Original Sin: Iran

 

History is full of original sins. In 1901, William Knox D’Arcy, British, obtained

a 60 year concession to seek oil in Iran. The original sin. It took him eight years and nearly all his funds before he found it. In 1909, the precursor to British Petroleum was formed to extract and refine the oil.

 

Under the concession, 16 percent of the profits went to Iran. In addition, BP did all the bookkeeping. Iran was not allowed to audit the books.

 

In 1951, after 42 years of exploitation, the Iranian Parliament nationalized its oil. In response, the British imposed a naval blockade and economic sanctions. They were not successful in reclaiming the oil.

 

After the nationalization, the Parliament elected Mohammad Mossadegh as Prime Minister.

 

In 1953 Britain and the U.S. launched a coup to replace Mossadegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister. The second sin.

They restored Shah Reza Pahlavi to Iran’s leadership. In return, Britain and the U.S. were allowed to continue to profit from the oil.

 

Until 1979, or for 26 years after the coup, the British and the U.S. each took 40% of Iran’s oil profits. So between 1909 and 1979, Iran profited from its own oil for only three years.

 

It was no surprise, then, that the British and the U.S. were ousted in the ’79 revolution by the new Islamic Republic, reclaiming Iran’s independence and its oil. And Iran remains antagonistic toward the West. Is this unreasonable?

 

Now, it is the same old story: Iran so bad; the West so good. The exploiters versus the natives as repeated around the world.

 

The oil still is the original sin. Of course, we launched another war.

 

Another war, do you wonder why?

​

Monday, 23 Mar 26

 

King of the World

 

A seven-year old sits on a yellow rug

Surrounded by toy ships, planes

Tanks, soldiers, and guns

Swoosh, bang, boom, and rat-a-tat

Take that you devils

You have to do what I say

 

A seven-year old man on a yellow chair

Surrounded by phones, buttons

Where are the marines

Capture their leader and oil

Send me the money

You have to do what I say

 

I’m king of the world

 

Until we stop listening

Until we stop following

Until we take away the toys

Until we send him away

Until we replace him

Until we forget he was here

 

Not king of the world at all

Just a seven-year old child

With dreams of glory

Not king of the world at all

Just a seven-year old

Not king of the world

 

Not king of the world

​

Friday, 13 Mar 26