security forces. ” But
calling something by a different name will not
change what it is, even if doing so changes
people’s perception of it.
The American public deserves to be pro
tected from terrorist attacks.
A good starting place would be for
the government to refrain from interfer
ing in the internal affairs of foreign
countries.
If the foreign policy of this nation
does not provoke hatred of the
American people abroad, U.S.
domestic security will be more
assured.
The answer to the argument
that the purpose of the plan is to
Apparently, the military was not loath to
shoot a few hundred Korean civilians for the
sake of killing suspected enemies among them.
Who can be sure they will not fire upon
American civilians to kill those they suspect of
terrorism?
Events in the United States’ past are not far
cries from such indiscriminate policing.
Civil unrest was widespread during the
Vietnam War, an immensely unpopular con
flict. Since the regular forces were busy else
where, the National Guard was used to ensure
order on several occasions.
One unfortunate consequence was at a pre-
viously-unknown school, Kent State University
in Ohio. National Guard troops opened fire on
unarmed student protesters voicing opposition
protect the public is simple.
The government is made up of people, and
as such, is subject to human error. Therefore,
one of the strengths of the American govern
ment is the system of checks and balances.
The military is at the disposal of its com-
mander-in-chief, the president. The founders
of our country saw fit tc hog-tie the president
to prevent abuse of power. Because he has
such a powerful tool at his fingertips, per
haps they had a reason.
This plan may begin benignly, but its de
velopment into something it was never intend
ed to be is not without precedent. Vietnam is
an unparalleled example of the chameleon-like
character of government policies in practice.
There are ways to protect the public without
turning the Army loose on the streets of this
country. Lawmakers will have to be strongly
convinced to look for alternative solutions to
the problem of domestic terrorism.
A good way to convince them would proba
bly be to vote them out of office. But it is much
more likely that America will just turn over
and hit that snooze button again.
Ann Hart is a senior
English major.
MAIL CALL
students have to do with who is
admitted to the school?
No one in the admissions of
fice has ever asked my opinion
on that subject.
How is it my fault that the level
of minority students at A&M is
below his expectations? How
does that make me intolerant?
Dickens makes some harsh
politically correct accusations, yet
he provides no support for them.
He preaches tolerance, but where
is his tolerance for the way others
are? Where is his tolerance for
beliefs beyond his own or those
at A&M?
Why is it that the most intoler
ant people I have ever met are
the ones preaching how intoler
ant other people are?
Marc Barringer
Class of ’92
Pedestrian: Keep
bikers in bike lanes
This is for all those poor Aggies
who do not know the important
difference between a sidewalk
and a bike lane.
A sidewalk is a piece of pave
ment beside a road which is used
by pedestrians to walk on. A bike
lane is a lane on a road used for
bike riders. Hence the names. I
hope this will clear things up for
those bike riders who do not know
the difference.
If some of you still do not be
lieve me, just ask a pedestrian
where you should ride your bike
before you get angry about them
being in your way.
Stephanie Smith
Class of ’99