Shirin Ebadi in 2017; map of Iran
June 21st marked her 78th birthday, Shirin Ebadi. A lawyer, former judge, teacher, and author, in 2003 Ebadi became the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, honoring her efforts for democracy and human rights. Today she lives in exile in London.
Her 2006 book, Iran Awakening – A Memoir of Revolution and Hope, sits on my bookshelf alongside several others about Iran. This and other books provided background for developing the character of a young woman from Iran, a main protagonist in my third novel, The Swineherd’s Angel.
In the preface to another excellent book, A History of Iran – Empire of the Mind, Michael Axworthy writes, “Iran is one of the world’s oldest civilizations, and has been among the world’s most thoughtful and complex civilizations from the very beginning.”
While books are very important, nothing beats in-person contact. What did I really know about people from Iran? Other than occasional news media reports, or learning about its history in college, I had no personal experience, except maybe awareness of the guy from Iran who ran a local restaurant, Persepolis.
What was he doing here in the Midwest anyway? Oh, right, 1979 and the Iranian revolution, when the extreme conservative Muslim clerics took over, creating a diaspora of Iranian refugees, taking with them education and talent. Protests in 2011 and 2012 gave hope that Iran would return to some degree of democracy. It was crushed, and the ayatollahs continue to control the levers of power.
Getting personal
This superficial level of knowledge and understanding about Iran and its people fell far short of that necessary to develop a character in a novel. In a previous post I mentioned reaching out to Iranian students in the community that provided the setting for the novel. Skeptical that I would even receive a response, I was elated when several agreed to meet.
We arranged to meet at a coffee shop in the campus town neighborhood of Ames, IA. One man and two women, they seemed eager to share their stories and provide insights. What I learned was pivotal in developing the plot. One of the women seemed most interested in knowing if my character in the story wore a hijab. Sometimes, I said, which they seemed to understand. I was deeply impressed by their character, candor, and sincerity.
This experience is a good example of what many people who travel will say, meeting people from other cultures and in other countries develops an understanding and perspective, that if made universal, could virtually eliminate much of the tension that leads to international conflict and war. That idea was best expressed by Mark Twain, who was quoted saying, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
Too many Americans know little or nothing about Iran and its people. You could argue that Iran’s history, culture and accomplishments over millennia far exceed that of the U.S., if you weigh everything including philosophy, religion, art, and culture – not just technology. The Zoroastrian religion emerged in Persia (Iran) 1,500 to 1,000 BCE, offering a monotheism that scholars see in the foundation of Judaism, which led to Christianity and Islam.
Democracy denied
Seeds of the current conflict in modern times go back to 1953 when British and American subterfuge undercut and ousted a democratically elected prime minister of Iran. With strong support from the people, Mohammad Mossadegh nationalized Iranian oil production, and fostered democracy. This brought the wrath of the UK and U.S., their subterfuge paving the way for authoritarian rule by the shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The problem with Iran today is not with its people, but its government. I have great admiration and respect for the people of Iran, if not its current rulers. The same could be said about the U.S. We live among red and blue friends and neighbors, but we suffer from a rogue, far-right government, populated with too many incompetent zealots, bank-rolled by cynical and greedy billionaires, and favored by religious-right extremists. Hmmm, maybe we have more in common with Iran today than you would think.
U.S. politics took a weird twist when some Trump supporters compared him with Cyrus the Great, who ruled the Persian Empire from 550 to 529 BCE. Cyrus allowed the Jews to leave captivity in Babylon and return to Jerusalem. Some conservative evangelicals saw a secular leader today doing God’s work to rescue them from the clutches of liberals and progressives. If there are any parallels, they appear in what’s happening today, matching Trump with the ayatollahs, and not what happened nearly three millennia ago.
Change from within
It would be very interesting to hear Shirin Ebadi’s comments comparing what happened in Iran over the past decades, with the current political situation in the U.S. In a June 21 news story about Ebadi, Reuters reported, “Iran’s war with Israel had revealed the weakness of its ‘paper tiger’ leadership, predicting that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be toppled in a peaceful revolution…. She said previous protests, such as those around the death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in 2022, had shown mass public support for change.”
In a June 27 story, The National reported: “Ms. Ebadi believes that a process leading to the eventual collapse of the Islamic Republic has already begun. But in a region where foreign intervention has often gone wrong, she insists that regime change must come from within Iran – and not through Israeli bombs.”
In what could be another parallel between the U.S. and Iran, on June 14, “No Kings Day,” an estimated 5 million Americans marched nationwide protesting authoritarian rule and attacks on the U.S. constitution, while a military parade in Washington, D.C. drew a paltry crowd. Despite the utter cruelty of a budget bill and assaults on our Constitution, we follow Ebadi’s example of hope that Americans still have time to avoid the fate of democracy in Iran.
