A.Rahman
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Red and Blue in Iran
By Johnathon Brown
Contrary to Western perceptions, Iranian society is a complex mix of conservatism and liberalism. A recent visit reveals the need for engagement rather than confrontation between Iran and the West
As commentators digest the results of recent presidential elections in Iran, the country has attracted more attention in the American media. In the United States, however, Iran remains an entity eminently reducible.
It appears to us only in the headlines, rarely accompanied by pictures other than brief clips of bearded mullas or chador-clad women, a two dimensional image constructed of clichés and pundit truisms. With the exception of scholars like Dilip Hiro, discourse on the country and its people in the mainstream media ranges from the demographically mundane ââ¬ÅIran is a young countryââ¬Â to the unchallenged subtext that Iran has the most pro-American population in the Middle East and, as Daniel Pipes says, ââ¬Åthat regime change is just a matter of time.ââ¬Â At the core of such thinking on Iran is the belief that the country, defined in our minds as a perennial arena of revolution, is at heart a Western nation shackled by a theocratic regime. If the international community, so this line of thinking goes, could only apply the proper treatment of diplomatic pressure, sanctions and saber-rattling, the theocratic regime that swept into power after the Iranian revolution twenty-five years ago would itself be toppled by a vindicating pro- Western wave of students and reformers.
This poverty of thinking results from the tragic disconnect between Americans and Iran. We are dependent on a narrow stream of data about the country, fed by Western experts whose books and op-eds seem to rely on the bizarre mixture of expatriate musings and taxi-cab gossip that emanates from the rich and discontented northern suburbs of Tehran (I was surprised, for example, to see a New York Times op-ed on the growing political power of the Revolutionary Guard appear a few months after hearing the same |views expressed among intellectuals in Iran itself). As a student studying Middle East history, I was weary of such second- or third-hand analysis and hoped that an extended stay in Iran would allow me to see if this monolithic vision of Iran was accurate. What I found was that the biggest flaw in American discussions on Iran is our failure to grasp that, like our own country, Iran is many nations in one. The Iran we are familiar with in American discourse is that of liberal Iranian intellectuals, Iranian-Americans outraged by the theocracy of the Islamic Republic. What I concluded in Iran was that however valid this point of view may be, an accurate assessment of Iran must take into account another perspective: that of a socially conservative and devoutly religious society whose grievances with its government have nothing to do with women wearing the chador.
Because I was a Muslim and could speak Persian, my two months of traveling throughout the country became a tour of Iranââ¬â¢s diversity. Due to the astounding, nearly pathological hospitality of the everyday Iranians who invited me into their homes, my travels became a series of home-stays in the different regions of the country. I spent over a month living with the family of a retired bank worker in central Tehran. I stayed for a week with an auto-mechanicââ¬â¢s family in the great pilgrimage center of Mashhad, traveling around the historically rich province of Khorasan. I stayed for several days with a graduate student and his relatives in the ancient desert city of Yazd, one of the oldest inhabited settlements in the world and cradle of Zoroastrianism. I spent a night on the floor of a taxi driverââ¬â¢s kitschy apartment in the humid Caspian resort town of Rasht. I interacted with a wide range of Iranians, from theology students in Qom to one of the Shahââ¬â¢s former ministers in the posh northern suburbs of Tehran. I spent several afternoons discussing my dissertation with brilliant professors in Tehran research institutes, and another being lectured by a fiery cleric at the madrasa in Shiraz where Mulla Sadra had taught. Iranian youths took me to impromptu poetry recitals under the bridges of Esfahan, and students eager to practice their English mobbed me in the public gardens of Kashan.
Throughout these travels, it was the immediate contrast between the uniform image of Iran presented in the American media and the diversity of opinion in the country itself that formed my most lasting impression. Iranââ¬â¢s capital city exemplified this heterogeneity. I quickly realized that the Iran portrayed in op-ed pieces and foreign affairs articles represented only one segment of Iranian society: the liberal, rich and Westernized neighborhoods of northern Tehran. On its tree-lined boulevards women find endlessly inventive ways to subvert the countryââ¬â¢s rigid dress laws, and no one hides their seething resentment for the Islamic Republic. Walking past the endless shops on Valiasr Street on warm summer afternoons, one sees women in quarter-length pants, their hijabs nothing more than glorified headbands stylishly accenting sculpted bangs and highlighted ponytails. One passes policemen strolling down the sidewalk, unconcerned with peopleââ¬â¢s dress. In the cityââ¬â¢s poorer southern districts, however, another Iran is evident. The women walking briskly through the streets clad themselves in the black chador not because of government rules, but because their society is itself extremely conservative. In the southern district of Rayy, the men waiting for shared taxis display no hint of sarcasm or contempt when discussing their Islamic customs and values.
