Iranian Bikers for peace…?

I’m all for exploring new ways to work for peace, including by demonstrations, marches, marathons, even “honking for peace.” Sure beats marching for war — like when Jerome Corsi (of “Swift boat veterans” infamy) in June 2005 walked from Philly to DC, to drum up support for his “Iran Freedom Foundation” and his demands for the US to get rough towards “Atomic Iran.”
Yet I was pleasantly surprised to learn of a group of 14 Iranian youth who have been “biking for peace” around Europe and America since May 11th. They’ve been in the US since June 16th. I’ve confirmed that these youth are from Iran, and they’re here with considerable backing from assorted Iranian non-governmental organizations – in Iran. While their tour has received limited publicity here in the US; surely both governments had to have been involved with the permissions….?
The peace bikers finished their journey this afternoon at the Washington Cathedral. If they had come through Charlottesville, I might have dusted off the road bike to join them. I like the description of their goals at their “Miles for Peace” web site, beginning with their invocation of Sa’di .
This bike caravan may have been too “fast” for me. According to the “Miles for Peace” web site, on July 8th, they were to “leave Los Angeles, heading for Baltimore.” The next day, July 9th, they were 3,000 miles east in Baltimore. Must be some new pedal or gearing technology. (Now if they could bottle that, they wouldn’t need nuclear energy.)
I hope these peace-bikers encountered no obstacles for visas or from customs, nor from counter-protests along the way. If one scans through the splendid photos for their peace adventure, one could well say these riders were rather brave, if nothing else, for biking close order on California freeways or downtown New York – without helmets.
Yet there may be an even more profound irony at work here. Far more than Iran’s detractors admit, Iranian women have made great educational and professional strides, and certainly compared to certain neighbors to the south. Considerable difficulties remain, and Iranian women’s groups are pushing back against recent set-backs. That said, even though Iranian women can drive and even race cars, they still can’t ride bikes.
As pointed out recently by Farzaneh Milani in a USA Today oped, Iran recently announced production of an “Islamic bicycle.” Milani, a specialist on women’s literature in Iran, is not impressed by the “new technology,” which is said to come “fully equipped with a cabin to conceal parts of a female cyclist’s body.” Milani deems it “less about the bike and more about suppressing women,” a “desperate but ultimately futile attempt.”
But this “Biking for Peace” group didn’t use any of the “Islamic bicycles.” (Indeed, I’ve yet to see or hear of reports in Iran confirming they even exist.)
Consider then the multiple levels of irony at work here: Vibrant and energetic young Iranians are out campaigning for peace in major western cities, on their bicycles – the very bicycles that the Iranian women in the group would be forbidden from riding back home in Iran.
One wonders if these creative peacemakers and their sponsors weren’t sending messages in both directions.

16 thoughts on “Iranian Bikers for peace…?”

  2. “what terms one can describe the cultural terror that Islamists wreak on those around them,”
    the same words that you would use to describe the cultural terror (or other types of terror) that Christians and Jews and atheists and anyone else wreak on those around them…..
    stupid and evil behavior.
    I cannot see what difference it makes (if one is visiting terror on people) what the “reason” might be for the behavior – some do it for religion, some for greed, some out of fear – they all need to be stopped, without using violence if at all possible.
    Locally, we have bikers for peace going to the Y12 plant in Tennessee in August to rally and march against building nuclear bombs. There are some who walk there too – over 125 miles. I carpool over myself –
    Cindy Sheehan is doing a walk from Atlanta to DC. Now, that is a walk….!!
    Salah – I posted that video on my blog about Iraq a while back. It is a great song, and he is right – it ain’t over. I saw a picture tonight of 300 Strykers being shipped out of Germany to Iraq for the US troops. The Iraq Today blog is http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com

  3. Here’s a u-tube link that’s also a bit more back on theme….
    Remember Queen’s “Bicycle Race?” This song was written by Farrokh Bulsara (aka Freddie Mercury)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpy4xNAnWzM
    No offense meant, including to the Iranian “bike riders”…. I have a hunch this is among their theme songs too…. as Queen’s late lead singer, Freddie Mercury, is often thought to have been Iranian. (Actually, he was born in Zanzibar, son of a Zoroastrian/Parsi family — which via India had Persian/Iranian roots…. )

  6. Getting back to the original substance of my post, I would be delighted if any of the many Americans who worked with these bikers along their journey could jump in here.
    Or better yet the bikers themselves!
    I gather that this isn’t the first time at least some of them have made this “ride” for peace.
    I recall vaguely something about some Europeans having “biked” across Iran as part of some cross continental adventure…. (but I don’t think any women were in the group)
    So please, if any one with first hand insights can address the direct subject hand, please chime in – thanks!

