So much for the myth of Unity in the "Arab" World. We int e West forget that "Arab" is actually confined to the people Saudi Arabia, and that other ethinicities exist within the Muslim World.
In an al-Jazeera article, ethnic Arabs in th al-Awazi province of Iran claim discrimination and are demanding that Ahwazi be an independant entity.
http://english.aljazeera.net/...
An apartheid is used: Arabic is banned, a good number of people are illiterate and Arabic as a language is not taught. Persian settlers are moving in to displace the indigenous Arabs dismissively described as "Kwawla" or Gypsies.
Despite the difference in their approaches, Nima and al-Ahwazi are united in their belief that Ahwazi Arabs are discriminated against by the Iranian government.
Nima said: "An Arab cannot have a job even in his own region. Government departments in our region are full of Persian Iranians. It is nearly impossible for an Arab to get a job at a government department in Ahwaz. How can we get jobs when the Persians call us Kwawla, meaning Gypsies?"
How can this be? Only Zionist discriminate against Arabs. Isn't that the complaint that the 'anti-Occupation' crowd use regarding Israel treatment of Palestineans?
He continued: "Iranians have established agricultural settlements just like those in Israel. By doing this, they are filling the region with Persians and eventually they will achieve their strategic goal of changing the area's demography and make the Persians a majority."
Isn't this called "occupation" or wouldn't it be called such it it were Israel moving into lands owned by Palestinans? and wouldn't their be a cry of outrage over this displacement?
Iran has launched several big projects in the Ahwaz region, such as the Sheeren Shah settlement and the Sheelat settlement, for the fishing industry.
Abd Allah al-Nafisi, a Kuwaiti political analyst and author, told Al Jazeera that the Ahwaz region was vital to Iran's economy. But it is also inhabited by non-Persians, which makes it tricky for Tehran to strike a balance between economic interests and national security.
The story continues with the regions desire to be an indepenent entity withall the Rights and Responsibility that a "Federal State" (their words) enjoy, which they currentyl do not.
Curious. Iran doesn't trust its own citiziens because they are.. ARAB? hmmmm
Said Al-Ahwazi: "The Iranian constitution touches on non-Persians' rights, but not clearly and directly. However, we would stick to what we have now.
"We have a problem with the government which is still in a state of denial about its own constitution. If the constitution were implemented fairly, at least we would have been able to teach our language to our children and we would have been able to get jobs."
Half the popluation if Iran, and they are IGNORED, mistrusted because they are Arab. Does the Iranian goverment have reason to mistrust half the population?
He said that the first to ask the government to abide by the constitution and give Arabs and other non-Persian Iranians their rights, was a former member of parliament, Jassim al-Tamimi, of the Ahwazi Accordance party.
But the Iranian parliament considered al-Tamimi's requests as a threat to Iranian national security, and banned him from running for the 2005 parliamentary elections.
He was also imprisoned for a week during the Ahwazi uprising in April 2005.
The man was banned from Parliment for aksing that the Constitution of Iran be followed. anyone read about this? I didn't.