Ahmadinejad live from Columbia
From the NYTimes Cityroom blog
He asked of the United States: ?If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and tested them already, what position are you in to question the peaceful purposes of others who want nuclear power? We don?t believe in nuclear weapons, period. It goes against the whole grain of humanity.?
He asked of the United States: ?If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and tested them already, what position are you in to question the peaceful purposes of others who want nuclear power? We don?t believe in nuclear weapons, period. It goes against the whole grain of humanity.?
Pressed by Dean Coatsworth on the original question about the rights of gay men and lesbians in Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad said: ?In Iran, we don?t have homosexuals like in your country. We don?t have that in our country.?
The audience booed and hissed loudly. Some laughed, uncomfortably.
?In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon,? Mr. Ahmadinejad continued, undeterred. ?I do not know who has told you that we have it. But as for women, maybe you think that maybe being a woman is a crime. It?s not a crime to be a woman. Women are the best creatures created by God. They represent the kindness, the beauty that God instills in them. Women are respected in Iran.?
posted by Alternate Vision at 8:25 PM
8 Comments:
Columbia should have played those Iranian public hanging videos in the background while he speaks.
7:15 AM
I thought he did quite well after being publicly labeled a "petty and cruel dictator" by the same person who invited him to speak. It showed very poor taste on the part of Bollinger...
I said it more than a year ago, I'll say it again... whether we like Ahmadinejad or not, Iran is absolutely central to solving problems in the middle east.
8:15 AM
Mmm. Well, he's right about the US questioning anyone on nuclear weapons. And where were those protestors a little while ago outside the Kerry speech when that big-mouth US kid got tasered? Or any number of other events in recent years.
On the point of homosexuality, the right wing of all religions seem to be consistent at least I s'pose...
2:08 PM
Pepe Escobar's article on the new "Hitler" in NY offers an alternative take on the controversial visit..
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/II26Ak01.html
4:46 PM
Speaking about the background, they could also play recordings of numerous mass slaughters of civilians in Afghanistan or Iraq by US planes and US soldiers. ... or so called 'security agencies' - on that note.
5:16 PM
I think I speak for a lot of Americans when I say that we're sick of the Bush administration and we're sick of the war in Iraq but that's not going to stop us from criticizing someone who is also fanning the flames that threaten to ignite this much-hyped 'clash of civilazations'. That being said, I read somewhere that yesterday's Jerry Springer-esque spectacle should've had less name-calling and more questions from actual Iranian dissidents-- that pretty much sums up my take on yesterday.
2:02 AM
i made a student i am mentoring read a chapter of his anthropology textbook out loud to me. there was a story about two enemies in new guinea. one man invited his enemy to his compound and presented him with these gifts: over 100 pigs, the equivalent of several thousand dollars in cash, a dozen cows, a pickup truck and a motorcycle. the donor said to an anthropologist with a smile: I have finally defeated him.
4:15 AM
For anyone who wants to peer behind the soundbites, check out the full transcript here:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/202820.php
I, for one, was disgusted with Bollinger. The freedom of speech posturing was so thin, the stench of his arrogance so strong that he sold out any hope of it being a constructive conversation in order to vent his own views. If it wasn't frighteningly apparent in his intro, it could not be more clear in his close:
MR. BOLLINGER: I'm sorry that President Ahmadinejad's schedule makes it necessary for him to leave before he's been able to answer many of the questions that we have or even answer some of the ones that we posed to him. (Laughter, applause.) But I think we can all be pleased that his appearance here demonstrates Columbia's deep commitment to free expression and debate. I want to thank you all for coming to participate. (Applause.)
----
When will we decide that this kind of childish crap is not just embarrassing, but simply unproductive? Yes, let's criticize, but let's criticize with an openness to the response, not just to "demonstrate our deep commitment" and live out the shallow conformist ideologies of our culture.
I certainly have no love for Ahmadinejad, but let's debate specific issues and quit this pathetic name-calling. For a starter, if anyone's interested in the current nuclear situation, check out the IAEA at:
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIran/index.shtml
Also, note that the main remaining area of complaint is the construction of a heavy water reactor and nuclear enrichment facilities. The vast majority of nuclear reactors in existence today require enriched uranium. In addition, even those states/companies building reactors that do use non-enriched uranium are migrating to the use of enriched uranium in their new designs, because of high uranium prices and other associated factors. Iran's construction of such facilities - while it may be outside of the wishes of the Security Council - is certainly, in my view, within the overall global trend as far as use of such facilities for nuclear energy is concerned.
2:01 AM
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