September 24, 2001 - Boston Returned Volunteers: My understanding of American exploitation and oppression started when I was in the Peace Corps in Iran at 21 years old in 1967.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Iran: Peace Corps Iran : The Peace Corps in Iran: September 24, 2001 - Boston Returned Volunteers: My understanding of American exploitation and oppression started when I was in the Peace Corps in Iran at 21 years old in 1967.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-177-60.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.177.60) on Thursday, November 27, 2003 - 10:57 am: Edit Post

My understanding of American exploitation and oppression started when I was in the Peace Corps in Iran at 21 years old in 1967.



My understanding of American exploitation and oppression started when I was in the Peace Corps in Iran at 21 years old in 1967.

My understanding of American exploitation and oppression started when I was in the Peace Corps at 21 years old in 1967. I was in the outback of Iran riding in a van (the local bus) with Iranian villagers who didn’t know who or what I was. Since I spoke Farsi fluently, and since they believed no white blond foreigner would speak their language or understand their peculiar dialect, I could mutely listen to them speculating, unsuspecting that I understood them, whether I was a CIA agent, sent their to do some mischief to undermine their lives. You see, they knew that the CIA had been instrumental in the 1950’s in helping to overthrow their popular communist government of Mossadegh and return the tyrannical Shah to power. The CIA did this because it was in the interest of the USA to have the Shah in power.

The Shah was an American collaborator and a tyrannical exploiter of the worst kind, and I had some personal experiences of his exploitation and tyranny. It was well known that he hoarded the wealth of his country in Swiss banks. However, what fewer knew or saw was how bitter poverty-stricken villagers felt when they were forced to use resources they could not afford to build huge triumphal arches and have celebrations draining what little they had for the Shah’s coronation.

However, they had no freedom of speech and could not publicly complain because they were living in a tyranny. But because of my work and reputation, and because I was trusted by their friends, they shared confidences with me. They knew that the supposedly helpful Shah’s Army Health, Education and Agriculture Corps were in every village predominantly as spies; they knew this because the Corps did little, with some exceptions, to actually improve their lot, and because they ferreted away anyone who spoke critically of the government.

And the Shah’s tyrannical and pervasive plainclothes secret police watched and listened to every move and immediately investigated anything or anyone the least bit unusual that they might interpret as seditious. For example, when I was a few seconds late standing for the national anthem at a performance, two agents were in my Iranian boss’s office the next morning when I arrived at work. I was suspiciously questioned about all my activities and why I was doing them and who my superiors were and what they believed (I was building health-related facilities throughout the province). I had been a few seconds late getting up for the anthem, because I was in a children’s school with tiny seats with arms, and my hip pocket wallet caught on an arm when I first tried to stand up, forcing me to sit back down, remove it and stand up again.

My understanding has grown every day since the Peace Corps because I was open to hearing and seeing just what was around me. However, I am frustrated from doing things with my life and “career” since then to fight that oppression (entirely with domestic issues except for my two years Peace Corps service) and feeling I have hardly made a dent. Sometimes I feel my efforts have been an ineffectual drop in the bucket, although I know many people have thanked me for helping to change their lives.




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Story Source: Boston Returned Volunteers

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Iran

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