Hope for a miracle
Reflections on a recent visit to Iran

Rostam Azadi
October 11, 2005
iranian.com

The foundation of Iranian culture and identity is under a mounting threat of complete devastation. Iranian society with its many diverse ethnicities, which has endured pounding by various waves of external adversaries in the past several millennia, has now a real chance of collapsing due to its ever shrinking ethical foundation. This danger does not only apply to the dire economic situation which has always existed in Iran, but also to how Iranians view and regard themselves. The predicament must first be fully acknowledged before any remedy can be pursued, otherwise the danger of remaining aloof for much longer may undeniably prove to be very costly.

 As a twenty year-old Iranian American born in the United States, I have always felt pride being Iranian and for the unique historical culture my motherland has bestowed upon me. On my most recent extended journey to Iran, however, I found the societal fabrics deteriorating at an alarming rate. In the two years since I had visited Iran, the society has  changed drastically, for the unfortunate worse.

The common thread of our cultural ills is economic in nature. Although I am not an expert in either economic, social, or political sciences, nevertheless, my observant eyes and critical thinking afford me the opportunity to deduce and analyze the information on my latest visit. My father and  I took an eight day hitchhiking journey through nearly twenty cities: Qom-Kahsan-Natanz-Ardestan-Nain-Yad-Lerman-Bam-Bandar Abbas-Bandar Lanegh-Kish-Lar-Jahrom-Shiraz-Esfahan-Mahallat and back to Tehran where we spent an additional twenty days with a three day detour to Kandeloos in the mountains of Kelardasht.

I conclude the current state of health of Iran as acutely unstable and in dire need of help.  Its land in addition to many renewable and non-renewable resources are detrimentally consumed and abused. Its human resources and once glorious culture are decaying faster than one could ever imagine. Corruption, prostitution, hypocrisy, embezzlement, extortion, cronyism and nepotism have become integrated with every day life practices to the point of acceptance by almost all, or self denial by the few. The following specific incidents as I personally witnessed and experienced are not over- exaggerations or imaginings from a young idealistic mind, but the stark truth which Iranians, especially the ex-patriots, have been ignoring for a long time. I’m simply stating the obvious facts, through my own unique perspective,  but the interpretation is up to each individual reader.

When I say Iran is “dying” what do I mean? Several key factors are attacking the strands of the fragile society. The most significant and deadly one is the widespread use of drugs (mainly opiates) and drug trafficking. Everywhere in Iran, opium is becoming detrimental especially to the youth. From the streets of Tehran to the valleys of Natanz and down to bus terminals in Bandare Lengeh in the Persian Gulf drugs are destroying precious talent and lives and thus Iran.

Drugs in one form or the other have been a part of Iranian history for thousands of years, and indeed this was true during my last visit two years ago. Now, however, drugs are invading every sector of the Iranian society, including strata of society unthinkable even two years ago. In addition to the regular drug users in the parks and bazaars, people who have families, regular paying jobs, and comfortable lives are now abusers of not only soft drugs, but of opiates and heroin as well.

Drug abuse is a spreading epidemic in the country, bringing people down economically and socio-politically. I smelled opium in taxis, in the middle to upper class apartment quarters and in the mosques. Everywhere in the country the effects of opium were evident : from the shaking taxi driver, to the jittering college student, to men in the park with their heads drooping to the ground. In every little town and hamlet I visited or passed through, these scenes repeated themselves again and again. From multiple conversations with locals in different towns I was told 30-40% of the people use drugs on a regular basis. Smugglers and store clerks told me about why they sold them and the ever expansive growth of the counter-band market.

The most significant reason for the spread of drug use is of course economic. The profit made by  smugglers and drug lords are godly in comparison to the wealth of others in the country. Individuals, or small groups of people smuggle these drugs by carrying 1-twenty kilos of it from locations, typically on the southeastern frontiers, to the rest of the country.  I observed men and women from all ages smuggling “King Opium.” Considering the sheer amount of tons of drugs being smuggled annually, it points to the unbelievable number of smugglers who are in operation inside the country. I saw smugglers in my taxi, and in a hotel where I stayed in Bandar Abbas.

The most dramatic smuggling event I observed was on a bus we rode between Lengeh and Shiraz. The bus driver did not sell thirteen of the seats (for some mysterious reason), telling every suitor that the seats were reserved. Couple of hours into the ride on this treacherous narrow road atop mountains with the sun setting the bus came to a lurching stop. Most of the people in the bus, including the bus crew jumped out and joined a dozen others waiting outside to carry bags after bags of opium into the bus cargo. Like a well oiled machine a five hundred kilo batch of opium was dumped into the bus in seconds. Continuing the bus ride now with intense trepidations, it became apparent how the boss of the operation whose name was oxymoronically Cyrus, repeatedly smuggled on a regular basis and how he accomplished it by paying off the police along the route.

