The
Anatomy of Iranian Racism: Reflections on the Root Causes of South
Azerbaijans Resistance Movement
Dr
Alireza Asgharzadeh
In recent days many Azeri towns and cities in
Iran have, once again, become the revolutionary scene of anti-racist and anti-colonial
struggle against Irans racist and colonial order. The current movement of South
Azerbaijan must be situated right at the heart of issues of racial/ethnic
oppression and internal colonialism in an Iranian context. By avoiding any
mention of the terms racism and internal colonialism, the dominant Persian
discourse has provided a completely upside-down picture of social and ethnic
inequality in the country, masterfully managing to deceive the international
media and progressive anti-racist forces throughout the world. The fact of the
matter is that without taking note of racism and colonialism as important
social facts that do exist in Iranian society, it would be impossible to
provide a comprehensive analysis regarding the current Azeri movement, along
with other similar movements in Kurdistan, Khuzistan, Baluchistan,
Turkman-Sahra, and other regions of the country.
Ethnic pluralism,
difference and diversity have always been a defining characteristic of what is
today called Iran.
Peoples of various ethnic origins, such as the ancestors of contemporary
Azeri-Turks, Kurds, Baluchs, Turkomans, Arabs, Lurs, Gilaks, Mazandaranis and
others have lived in Iran for centuries. The history of civilization in what is
known today as Iran
goes back over six-thousand years. The available archaeological/linguistic
record indicates that from the very beginning the region was characterized with
extreme ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity. No single ethnic group has
ever constituted a definite numerical majority in the country, although the
Azeri-Turks now have a relatively slight majority with a population of over 30
million.
Up until 1925,
the country had been run in accordance with what one may call a traditional
confederative system within which all ethnic groups enjoyed the freedom to use
and develop their languages, customs, cultures, and identities. With the
beginning of the Pahlavi regime in 1925, the natural trend of ethnic and
linguistic plurality was abruptly stopped, and a process of monoculturalism and
monolingualism started, which continues to date. The aim of this chauvinistic
process has been to present the language, history, culture, and identity of the
Persian minority as the only authentic language, history, culture, and identity
of all Iranians.
For over 80
years, the role of the central government in Iran has been one of denying and
dismissing ethnic and linguistic diversity in the country. Just as the Pahlavi
regime focused on annihilation of cultural, linguistic, and ethnic differences
in the country, so too the current Islamic Republic has continued with the
politics of assimilation, exclusion, and racism. Under the current
establishment, gender-based and religion-based oppressions have also been added
to a host of exclusionary and racist practices left over from the previous
regime. The racist politics of the governing apparatuses have always been
accompanied by ideological and discursive support of the majority of Persian writers,
intellectuals and thinkers who, due to their belonging to the dominant group,
have enjoyed the privileges of monolingualism, monoculturalism, and racism in
the country. To this group must be added the assimilated segment of non-Persian
writers and intellectuals whose passionate support for Persian racism has even
surprised the Persians themselves. In fact, such individuals of Turkic origin
as Mahmood Afshar, Iraj Afshar, Ahmad Kasravi and others have been among the
founding fathers of this ugly racist system.
The governing apparatuses, the
dominant elite, and the farstoxicated intelligentsia have come together and
sustained the structural bases of one of the most racist systems in the
contemporary world. This naked racism which feeds on outdated and discredited
Arayanist paradigms and racist theories of the 18-20th centuries
Europe has outlived the Jim Crow segregationist system in America; it has
survived Nazism, European fascism, and the Apartheid regime in South Africa. In
effect, compared to its kind in Germany,
Europe, the US, and South Africa, the
Persian racism in Iran
represents an amazing success story in terms of its durability,
normalcy, and assimilatory capacity. Below are some salient
characteristics of this dominant racist discourse and praxis:
1. The Belief in the
Superiority of Aryan Race
Persian racism in Iran advocates a racist and
racialized view of the world where the so-called Aryan race is seen as a
superior race. Using the racist ideas of 18-20th centuries Europe as
its theoretical/ideological bases, the dominant group exploits the countrys
resources to promote lavishly funded research and exploration regarding the
history and existence of this superior Aryan race in Iran. On the other hand, serious
works challenging the supremacy of Aryanist historiography not only do not
receive any assistance but are not even allowed publication in Iran.
