A thousand jokes go around in Iran every day mocking Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the pretensions of the righteous and the powerful, says Iranian writer Kamin Mohammadi in an interview with Manish Chand. Mohammadi was nine years old when her family fled Iran during the 1979 Revolution. “Oh, how they laughed hiding from the bombs,” she says, a trace of sadness creeping into her voice, while talking about her book “The Cypress Tree”, a moving and passionate memoir about three generations of her sprawling clan.
The book evokes her journey home at the age of 27 to rediscover her Iranian self and to discover for the first time the story of her family. Revolution may have become a dirty word due to the way it has been abused in the past, but the author is confident that Iran is navigating its way to liberalism and modernity as the yearning for change cuts across all classes.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q) It’s been more than twenty years since Ayatollah Khomeini imposed fatwa on Salman Rushdie. What’s the state of freedom of speech in Iran these days?
A) It’s a shame that human rights take second place to freedom of speech and expression. I don’t know how ordinary Iranians feel insulted by Rushdie’s book. It’s disappointing. It’s absolutely outrageous, this business of fatwas. Islam is a peaceful religion. ‘
Q) What about humour and the freedom to laugh at the antics of the powerful?
A) A thousand jokes go around in Iran. They poke fun at the regime and at President Ahmadinejad. They pronounce Ahmadinejad in Iranian in such a manner that the word means silly, stupid. Laughter is a way of coping with illiberal regimes.
Q) Is the Iranian society on the cusp of a radical change? How has the so-called Arab Spring affected Iran?
A) There is not enough appetite for revolution in Iran. They have seen the violence and the bloodshed. I believe the change in Iran is going to come in a gradual incremental fashion, and not from the pressure from the West.
The change will come. There is no appetite for the present system. Human rights, freedom – that’s the idea of Iran they have. This yearning for change cuts across all classes. A lot of Iranians have come out in the open about it. The diaspora has a strong connection with society.
Q) How do you look at speculation about a US-Israel plan to attack Iran?
A) If you think by attacking my country, you will get to change the regime. You are deluded. That’s a great misunderstanding. That will not happen; on the contrary, the Iranian people will band behind the current regime. Attacking Iran will be a total disaster. Don’t forget, we are the oldest piece of land occupied by the same race.
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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