"Musterknaben" and other ironies
So, there I was yesterday, leafing through Germany's leading financial newspaper, Handelsblatt, when I came to the leader page, where I saw that the top editorial was headed "Iran: Chances". Well, with protestors on the streets of Teheran and a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency saying Tehran has failed to account for nuclear material, I just had to read it.
After ploughing through half a dozen sentences remarkable only for their banality, I was just about to give up when this jaw dropper appeared at the start of the penultimate paragraph: "Nat? herrschen in Iran alles andere als Musterknaben." ("Of course, Iran is ruled by anything but paragons.").
The writer's attempt at irony was in poor taste for a host of reasons, but I'll enumerate just two:
1. The theo-fascists who have ruled Iran for more than 20 years, have failed to accomplish anything positive politically, socially or economically for their hapless subjects. Want a concise summation of the horrors wrought by these "Musterknaben"? Azar Nafisi, author of the wonderful Reading Lolita in Tehran, has described life in the Islamic Republic of Iran as comparable to "sex with someone you loathe". Speaking of copulation, the mullahs have created a "society" where women can be stoned to death for extra-marital sex or married off at the age of nine. No wonder the people hate them and demand freedom.
2. On the very day that the Handelsblatt leader writer was employing irony about a regime that rules by repression, Germany was marking the 50th anniversary of a remarkable uprising against tyranny. On 17 June 1953, workers in East Germany took to the streets to protest their lack of freedom. They were met by Soviet tanks, and it's estimated that hundreds were killed and thousands imprisoned. Dictatorship triumphed and for 36 years thereafter East Germany was ruled by "anything but paragons".
While we're on the subject of irony, here's a quick question. Who authored this brilliantly ironic statement? "The state is an instrument in the hands of the ruling class for suppressing the resistance of its class enemies." Believe it or not, it was Joseph Stalin in his Foundations of Leninism (1924). The rulers of East Germany took that kind of irony seriously, of course. The clerics ruling Iranian today should take note of what happened to the Stasi state in 1989.
NOTE: on Wednesday, 9 July, blogs all over the world will be focussing on the struggle for freedom in Iran and Rainy Day will be doing its bit to express solidarity with those opposing the Mullahocracy. Given that more than 70 percent of Iran's 67 million people are under 30, the net is going to play a critical role in the changes that are coming to Teheran.
Diarist of the day: Joan Wyndham, 18 June 1943"This morning I got a most unexpected phone call from Veronica inviting me to a cocktail party given by old Lady Lovat at the castle. All the locals lairds were invited, and tottered forth from their castles in kilt and sporran. I was cornered by a quite fantastic roaring old Highland pansy called Major Monroe-Ferguson, the Oscar Wilde of the Highlands. He appeared to know my relations, and talked for ages about family trees. Apparently he is so mean that if you visit him at Novart Castle you have to bring your own sandwiches. All the women seemed to affect the same kind of headgear, an inverted felt porridge-bowl, with a moulting eagle's feather secured to it by the clan badge. I escaped the Major and stayed firmly by the food. "
Comments
hmm, i think you've really gone off at the deep end here. too much fox and cnn i suspect. the student protests in iran are indeed a case of disaffected youth striking out for greater freedoms, but to describe iran as a 'mullahocracy' is outrageous. it is a democracy, where the 'church' has an inappropraite level of influence and authority. approximately half of the public representatives are of the 'reformist' camp so it is incorrect to characterise it as some sort of police state where opposition has no voice. time and demographics will resolve matters over the next few years and iran will emerge all the stronger for it. i would say it is analagous to ireland in the 50's. would ireland have shaken off the shackles of theocracy if we had superpowers threatening invasion if we didn't immediately stop censorship and executions? the current american policy of stirring it up proves that they care not a whit for democracy unless it bought and paid for by uncle sam. it is madness to play this game with a culturally cohesive (and possibly nuclear armed) iran. if they want to fix the world's problems let them look to north korea.
iran and her people will find their own way.
Posted by: enda johnson | June 18, 2003 9:05 AM