Fatemeh-keshavarz
[Note: This is part of our Online Conversations series.]
A few years ago, Fatemeh Keshavarz led a calm life as a professor of Persian and comparative literature at Washington University. She was more likely to organize poetry readings than political press. Then, after a trip to Iran, the ground shifted. She wrote Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than Lolita in Tehran, and she started "Windows on Iran," an electronic newsletter that’s won an international audience.
She sits in the garden of her peaceful Ladue home, two green bands slid over her slender wrist, gesturing as she explains how her quiet literary life turned into political activism. -- Jeannette Cooperman, Staff Writer
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I was in Iran in 2006. The mood was peaceful and normal; there was even a sense that there might be some normalization in U.S.-Iran relations. But when I came back, I opened my email, and my box was full of these alarming messages from friends: "What’s happening? We are hearing that the Iranian government wants to put uniforms on Iranian Jews!" It turned out a Canadian newspaper had quoted an expatriate claiming that, but the truth appeared in very small print, and the initial news had been all over; there was even talk of joint American-Israeli attacks on Iran. I was feeling very sad and depressed that there was no way to let people know the truth. Suddenly it occurred to me that maybe I could do something. I had a mailing list of people who'd been to my house for poetry readings. I sent out a factsheet: Did you know that 68 percent of the university students in Iran are women? (It's now 70 percent.) Did you know that Iranians between 15 and 25 are 92 percent literate? Did you know Iran is a member of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty? If you didn’t know these things, would you like to get a weekly update?
I started in 2007, with about 200 people. The list is now way over 1,000--Noam Chomsky is on it, and Daniel Ellsberg, and Robin Carnahan. Between the election and now, I’ve had more than 18,000 hits on the webpage. I hear from people in Africa, Europe, Asia, everywhere. Since the election, Iranians in Iran have found me through the newsletter--someone there was circulating it as one of the few reliable sources--and I get a lot of inside information now.
Why is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has claimed the presidency for a second term, so popular in rural areas?
I'm not so sure he is, anymore. But Ahmadinejad was a populist; he would visit all these places, and if he found out the village didn’t have a school, he’d order someone to send a check. He tried to keep that base happy. But you know, his nickname is "Liar."
What's your take on Mir-Hossein Mousavi, whom many believe is the real winner of the recent election?
Mousavi is a two-time prime minister. He seems quiet and level-headed, but he’s very forceful. He stands his ground. This guy, who's not a Populist, who doesn't create these excitements, very quietly started to talk about amending the constitution to get rid of gender discrimination, ensure rights for minorities, and make sure the press has freedom to speak and criticize. As his policy papers came out, young people started to take notice.
Mousavi captured people's attention very quickly, didn’t he? He chose green, the color of Islam, as his color in the election, and suddenly there’s a huge Green Movement, with everybody wearing green ribbons and supporting his progressive ideas…
Yes, and Ahmadinejad never dreamed Mousavi would stir things up in this way! Just five weeks before the election, it wasn’t certain that he would get this kind of following. But then the demonstrations started. People would hold their phone close to the streets so I could hear the jubilation; it went on until 2 or 3 a.m. "We are tired of superstition," Mousavi said. "We want to open up to the world."
People must have been eager for his message.
A vast number of people are very, very frustrated with this kind of governing, which at this point is totally military. Major religious figures are coming out to say, "What this government is doing is breaching the principles of justice, the principles of Islam." A number have threatened to leave the country. Of the nine major ayatollahs, only two have spoken for Ahmadinejad. Even the ex-president and the speaker of the Parliament have come out against Ahmadinejad, and the grandson of Khomeini left the country because he didn’t want to be there for the inauguration.
There have been mass resignations of professors, and academics meet with Mousavi on a regular basis. Are they going to close all the universities? The students are not going to go back and act like nothing has happened.
What does Ahmadinejad want?
I think he wants to get rid of the "Republic" side of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He believes the foundation of governance is given by God, you make your interpretation, and people follow. There's this narrowness of vision about right and wrong, this absolutism about considering themselves the voice of the truth.
And what do the Iranian people want?
People have told me over the phone, "We don’t want another revolution. A revolution takes 30 years before you manage to rebuild some of what you have destroyed. We want to be able to open the system we have and reform it."
Do people believe Ahmadinejad’s claim that the protests have been engineered by the U.S. or others outside Iran?
