On the 6th of
December we arrived after a very long train ride from Ankara Turkey to Tabriz
Iran. Our host, Asad and his friend BAmeen picked us up
at the train station in less than 30 minutes. Soon after we arrived a bunch of
their friends arrived at their place and we soon started talking about
everything. Iranians are mostly curious about how their country is perceived in
other parts of the world. We approached various topics, but the one that stayed
with us during the entire travel was the Islamic political regime and its restrictions.
There seems to be a huge gap between the younger population and the very
intolerant political government. Iran, unlike other countries has a supreme
leader who is the religious representative of Islam and who is also the most
powerful person in the state. Therefore the President has limited power and the
Islamic form of government dominates democracy.
We could see among the younger generation a big desire to
leave Iran and meet other cultures. Many want to emigrate to Australia, Europe
or USA in order to study or work. The problem is that men are unable to get a
passport, unless they attend obligatory military service for two years. Women
can apply for a passport, but unfortunately Iranians obtain visas in many of
the countries with a lot of difficulties, or, in most of the cases, not at all.
There already were some attempts to fight against the
regime. For example in 2009 there was the so called Green Revolution. Many
people went out in the streets to protest against the oppressive and
restrictive regime and more particularly, at that time, against the stolen
votes during the presidential elections.. The government however sent military
troops to fight back and suppress violently the movement. Many people were
killed, imprisoned or disappeared without a trace. Such was the case of our
host’s girlfriend. She was killed while getting out of school without any
reason by the Lebanon Army employed by the Iranian government. She was sixteen
and got brutally murdered in front of her friends and her boyfriend (our host).
Nobody could do anything to save her. In that moment Asad(at the time only 17) decided
to join the revolution and was arrested as a result of his actions. He was then
sent to a survival military training course for nine months – mountain, desert
and jungle survival. The course transformed from a training one into real
missions at the most dangerous borders.His position was the one of a sniper and
although very good at it, he hated the missions. He still blames himself today
for the ugly things he was involved in. Due
to a serious accident during one of these missions, he managed to be sent home
and hospitalized after a series of pressures and bribes from his family. Some
of his colleagues are still missed by their families and nobody knows where
they are!
Our host made it possible as well to visit the shop of a
local shoemaker (which was one of our points on our wish list) and we were able
to make an interview with him. Although he had already been working for twelve
hours he answered all our questions patiently. The most important fact we found
out, was that his business was not threatened by the invasion of the cheap
products, because he has his own clients that understand the difference in
quality. Similarly, the knife makers from Zanjan (area famous for this craft)
were also able to sustain their business for the same reasons. Andras purchased
a knife, helping thus the local craftsmen.
Another part of our plan was
to spend a day with a honey maker and understand his way of living. With the
help of our hosts (who drove us everywhere, even if we were seven in a small
car) we managed to visit Kashan, an old cave-village in the mountains, where we
met a local family that was sustaining itself from honey making. This simple
family was getting by with one tone of honey per year. Although their lives
implied a lot of work, they said they would never leave their home (which was
three thousand years old) in order to move to the city. We had tea in their one
room humble home (which was 3000 years old) and discussed about the struggles
of their life and the habits of the people living there (we managed discreetly
to make a short video as well, as they were not too much into photos and
videos).
The Southern part of Iran was a strategic point for us,
as it represented the place where the Nomadic Tribes were spending their
winter. We were lucky, as our host in Shiraz was a Nomad himself, currently
living in the city. He made it possible for us to visit his family in the
mountains and to spend two days with them. The life as a Nomad is very harsh
because there is a constant work with the sheep and goat herds. Water is scarce
and the weather conditions are sometimes difficult, especially in the nights,
when it is freezing cold. We experienced this on our own skin, by sleeping in
one of their tents and waking up frozen in the morning.
The next morning we visited
the Nomad school, which was in very poor conditions. Only seven students were
studying there. We were told that only a few years before there were between 40
to 50 students, but recently the number of Nomads is rapidly decreasing. The
Nomadic life is extremely limited in certain respects; therefore young people
decide to move to the cities for better life conditions and the chance to
continue education. The children impressed us with their simplicity and
humbleness. We decided to donate money for a computer, as they were having
computer classes in their curriculum but no computer to work with. The teacher
was a nomad himself and has been teaching all his life in that school. The
school and the teacher were in theory supported by the government as it was
recognized as a public school, but, unfortunately, the government couldn’t care
less about 7 scattered kids – fact which led to having a school in terrible
conditions.
