Where exactly?
Yesterday, 25th of December, President of Iran [en:Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] broadcasted from Channel 4 a Christmas Speech for people of UK.
Now, I could understand the “surprise” of receiving a “classical” Christmas Speech from a President of an Islamic and Middle Eastern country, while Queen Elisabeth the II was doing the same (Yes! The British Monarchy has an Official Channel on YouTube!). But, reading the full transcription and watching the video I can’t see where exactly Ahmadinejad was “offensive” or expressing his “fanatic anti-semitism”. I mean, we all know what he said during the last years, and how much he would like to send a couple of nuclear bombs on the Israeli army, but there is nothing of that in this message. (By the way, would it be that bad to kick the ass of the IsrAmericans? :-P )
Particular interesting to read is the article from BBC, “Ahmadinejad show ‘causes offence’”, where different perspective and comments are reported, mostly from westerns. And the only thing I can see is that no one actually listened of what he said: westerns just assumed that he wants to kill Jews and Christians; while, actually, what he said is quite shareable and agreeable: changing just a couple of words it would easily be the Speech of the Pope!… Ehm… Mmm… Eee… Sorry, my mistake: the Pope will never send it’s Greetings to Muslims! He will just send some Crusaders! Yes, seriously: it’s actually a Positive and Good-Willing message. He just condemned the bullish and expansionisms of “some” countries, as something that Jesus will stand against, if he was on earth.
I’m not supporting Ahmadinejad here: I’m simply highlighting how much our media (all of them) likes to control our perception of things, sometimes passing down to us just a surrogate (a POISONED SURROGATE) of the news.
From my side, I just congratulate Channel 4 for doing this. Brave, Intelligent, Modern, Really Open-minded. Full video and transcript (both in english) follows.
The full translation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Christmas message (from The Guardian):
"In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful. "Upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, Son of Mary, the Word of God, the Messenger of mercy, I would like to congratulate the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain. "The Almighty created the universe for human beings and human beings for Himself. "He created every human being with the ability to reach the heights of perfection. He called on man to make every effort to live a good life in this world and to work to achieve his everlasting life. "On this difficult and challenging journey of man from dust to the divine, He did not leave humanity to its own devices. He chose from those He created the most excellent as His Prophets to guide humanity. "All Prophets called for the worship of God, for love and brotherhood, for the establishment of justice and for love in human society. Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination and injustice. "All the problems that have bedevilled humanity throughout the ages came about because humanity followed an evil path and disregarded the message of the Prophets. "Now as human society faces a myriad of problems and a succession of complex crises, the root causes can be found in humanity's rejection of that message, in particular the indifference of some governments and powers towards the teachings of the divine Prophets, especially those of Jesus Christ. "The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy which have made life hard for humanity and continue to put great pressure on all nations have come about because the Prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God. "If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers. "If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over. "If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime. "The solution to today's problems is a return to the call of the divine Prophets. The solution to these crises is to follow the Prophets - they were sent by the Almighty for the good of humanity. "Today, the general will of nations is calling for fundamental change. This is now taking place. Demands for change, demands for transformation, demands for a return to human values are fast becoming the foremost demands of the nations of the world. "The response to these demands must be real and true. The prerequisite to this change is a change in goals, intentions and directions. If tyrannical goals are repackaged in an attractive and deceptive package and imposed on nations again, the people, awakened, will stand up against them. "Fortunately, today, as crises and despair multiply, a wave of hope is gathering momentum. Hope for a brighter future and hope for the establishment of justice, hope for real peace, hope for finding virtuous and pious rulers who love the people and want to serve them – and this is what the Almighty has promised. "We believe Jesus Christ will return, together with one of the children of the revered Messenger of Islam and will lead the world to love, brotherhood and justice. "The responsibility of all followers of Christ and Abrahamic faiths is to prepare the way for the fulfilment of this divine promise and the arrival of that joyful, shining and wonderful age. "I hope that the collective will of nations will unite in the not too distant future and with the grace of the Almighty Lord, that shining age will come to rule the earth. "Once again, I congratulate one and all on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. I pray for the New Year to be a year of happiness, prosperity, peace and brotherhood for humanity. I wish you every success and happiness."