It was a thirty to forty person team operation; some were used as human covers. For instance, there were women in black chador and children who were used as cover to make the bus look  normal to any law enforcement threat. It became apparent to my father and I, and another family of four that we were used unknowingly in this scenario without our approval. The rest of the passengers were the smugglers and their accomplices, who would carry these drugs in separate small groups from Shiraz to various destinations. At every police check point we encountered, Cyrus handed out a wad of cash and paid off the officials.

At some point two police officers signaled the bus to stop with a flashlight from their own makeshift motorcycle checkpoint. Cyrus complained that the two must have overheard about the approaching drug laden bus by radio and wanted to grab a quick profit. The cost of one kilogram increases many fold across the country, and even hundred fold when smuggled into Europe. Therefore, a combination of small and large scale smuggling of drugs is reaching every corner of Iran and the world; sadly the law enforcement is largely part of the problem. In fact, there were some rumors that the government itself may have already begun giving licenses to farmers to grow poppies for producing opium.

Another scourge ravaging the people of Iran is prostitution. Comparably as widespread as drug use, prostitution is taking its toll on society. Girls mostly traveling in duos look for clientele in cities and towns across Iran. There is also a vast cell phone network for the enterprise. Their perfectly made up faces and risqué covering draw in their money. I observed this repeatedly in cities, however in many different other forms as well. On a bus to Kerman before mid-night, I witnessed a woman in chador and a Samsonite briefcase who was picked up by the ugly cross eyed bus driver and four other men as clients for later times. The numbers and roundabouts were quickly exchanged and the deal was closed.

In Bandar Abbas I witnessed an old woman in the local Arab outfit leading three girls through the streets asking for any potential clients. In Tehran I witnessed a man approach groups of girls in the middle of Vali-Asr Square trying to hand out cards to them with his phone number on it, so that he could pimp them at a later time. In cities I observed girls in duos who stood along the streets and when taxis approached them they turned away because evidently that was not what they were standing and waiting for. Most of these girls do not use contraceptives and the potential of a widespread epidemic of STD’s is a very real threat if not already a reality. There is even the repeated talk of married women who resort to the same old profession, presumably with their husbands’ implicit approval, as they wish to supplement their sustenance.

Corruption has always been an undisputable part of Iranian society, but now it is defining Iranian society itself. Everything is about connections and who one knows to get things done. From jobs to obtaining the basic amenities of life, from discounting one’s overdue taxes, to civil and criminal disputes, one must know someone with influence who can pave the way, [mainly due] to an exchange of money. In companies throughout Iran the bosses on top pocket a portion of the profits for personal gain. If one is involved in the upper echelon of the government somehow they have a much better chance of receiving a job, a good spot in college or other subsidies. Everyone knows about the economic schemes in relation with companies and oil that the government agencies employ for personal profit. The magnitude of this corruption is mind boggling and can not be practically and completely described here.        

What is the point I’m trying to make here? These facts and factors in our homeland can not be ignored any longer. The political establishment in Iran is using these societal impediments to control the people’s aspirations for self-rule, empowerment, freedom, security and equity.  In essence, the conservative theologians have won yet another overwhelming victory over any potential for economic and social reforms the people have yearned for since 1979 and before. This is the aura one feels in Iran. An aura of hopelessness and selfishness, which when wrapped in the charade of Persian Taarof, has led to increased degradation of Iranian culture. It is vital to know that governments have a significant effect on culture. In many cases, they dictate the pulse of the culture.

In Iran, culture and thus religion have been exploited by the government and are now being degraded to something Iran has never seen in its long history. When one walks through the natural wonders of Iran like the valleys of Shomal and witnesses garbage strewn about, the ubiquitous reckless driving or the fact people don’t stand in line at stores but crowd about in a random mass, one is simply perplexed. Is one observing a culture largely formed by the people or the government? I argue it is the government which is responsible for this deluge of problems in Iranian society.

If there were laws enacted, clearly publicized and enforced uniformly and transparently against polluters, speeders, or an effective bureaucracy not so inefficient and archaic, then the people would not act like they do. Other individuals in the same societal circumstances will act the similarly. In the past when there were no polluting laws in America, its natural resources were more polluted than Iran’s. However, the government changed this practice through regulations, laws and enforcement. Thus the majority of the blame for the current deteriorating condition of culture and society falls squarely on the government’s shoulders.

This could also be applied to the corruption, drug use and prostitution omnipresent in the country. The government is employing drugs, economic mismanagement, and societal regulations to create an atmosphere of ambiguity in Iran so that political dissent is all but a distant memory and despair. With a section of society living for drugs and the other parts of the society doing anything they can for themselves and their families to survive, politics has no place left. An overwhelming majority of the population doesn’t think about anything political, much less dissent. Everyone is in their own little bubble trying to scrap a space for their families. From the employed sector, and especially the educational sector this is the dominant situation: Students are either completely absorbed in their studies with the anxiety of not having a minimally paid job when they do graduate, or into having fun at parties to find the next sexual partner or drugs of every kind.

