do we really deserve good treatment in america

[ChaharMahal]

Everytime I see news about afghans status in Iran I feel somewhat ashamed of how we have treated them. I do not buy that this IRI's fault. I think strategically IRI has not had a policy to deal with afghans in Iran. And That might have been part of the problem they failed to build the culture of welcoming immigrants in our country.

I though feel most of blame lies on shoulder of us iranians who treated afghan truely terrible. I remember neighbors complaining when you were planning to rent your house out to afghans. People were always looking for afghan workers because they worked harder but they refused to treat them equally. My Dad was constructing our house when I was just seven years old and that's why I have such pleasant memory of afghani workers.

I also have had great memory of poor old old afghan men sitting on corners of intersections under some tree shade fixing people shoes for very little money.

unfortunately I remmeber the very fews afghan kids were always ill treated by other kids and that was tolorated by school staff.

Sometimes when I get furstrated with american right and the bad publicity about iran in the news, I wonder whether as a nation we have the moral right to complain.

I think to be fair every one of us who has lived in iran at some point or time has witnessed an injustice toward poor afghanis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/story/2007/05/070501_ag-afghan-workers-pics.shtml

 

[R.BAGGIO]

great post.

i feel the same way. i guess now we know what it feels like to be an immigrant. Iranians are really something, if the foreigner was european or n.american they would never treat them like that. i guess its an inferiority complex

 

[mazbolourchi]

Agree with you 100%

 

[payan]

what about regime's treatment with iraqis immigrants ,adel hadad ,shahroudi ,afrough , asefi and too many of them, all iraqis without any qualifaction have had the key positions .the scary things are as soon as regime would fall iranians will punish them as high regime criminals .there is no doubt iranians are elitist people .and one of the most prejudice people in the world .

 

[Makaveli]

i heard something on npr about Iran deporting 50,000 afghans in the span of about 3 days, and is looking to deport another 500,000. anyone heard about this? is it true? cuz if it is thats pretty horrible

 

[Niloufar]

well said ehsan.
I was saying the same thing here few weeks ago, when referring to our cultural flaws. Lets face it, our people are pretty racist.
I still can remember this Afghani girl in our school back in Iran was made fun of, bc of her accent/looks/etc everyday by other students.
Our ppl wrongly assume that most of crimes/robberies,thefts are committed by Afghan immigrants. and after 20 yrs of Afghans' immigration to Iran, our ppl still treat them really bad. which is a double standard, considering how we criticize Europeans and Americans for their attitudes regarding immigrants..

 

[ChaharMahal]

what about regime's treatment with iraqis immigrants ,adel hadad ,shahroudi ,afrough , asefi and too many of them, all iraqis without any qualifaction have had the key positions .the scary things are as soon as regime would fall iranians will punish them as high regime criminals .there is no doubt iranians are elitist people .and one of the most prejudice people in the world .

payan jan yes iraqis have got better treatment because they were anti saddam and IRI had and interest to make them feel welcome. But remmember the few you mentioned which I am not sure hadad and asefi would be one of were part of an elite group of 500K people.

 

[Fatso]

They're Muslims and they're not White (European, North American). That's why so many insult and bother them.
Otherwise we would have Iranians bending over left and right if they were some white person.

 

[raminio05]

As long as we as a nation and a culture go on hating Arabs, Afghans, Pakistanis, and mocking "cheshm tangs" and Hindus and even Jews, we are not going to get anywhere. Its time to stop being hypocritical. Great post Esamani.

 

[Behrooz_C]

Look at this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/story/2007/05/070503_s-afghan-refugee-killed.shtml

 

[Iranpaak]

what about regime's treatment with iraqis immigrants ,adel hadad ,shahroudi ,afrough , asefi and too many of them, all iraqis without any qualifaction have had the key positions .

Just out of curiosity, how do you know (or what is your source) that Haddad Adel ( you wrote Adel Hadad maybe he is a differnt person); speaker of the Majlis and Asefi (former foreign ministry spokesman) are Iraqis?

Ehsan Jan, chera rah dor meyri, the treatment of Khuzestani fleeing during the early days of war by some of fellow hamvatans in cities such as Broujerd, Shiraz and... were less than respectable, and far from Iranian tradition of mahmoun navazi. I remember those days as if it was yesterday.

 

[Motori]

Ehsan Jan, chera rah dor meyri, the treatment of Khuzestani fleeing during the early days of war by some of fellow hamvatans in cities such as Broujerd, Shiraz and... were less than respectable, and far from Iranian tradition of mahmoun navazi. I remember those days as if it was yesterday.

I.P jAn, dast ro delam nazAr keh khooneh.
That was and still is the part that really really hurts, it is Black Eye which will remain on Iranian Faces for EVER.
Not all but many many Iranian Javoon Mards, instead of helping Hamvatan Refugees and facilitate a better life for them they intentionally planed and lured the young female of these families to prostitution. Younger age and cheaper price used to be a good reason for these Naa Javoon Mards to brag.

 

[Farzadoo]

The question of the topic was whether we deserve our treatment here in the USA? Damn straight we do. In less than 25-30 years, we Iranians have reached incredible heights of Social, economic, educational, and technical status. We pay our taxes and therefore I and every irooni deserves his treatment here.

Now, about the issues in Iran... Before I start, let me tell you that I have had many contacts and dealings with Afghans and Khuzestani hamvatans and have never had any issue with racism or anything else. Having said that, does the Afghan population pay taxes in Iran? Do they take away potential jobs for Iranians? Isn't Iran the 3rd largest refugee holder in the world?

