In August and September, I traveled to the Islamic Republic of Iran with a group of students and staff from my University. We spent two weeks traveling around the country, and visited Tehran, Yazd, Shiraz and Isfahan. We had planned meetings and informal encounters with people from all different walks of life, and we immersed ourselves in Islamic and Persian culture. Since I have returned from Iran I have been thinking most about how what I saw was so very different from what is portrayed in the US media. The following are a few of my observations.
Iran is not a homogeneous country. In fact, I found it to be similar to the United States in how the rest of the world perceives the country based upon its public face, its government, when in fact the majority of its population is extremely different. Iran is not a nation of women in chadors and "Down with USA" murals. Not everyone there is anti-American and a fundamentalist Muslim. That element is present, but it is not the majority by far. There are also the very liberal elements, those that are the most western and the least religious. The majority of the country, however, falls somewhere in the middle, and in fact, I think, more towards the liberal.
Iran is also not a country without dissent. It has a liberal media, politics are discussed fairly openly in public, women push the boundaries of the hijab daily and people are working for progress. People are particularly dismayed by President Ahmadinejad's administration. They complain of a lack of civil liberties and the economy. Even people who support the idea of an Islamic Republic are disappointed in the current economic situation and are particularly upset by the gas rationing. They describe a disappointment in how President Ahmadinejad has chosen to build a nuclear program rather than oil refineries, which Iran sorely needs. The current quality of life in Iran is not terrible. The economy is bad, but the black market is thriving. While women's lives are particularly restricted, we did not perceive Iranian society to be completely backwards and repressive. Indeed we heard confused Iranians stating that Iran is much more liberal than several of its Persian Gulf neighbors with which the US has good ties, yet the US proclaims Iran part of the Axis of Evil. Saudi Arabia is the most often cited example of this discrepancy, and murmurs are heard regarding Pakistan and China as well.
Iranians have a lot of other qualities that are not discussed in the US media. They revere their poets and their ancient Persian history and are careful to distinguish themselves from Arabs; they exhibit great hospitality and provide charity for the unfortunate in a very commendable way; and they have the ability to distinguish dislike of a government from dislike of that country's people. Iranians do not unilaterally hate Americans. They want a lot of the things that we have, from civil liberties to fashions, from a robust economy to global prestige. Without a single exception, every Iranian with whom I talked politics was hopeful for a future with better relations between our two countries and less extreme governments on both sides. They have issues with American arrogance, and I fear that current American policies towards Iran may decrease the good will that Americans find there from normal people. During our two week trip, I never felt a single concern for my safety. In fact, compared to a 2006 trip to Tibet, I found Iran to be far more liberal, welcoming and secure.
Iran currently has a very young population - over 70% is under the age of thirty. This generation, while Iranian and Muslim, longs for its civil liberties and a different standing in the world. Some people whom we met there argued that it will not be very long before another revolution takes place in Iran. They were careful to stress that these changes will need to be done from inside the country, in an Iranian way and in a Muslim way, for after all, 98% of the country is Muslim. One of the most interesting observations that we discussed amongst my group is the thought that Islamic Revolution has in a way succeeded because different from its neighbors, in Iran, modernity is not entirely a western concept. Unlike in Jordan or in Saudi Arabia, English is not the language of academia, big business is not conducted primarily with the United States, and the upper class is not necessarily westernized.
One of the aspects of my trip that I most often question is how much of Iranian society I actually saw. I am certain that my group was shielded from the poor population, that we did not see many aspects of daily life and that we stayed away from the very-religious and the anti-American elements that exist there. While we did not interact with them, we knew that they were there, from the women who chose to wear the chador to a bookseller who obviously resented our interest in purchasing a Qoran. I do think that we met people from different walks of life and different parts of society. Although we were shielded, we were not prevented from talking with anyone and we walked about fairly freely (uniquely, Americans must be accompanied by a licensed guide at all times). We had some planned meetings, including with a Grand Ayatollah and his entourage, we talked with Iranian tourists whom we met at tourist sites, with merchants in the bazaars, with our tour guides and drivers. I think that while we did not see the entire country, we saw a fairly representative cross-section of it. Most importantly, we saw the modern side of Iran, which completely dispelled the stereotypes of a country full of women in chadors and "Down with USA" murals.