Iranian Americans Raise $50,000 to Preserve Persepolis Artifacts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009- By: NIAC Staff – News

[see also: A Professor of Iranian Studies: Wouter Henkelman

The Iranian-American community came together to celebrate the coming of Norooz and support NIAC's continued efforts to protect the Persepolis tablets and support diplomacy, on March 7, 2009 in Mclean VA (for more click here...).

NIAC (March 25, 2009 ) provides a prize to Professor Matthew Stolper (Professor of Assyriology at the University of Chicago) for his excellent works with the Persepolis Fortification Archives at the University of Chicago. Stolper is also known for speaking against politically motivated efforts to confiscate the tablets.

Concerns however have been raised by an Iranian venue known as  Pardiseparse which has seriously questioned the veracity of Dr. Stolper's claims (and by implication the University of Chicago) regarding the Tablets "being in danger", with the website claiming that the primary legal issues with the tablets were resolved a number of years ago.

Perhaps more shocking are allegations by the pardiseparse venue that University of Chicago (under Dr. Stolper's watch) has actually sold a number of the tablets for profit!

Given as attempts may be made to shut down the Pardiseparse link, the contents of this website have been saved for download in pdf (kindly click on Pardiseparse).

There are however other serious concerns regarding Dr. Stolper's claims of being an advocatre of Iranians.

An e-mail sent to Kavehfarrokh.com (Sep 18, 2009) noted that a close Iranian associate of Matt Stolper who has helped oganize his fund-raising efforts in the Iranian community in support of Stolper has claimed the following:

Matt Stolper's associate (Sep 18, 2009): “...told that...Cyrus was not Iranian and his cylinder was a propaganda by the Shah...Iranians...are all too stupid and don’t know anything about their own history“

Note that this is a close Iranian associate of Dr. Stolper who has worked hard for his fund-raising efforts.

Is this what Dr. Matt Stolper is teaching his associates and students?

Then how does Dr. Stolper explain himself as an advocate of Iranians when he holds such negative views against the very founder of ancient Persia: Cyrus the Great?

The above facts are difficult to reconcile with Dr. Stolper's picture above receiving a prize for his role in defending the Persepolis artifacts against confiscation. Below is the continuation of the aforementioned e-mail of Sep 18, 2009:

Matt Stolper's associate (Sep 18, 2009): “...told that...Cyrus was not Iranian and his cylinder was a propaganda by the ShahIranians...are all too stupid and don’t know anything about their own history...but then ... keeps talking about the greatness of Cyrus to our esteemed editor. “

This indicates a strange amibguity in Dr. Stolper's stance vis a vis the Iranian community. Put simply, he is careful about not being transparent about his true views of Cyrus, yet presents a different persona when amongst groups of prominent and influential Iranians.

Nevertheless, Dr. Stolper has shown some awkward moments during his fund-raising drives among Iranian audiences,  as seen below in October 11, 2009:

An awkward Moment. Professor Stolper shows his Iranian audience a map of the Persian Gulf which bears the inorrect name "Ar-bian Gulf". Stolper provides a confusing explanation as to why he chose to display this incorrect map when confronted on this by one of the audience members (see 49:25 seconds into the interview). This occurred during Stolper's fund-raising drive on October 11, 2009 in Silicon Valley California.

There is little doubt as to Matt Stolper's true position regarding Cyrus the Great. Matt Stolper is in fact a strong supporter of Jona Lendering who claims that the human rights history of  Cyrus the Great is just "Shah Propaganda" (Proof of this can be found in Stolper being acknowledged in Jona Lendering's website). Jona Lendering's activities against Iranians and Iranian history have been well documented which explains why he is the subject of a major Human Rights petition bearing over 1400 signatures to date.