By Johnathon Brown
Contrary to Western perceptions, Iranian society is a complex mix of conservatism and liberalism. A recent visit reveals the need for engagement rather than confrontation between Iran and the West
As commentators digest the results of recent presidential elections in Iran, the country has attracted more attention in the American media. In the United States, however, Iran remains an entity eminently reducible.
It appears to us only in the headlines, rarely accompanied by pictures other than brief clips of bearded mullas or chador-clad women, a two dimensional image constructed of clichés and pundit truisms. With the exception of scholars like Dilip Hiro, discourse on the country and its people in the mainstream media ranges from the demographically mundane ââ¬ÅIran is a young countryââ¬Â to the unchallenged subtext that Iran has the most pro-American population in the Middle East and, as Daniel Pipes says, ââ¬Åthat regime change is just a matter of time.ââ¬Â At the core of such thinking on Iran is the belief that the country, defined in our minds as a perennial arena of revolution, is at heart a Western nation shackled by a theocratic regime. If the international community, so this line of thinking goes, could only apply the proper treatment of diplomatic pressure, sanctions and saber-rattling, the theocratic regime that swept into power after the Iranian revolution twenty-five years ago would itself be toppled by a vindicating pro- Western wave of students and reformers.
This poverty of thinking results from the tragic disconnect between Americans and Iran. We are dependent on a narrow stream of data about the country, fed by Western experts whose books and op-eds seem to rely on the bizarre mixture of expatriate musings and taxi-cab gossip that emanates from the rich and discontented northern suburbs of Tehran (I was surprised, for example, to see a New York Times op-ed on the growing political power of the Revolutionary Guard appear a few months after hearing the same |views expressed among intellectuals in Iran itself). As a student studying Middle East history, I was weary of such second- or third-hand analysis and hoped that an extended stay in Iran would allow me to see if this monolithic vision of Iran was accurate. What I found was that the biggest flaw in American discussions on Iran is our failure to grasp that, like our own country, Iran is many nations in one. The Iran we are familiar with in American discourse is that of liberal Iranian intellectuals, Iranian-Americans outraged by the theocracy of the Islamic Republic. What I concluded in Iran was that however valid this point of view may be, an accurate assessment of Iran must take into account another perspective: that of a socially conservative and devoutly religious society whose grievances with its government have nothing to do with women wearing the chador.
Because I was a Muslim and could speak Persian, my two months of traveling throughout the country became a tour of Iranââ¬â¢s diversity. Due to the astounding, nearly pathological hospitality of the everyday Iranians who invited me into their homes, my travels became a series of home-stays in the different regions of the country. I spent over a month living with the family of a retired bank worker in central Tehran. I stayed for a week with an auto-mechanicââ¬â¢s family in the great pilgrimage center of Mashhad, traveling around the historically rich province of Khorasan. I stayed for several days with a graduate student and his relatives in the ancient desert city of Yazd, one of the oldest inhabited settlements in the world and cradle of Zoroastrianism. I spent a night on the floor of a taxi driverââ¬â¢s kitschy apartment in the humid Caspian resort town of Rasht. I interacted with a wide range of Iranians, from theology students in Qom to one of the Shahââ¬â¢s former ministers in the posh northern suburbs of Tehran. I spent several afternoons discussing my dissertation with brilliant professors in Tehran research institutes, and another being lectured by a fiery cleric at the madrasa in Shiraz where Mulla Sadra had taught. Iranian youths took me to impromptu poetry recitals under the bridges of Esfahan, and students eager to practice their English mobbed me in the public gardens of Kashan.
Throughout these travels, it was the immediate contrast between the uniform image of Iran presented in the American media and the diversity of opinion in the country itself that formed my most lasting impression. Iranââ¬â¢s capital city exemplified this heterogeneity. I quickly realized that the Iran portrayed in op-ed pieces and foreign affairs articles represented only one segment of Iranian society: the liberal, rich and Westernized neighborhoods of northern Tehran. On its tree-lined boulevards women find endlessly inventive ways to subvert the countryââ¬â¢s rigid dress laws, and no one hides their seething resentment for the Islamic Republic. Walking past the endless shops on Valiasr Street on warm summer afternoons, one sees women in quarter-length pants, their hijabs nothing more than glorified headbands stylishly accenting sculpted bangs and highlighted ponytails. One passes policemen strolling down the sidewalk, unconcerned with peopleââ¬â¢s dress. In the cityââ¬â¢s poorer southern districts, however, another Iran is evident. The women walking briskly through the streets clad themselves in the black chador not because of government rules, but because their society is itself extremely conservative. In the southern district of Rayy, the men waiting for shared taxis display no hint of sarcasm or contempt when discussing their Islamic customs and values.
