G. Nazarian’s View of an Islamic
Government
When
Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, returned to Iran, he gave the people
very good promises, promising good lives and a good economy as long as Iran was
a very rich country. He said Iran would have a democracy, and all other
religious groups would have their freedom. Everything would be better than it
was in the king’s time. But he didn’t keep his promise.
When the Islamic rule was brought to Iran, one of Islam’s
important roles was that men and women weren’t allowed to communicate with
each other outside until they marry. One time when me and your mother went
together to dinner, when we were coming out of the restaurant, one of those
Islamic soldiers came up to us and asked us why we were together. We said that
we were married but they didn’t believe us. One of these soldiers took me to
one side and your mom to another. And they had asked your mother what her
brother’s name was. Your mom had said Shahen. And they came up to me and asked
me what my wife’s brother’s name was. I said it was Shahen. That’s how
they knew we knew each other and were saying the truth and they let us go. They
didn’t bother us any more.
I see a big difference between the old president and the
new elected one. Even though the former president we had was a religious man, he
was educated, familiar with the world around him and tried to keep and follow
the laws of Islam. But he also understood what the world wanted and where it was
going. He was able to link with the world, but this new president that has been
elected is not a Mullah. He is very religious; a fundamentalist whose goal is to
make everything like it was during the first days of the revolution.
Also, women’s rights are different from men’s.
According to Islamic rules, women are half of what men are worth. This means
that women have no rights. They are completely out of having a normal life.
Women are supposed to marry, go to her husband’s house, and do work, have
kids, cook meals, and prepare food. A man can marry more than one woman. Under
Islamic rule, every man could have how many wives he wants, but he has to
register; go to the government and marry. On the other hand, a woman can’t
have more than one man. If the wife causes any one problem, like hating his
husband, she doesn’t have the right to go to court and say she wants to
divorce. Women have no fair justice.
Iran has oil and is one of the world’s richest countries.
But the people live under very extreme conditions; there is inflation. People
these days have a hard time in the economy. Everything in the black market is
expensive. Last month, it was said in the news that most of the medicines in the
black market are fake. This means that these medicine jars used in hospitals
that are thrown away are collected by black marketers and filled with water or
other liquids and packaged in a way that you think it’s the right medicine.
And these medicines are sold to the poor people who don’t know what’s
contained in them. My uncle in Tehran had blood cancer, and the doctors had told
him he needed a particular kind of medicine to cure him. This medicine
couldn’t be found in the pharmacy but needed to be bought from the black
market, where it was ten times more expensive.
Security in Iran is not like security here in America. You
know, there is security to some limit. The people don’t have a gun in their
hands, you know, because the police doesn’t contribute in “securing.”
After the revolution, the Islamic soldiers started working as police, because
they didn’t trust the king’s police. That’s why police and Islamic
soldiers became one. These “Islamic police” don’t protect the people the
way they are supposed to. First of all, the police work for themselves rather
than the government, for their personal financial lives, trying for themselves,
and then writing tickets for the government. The people’s security is put
last, and most of time it never gets there. Police have to care, but in reality,
they don’t. The government doesn’t approach everything seriously. You have
to secure yourself. The police don’t overall work that well. All they care
about is securing the Islamic regime.
Votes during elections are cheated; these things are always
done. Like I said, the majority of the Iranian people are very uneducated and
very religious, too. They believe these things. Even if the majority of the vote
is for someone good, and the organization says this man isn’t good, being
afraid that he can ruin the system, the votes for this man aren’t counted. It
is said he got a low number of votes. Basically, they chose who they want, the
one who is religious and will work for the government, not the people.
They don’t treat the kids well in the Iranian schools.
Especially in elementary or junior high schools; the teachers do whatever they
want. They can abuse the kids, and there is no one to confront them and ask them
why they do such a thing. This is normal for me, because I attended an Armenian
school, which aren’t different from Persian schools. Even though teachers in
Armenian schools are also uneducated, they don’t teach on the level they are
supposed to. I remember one time Joseph, my younger brother, went to school the
first day, and didn’t know what to do in class. He had talked and the teacher
had hit his head with a key and holed his head, with blood coming out. He had
escaped the class and didn’t want to come back.
I think unemployment in Iran is a lot, but the reason
isn’t only that the people aren’t educated, but more that the government
can’t make jobs for them all, you know. When unemployment is a lot in a
country, the government has to create jobs, meaning, it needs to let the people
make jobs for themselves. The government needs to give the people what they
need, you know, so the people can work with them. The government itself can’t
do this.
After the revolution, in the beginning Iran’s southwest
neighbor Iraq saw that Iran was changing governments and its army was very weak.
It took advantage and decided to attack Iran to conquer it. Eight years, from
1980 to 1988, Iraq had a war with Iran. The fights didn’t affect the
government that much as it did to the people. The people were under pressure,
and it was a chance for the government to tell its people to put its complaints
aside and join the government in fighting against the enemy. It was good for the
government because it did whatever it wanted. It tried to tell the people it’s
a big fight and Iran is under great danger, that the enemy has attacked, let’s
join and go against them. The actual fighting didn’t affect us that much; it
was on the borderline between Iran and Iraq. The only things bothering us were
the bombardments to Tehran and we might be in danger, resulting in leaving our
home to neighboring towns for about fifteen days. Kids didn’t go to school,
you know, you were worried, and scared. When we were sleeping there might be
another bombardment. I remember one time when we were home they shot a missile
and the building on the other side of our street collapsed; whoever was in there
died. That was a danger to us, a situation that affected one’s behavior and
spirit. It was bad days.
Besides my life, everyone’s life got affected when
changes happened. When you lived during the time of the king most things were
free to do, even though there was not that much political freedom. You could go
out with friends, to movies, disco, parties, gatherings, music, and dancing. But
during the changing of the regime, the time when the king was kicked off the
throne, there was danger. No one knew what might happen on the street; firing or
killings. That’s why they say revolution isn’t a good thing for a country.
Interviewed by Serli Nazarian