T A B L E+T A L K "Parochial schools should be free." Discuss. In Education. D A I L Y+Q U O T E Mother love, Quentin Tarantino-style R E C E N T L Y Slaughter of the innocents By Erik Marcus The killing of 1.3 million chickens in Hong Kong is child's play compared to the massacres that occur on American farms every day (01/09/98) The new anti-Christ By Jonathan Broder Republican right gears up to fight human cloners (01/08/98) Taps for Sonny Bono By David Corn He came in to Washington as a joke and went out a mensch (01/07/98) The army of the right By Jonathan Broder An embittered U.S. military is embracing hard right ideologies (01/06/98) Is Kaczynski too crazy to be executed? By Ros Davidson Yes, if the defense can turn him into a human being (01/05/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		Lord of the dance THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S CAREFULLY CHOREOGRAPHED, SUBTLY SPOKEN INTERVIEW WITH CNN CARRIED A HUGE MESSAGE TO THE UNITED STATES, AND TO HIS OWN PEOPLE. BY WILLIAM O. BEEMAN | While U.S. policy makers pore through the text for hints and meanings, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's interview with CNN last week made things perfectly -- if subtly -- clear to Iranians: Their nation is liberalizing from within and extending itself further into the international community. The message was conveyed not so much by the substance of Khatami's remarks as by the style of the interview itself. Both the president and CNN's Christiane Amanpour are figures with one foot in Iran and one foot in the international community. Amanpour represents a U.S. news organization. Khatami is an intellectual knowledgeable about Euro-American history and philosophy. Their coming together on television was itself a symbolic bridging of the gap that still exists between Iran and the non-Islamic world. A major symbolic clue for Iranians had to do with the interviewer herself. Amanpour is a source of pride for Iranians. As an award-winning journalist of Iranian extraction, her mere presence in the presidential palace constituted an important statement about the Iranian government's liberalizing attitudes toward women in positions of importance. More important, she wore a head covering for the interview -- but significantly did not cover her hair entirely, as would be required of a woman in Iran (where women's hair is considered erotically provocative according to conservative Islamic views). Islamic officials might have been able to insist that she conform fully to the most conservative dress standards as a condition of the interview, but they clearly did not. Iranian citizens will read the fact that she only partially observes the letter of the female dress code as a sign of liberalization on the part of their own government. It will be interesting to see if Iranian women attempt to follow Amanpour's example in head-covering -- such small changes in behavior often presage much larger shifts in social attitudes and policy in Iran. As for President Khatami, although he was in full clerical garb, his language was remarkable. He was relaxed and spoke in nearly colloquial Persian, in contrast to the highly Arabicized, convoluted Persian, intoned in sermonlike pronouncements, that has long been a principal characteristic of Iran's religious leadership. In Iran, rhetorical styles are keys to political attitudes. A politician talking like a cleric advertises his conservative leanings. By eschewing such language, Khatami identified himself as something new -- a cleric who doesn't sound like one. Overall, Khatami handled Amanpour's questions like a seasoned diplomat. He was frank, forthcoming and not condescending. One hopes that U.S. foreign policy analysts noticed that this leader is qualitatively different from those who have preceded him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - N E X T+P A G E+| How the U.S. could blow it