A glaring case in point is the historian Naser Poorpirar whose recent work on
the history of Sasanid dynasty was not permitted to be published in Iran.
According to his personal website (http://naria.persianblog.com/), the author self-published the book in Singapore
and shipped it back to Iran
for distribution. Ordinarily one would expect that a study critically examining
the Orientalist construction of pre-Islamic history of Iran would not encounter any kind
of government censorship in the Islamic Republic. Not so. Works like Poorpirars
are not allowed publication simply because they interrogate the
Aryan/Fars-centric history of Iran,
powerfully exposing its fictional, disingenuous, and dishonest character.
2. The Belief that Iran Is the Land of Aryans
Persian racism openly defines Iran as the land of these so-called
Aryans who are in turn identified with the dominant Persian group, its
language, culture, and identity. Through this racist process, Farsi becomes the
only national/official language and the Persian culture gets identified as the
national culture of all Iranians; just as Irans history gets appropriated
to the advantage of this so-called Aryan race by excluding, distorting, and
erasing the histories, stories, and narratives of other ethnic groups.
This exclusion takes place in government-sponsored research projects,
schoolbooks, university texts, curriculum, allocation of research funding, etc.
In short, under the racist order in Iran, to be Iranian becomes equated
with being Persian. This kind of racist identification serves to foreignize and
otherize those communities who are not Persian and who do not speak Farsi as
their natural mother tongue.
3. The Belief in the
Purification of Aryan Race of Iran
through Language
Drawing on discredited European racist views, the
dominant discourse in Iran
equates language with race and tries to fabricate Indo-European language ties
for non-Farsi speaking peoples such as the Azeri-Turks in an attempt to show
that over a thousand years ago they spoke an Indo-European language and are
therefore Aryan. As such, they should cleanse
themselves of their inferior linguistic/ethnic/cultural identity and become one
with the superior Aryan race by speaking the language of this race: Farsi. This
kind of racist reconstruction of prehistoric (imaginary) languages
essentializes race-based and language-based identities and prioritizes them
based on a fabricated history of origins, arrivals, etc., giving rise to the
absurd idea about who has come earlier than whom, who has come first, who has
come second, who has come last, whose language was spoken earlier than the
others; and who, as a result, should have mastery over others. These kinds of
non-sensical absurdities serve to create unnecessary competitions among various
ethnic/national groups which lead to animosity, mistrust and lack of
cooperation among them, while leaving them vulnerable to be colonized and
assimilated by the dominant racist order.
The Iranian
racist order openly proscribes non-Farsi languages in the country, banning them
from becoming languages of education, instruction, learning, correspondence,
and governance. By banning non-Farsi languages, the dominant group violates
minoritized communities identities; subjugates their minds, and brutalizes their
spirits. It supplants the indigenous names of geographical landmarks, cities,
towns, villages, and streets; appropriates ancient heroes, historical figures,
literary figures, scientists, movie stars,
popular singers, dancers, and artists belonging to the marginalized
communities. It prevents non-Farsi speaking communities from naming their
children as they wish, using their own indigenous languages, cultures, names,
words, signs, and symbols, forcing them instead to use names and symbols
approved by the dominant discourse and praxis.
4. The Practice of Anachronism in Interpreting Works
of History, Religion, and Literature
Using an anachronistic method of analysis, the
hegemonic discourse in Iran
offers purely racist and racialized interpretations of history, historical
events, and classical texts such as the Avesta and the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi.
It interprets these ancient texts in accordance with modern racist theories and
notions which were not in existence at the time these texts were written. The
anachronistic reading of these texts becomes central to the maintenance of
racist order in Iran
in that such a reading legitimates the ownership of the country by a single
race, just as it privileges a single language, history, culture, and identity.
Anachronism gives a historical justification for contemporary oppressions,
exclusions, and annihilations in Iran.