1. First one,
called In Persian tradition, Tazieh drama, inspired by historical and religious
events, symbolizes epic spirit and resistance. The common theme is the heroic
tales of love and sacrifice, and of resistance against the evil. While in the
west the two major genres of dramas have been comedy and tragedy, in Persia
(Iran), Tazieh seems to be the dominant genre. Considered as Persian opera,
Tazieh resembles the European opera in many respects.
The Tazieh
that we attended was about the murdering of the third Imam, Imam HusaynIbnAly –
the third Shia Imam who, together with his family has been brutally and
unjustly murdered in a battle against the governor at the time. The annual
memoriam for him and his family is called Ashura and people are every time
extremely touched and depressed when they are faced again with the story. For
us it was strange to see people’s reactions as this is an event that happened
1400 years ago but one of the directors of the play explained to us that
Iranian people believe that truth is immortal and that every time they are part
of the Tazieh, they are faced again with the truth and their dramatic reactions
come naturally.
2. Pahlevani
and zoorkhanei rituals - a traditional Iranian system of athletics originally
used to train warriors. It combines martial arts, callisthenics, strength
training and music. Recognized by UNESCO as among the world's longest-running
forms of such training, it fuses elements of pre-Islamic Persian culture
(particularly Mithraism and Gnosticism) with the spirituality of Sufism.
Practiced in a domed structure called the zurkhaneh, training sessions consist
mainly of ritual gymnastic movements and climax with the core of combat
practice, a form of submission-grappling called koshtipahlavani.
This form
of training was practiced hiddenly in times of war and even the places where
they are held look like some hidden cellars with small doors. Only the local
people interested in these heritages know where to find these rituals. For us,
the men practicing it were exceptional: very proud but humble, very strong but
caring. They were so happy that we were part of their training and we enjoyed
it so much. The drummer that sets the tone to all their movements and rhythms
is very talented and plays a key role in it. Every time they make a move, the
sportsmen ask permission from their drummer and the audience. It is fascinating
to watch and we are very blessed to have experienced it.
3. Radif is a
collection of many old melodic figures preserved through many generations by
oral tradition. It organizes the melodies in a number of different tonal spaces
called Dastgah. The traditional music of Iran is based on the radif, which is a
collection of old melodies that have been handed down by the masters to the
students through the generations. Over time, each master's own interpretation
has shaped and added new melodies to this collection, which may bear the
master's name.
The preservation of these melodies greatly depended on
each successive generation's memory and mastery, since the interpretive origin
of this music was expressed only through the oral tradition.
To truly learn and absorb the essence of the radif,
many years of repetition and practice are required. A master of the Radif must
internalize the Radif so completely to be able to perform any part of it at any
given time.
On
Christmas Eve, our hosts invited two of their friends, professional players of Santur
(a very complex stringed instrument played with two delicate wooden mallets– an
instrument which is said to have been the basis of the piano) and Tonbak (the
national drum). For almost two hours we were taken away in the dream like world
of Persian music – it was absolutely amazing to listen to and it left us all
speechless.
4.
The 4th
and last of these intangible cultural heritages is an ancient form of oral
story telling (using some paintings or drawings) which we did not manage to see
and also would have been difficult to understand as it is in Farsi but it is
still very much alive today.
There is no better way to
learn about a country’s identity than by experiencing its culture and by
spending time with its people. Jonathan and Afshin were simply beautiful people
who spent their entire free time with us in order to give us a good feeling of
Iran, its welcoming people and its ancient culture. We will forever be grateful
to them.
