Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:03:36 AM PDT
From: target@batstar.net
To: psysr-disc@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [psysr-disc] talking with Iran
Hi
In terms of overcoming "resistance to anti-torture activism" we've done a pretty solid job these last years, at the level of "interrogation torture." However it's "on to the next resistance" and that's the underlying "torture denial" system of psychology. PsySR is well situated in that regard because of its advocacy for "building cultures of peace." But we do have to work this next resistance more clearly and explicitly.
The Iranian supreme leader advocates many things with which I have standing differences. But his point with regard to doing diplomacy "normally" with the U.S. is [a] held by a wide spectrum of Iranians and [b] well taken. The 1953 overthrow of the democratic government of Iran under Mossadegh is part of our historical pattern of national security "doublethink" ways of dealing, that holds together the infrastructure of our underlying torture based security tradition. It's about "building cultures of U.S. national interest" although I'm sure others here can refine that. It's not about "cultures of peace."
I identify that with the "national security culture" approach promoted in the O.S.S. by Bateson, Mead, and Benedict. That's the approach we
fall back on when we break down the "neocon" approach of the Bush years and its tinsel roots in the Reagan years. To struggle against that, we have to hear the Iranian 'side' of the above issue of diplomatic outreach. The overthrow of Mossadegh is a starting point for such conversation.There's the recent (this last year) story of the Iranians being invited to participate in a U.N. anti-nuclear work group and then .. they checked out what it felt like to be a person in that situation, instead of "negotiating" like they "should have." Maybe we can't expect the Iranians to "gaslight." [!] Maybe we should find out what in their culture calls for "building cultures of peace," and try to connect. They have a rich cultural history and neither their prime minister nor their "supreme leader" fully embraces that tradition.
Andrew Phelps