Freedom in Farsi

The Wall Street Journal:

For an Administration looking to spend $35 billion in foreign aid next year, the $85 million it plans to devote to democracy promotion in Iran may seem niggardly. But look at it this way: The request is more than seven times what the Administration had previously budgeted for 2006, and nearly 40 times what it spent in 2005. The sums may still be small, but at least the trend is positive. READ MORE

"The United States will actively confront the policies of this Iranian regime, and at the same time we are going to work to support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom in their own country," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday. Ms. Rice promised to improve and expand the Voice of America's television and radio transmissions to Iran, support Iran's labor movement and provide scholarships for visiting Iranian students.

We are skeptics of most foreign aid, but the VOA's Farsi broadcasts have proved to be money well spent. "Next Chapter," a youth-oriented TV show that airs samizdat political videos, is a hit in Iran, as is the VOA's Radio Farda (meaning "Tomorrow"). Labor unions are also a potent source of political opposition in Iran, just as they were during the Communist era in Poland. The current Iranian bus drivers' strike has led to the arrest of hundreds of drivers, evidence of the regime's fear of where the strike might lead.

A larger dose of VOA programming won't solve the looming crisis over Iran's nuclear programs. But as we learned with the old Soviet Bloc, totalitarian regimes are often more brittle than they seem. Outside of Israel, the U.S. may have no better friend in the Middle East than the Iranian people. The more we make our voices heard over there, the likelier it is that they will someday have a chance to make their voices heard too.