28 Mar 2024
Saturday 17 February 2018 - 15:19
Story Code : 294301

Washington spin debunked: Iranians want jobs, not regime change, poll reveals

RT- The US and some Western media eagerly claimed that Iranians who took to the streets in December 2017 were fed up with their oppressive government but a new poll suggests that their theory may be half-baked.

In arecent surveyconducted by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland and IranPoll, only 0.3 percent of Iranians selectedlack of civil libertiesas the most important problem or challenge currently facing Iran.Injusticewas also at the bottom of the list of grievances, at just 1.4 percent.

Respondents overwhelmingly selected unemployment (40.1 percent) as the largest problem facing the country, followed by inflation and high costs of living (12.5 percent), youth unemployment (9.4 percent), low incomes (6.9 percent) and financial corruption/embezzlement (6 percent).

But after listening to Washingtons bloviating, you would never know that the economy, not an evil regime that suffocates your dreams and buries your hopes, is the primary source of discontent in Iran. In one of her many melodramatic performances in front of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Nikki Haleysaidthat the Iranian protesters were apowerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that theyre willing to risk their lives in protest.

In early January, Secretary of State Rex Tillersongavea similar ode to Irans fabled freedom fighters, saying the United States would support any peaceful efforts by the Iranian people toachieve their aspirationsforgreater freedom.

Vice President Mike Pencepresentedhis own highly-imaginative message to the Iranian people while addressing Israels Knesset on January 22.From the people of America to the proud and brave people of Iran: We are your friends and the day is coming when you will be free from the evil regime that suffocates your dreams and buries your hopes,bellowed the former governor of Indiana.

And then, of course, there are the tweets of encouragement from President Donald Trump, who on more than one occasion expressed his deep, 280-character solidarity with thefreedom hungryIranian people.

Donald J. Trump

?@realDonaldTrump


Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!



4:14 PM - Jan 1, 2018


Americas industrious op-ed columnists bravely followed suit. Writing in the New York Post, Benny Avniexplainedwhat steps the Trump administration must take if it is trulycommitted to helping Irans freedom-seekers.Not to be outdone, the Hillpublishedan op-ed penned by Frederick Kagan, Iranian protests give America chance to advance freedom, in which Kagan argued that the protests were alandmark eventwhosesuddenness, extent, and political and anti-regime composition were unlike any previous unrest Iran has seen since the revolution of 1979.

Despite Washingtons creative interpretation, the true causes behind the week-long protests were hardly focused on the anti-government sentiment as the main issue.

"The middle class, who took to the streets, are asking for more economic reforms, asking for more jobs and employment, [for] better standards of living,Ahmed Al-Burai, a lecturer at Aydin University in Istanbul,toldRT in January.

People are protesting because [they] are under economic pressure and the government must be responsive in the face of rising inflation and these economic hardships,Mostafa Kiaie, an Iranian demonstrator,saidin December, as cited by AFP.

Both the White House and the media were largely silent about pro-government counter-protests held across Iran. A professor of politics at Tehran University, Seyed Mohammed Marandi, told RT that the West was cherry-picking public sentiment in Iran.

The counter protests were much larger, but these were not reflected in the Western media,the academicsaid.
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