Whose Side is Europe On?

Shaheen Fatemi, Iran va Jahan:

In March 14, 2005 issue of the Financial Times, under the heading of' Europe's leading role in the spread of democracy,' Mr. Javier Solana,(High Representative for European Union's Foreign Policy) asserts that 'the point of politics is to change things'. But in reality, Europe can hardly claim any credit for the changes that are occurring in the Middle East today. Europe, as represented by Mr. Solana, is doing everything in its powers to retard, if not reverse, the march toward democracy in the Greater Middle East. READ MORE

Take the case of Iran as an example. While President Bush and his administration have used every opportunity to encourage and support the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom and democracy, not a single European head of state or official, such as Mr. Solana, have ever spoken or written one word in that context. They have not even dared to raise the issue of gross violations of human rights, at least publicly, in the course of their frequent meetings with the officials of IRI. More than two decades of documented violations and even criminal indictment of the leaders of IRI by a German court has been systematically ignored. In the collective memory of the Iranian people the images of European leaders happily and proudly posing in pictures with the criminal leaders of the Islamic Republic are bitter souvenirs for the future.

Mr. Solana states: "The values of democracy and human rights are in our collective DNA." One should ask when was the last time that any manifestation of this deeply placed conviction was manifested? For the people of Eastern Europe, when they were under the yoke of dreadful communist regimes, it was the United States of America beaming rays of hope for eventual liberation through the Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. At the same time Mr. Solana's socialist comrades were marching against the American initiatives and in support of appeasement of communism. Even as late as 1988, the European leaders, with the exception of Margaret Thatcher, were calling President Reagan's famous Berlin Wall speech dangerously reckless.

Once again, the Europeans are missing an opportunity by not placing themselves, along side of the United States and on the side of the freedom-loving people of Iran. It should not be difficult to decipher which powers and what 'tyranny' President Bush had in mind on the 8th of March during his speech at the National Defense University when he said: "By now it should be clear that decades of excusing and accommodating tyranny, in the pursuit of stability, have only led to injustice and instability and tragedy. It should be clear that the advance of democracy leads to peace, because governments that respect the rights of their people also respect the rights of their neighbors. It should be clear that the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance and hope kindled in the free societies. And our duty is now clear: For the sake of our long-term security, all free nations must stand with the forces of democracy and justice that have begun to transform the Middle East."

Ali M. S. Fatemi, Ph. D.
Dean and Professor,
Graduate School of Business,
The American University of Paris
Email: Fatemi@aup.edu