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What do you REALLY know about the world?
Our dear Maartje returned from Iran last Friday. A country that us westerners mostly know from television. Better yet: we probably only know it from tv. The war with the Iraqi's (although that's a long time ago) president Ahmedinejad who's screaming an cursing against Israel and America (to say the least), it's nuclear program and you'll probably be able to mention a lot more examples than the ones I've just mentioned. So: axis of evil then ey?
Well...that's very, very, very difficult to say. First of all let us not forget that the images we see of this country are not - let me repeat that again, NOT - representative for the entire country.
Let's go back in time for some good measure. We were in China in August last year. We see certain images and certain people and certain events which form our image of this country. Is every Chinese a supporter of the Communist Party? I doubt it. Did you know that kids there just live their lives like kids over here? That there's a lively music scene over there? That there are huge shopping malls there like 77th Street Plaza? When I saw the images of current day Beijing I was surprised because I really saw a country that's developing it's own youth culture and whatnot. Come to think of it when you take these things into account: they're not so different from us. There are cultural differences but still.... the medal always has two sides.
Iran was dubbed the 'axis of evil' several years ago. But can you truly say that of it's people? The answer is no if you ask me. I've seen and heard stories now that don't make it to the mainstream media. They only seem to focus on the nuclear issue, denying the holocaust and more of that kind of stuf. That's what I see and hear anyway. I didn't expect to see boys and girls rollerblading on the same court to the music of DJ Tiesto. Or bungy jumping? The girls were wearing headscarves but some parts of their hair were showing. Turned out that one of them had pink hair. And that aint no joke. Never saw that in the eight o' clock news. (It'll be online HERE soon!)
The footage which Maartje shot in Iran is once again proof, at least to me, that there is more to a country then meets the eye. I guess you can say that there is a dominant voice and a less dominant one in every society. Consider the previous example a less dominant one.
I'm sure that people from the Middle East have a distorted vision of the Dutch too. They see images of people like politician Geert Wilders. But does he represent our entire countries' population? No he doesn't. There are many, many people that don't agree with him. The Dutch are a diverse people. And the Chinese and Iranians are too probably.
So what is Mr hippy-morality trying to say? That a lot of - if not the majority of - the people are alright if you take the time to know them. And vice versa. I know I'm not always reaching out to 'the other' but perhaps I should. Let's consider this blog as a first attempt. So: axis of evil at the end of the day? Maybe a few people. But most aren't.
And of course you can sure as hell expect that the stories of which I just spoke can be seen and heard right here. At Couscous Global. So stay tuned for more stuff from Iran.
