In 1999 in the basement of a mosque in Cairo I was a little surprised to find the tomb of the last Shah of Iran. There were no other tourists, no pilgrims, no angry vandals - the Shah had been forgotten about. It was a little bit like this today too with the election in Iran. If you have been following the events taking place in Tehran then you probably haven't been watching BBC World, CNN, MSNBC or, God save us, Fox. MSNBC has been telling us about America's toughest prisons, the BBC seems obssessed by Ronaldo, CNN loves the story of the pretty American girl in Italy accused of murder and Fox believes the biggest challenge facing the globe is how Miss California can get her title back. I suspect the news divisions of these networks go to their holiday homes on Saturday and Sunday, because my read of the situation in Iran is that something pretty extraordinary happened over the weekend. Was an election stolen? Was there a military coup? I don't really know but it certainly merits further investigation. I do know that there is an entire generation of sophisticated, intelligent, disillusioned Iranians out there and I know this because of two brilliant books: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi....
26 comments:
I don't know about an actual coup, squire, but something's a-bubble in Iran alright ... and it's been coming a goodly while now. Although, having said that, it'll probably take your actual coup to shift the hardliners. Plus ca change, etc.
Cheers, Dec
Well, while I can't deny your general premise, and though I am not a big newshead myself, I feel like Iran has been pretty much front and center on the BBC segment I saw, and the Lehrer newshour had someone broadcasting with his own mini-camera satellite when official communication was blacked out in Tehran Friday. Locally, there seems to be a good deal of interest. You'll be happy to know that our main buyer asked that we put up an Iran display over the weekend, featuring both fiction and non-fiction, and that people were buying things and taking notes of titles, etc.
I've read both the books you mention, as well as Persepolis II, which is more about the status of being in on again off again exile from your native land, and would second your recommendations. Haven't read Nafisi's newer more autobiographical book, Things I've Been Silent About, but I think I will now. I remember finding their discussion of Lolita fascinating, although I suppose I should admit here that I have yet to read Lolita itself, though I probably own about three copies of it, one way and another.
Satrapi came to the bookstore a few years ago, and it was one of the events I rousted myself to go back to the store and attend. She was great, fierce, but not attacking, eloquent--everything you'd want in a speaker.
Haven't checked the news on this this morning yet. I'll do so now.
I didn't learn a whole lot more, but did come across this list of movies to watch about Iran, which sound quite interesting.
I'm sorry to hear about the BBC. American media have gradually descended to a point where atual reporting is a luxury they have decided they can no longer afford. Television reports on what you described; newspapers lament their falling readership, and choose to address it by covering exactly what TV does, refusing to acknowledge that television does it better.
My Beloved Spousal Equivalent showed me some photos that got out of Iran this morning, but I reminded her, in news, a picture is NOT worth a thousand words. There's no context to a picture. We don;t know exactly where or why that picture was taken. We don't have a good way of knowing what it means, or what agenda the poster is advancing. Same thing with someone live blogging from on the scene. One describes the smashing of democracy; the next describes the subduing of dangerous radical fringe elements. No one wants to do the hard work of finding truth. They all just want to go on cable news and give their opinions.
Adrian,
Not sure if you're a Clavell fan, but Whirlwind, probably his least known book, is a good read and it's set in Iran in 1979.
Dec
It seems very strange that the results are completely at odds with the way most people voted. Its also peculiar that they announced the result with the actual percentages about three hours into the counting.
Seana
Well finally BBC World have started covering this. I think they may have been waiting until their best foreign correspondant John Simpson arrived. He's now there which is both good and bad. Good because he's a terrific reporter, bad because if you ask me he's a bit of a jinx, bad things seem to follow that guy everywhere. MSNBC are still showing the toughest prisons crap however.
I saw Satrapi on the same tour at The Tattered Cover in Denver. She was good.
Dana
Its pretty depressing. I dont really know who to believe but the BBC is finally getting its act together which is a good thing.
I also checked in on Andrew Sullivan's blog and he seems to be gathering a lot of different sources together. Sullivan is convinced the election was stolen. I'm not so sure of that...yet. We need more evidence, because I imagine that outside of Tehran the counry as a whole is still pretty conservative.
Brian
I listened to the audiobook of King Rat - excellent!
I've been meaning to try the audio of Shogun but its something like 50 hours long.
