Spectre of nationalism haunts Iran
By Jonathan Lyons
AHMADABAD, Iran, March 11 (Reuters) - The spectre of secular nationalism
is stalking the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the accelerating revival of the
late Mohammad
Mossadeq, the former prime minister who nationalised British oil interests,
advocated a policy of non-alignment and steadily undermined the pro-Western
shah only to be brought down by a CIA coup in 1953.
Mossadeq, a seasoned politician with royal blood, has long posed a
problem for Iran's clerical establishment: his nationalist and anti-colonialist
credentials were impeccable but his lack of religious zeal and open clashes
with senior clerics have seen him banished to revisionist limbo.
Now his ghost has returned to the political scene, particularly among
young people, forcing a re-evaluation of the Mossadeq legacy to contemporary
Iran.
In the largest such rally since the consolidation of the Islamic revolution,
more than 2,000 Iranians gathered on March 5 at the Mossadeq family estate
in the village of Ahmadabad, 115 km (70 miles) west of Tehran, to commemorate
the 32nd anniversary of his death under house arrest.
Among the usual contingent of ageing nationalists, many wearing the
Iranian tri-colour stripped of its Islamic centrepiece, was an unusually
large contingent of university students -- all too young to remember the
1979 revolution let alone Mossadeq himself.
``We are here today to celebrate someone like Mohammad Mossadeq. What
he did 40 years ago represents our ideals,'' said Reyhaneh Taheri, a 19-year-old
student. ``The least we can do is gather here today.''
THREAT TO CLERICAL POWER
After 20 years of fending off Western hostility and suspicion of the
Islamic revolution, Iran's clerical establishment is now face-to-face with
a new, homegrown threat to their exclusive grip on power -- the compelling
saga of Iranian nationalism.
Long relegated to the scrap heap of history by the ruling clerics,
the movement is nonetheless making a comeback under the new, freer political
atmosphere fostered by reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
Taheri and hundreds of young people like her arrived at Ahmadabad in
convoys of buses from the capital Tehran, as well as from university centres
such as Tabriz and Isfahan.
The youngsters swelled the ranks of veteran mourners who spilled out
of the back garden of the Mossadeq estate or heaped fresh flowers on the
late leader's tomb. Many sang nationalist songs long frowned-upon.
``Mossadeq's message is alive and no one can eradicate it from the
mind of society,'' said Ebrahim Yazdi, veteran head of the banned but tolerated
Iran Freedom Movement and one of the organisers of the commemoration.
``When someone is very solid and well respected in the consciousness
of society, it will be transmitted to a new generation,'' said Yazdi, as
he surveyed the young crowd boarding a line of chartered buses. ``It is
very satisfying.''
LIFE IN DEATH
For many ordinary Iranians, Mossadeq's return to political ``life''
had its roots in the murders last November of nationalist dissidents Dariush
Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh. Elements of Iran's secret service have
been implicated in the killings.
Their funeral broke into an impromptu nationalist rally, as mourners
chanted ``Death to tyranny'' and ``Freedom of thought forever.'' Others
sang patriotic songs and hailed Mossadeq, whose memory inspired Forouhar
and his small Iran Nation Party.
Three months later, Mossadeq's legacy got another boost, this time
from President Khatami himself, who used the 20th anniversary of the Islamic
revolution to praise the former prime minister by deeds, if not by name.
``The oil nationalisation movement was yet another worthy effort in
the long series of the Iranian nation's anti-colonial struggles,'' Khatami
told a huge crowd in Tehran's Azadi Square.
``It opened a glorious chapter in the history of the Iranian nation.''
Iran's first nationwide local elections in February even featured a
portrait of Mossadeq in campaign advertising alongside a list of nationalist
candidates.
HINT OF CLERICAL APPROVAL?
But perhaps the most intriguing sign that Mossadeq may at last be on
his way to full-scale rehabilitation came in a recent interview with a
leading old-guard cleric, Mehdi Karrubi.
Karrubi told a newspaper that the elder brother of the late revolutionary
leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini always kept a portrait of Mossadeq next
to his picture of Khomeini himself.
Karrubi gave no details but the message was clear: the respected brother
of Khomeini honoured the two men equally.
In perhaps the ultimate accolade, the conservative press has turned
on Mossadeq, a sure indication he is no longer a marginal figure. The hardline
daily Kayhan, in an essay headlined ``Mossadeq as he really was,'' labelled
the late leader a ``coward'' who once took refuge in the embassy of the
hated British.
Back at Ahmadabad, few had any doubts that the former nationalist leader
belonged securely in the Iranian political pantheon. Hawkers sold portraits
of Mossadeq to eager buyers, while students collected money to carry on
the work of the movement he helped launch.
The good-natured crowd, said by veterans to be several times last year's
turnout, periodically broke into chants and patriotic songs. Young students
often took the lead.
``Things have changed under Khatami. There is more freedom now, but
there is also more resistance to our message,'' said Gholamabbas Tavassoli,
a senior nationalist figure and one of the Freedom Movement's candidates
for the Tehran city council.
``That so many young people turned out on their own is a hopeful sign
for the future,'' he said.
Related
* Special
spection on Mossadegh & 1963 coup
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