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 PAGE 2 OF 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Washington also needs to pay attention to Khatami's subtle message about how a potential U.S.-Iran rapprochement could proceed. U.S. officials reacted strongly against Khatami's call for "people to people" rather than government-to-government diplomacy at this stage. But what Khatami is really saying is that Iran will not enter into communication with the U.S. government as a lower-status partner. Iran sees the relationship between the two nations before the revolution of 1978-79 as one of patron (U.S.) to client (Iran), all engineered by the Shah without any Iranian public input. The current regime vehemently rejects this relationship and Khatami must defend this position in order to retain his own power. This means that Iran will respond to U.S. accusations of wrongdoing and support of terrorism only with denial and counter-accusations, because to accept the American accusations, even as a topic for discussion, places the U.S. in the higher-status position. On the other hand, Khatami provided a way to talk about matters of mutual concern without pressing the hot button of status difference. In the interview, he brought out analogies in U.S. history for all of the bad behavior of which the Iranians have been accused. In effect he was saying: "We can discuss our mutual pasts in a common framework without needing to determine who was the wrongdoer." In the same way, Khatami's call for people-to-people contacts was a way of opening discussion between Americans and Iranians without confronting the status-guilt problems that loom in government-to-government contacts favored by Washington officials. In short, Khatami wants to eschew the need to admit guilt and place Iran in a lower status position as conditions for renewed dialogue with the U.S. There is precedent for this in the business world, where companies sued for liability quietly fix the problems they have with consumers "out of court," without admitting guilt. This could be a model for making progress with Iran. A mediated dialogue (Saudi Arabia has wisely volunteered to serve as mediator), no requirements for admission of guilt and a commitment to fix global problems of mutual interest could put the two nations on the road to healthy communication. As a start, the U.S. would be wise to graciously endorse the Iranian leader's suggestion to wide "people-to-people" contacts. Critics have pointed out that Amanpour didn't ask the really tough questions, for example concerning the fatwa against writer Salman Rushdie. But her interview with Khatami made a significant step toward establishing just such non-governmental dialogue. And for Iranians, the message is quite clear: Iranian officials no longer take a negative view of talking to Americans. If nothing else results from this event, conveying this message will have been a significant achievement. SALON | Jan. 12, 1998 William O. Beeman teaches anthropology at Brown University and is the author of "Language, Status And Power In Iran" (Indiana University Press). © Pacific News Service