Whilst we abhor any violence no matter where it occurs we must be mindful not to be seen as morally blind to violence which we ourselves have frequently resorted to in recent times. We, that is the G8, are unfortunately implicit in the deaths and maiming of many thousands of civilians in both Pakistan and Afghanistan in the last year alone. So the stench of death, inflicted upon the innocents is also upon us. Some humility may be in order here, or else blatant hypocrisy will be readily seized upon by our enemies.
Furthermore, whilst we support and respect the right to peaceful protests in Iran we should not forget that other countries in the region are far less tolerant than Iran of such rights. Egypt immediately springs to mind. Should we remain silent where far worse abuses are routine, simply because a nation is politically aligned with us? A tricky question I hope you will consider.
As for the Iranian elections specifically. We must recognize the openness of the election process prior to the election itself, something not so evident in many of our allies in the region. Mubaraks 98% vote is foremost in my mind here. We must deplore the violent reaction to peaceful protest in Iran but once again we must not exhibit gross hypocrisy by ignoring even more egregious post election violence elsewhere-for purely political convenience. Mexico 2006 was host to one of the most dubious election results in recent times. Millions of Mexicans (2,000,000 participants-police reports) also poured onto the streets in protests which continued for weeks at the inequity of the election process. Several months of parallel protests by teachers and indigenous militants in the state of Oaxaca during which 26 were killed by police and paramilitaries were not even reported. Mexico has a long tradition of electoral fraud. Unlike Iran, Mexico has a 1954-mile border with the United States of North America. Thank you. |
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