Iran: Fire Festival 1, Khamenei 0 (Verde)

Mr Verde reflects on the triumph of Tuesday's Chahrshanbeh Suri celebrations over the Supreme Leader:

You get the feeling that some people (including a few journalists) who look into Iran from the outside seem to think they are watching a Hollywood movie: they are always looking for the next adrenaline rush of something “dramatic”. If no one is hurt or killed in the streets, then it is assumed that nothing of interest is happening in Iran. While the terrible footage of people being shot in the streets of Tehran or the sickening details of the torture and rape of detainees are important (very important) and relevant (very relevant), we have to understand that the struggle in Iran is not limited to being shot in the streets or raped in prisons. These sickening events are part of the regime’s mechanisms for trying to control and kill off the opposition (although it is obvious that it failed to do so), but they are surely not what we want to see happening in Iran on a daily basis.

Iran Analysis: What Does the Fire Festival Mean?
Latest Iran Video: Two Views of the Fire Festival (16 March)
The Latest from Iran (18 March): Uranium Distractions

On one level this year’s Chaharshanbeh Suri was what it should really be: despite the annual attempt of authorities to crack down on the occasion, people celebrated an ancient tradition and enjoyed themselves.


On another level, this year’s Chaharshanbeh Suri was different from the previous years. It came nine months after June’s disputed elections, nine months of relentless oppression by the regime, nine months of indescribable brutality by the security forces.

It also came one month after the regime’s attempts to demonstrate its popularity on 22 Bahman (11 February) in Azadi Square. On that day the regime turned Tehran into a military camp and was forced to use tear gas against a 72-year-old cleric. But it seems that Ali Khamenei may have been fooled by the few close-angle shots that the official media provided from the half empty Azadi Square. Alternatively, he too was well aware of his regime’s inability to demonstrate real popular support on that day.

Whatever his reason --- pride or dejection or fear --- Khamenei gave a fatwa ruling Chaharshanbeh Suri outside religion and declaring that it made no sense. Even if, with his limited religious credentials, Khamenei has the right to issue religious fatwas, his views about Chaharshanbeh Suri say more about Khamenei than about the Fire Festival. Khamenei is in his 70s. He has lived in Iran all his life and has been exposed to Chaharshanbeh Suri for many years. If Khamenei cannot make sense of our culture, it is HIS problem not ours.

Ali Khamenei had no business sticking his nose into something that he himself admitted that he does not understand. And he got a bloody nose out of it. Just as in the case of his message of “condolence” for Montazeri’s death, Khamenei took on something that was much bigger than him and he was humiliated. Imagine telling people no barbeques or fireworks for the Fourth of July. Imagine ordering all bars and pubs to close for St Patrick’s Day. This is what Khamenei did with his fatwa about Chaharshanbeh Suri and he discredited himself further.

So why did he intervene so clumsily? Maybe the thinking was this:

The protests are over after 22 Bahman (obviously wrong). People are scared of the “power” of the regime (wrong --- if shooting people on the streets had not scared people, how could filling less than half of Azadi Square?). The authorities have warned people not to celebrate Chaharshanbeh Suri (people had ignored such threats before). There is going to be a heavy security presence everywhere (this has been the case for nine months).

So Khamenei and his advisors probably thought that people won’t celebrate Chaharshanbeh Suri and they tried to turn it into political capital. Khamenei would give the fatwa, no one would show up, and the conclusion would be that people accept whatever Khamenei says, even when it is the dismissal of of a millennia-old tradition.

Didn't turn out that way. The result is Chaharshanbeh Suri 1 (Khamenei own goal), Supreme Leader 0.

A non-Iranian friend asked me about Khamenei’s fatwa and why Iranians seemed to be upset about it. I replied:

“Why Chaharshanbeh Suri matters to me?"

Because it is part of my cultural heritage, as is has been part of the cultural heritage of my ancestors for a very long time.

I have no doubt that the way we celebrate Chaharshanbeh Suri today is different from its original form. I also have no doubt that denying Chaharshanbeh Suri as part of our culture is the folly of people who have either a limited understanding of being who we are, or of people who want to wipe the slate clean and make our lives all about them.

The onslaught we are witnessing on our culture is nothing to new. Our culture has withstood many a fierce attack in the past.

To borrow a phrase from a gentleman who himself is trying to deny this part of our culture, the efforts of the sect-like group is not even a “caricature” of the onslaughts that our culture has withstood in the past.

Comments

[Catherine]

Homylafayette posted a lovely article on this ancient fire festival, its particular significance this year, and the regime's longstanding efforts to counter pre-Islamic Iranian traditions that shows how a certain brand of Islam has always frowned on Nowrouz and particularly on the chahar shanbeh souri fire festival. One of the gems in the article is a VOA video from a year ago (with English translation below) of Ayatollah Morteza Motahari (father-in-law of Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and father of Majlis representative Ali Motahari) completely trashing the fire festival and those who participate in it. Motahari's voice is from a recording reportedly made in the months before his death in 1979.
http://homylafayette.blogspot.com/2010/03/regimes-ideologues-only-idiots-and.html

[AsdollahMirza]

Excellent piece. I also used the term "own-goal" in my assessments. Because that is, in fact, what it was. This festival wouldn't have felt like a victory if SL didn't have issued that fatwa.

You are also right on how western media outlets focus on sensationalism. Very poor.

Thanks for your thoughts

[Bijan]

Thank you Mr Verde for another great analysis.

[Barry]

"or of people who want to wipe the slate clean and make our lives all about them."

I think this is a very important understanding of what is happening in Iran now and for the past 30 years.

In the 1970's, the Khmer Rouge tried to "wipe the slate clean" and restart Cambodian society/culture from a new day one. Of course, what they attempted/did was an absolutely extreme case. Apart from the extreme mass murder, they tried to eliminate all past culture of Cambodia - that was their aim anyway.

As an outsider, I see three phases of Iranian culture. The very ancient Persian culture (7000 years long??), Islamic culture (1400 years??) and Islamic Republic culture (30 years)

The Regime (and it's supporters) are primarily interested in the very last phase of Iranian culture - and would like to wipe the slate clean historically starting 1979.

Barry

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