Actually, I don't think that idea has much traction. He suddenly fired his minister of intelligence and his minister of culture. He now needs to get a vote of confidence from the Parliament and Congress, so he quickly decided that the minister of culture would stay—but the minister of culture resigned anyway--he said he’d taken his sacking seriously! Apparently Ahmadinejad sacked the minister of intelligence because he was close to the Supreme Leader and would be reporting things to him, which indicates there is a rift between Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader. Also, the minister of intelligence was given the task of finding evidence of outside intervention, and he said his findings did not support that. Now Ahmadinejad has appointed himself in charge of the ministry of intelligence.
How much power does Ahmadinejad have?
When he got elected last time, he started giving a lot of contracts to the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij. But there are rifts within the Basij. And another thing: The Iranian Army isn't necessarily supporting Ahmadinejad. He had 36 officers arrested because they were planning to appear in the ex-president's famous Friday prayer of protest. There are close to one million in the Army; if the Basij gets really nasty, there could be a serious clash of the two. I hope that I am wrong, but it is possible. People are hoping there are enough voices of sanity, particularly among the influential religious figures and inside the Army, to prevent such a thing.
Then, at the city level, at least twice he has taken a bill to congress to change the way mayors get elected, so instead of a city council voting, the minister of the interior--which would be Ahmadinejad--makes the selection. It has been defeated both times. But he also purged the parliament in the December 2008 election, so it could still pass.
What about the press?
Under Ahmadinejad, a lot of newspapers and magazines were closed down, including a women's monthly that talked openly about serious issues women faced. Iranian women’s activist movements are among the most vibrant in the world. Women of all kinds want absolute gender equality. One of the slogans people chant is "Down with Taliban in Kabul and in Teheran." And the million-signature campaign was started by young people going door to door talking about the discriminatory laws. People signed it, and the government didn’t know what to do: It wasn’t a headquarters they could attack or a paper they could close down. A lot of those activists have been jailed.
What kinds of activism are working?
The rooftop chants are continuing. There are indications of people ready to do a general strike. On the day of the election, the government disconnected all text messaging, so now people have boycotted text messaging, and the industry is suffering. They are boycotting the firms that give ads to Iranian radio and TV, because they are the voice of this regime.
How many casualties have there been?
People say they have seem many more bodies in the morgues, and doctors and nurses report critically injured patients who have been taken away. I think when the dust settles, we will find that the figures are much higher than have been reported.
When the Basij shot and killed Neda Agha Soltan in the post-election protests, they created a martyr; her death has caught the world’s attention and galvanized the Green Movement.
Yes. And tomorrow is the 40th day of her passing.
Is 40 significant in Islam as it is in Christianity, with Jesus' 40 days in the desert?
Yes, 40 is universally a significant number, like 7. [She sighs.] We are so connected. I wish we would realize it.
You mentioned the nuclear nonproliferation treaty--do Irani citizens believe that the government's nuclear energy program is entirely benign? Do you?
The nuclear issue became a pride issue, a national issue. We are living next to Pakistan and India and not so far from Israel, and all these countries have nuclear weapons, and we can't even have a peaceful version? It became a pride issue, and Ahmadinejad milked that. He fired the head of the nuclear facilities—does that mean anything?
The Green movement does not support weaponization, I gather.
No. And the answer to the nuclear issue is the democratization of Iran. If you have a democratic Iran, wise, thoughtful people will be in charge. And now we know that we have mass support for that.
So what should the U.S. and other countries be doing to help?
The world can help Iranians not by military action, not even by economic sanctions, which could hurt people, but by telling Iran, 'As long as the four candidates in this election are not happy with the way the election was conducted, we are not going to recognize you as a country.' I think that's hurtful enough. And the Iranian people are watching that very carefully. They are so terrified that the world will recognize him and it will be all over. When Qadafi invited him to the African summit, and at the last minute, the African leaders said no, there was a huge celebration in Iran. People said so many thank-you's to the Africans.
Are you going to Iran soon?
I had a trip planned for this summer, but I cancelled it. They are now putting photographers on trial just for having taken pictures, so I think I'm pretty much a target. Now I'm hoping to go in winter. I just hope, first and foremost, that Mr. Ahmadinejad leaves before I go.
How would you characterize the mood in Iran right now?
It's a very strange time. There is great frustration and anger, but also a lot of hope. It's an emotional roller coaster every day.
