A new relationship with the ideologies - transcription of the video interview
In order to characterize, or rather find some general characteristics,
within the situation of Iran, the ideological character of the regime
could be pointed out, and when I mention this I also refer to the ideological character of everything that was related to the intelligentsia of my generation as opposed to what happens today with the youth in Iran,
where there is an immense lack of trust in all kinds of ideologies. Within the peak of civil society’s initiatives, there is something de-ideologized
and, therefore, the meaning of citizenship is taken into account. Because we need to know as well that, with respect to the nature of the regimes which refused to acknowledge
the notions of nation and citizenship
because it was “umma”,
that is, because it belonged to religion,
this mistrust in ideology
produces in contrast a respect
and desire to have a sense
of belonging to a community
a lot closer to the notion of citizenship
as we understand it today
than the traditional form.
What today’s youth
and the women’s movement
are trying to privilege are actually
alternative forms
a lot more distant
from traditional ideologies
which existed, for example,
in the sixties and seventies,
and even in the time of the Sha,
in which there is a desire
to take part in citizenship life
without referring to an ideology and,
thus, this is a gap as well,
an opposition
with respect to the definition of regime
which defines some form of belonging
to the religion as the only belonging
and adherence characteristic,
of the Iranian society.
Another Iran beyond binary explanations ?
“Social void” is a very,
very important notion.
It is a form of social anarchy
where the lack of feeling
of belonging to a community
is defined as social void.
But I also mean this with respect to regime,
which is a totalitarian regime
which does not leave room for individuals’
– and therefore, the citizen’s –
freedom and autonomy,
and we should also know that TV programs,
for instance, begin with some recipes
from the Koran and that,
when made or passed on,
should be given with the reference
to the Koran
or to something religious.
This becomes quite bothersome and “serious”,
which explains the dichotomy
and the great opposition
between life inside and outside
of the Iranian society.
That is, where the people find more freedom
within than outside,
and, in compensation,
there is even an exaggeration
of the freedom of speech in the inside.
However, at the same time,
when I say that at present
not everything is black or white,
we should also know
that the younger generations
who are between twenty and thirty years
of age and grew up in this regime,
run away from this ideologization
of the political discourse,
as is the case of women.
Among these young generations,
there are many highly-educated women
so the regime has come to a point
in which a system has been implemented
to prevent these young women
from having access to university studies.
And this formidable growth
–like I said – of the civil society,
is what – in my opinion –
makes it possible to talk
about another Iran which exists,
which unfortunately is not included
frequently enough in the Western media,
i.e. they only mention the regime or,
for instance, the nuclear crisis issues.
Talking about the nuclear crisis
has been used, for some time,
to the detriment of what is happening
with the civil society in Iran.
The formidable growth of the civil society
This growth is also defined
by the birth of a formidable movement
of what have been named NGOs.
It should be pointed out that,
due to the lack of union activities,
of political parties
and other forms of association,
the birth of the NGOs
was an alternative as well as
a response on the part of civil society
to create forms of citizens’ activities.
It is true that the women
and environmentalist movements
were the first ones.
Moreover, there are many women
who are active in a truly
inter-generational way,
for example, young, adolescents.
I have found, for instance,
initiatives in a little town
where people go to the park
every Friday to encourage people
to pick up trashcans.
Those very same young people
have made contact with local businessmen
and said “we’ll give a refrigerator
or a radio to whoever collects the most trashcans.”
These kinds of initiatives do exist.
There are also initiatives to clean the mountains,
and there are many movements
around these environmental – ecology – challenges
because they are not a political expressions.
It is a sort of activity
that replaces or responds
to this existing social myth
and which the regime
might have more difficulty
to condemn than free expression
or a political activity.
Other forms of movements
are women movements.
The best-known is
the “Million signatures campaign”,
which began about 5 years ago.
A group of women decided to
go door to door with a petition
against misogynist laws
in the constitution of the Islamic Republic.
Evidently, this translated into
many arrests and persecutions
of the women belonging to this movement,
but this started to grow and
is now developing further.
Recently, about a month or two ago,
I believe last February,
this movement was internationally acknowledged
and granted a collective award,
the Simone de Beauvoir award, in France.
the Citizens' Assembly in Asia
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