ラミン・ジャハンベグローの逮捕 | オピニオン | 英語のニュース

Opinion

The arrest of Ramin Jahanbegloo

Last year I was working at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), in Delhi, as Chair Professor in Democracy. When I left, my replacement was Prof. Ramin Jahanbegloo, from Iran. He arrived after we left, so I didn't meet him. Perhaps I never will. At the end of April, on a visit back to Iran, he was arrested.

For what crime? The Iranian newspapers say he is a spy, he was trying to overthrow the Islamic regime, he cooperated with reformists, he worked for the CIA and/or Mossad, and so on. Perhaps the truest statement of the government's dissatisfaction with him came from the Minister of Intelligence: "Jahanbegloo is in the custody of the Ministry of Intelligence on charges of having relations with foreigners."

If this is a crime, then he is guilty. Jahanbegloo took his doctorate at The Sorbonne in 1997. He has met Isaiah Berlin, Paul Ricoeur, Jurgen Habermas, Noam Chomsky (his book "Conversations with Isaiah Berlin" was published in 2000). Fifteen books — in English, French, and Persian — are listed on his CV. And he has served as (and indeed is still serving as) Chair Professor in Democracy at CSDS, working at the same desk where I sat the year before. If that counts as a "relation," then I am part of his crime .

Why should the government of Iran release Jahanbegloo?

If the Iranian police discover that, despite his professed adherence to non-violence, weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in his basement, then it will be a different story. But if he has been arrested for things he has spoken and written, he should be released.

Why?

Not because the government of Iran has the duty to adopt Western-based notions of "human rights." The reason goes deeper:

If someone is strangling you, you don't complain that you are being deprived of your right to breathe. You don't need to refer to some Western system of thought to explain why you don't want to be strangled. You don't want to be strangled because you need air to live.

Speaking is one of the modes in which human beings breathe. When we speak, our words take the material form of air. And just as breathing keeps our bodies alive, speaking (and writing, listening and reading) brings nourishment to our minds and spirits. Speech is the breath of the soul.

The same is true for a society. Free speech should be protected not because it is a clever idea invented by Western thinkers, but because it is society's manner of breathing: society's source of air. To cut off a society's freedom of speech is to strangle it. This is as true for a deeply religious society as it is for a secular one.

For the government of Iraq to attack and seek to silence a man like Jahanbegloo is not an attack on the West, it is an attack on its own society, its own people. It is an attempt to deprive them of words, the air a society needs to live. Trying to strangle yourself is unwise.

Jahanbegloo should be released.

(516 words)

More information can be obtained at www.iranproject.info/

Discussion: Discuss the place of free speech in Japanese society.

Shukan ST: June 30, 2006

●英字新聞社ジャパンタイムズによる英語学習サイト。英語のニュース、英語教材、TOEIC、リスニング、英語の発音、ことわざ、などのコンテンツを無料で提供。
	脚注を印刷吹き出し表示フレーム表示
Opinion The arrest of Ramin Jahanbegloo By Douglas Lummis Last year I was working at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), in Delhi, as Chair Professor in Democracy. When I left, my replacement was Prof. Ramin Jahanbegloo, from Iran. He arrived after we left, so I didn't meet him. Perhaps I never will. At the end of April, on a visit back to Iran, he was arrested. For what crime? The Iranian newspapers say he is a spy, he was trying to overthrow the Islamic regime, he cooperated with reformists, he worked for the CIA and/or Mossad, and so on. Perhaps the truest statement of the government's dissatisfaction with him came from the Minister of Intelligence: "Jahanbegloo is in the custody of the Ministry of Intelligence on charges of having relations with foreigners." If this is a crime, then he is guilty. Jahanbegloo took his doctorate at The Sorbonne in 1997. He has met Isaiah Berlin, Paul Ricoeur, Jurgen Habermas, Noam Chomsky (his book "Conversations with Isaiah Berlin" was published in 2000). Fifteen books — in English, French, and Persian — are listed on his CV. And he has served as (and indeed is still serving as) Chair Professor in Democracy at CSDS, working at the same desk where I sat the year before. If that counts as a "relation," then I am part of his crime . Why should the government of Iran release Jahanbegloo? If the Iranian police discover that, despite his professed adherence to non-violence, weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in his basement, then it will be a different story. But if he has been arrested for things he has spoken and written, he should be released. Why? Not because the government of Iran has the duty to adopt Western-based notions of "human rights." The reason goes deeper: If someone is strangling you, you don't complain that you are being deprived of your right to breathe. You don't need to refer to some Western system of thought to explain why you don't want to be strangled. You don't want to be strangled because you need air to live. Speaking is one of the modes in which human beings breathe. When we speak, our words take the material form of air. And just as breathing keeps our bodies alive, speaking (and writing, listening and reading) brings nourishment to our minds and spirits. Speech is the breath of the soul. The same is true for a society. Free speech should be protected not because it is a clever idea invented by Western thinkers, but because it is society's manner of breathing: society's source of air. To cut off a society's freedom of speech is to strangle it. This is as true for a deeply religious society as it is for a secular one. For the government of Iraq to attack and seek to silence a man like Jahanbegloo is not an attack on the West, it is an attack on its own society, its own people. It is an attempt to deprive them of words, the air a society needs to live. Trying to strangle yourself is unwise. Jahanbegloo should be released. (516 words) More information can be obtained at www.iranproject.info/ Discussion: Discuss the place of free speech in Japanese society. Shukan ST: June 30, 2006 (C) All rights reserved