  7. I have deleted several messages in this thread that got quite off topic – including a few of my own. I should have monitored this earlier, with hopes mainly to keep focus on this “light,” yet curious subject at hand.
    For the rest of this thread, let’s hope we might yet see more contributions from those who can comment on the Iranian “bikers,” their backgrounds, and intentions, as well as any news reports that may emerge about them. (or about the related issue of biking for women in Iran)
    I regret if “crabbing” the discussion in this manner strikes some readers as “off topic” from what no doubt may be more important issues “out there.”
    But comments on those issues are, nonetheless, “off topic” from the original posting at hand.
    I hope we can understand the ideal…. Thank you.

  10. Unfortunately, your first link isn’t working, though I’m guessing it was among the brief reports in mid May about the intention to produce the “Islamic bike.”
    All the western wire reports I saw then were quoting a report in the Iranian (reformist) paper, “Iran.”
    such as the following:
    http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=51690&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
    This recollection prompts me to consider that the announcement of the intent to manufacture “Islamic bikes” for women in Iran came AFTER these peace bikers began their tour in Europe.
    I’m still curious to learn if/how they, or their organizers, respond to the matter….
    By the way, your second link indeed is the short oped I referenced in the post by Professor Farzaneh Milani, of the Univ. of Virginia. (someone whose ongoing work I much admire)

  12. From private messages from colleagues (and from the “deafening silence” to my messages to others), there’s another, more cynical interpretation possible here:
    This entire “biking for peace” effort was anything but an initiative of people, but of certain elements within the Iranian establishment — e.g., the government.
    If so, this might also be seen as an enormous public relations gaffe.
    If that sounds harsh, consider:
    First, when one campaigns for something at least in an “open society,” the idea is to attract publicity for your position, the more the better, even if unflattering. In this case, the group seems rather “averse” to getting any serious publicity, either here (in the US) or in Iran.
    Now I can empathize with potential security issues that might have been at work, but still, it seems bizarre that there was almost no publicity for the bikers. (other than a few locally arranged events among the already sympathetic)
    Secondly, it’s just surreal that the cooperating organizations here in the US either didn’t know, or were too polite to mention, that the very physical means of their protest (riding a bicycle) would have been prohibited for the female members of the group back in Iran.
    If this interpretation is more accurate, how unfortunate then that such a worthy idea comes off more as a sad comedy.

  13. Alas, some “news” on the peace bikers.
    Ali Nasri appears on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.
    Many thoughtful points….
    Alas, AG avoids (or wasn’t briefed to know to ask) the question about the means of peace “biking….”
    I got a private e-mail from a fellow keen Iran observer who also emphasized the “good intentions” of the group — and their serious backers.
    That may be, but I’m not sure our avoiding an obvious question helps, or makes the message all the more muddled — and appear to be not one of “people power,” but government direction….
    Ali, if you’re reading this, please do chime in with your perspectives. Could my daughter and I (and fellow good-will types) do “peace biking” in Iran too?

  15. A friend kindly forwarded me a fascinating report from one Iranian news agency (ISNA) — of a bike race for women in Iran….
    http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-954155&Lang
    I’m left wondering whatever happened to Khamenehi’s “ruling” regarding women and biking….
    Yet still on the theme of “racey” Iranian women, check out the recent nomadic horse racing event:
    http://www.payvand.com/news/04/jul/1079.html
    Ah, Iran – the land of paradoxes….
    I yearn for the day when I can get back to Iran and check these cultural matters out firsthand….

  16. Back to this debate-I wonder if you have read the work of Susan Ruddick? What scholars like Haideh Moghissi argue against, and with good reason (I know her personally) is that the left often aligns itself with Islamist movements-time and again. She is correct.

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