Do we as a whole nation harbor racist feelings? My answer is yes. BUT, it takes time to grow as a nation. America was built and designed to have immigrants move into it. Iran and its culture were not designed that way. We love our guests, but are not ready to deal with them on a long term basis. It will take time to change and change we will. Just don't go around bashing the culture. Give it time.....

 

[lordofmordor]

Great posts. Yes, Iranians are racist. When you are racist and you judge others, you always feel like you are being judged.

Shahroudi and other Iraqi criminals working for the IR regime and responsible for ordering the death of Iranians should be dealt with asap.

 

[Iranpaak]

Now, about the issues in Iran... Before I start, let me tell you that I have had many contacts and dealings with Afghans and Khuzestani hamvatans and have never had any issue with racism or anything else.

Agha Farzadoo, your experience is certainly unique. I am from Khuzestan ( was living in Tehran when the war broke out); but I heard mistreatment of Khuezestani war refugees form many sources; friends and families.There were numerous fights and mistreatment in many cities that were "hosting" the refugees.
I think it is also well understood that Afghanis were (and are) treated as second class citizen by some Iranians. I do not think anybody is bashing our culture, it is rather a self-critique without which we will repeat the same mistakes.

I do agree with you that the comparison of Afghanis in Iran and Iranians in the US is not a fair one.
Iranians overseas are generally better educated and than the average citizen of their host countries; economically, they are not burden on the economies, rather they are positve contributors. Most of Afghanis were IMHO economic refugees without education and therefore, they were mostly engaged in menial jobs in Iran. Having said that, everybody desrves to be treated with dignity regardless of level of education, or wealth IMHO.

 

[footballeirani]

I also agree that this is not a fair comparison. To me you would have an easier time comparing the Mexicans illegal immigrants in States to the Afghan refugees in Iran.

I dont think this is necessarily racism but rather a perception drawn from what you know...where people stand, how they do conduct themselves and else. Irooniha racist nistan but they are really into society classes. If you arent doing too well economically or socially then they aint going to treat you well. Regardless of you being an Afghani, Irooni, or whatever...

You need to consider the cultural differences. I dont think anybody was saying oh look we are Persians and we are collectively a better race than Afghans. Especially when the other country was a part of former Khorasan with the history of Rostam and Zal.

So again this is not racism!

 

[Farzadoo]

Iranpaak jan,
my Amoo was married to an Ahvazi angel (RIP) and thus I am still in touch with her entire family and we have hosted them and also been their guests a million times and had nothing but reciprocated love and respect for their hardships during the Iran/Iraq war. Everyone should be treated respectfully and with dignity, but the other issue of being a burden on the host country without much positive contribution needs to be addressed as well...

 

[payan]

this girl who i knew went to the painting class with hadad' 2 girls ,she said they spoke arabic together in class.btw one of them married khamenie'son .as for asefi, i just heard .still you might be right ,they might be some of those iranian's orgin who migrated to iraq and came back to iran.yes his name is adel hadad

 

[Mehran(ISP)]

Agha Farzadoo, your experience is certainly unique. I am from Khuzestan ( was living in Tehran when the war broke out); but I heard mistreatment of Khuezestani war refugees form many sources; friends and families.There were numerous fights and mistreatment in many cities that were "hosting" the refugees.
I think it is also well understood that Afghanis were (and are) treated as second class citizen by some Iranians. I do not think anybody is bashing our culture, it is rather a self-critique without which we will repeat the same mistakes.

I do agree with you that the comparison of Afghanis in Iran and Iranians in the US is not a fair one.
Iranians overseas are generally better educated and than the average citizen of their host countries; economically, they are not burden on the economies, rather they are positve contributors. Most of Afghanis were IMHO economic refugees without education and therefore, they were mostly engaged in menial jobs in Iran. Having said that, everybody desrves to be treated with dignity regardless of level of education, or wealth IMHO.

I agree, living in Arak at the time of war we had our share of khuzestani refugee or "jangzade" that were looked at in a certain way. but they went to the same school and were my friends too. Being khuzestani and a jangzade were different. Jangzade were the refugees and khuzestanis were the ones that came before the war.

 

[Fole_Penalt]

This is of course a good point in that we Iranians should strive to be less prejudiced. However the way you put it, it is as if Americans being accepting of Iranian immigrants rather than keeping them down through prejudice is a favor Americans provide to those who deserve it. Rather, America still having the least prejudice anywhere in the world towards immigrants is a fovor Americans do to themselves. It is the Americans that benefit first and foremost in the long-run. America is still unmatched anywhere in the world for millions of immigrants coming and having the opportunity to move to the very top, become billionares. And God bless America for that.

Secondly, I think you are being a little too harsh towards the Iranian people as a whole. Obviously the regime is one of the most fascist regimes in the world that oppresses its own people let alone the Afghans. But speaking for the people themselves your parallel is not quite right. The treatment of Afghans in Iran should be compared to the treatment of hispanic illegal immigrants rather than Iranian immigrants to the US. And there you can see that while US and Americans are better the gap is not quite that large.

Of course Iran and Iranians is not America, or Canada or Australia but if you were to compare Iran to its neighbors then you will see that Iranians are a head and a shoulder better than all of them in this area. It is not even close. For example, just compare the plight of the Afghans in Pakistan vs. Iran. You can ask them. I have. You will see that Afghans have been treated enormously better in Iran than Pakistan. This despite the fact that Pakistan has been receiving billions of dollars of internation aid and Iran because of the pathetic IR has been receiving nearly nothing.

Or you can ask how the Arabs treat their immigrant servants. Or you can ask how the Turks have treated the Kurds, Armenians, and practically anyone else.

Obviously, there is a huge gap between the US and Iran and Iranians should try to become less and less prejudiced, not for their sake but for our own sake.