Another very powerful experience was meeting Asa, a young
Afghan living in Iran. He was the one who took us to the ancient village in the
dessert, called Fahraj (in Yazd province). He was supposed to be our host, but
because of his problems with the police he took us to a special hostel where he
spent the night with us. We first did not understand why we couldn’t spend the
night at his place and also why he seemed to be hiding all the time when he was
with us. Soon we found out about his story. Two years ago he was working in
Orient Hotel (in Yazd), where he met a Chinese tourist. She seemed to have had
a bad experience in Teheran with some Iranian people and when finding out he
was not Iranian she gladly accepted his offer of being hosted at his place. The
next day the police knocked at his door and started questioning him about his
guest and his decision to host her. Later on they ended up at the police
station where they have been questioned for hours. Things dramatically changed
when one of the officers found out that he was Afghan. They called the chief of
police to see what there was to be done about him. He was told that hosting
tourists is illegal in this country as it is threatening the hotel industry
(and we thought it might reveal too much information about Iran to people from
outside as it happened in our case). He got as a punishment 50 whips and 2
weeks in prison. He was later transferred for a few days in an Afghan refugee
camp where life apparently was worse than he could imagine. The refugees had
only 2 meals per day, breakfast which consisted out of a piece of bread and
dinner which, as he put it, was worse than dog food. The water was also not
drinkable and people were getting sick because of it. The funny part was that
the leaders of the camp opened up a small supermarket at the entrance to the camp,
so refugees were spending whatever money they had on buying overpriced food in
order to survive….business was running great as the reports to the United
Nations were reading that all the refugees are getting good food and the money
received is being spent properly.
Asa
managed to get out after numerous interventions and bribes from his father.
Every attempt to get him out ended up with a refusal and a ridiculous
explanation, either that the servers are not working and he cannot “check out”,
either that the right officer is not there, and so on. Finally, his family
succeeded in paying enough and putting enough pressure to take him out.
Before
this incident he had had several years of experience in the hotel industry, but
it was all washed away. None of the hotels were able to hire him as they would
have been closed down if anybody founded out that there is an Afghan in the
staff. He was later even banned to come and visit his ex-work colleagues.
Currently, he is working in a sesame factory (which we visited) where he is
highly appreciated by his boss (who knows he is Afghan) but not so highly paid.
Afghan people are extremely discriminated in Iran. I tried to found out why and
we asked some of our Iranian friends who told us that the reason is that Afghan
people made a lot of mess in Iran; there have been many rape cases or robberies
committed by Afghan so nowadays they are very much hated. Unfortunately, this
extended to honest, peaceful people like Asa who was trying everything in his
power to leave Iran.
We actually witnessed this hush discrimination
when we entered a shop and the shop to buy some food for dinner. Asa asked the
shop keeper why he keeps the plastic bags behind the counter when is so much
easier for people to serve themselves. The explanation was that he did not want
Afghan people touching his products as they are dirty and he wants nothing to
do with them (without knowing that Asa was Afghan). Our friend got out of the
shop extremely shaken up and almost with teary eyes and he told us that almost
on a daily basis he has to experience that and he cannot wait to find a way out
of this country. He even wanted to return to Afghanistan, despite the fragile
situation, but refugees from Afghanistan are not allowed to go back to their
country as there are no jobs and no conditions for a normal life.
It
is very difficult to present in few pages our one month experience in this
unique country. We have never felt more welcomed and safe as we did in Iran. If
the people of Iran had freedom, this would be a great country to live in. We
can honestly say that we made lifelong friends who will stay in our hearts
forever and who, we hope, one day, to meet again. We felt Europeans have a lot
to learn from these people regarding selfishness or better said lack of it,
giving up egos and genuinely caring about the person next to you. Regardless of
their lack of freedom, of which they are highly aware, they keep faith
untouched, they enjoy life and they appreciate and respect human values. It was
a humbling experience to be in their presence, in their homes and now, in their
lives and hearts.
If,
at the beginning of the travel, we had a rather confusing idea of how an
investigation should look like, now it is perfectly clear that by giving away
any prejudice, expectations and images we might have created beforehand and by
getting close to the people, living as they do, listening actively to what they
have to say, everything comes to you naturally.
We
are very much looking forward to present to you a complete version of our
experience in Iran and to show you the videos we have made and to introduce you
properly to our new friends. With this occasion, we would like to thank the
school and the program for making this possible for us. It will be definitely a
life changing experience for some of us and we should not forget how lucky we
all are to be part of something so beautiful and liberating.
Team: Alina, Iosif, Vali, Andras, Alin
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