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By Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, SOAS, College of London | –
The Tehran Occasions just lately hailed what it known as: “A brand new epic tune themed with generational help for the Islamic Revolution…” Whats up Commander, which is being sung by schoolchildren throughout the nation, is an try by the present conservative authorities of Iran to unify the youth round their explicit interpretation of Islam and Iran.
That is nothing however a cultural battle in opposition to concepts perceived to be harmful to the ability of the conservative institution espoused by many Iranians inside the nation and those that have been educated overseas, together with in Europe and North America.
Iran occupies a particular place within the creativeness of the world. It’s an historical nation. It’s Persia, Cyrus the Nice, the seat of among the most mesmerising empires of world historical past. It is usually a rustic that’s on the cusp of nuclear weapons functionality. Due to this fact, it’s essential to grasp Iran and to take action with out falling for platitudes.
Earlier than the revolution of 1979, Iran had in Mohammad Reza Pahlavi a bon vivant, self-indulgent shah who beloved his glass of classic Moët & Chandon champagne, whereas many Iranians thought of him a US puppet. After the revolution, Iran was dominated by an ascetic, stern and extremely stoic cleric, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He rapidly banned many historical Persian indulgences within the title of his puritanical interpretation of Shia Islam.
Right now, the residues of this paradoxical historic set-up proceed to drive Iranian tradition. That is true inside the nation and out of doors, among the many vastly profitable Iranian diaspora who’re equally caught up on this battle for Iran’s “actual” identification.
Whats up Commander must be analysed in opposition to that backdrop. It’s a state-sponsored effort to unify a superbly numerous tradition. The tune portrays a model of Iran from the attitude of the non secular conservatives. That is how Iran needs to be, they inform everybody: vigilant, religiously conservative, able to sacrifice for the next trigger. The issue is in fact, that this isn’t how Iran actually is – and this explains the continued dissent in opposition to this restrictive model of the nation.
Conservative viewpoint
Many Iranians merely object to being moulded into one ideological corpus.
That is being pushed by hardline non secular conservatives whose candidate, Ebrahim Raisi, took energy on the 2021 presidential election. Their Iran is righteous, combative, at all times on the outlook for the evil enemy. They feed on the paranoia that actual imperial intrusions into Iranian sovereignty led to till the revolution of 1979 and in some ways thereafter, particularly by the US.
In 1980, the nation was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – one of many cruellest dictators within the fashionable historical past of the area. And but Saddam was supported by the US and Europe through the devastating Iran-Iraq battle between 1980 and 1988 – even when he used chemical weapons.
For the non secular conservatives, these are actually God-given themes. They’re extremely helpful for his or her effort to freeze their Iran in an everlasting wrestle with the world. As such, the tune Whats up Commander is an ode to the “martyrs” of that horrible battle throughout which tens of 1000’s of younger Iranians and Iraqis perished.
Within the official video of the tune, Iranian kids maintain up the images of their family members who have been killed within the trenches. On the identical time, Whats up Commander is a “hopeful” tune as it’s meant to pronounce the willingness of this Iranian youth to struggle for justice.
With its mildly martial but strongly ritualistic melody that speaks to emotive non secular themes, the tune targets a youth tradition that’s as numerous because the aforementioned Iranian expertise with the world. Inside a cultural atmosphere the place Iranian rap music dominates and the place most middle-class Iranians take heed to pop songs produced in diasporic hubs corresponding to Los Angeles, Whats up Commander appears a moderately clumsy effort to change such worldly preferences to the conservative institution’s extraordinarily explicit and restrictive interpretation of Iran.
The perfect youth that the tune envisages has lengthy been socialised into maturity and the robust social realities that the US sanctions regime exacerbates for odd Iranians. There is no such thing as a time for ideological indulgence. The lyrics of Whats up Commander summon the Imam Mahdi, the everlasting commander of the devoted. Imam Mahdi performs a significant half within the doctrines of the pious Twelver Shia, the minority Islamic sect that dominates in Iran, Iraq, southern Lebanon and elsewhere.
The tune additionally pays explicit tribute to Normal Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in 2020 on the behest of Donald Trump. It rails in opposition to the everlasting harassment of the devoted by exterior enemies.
Denying variety
However Whats up Commander preaches to the transformed. Its slim script doesn’t seize the vastness of the cultural repository that emanates from Iran. Iranian youth, like younger folks all around the world, is numerous and never readily subsumed beneath one narrative.
Iran has a extremely educated inhabitants and profitable universities. It is usually a rustic that’s besieged by US sanctions. Most Iranians are busy attempting to make ends meet. The hopeful tenor of the tune could enhance the morale of the transformed, however it should appear moderately cynical to many Iranian staff that suffer beneath the yoke of sanctions and the tough conservative focus of the institution.
In gentle of this complexity of up to date Persia, I requested what Iran “is” in my most up-to-date e book beneath the identical title, making reference to 5 items of Iranian music. The reply may solely be captured in huge open-ended parentheses. Iran is the love poetry of Rumi, the structure of Persepolis – Shia Islam too. The traditional historic variety of the nation can’t be lowered to platitudes. Every time this occurs, historical past has proven, Persia breaks free.
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, Professor in International Thought and Comparative Philosophies, SOAS, College of London
This text is republished from The Dialog beneath a Artistic Commons license. Learn the unique article.
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