The case of the reform period  five years ago is one of remote memory, the fact that people spilled out into the streets calling for change is forgotten. That call has long ceased and it is only a silly hope of ex-patriots in California thousands miles away. A call for other people to risk their necks so that the ex’s could return to their  [beloved] homeland, back to their villas and cocktail parties next to the Caspian Sea, with little thought to the peasants and laborers who are widespread in the country. Revolution is also on the personal agenda of numerous groups, who preach from foreign lands, who want change for other reasons and not for the good of the Iranian populace.

The punishment for such political activity in Iran far out weighs any realistic benefits and that is the stark truth. Before any human rights or democracy the people are more concerned about economic reform and development. The government has ensured that flour, sugar, bread and gasoline are subsidized so that empty stomachs and tanks would not have excuses to enflame widespread public outrage against the system. The government has also pacified any peasant’s or farmer’s threat by building an infrastructure of running water, electricity, paved roads and phone lines to almost every town, hamlet and village in Iran.

The access to basic amenities ensures that peasants will not spark dissent as it is the case in so many countries such as the ones in Latin America. Thus, the peasants are, in every other aspect of life, ignored by the government and by economic mismanagement. They are guaranteed to remain quiet, because they do not know any better and are content with the bare minimum to survive. Therefore the government through its policies has built a societal atmosphere by means of religion, economic mismanagement, and drugs to stabilize this system of corruption and it has worked beautifully for them so far. So every time a teenager pops a pill, or a man smokes opium or a girl erases her dignity, it plays into this system for the benefit of the clergy and their associates.        

Are other governments benefiting from this situation in Iran? Iran has one of the richest and largest amounts of non-renewable natural resources in the world. Its reserves of oil and gas  rivals the greatest on the globe. Throughout its most recent history ( the past one hundred years) oil has been a foundation of policies by other governments toward Iran. From coups, to revolutions to wars, other governments have ensured to exert their hegemony over Iranian resources. This has proven to be true in the present situation. The governments of England, Europeans and America have profited from this situation in Iran. Their ships go to Buchehr where they come two-hundred feet above the waters of the sea and leave only twenty feet above the water laden heavy with “King Oil.”

Then the brilliant part of their scheme is to sell [refined] gasoline back to Iran at an annual five billion dollars which proves to be more expensive than the oil they bought. Thus they are getting essential fuel and making a profit at the same time. They use the Iranian government and the situation on the ground in Iran to ensure control of this oil and its flow into their companies’ ships and ports. Having  people living under low standards and diverting their attention from politics and thus oil profits is essential for both the Iranian government, and the foreign governments whose economies will shrink drastically without oil access. If these economic and military powers do not want revolution to occur nine times out of ten it does not. All revolutions and coups of the past were under their support and tutelage. The 1953 United States sponsored coup against the democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh and the Islamic revolution of ’79 are no exception.

I am not trying to degrade our Iranian people or their otherwise noble historical culture, or claim that they are the scum of the earth.  I am simply trying to depict the reality in today’s Iran and perhaps the root causes of it. The situation on the ground is discouraging, however I did still see signs of Iranian culture trying to withstand the cultural attacks by the government. I saw the kindness of the people several times which has characterized Iranians for so long. I saw a love for a family and an uttermost loyalty to friends I have never seen anywhere else.

I got a glimpse of the love for the country and the complaining against the government, even though on a much smaller scale than four years ago. In the end however, the complaining is all talk and will accomplish nothing. Educating of the people to the realization of how governments control them to exploit Iran is an important step. This step however can not lead to change without action, and the mobilization of huge swaths of the Iranian population. Sadly this will not happen anytime soon, and will never happen if the American and European governments are content with the situation in Iran as they are now.

Shame on these governments, which on the outside claim to support democracy but in reality will quell it for their own interests.  This is killing Iran as we speak. If the economic situation in Iran completely collapses for some reason and the people find themselves hungry then change has a chance. This will never happen in Iran because of its wealth of resources and the fact that the government schemes to make this scenario impossible. So for now we can only hope for a miracle to occur to wake up Iran from its zombie type sleep walk which allows governments to rape it and its people continuously in this ever faster downward spiral.

As the great German philosopher Nietzsche once said about corrupt society, “In these ages bribery and treason reach their peak, for the love of the newly discovered ego is much more powerful now than the love of the old, used up fatherland, which has been touted to death; and the need to achieve some security from the terrifying ups and downs of fortune opens even nobler hands as soon as anyone who is powerful and rich shows that he is ready to pour gold into them. There is hardly any secure future left; one lives for today , and this state of the soul makes the game easy for all seducers, for one allows oneself to be seduced and bribed only for today while reserving the future and one’s virtue.”

My dear friends the government has created a perfect atmosphere for the raping of Iran and its children. Not through Taliban style totalitarian state or bellicose nuclear threats, but by the way they make us look and treat ourselves and our fellow Iranian brothers and sisters. I have painted a hopeless situation, which it is, however it doesn’t have to be.  Perhaps we as a people will wake up one day and see the way to save Iran for ourselves, for her culture, for her history, but most of all for the generations to come.