5. The
Belief in Essentialism and an Essentialist notion of Iranian-ness
The dominant order in Iran promotes an essentialist
notion of identity based on race and language. Instead of viewing identities as
shifting, non-fixed and fluid categories, the Iranian racist order assigns
fixed identities to individuals and communities based on their degree of Iranian-ness
(Iraniyyat). Under this essentialist and essentializing mentality, those
speaking an Indo-European language are considered to be in possession of
authentic Iranic identity and hence more Iranian than those speaking a Semite
or Turkic language.
The dominant order
plays the race card to create hostilities among marginalized communities,
seeking to prevent the formation of any semblance of solidarity among them. By
identifying some of them as true Iranians, real Aryans, and the authentic
owners of Iran,
it engenders a policy of divide and conquer, while
sowing the seeds of mistrust and animosity among different ethnic groups. At
the same time, it prevents a sensible census from taking place based on
ethnicity and language, fearing that an ethnic-based and language-based census
would reveal the true size and number of both Persian and non-Persian
communities in the country. Just as such racist notions as the true
owners of Iran, the real Aryans, and similar mumbo-jumbo are emphasized to an
inflated and inflammatory degree; so too the real issues and concerns such as
the need for conducting of an ethnicity/language based national census, opening
of ethnic studies departments in the universities, and researching ethnic groups
and ethnic relations in the country are de-emphasized, degraded, and
dismissed.
6. The
Belief in the Systematic Practice of Racism
The Iranian racist order uses the coercive force of
governing organs to marginalize, criminalize, and punish the activists
advocating the cause of minoritized communities, labeling them as traitors,
secessionists, agents of foreign governments, etc. During the cold war period,
it was customary to label anti-racist activists as communists and KGB agents.
Nowadays such activists are labeled as agents of CIA, Israel, Zionism, Turkey, and even the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Through such practices, the dominant order refuses the legitimate demands of
minoritized communities for equal treatment, justice, and fairness. It brutally
suppresses any ethnic-based and language-based activity, forcefully denying and
condemning the right for self-determination of various nationalities. On the
economic front, the government channels the countrys resources to building
infrastructure, factories, and development projects in Persian populated cities
such as Isfahan, Shirza, Yazd, and Kerman, while the non-Persian regions of
Kurdistan, Baluchistan, Azerbaijan, and other areas more and more plunge in
poverty and deprivation.
Resistance to the Racist Order
Thus,
it is in this anti-racist, anti-colonial context that the current South
Azerbaijani movement and the movement of other minoritized communities must be
approached. It is under a racist and colonial condition that sites such as
history, historiography, language, literature, and the education system have
become main arenas where the battle for domination and subjugation of the
marginalized Other is waged. The dominant group uses these privileged sites to
maintain its oppressive power base; to legitimate its dominance and privileged
status, and to justify its oppression. Simultaneously, the marginalized uses
these very sites to question, challenge, combat, and eventually subvert the
oppressive dominant order. For instance, in the linguistic battleground, the
dominant bans the minoritized languages and uses its language to supplant them.
The marginalized, on the other hand, seeks to reclaim and revitalize her/his
excluded indigenous language so that
s/he is empowered to self-express, self-identify, and self-determine. Just as
the dominant uses history to deny a historical legitimacy to the marginalized
Other, so too the marginalized uses her/his own version of history to reject
and repudiate the history which is constructed for her/him by the dominant. The
dominant uses the education system to enforce its assimilatory and racist
policies. The marginalized redefines the purpose of education and schooling to
bring about inclusivity, equity, equality and fairness for all.
While the
marginalized uses all in its power to fight racism and oppression, it is
important to realize that her/his battle is an uphill struggle in which s/he
has very little access to strategic sites such as history, literature,
language, and the education system. These are the sites that have detrimental
impacts on the outcome of the battle between the colonizer and the colonized.
And these sites are controlled for the most part by the dominant. If the
dominant is left to its devices, there is little chance that the marginalized
will eventually eliminate the bases of colonialism, oppression, and racism. As
such, it is imperative that progressive forces everywhere take note of these
anti-colonial, antiracist struggles and support them in any way they can.