Shirin Ebadi

I'll start this entry with Shirin Ebadi. I find her story to be incredibly interesting, as well as the story of Iran. I had no idea that Iran was such a progressive nation in the 60's and 70's, allowing women to take high positions such as judges and such. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I had always just assumed that they followed the stereotypical American's idea of laws in the middle east, which tend to be very harsh on women. So hearing that Iran actually was making steps towards becoming a democratic nation of equality was very surprising, compared to what the country is today.

That being said, I think the majority of westerners believe that Islam and democracy cannot work in the same country, but Shirin Ebadi embodies the vision and hope that it really is possible. What she has said, and what I believe to be true as well, is that democracy must be born in a country from within its people. America's decision to invade Iraq may have helped the people in the short term, but if the people of a nation are not ready for democracy, the system is simply not going to work. Democracy (and its ideals) need to be embraced by the people so that they realize then that they are free, that they have control of their government, and that all the people of the country are equal.

Now that last little line in there, 'people of the country are equal' is very important to me because my idea of democracy is more than just a system of government, but it also contains basic human rights, equality, and the means for a country to make itself better. Shirin Ebadi believe in the Iranian people. She believes that they are fed up with the current political system in the country, and hopes that they can move down the path towards becoming a democratic nation, but the main key to this hope is that it happens within the country.

There are some rumors that the only reason the Iranian people have not already risen against the current government is because they do not have a leader to unite them, and some articles have said that Shirin Ebadi would be the perfect person to do this. I think it would be possible for her to unite the people and overthrow the government if she had foreign aid, but therein lies the problem that once any foreign country is involved, the people feel like they aren't changing the country for themselves, someone else is changing it for them. That being said I think Shirin Ebadi has the knowledge of the laws and legislature to be able to create a set of laws, that balance democracy and Islam, and improve the standard of life for all Iranians.