 

Matt Stolper fully supports Jona Lendering (inset) and his narrative that the Human Rights history of Cyrus the Great is simply "Shah Propaganda".NIAC is indeed justified in granting Stolper his 2009 Award for his excellent works wih the Persepolis Fortification Archive, but evidently NIAC is unaware of Stolper's support for Jona Lendering who is accused of racism against Iranians and Cyrus the Great. For example, Lendering, who claims to be an advocate of Iranians,  is on record for claiming that "Iranian art is ugly". Jona Lendering's controversial anti-Iranian actions include promotion of the lie that the Sivand Dam poses no dangers to the site of Pasargard (see this review which challenges Lendering's views). Lendering also launched a massive smear campaign in 2007-2009 against Iranian historian Shapour Suren-Pahlav of the CAIS website.

Jona Lendering is a controversial figure - note the commentary below made by Tim Cook, who signed a Human Rights petition against Jona Lendering's actions against Iranian history on Sept. 12, 2011:

"Jona Lendering is not an Iran expert or historian at all. I have gotten into arguments with him over his propaganda  edits in Wikipedia. Mr. Lendering is so misinformed that he was trying to convince us that:

(a) Achaemind dynasty is a "Mesopotamian" dynasty with Mesopotamian kings.

(b) the suffix "the Great" is something that has been added to the names of Persian kings (even after I showed him dozens of 2500 year old Acahaemenid translations with phrases like "Darius the Great King" etc."

Again given the revelations made on Set. 18, 2009 by Matt Stolper's associate and the above Human Rights petition regarding Matt Stolper's protege, the NIAC prize awarded to Matt Stolper is, to say the least, interesting.

These attitudes certainly explain why Matt Stolper and his close colleague, Wouter Henkelman, have  supported Jona Lendering's 2008-2009 massive internet/Wikipedia smear campaign (in English and Dutch language websites) against Kaveh Farrokh. Note that Tim Cook has noted of Lendering's "propaganda edits in Wikipedia".

A new generation of anti-Cyrus revisionists: (from left to right) Harry De Quetteville, Tom Holland, Klaus Gallas, Josef Wiesehofer and Wouter Henkelman. Quoting Holland, Gallas and Josef Wisehofer,  De Quetteville wrote in July 16, 2008: “Cyrus…every bit as despotic as any other land-grabbing leader…Klaus Gallas…told Spiegel magazine…that the UN had given the Cyrus scroll false authority…professor Josef Wiesehöfer…derided it [the Cyrus Cylinder] …as “a propaganda inscription…It’s [Cyrus’ legacy in Human Rights] absolute nonsense”…[Cyrus inflicted] a list of atrocities…several salutatory atrocities…For all the criticisms of the Cyrus cylinder, it is unlikely to change perceptions of it in Iran, where Cyrus and the cylinder are regarded with intense national pride”…”. Matt Stolper’s close colleauge, Dr. Wouter Henkelman, attacked Farrokh for having dared question the narratives of De Quetteville, Holland, Gallas and Wiesehofer. According to Dr. Henkelman such anti-Cyrus writings are “…for the benefit of scholarship *and the people of Iran…”. Strangely, Dr. Henkelman (like Matt Stolper) works within the realm of Iranian studies.  Henkelman and Stolper’s stances against Cyrus the Great stands in stark contrast to their carefully-crafted “pro-Iranian” persona.  

The attacks against Farrokh began right after he responded against Spiegel Magazine and the Daily Telegraph’s racist articles against Cyrus the Great in July 2008. It is notable that Matt Stolper remained silent against those publications” attacks against Cyrus the Great and the very character of Iranians. Yet, he has successfully “marketed” himself as an advocate of Iranians and ancient Iran (especially during the tablet confiscation scandal). Yes, it is true that Stolper is a brilliant Assyriologist and has done fine academic works  - the issue here however is his approach to the history of Cyrus and resemblence of that approach to anti-Iranists and Eurocentrists. This is puzzling.

           

Trita Parsi in background, major host of the fund-raising event in support of Professor Matthew Stolper’s efforts. Stolper is careful not to mention his true views of Cyrus the Great when he appears in front of his Iranian hosts (like the NIAC fund-raising event).  A primary reason for this is that Stolper does not agree that Cyrus the Great was a Human Rights pioneer.