Slate has a nice, brief analysis right at the top of the page, but on the other hand, the most read articles are by their stats are first, one on whether fish feel pain (I'm concerned, of course), and then, an advice columnist letter from a man whose wife 'is intimidated by how much he pleasures himself' (not concerned at all on this one). And only then the newsround up on Tehran. Which is pretty much what I'd guess about mass readerships, although I would have wagered that number two would beat number one. Compassion stories beating sexual anxiety stories is a surprise. Actually I'm surprised Iran climbed as far up the read list as it did.
Just when I thought I might be turning into a Real Madrid fan...
Cristiano Ronaldo is such a toolbelt. I so hope he gets overshadowed at Real by Kaka.
Liam
I was hoping that he would end up with Paris Hilton though. Those two definitely deserve one another.
Seana
The Slate summary is pretty good. You should check out Andrew Sullivan although I dont know why he's so sure of himself - how does he know for sure it was rigged? He is linking to a LOT of Iranian bloggers so there are a good diversity of voices.
I do think John Simpson can get the job. Give him a few hours to get over the jetlag and he'll have some analysis by tonight I reckon.
Adrian:
An election was stolen by a powerful cabal at the top. Not dissimilar to what happened in the US while you lived here.
Now, to real news, not as important as Miss California or Schapelle Corby or the Madonna on a meat pie, but pretty cool nonetheless.
The old Empire Hotel in San Francisco, where Vertigo was filmed, has been completely remodeled and renamed The Vertigo. The film plays 24 hours from the flatscreens in the lobby, and the spiral staircase is one you can imagine tumbling down.
This, and the new The View at Monument Valley, are my two best recommendations for vacation travel this year.
As if anyone asked.
Oh, and there is a new Lady M installment at my OVOT site.
And with that,
good night.
Oh yeah...I loved Persepolis.
I can tell I need to get on to Andrew Sullivan. I admire your willingness to wait for the careful analysis rather than just leap to a conclusion, but I do think the black out of info to and from Tehran might be a sort of a clue.
Here's a funny thing. I was at a New Year's party at my sister's once a few years back and was put in charge of the ice breaker game where you write the name of a celebrity of some sort and then people have to wear them on their backs until they guess who they are. It's in general a pretty good ice breaker--forces people to ask others questions, etc. Anyway, I thought I was so smart giving our Iranian friend Marjane Satrapi as his mystery name. But as it turned out, he didn't know her. Made him a bit uncomfortable, and made me feel like I was trying to show off esoteric knowledge, instead of trying to make someone feel comfortable, which had really been my aim.
I never saw the movie. I had a feeling it wouldn't be as good for some reason.
Patrick
That sounds great. Next time I'm in SF I'd like to stay there, if its not too expensive and is within walking distance of the GGB.
Seana
No, the film is quite good. Its just not as good as the book.
I dont know how anyone can be so certain with such scant information. Presumably the cities are a lot more liberal than the conservative countryside...This could be one benign explanation for the surprising results.
That's good to know about the movie. I'm sure it brought her more recognition, which is all to the good.
What I keep meaning to say but forgetting is, how cool and yet strange that you were at the last Shah's tomb. It's like hearing the missing end of the story.
Seana
Actually thats a bit of a funny story. We were in Egypt not long after the Luxor Massacre and the attack on the Cairo Museum bus. There'd also been a few random attacks on tourists in the markets etc. I told Leah that if she ever heard anyone randomnly shouting Allahu Akhbar she was to hit the deck.
So we're in this mosque in Cairo and we hear about the Shah and we baksheesh a mosque official to take us down to the Shah's tomb. We get down to the tomb and as we're standing there the mosque official reaches into his galabea and shouts out "Allahu akbhar!" Leah and I both flinched but the guy was only reaching for a Koran and his shouting was only to demonstrate the acoustics.
Adrian,
Yeah, King Rat is excellent. And I'm not surprised Shogun is that long. With the exception of KR, all of his books were extremely long.
That is a funny story--now. Although if it had been written in a bad movie, the moment you told her to watch out for that line, the whole audience would have been waiting for it from then on,and it would have seemed pretty predictable. Funny about real life--we don't recognize foreshadowing when we see it.
Seana
Ha! Yeah, also it would have been funnier if we really had hit the deck.
I bet your guide would have had a good laugh out of it too.
Well, maybe not.
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