Campaign to support Iran's cultural heritage: Thousands of signatures and silence from government officials

The campaign “Demand to End Threats to Human Cultural Heritage” was launched on January 6. The campaign has raised concerns from tourism activists. The government claims that the campaign is “global” in scope. Officials and tourism offices have remained silent.

Following US President Donald Trump's threat to attack Iranian cultural centers, a new campaign has been launched called "Demanding an End to Threats to Human Cultural Heritage." It is not yet clear whether this campaign was launched "spontaneously" by tourism activists or with the "support and guidance" of government and governmental agencies.

This campaign, addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in both Persian and English, emphasizes that the threat of Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, to attack Iran's "cultural and historical" centers has nothing to do with differences or political goals.

The campaign continues, noting that the historical and cultural heritage of Iranian civilization belongs to human civilization and "all past, present, and future humans in the world," and emphasizes: "Any damage to human heritage anywhere in the world and by any person is equivalent to a crime against human culture and civilization."

One campaign and several titles

Some media outlets within Iran and several websites active in the field of tourism news wrote that this campaign was formed by a group of "tourism activists", but some media outlets, such as ILNA, called the initiators of this campaign "a group of tourism and cultural heritage activists."

The websites of the government and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism of Iran, however, went a step further and today, January 7th, wrote that a "campaign of cultural heritage and tourism activists in Iran and the world has been formed in response to Trump's threat."

Among the signatories of this campaign, there is still no name or address of the "real or legal identity of global tourism activists."

It is not yet clear whether this campaign was initiated as a "spontaneous action" or was "guided" by a government agency or institutions to provide broader support for Iran's cultural and historical centers against the threats of the US President.

US President Donald Trump threatened to attack 52 historical and cultural monuments in Iran as a symbol of the 52 American hostages taken in Tehran in 1979. His threat has been met with some reactions.

Why the lack of government support for the campaign?

There has not yet been a reported supportive response to this campaign from Ali Asghar Monesan, Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, and his two deputies in the "Cultural Heritage and Handicrafts" department.

The websites of centers and offices active in the fields of tourism and cultural heritage, as well as the information bases of specialized tourism consulting and tour management associations, did not take a position on whether this campaign was spontaneous or government-sponsored until the time of writing this report.

ILNA, however, wrote that Vali Teymouri, the ministry's deputy tourism minister, supported the campaign.

Yesterday, some media outlets questioned the silence of Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, Monsan, in the face of the US President's threat to cultural centers, writing that the official finally expressed his "late reaction."

Mehr wrote that Mr. Monsan was the last person to finally react to Trump's threat, saying: "I hope it was a verbal mistake!"

From honor worship to populism among politicians

The campaign "Demanding an End to Threats to Human Cultural Heritage" was launched on Monday, January 6, and so far, nearly 13,000 people inside and outside the country have signed it.

The names of many of the signatories of this campaign are anonymous and their countries of residence are listed as Iran, Pakistan, Britain, Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium, Australia, and so on.

One signatory to this campaign introduced himself as a senior expert in the restoration and restoration of historical monuments and wrote that cultural heritage is the honor of every country that must be protected and preserved for future generations.

Another signatory wrote, "We need peace to live and we hate war."

Sajjad from Iran also wrote, noting that Iranians had an advanced civilization when “the likes of Americans were living in the jungles,” and “be careful who you’re dealing with.” He seems to be referring to Donald Trump.

Naghmeh from Iran also called the US president's threats "a great loss for humanity."

Ramin from Iran wrote in his signature that we must stand against these "childish threats from populist politicians," even if it is the President of the United States.

Fatima considered these threats harmful to peace and coexistence among nations, and another signatory, TED. C from Britain, wrote that “human history always trumps contemporary political ideology.”

Source: DW