Exclusive Tavaana Interview with Ramin Parham
E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society http://www.tavaana.org A Project of http://www.eciviced.org Tavaana Exclusive Interview with Ramin Parham E-Collaborative for Civic Education Compile by Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society E-Collaborative for Civic Education 2013
Exclusive Tavaana Interview with Ramin Parham Welcome to Tavaana, Mr. Parham. Let us start by discussing your civil activities. Your first became active in civil society as a journalist. Could you tell us when you started with the Sobh-e Emrooz newspaper? - Yes, my first job was not as a journalist but during the reformist period. I was in France at the time working as a business consultant and obviously I was following things in Iran. I wrote an article in Sobh-e Emrooz before it was shut down. It was published for two consecutive days. The article discussed why Iran has experienced negative development in recent centuries, while the West has experienced positive growth and development as it has evolved. In my article, I came to the conclusion that this development pattern is related to the freedom of criticism in society. Without the freedom to criticize, there is no thought, and without thought the country can only move down into darkness. - You have lived outside of Iran throughout your life? - Yes.
4 - Why is it still important to you to write about Iran and its civic environment, and to have a virtual presence as a civil society activist in the country? - Yes, I have lived outside of Iran for over thirty years. I have spent more than half of my life on the outside. That is true. But I have always followed the issues in Iran; it is my country and its future and the future of its people are important to me. I know the West very well, and the French language almost feels like my first language. I have also studied and lived in America for ten years. I am very familiar with its language and its social communication and culture, but none of these can replace my country. My country is Iran and I have always imagined my future in Iran. I still do. This is because, although I am very established in Western society and I can live and work in European and American societies, I have always felt that I would be useful to my own society. In my own society, I could do great things if I were allowed. Work has such meaning there. That is what has always pulled me towards Iran. - Who is the audience in Iran for the cultural work that you do? What demographic of Iranian society? -For obvious reasons, I think my main audience is the younger generation. I knew the intellectual circles of the previous generation very closely. I knew Shamlou, Saedi, Ashouri and others because I am the son of Bagher Parham. I think the previous generation of Iran, the 1979 generation, has suffered a heavy defeat. This defeat has caused that generation to become an incapable audience. At least, significant parts of the 1979 generation have become an incapable audience for discussing the progress of modern day issues in Iran. Thus, my primary audience is those who have their future ahead of them. The 1979 generation s future is behind them. That generation does not have a golden age ahead. It has already passed it. It is the young generation that has its future ahead of it. My audience is the people whose future is ahead of them and not behind. - In regards to the cultural work that you did, there seems to be an inconsistency. You have a doctorate in biochemistry, which is an entirely different field. Why do you write and translate in the field of social sciences? How much of this is due to your father s influence? After all, you are Bagher Parham s son, the man who introduced Iran to Hegel, Durkheim, Marx, Foucault, and Marquez by translating their works. There was a generation of Iranian intellectuals who grew up with your father s works. How much were you influenced by your father and your family, and why did not you pursue this field from the beginning instead of studying biochemistry, which is completely irrelevant to the Iranian cultural sphere? Why did you feel the need to return? When I left Iran in 1981, I closed the door on Iran for a while. Why? Because although I was young, I sensed that Iran needed more time. A generation had to change. People needed to figure out
5 what happened in 1979 for themselves and why that happened. If people don t think deeply about this, they will never truly understand what happened, the Iran that should exist, the suffering Iran is experiencing now, and how we transition from it and bring an end these practices. Iran needed more time, and I also needed more time. When I left after that 1979 earthquake, which destroyed everything, I aimed to make something out of myself and to become familiar with the West, this new world I live in. My primary goal was to gain an understanding of the West and the world, and I have done that to the best of my capability. But whether I was in Europe, France, America, or wherever, I never forgot Iran. I never forgot those intellectual gatherings that I experienced as a kid, because they occurred in in our house. I knew great and prominent Iranian intellectuals, and they were always on my mind. This included Ahmad Shamlou, Gholamhossein Saeedi, (who Shamloo used to call Hosseingholam and would ask: why Gholamhossein, why not Hosseingholam?). I knew their primary concern was Iran, and I knew that the road they took and that I took during that time was wrong. It ended in revolution. They knew this as well, and many of them talked and wrote about their mistake. That concern that was planted in me during my youth flourished overtime. Why did I chose biochemistry & the molecular biology of plants? Because I liked it. When I got to France and later moved to America, I was developing as an individual and becoming familiar with the world around me. I became interested in this field, so I pursued it. Why did I temporarily leave this field? Because my life has never been a straight line, not in my education nor in any other field. I have always done what I liked, and I would say that my philosophy in life has always been to do what I enjoy as much as I can. - You left Iran in 1981. Why did you return? I returned to Iran in 2002. It was at the beginning of Mr. Khatami s second term as president. The Internet was everywhere by that time, although in France and many other places it was still not available to every family. But it was available to us, and we used to follow the issues in Iran via the Internet. My desire to return was due to the fact that I had spent twenty years abroad, ten years in France and ten years in America. I was quite fluent in both languages and had been immersed in their cultures, working and paying taxes in both countries. I had social and professional relations in both societies and I really felt that I had reached the end of an era. From that point on, a new era began for me, which meant returning to Iran. So, I applied for an Iranian passport, and returned to Iran as a political refugee. My plan was to stay and work there. While I was in Iran, I was very happy that I was back with my own people in my own city, but I couldn t imagine agreeing and cooperating on any issue with the regime in power. I talked to many people in the private and public sector, and I realized that I couldn t live in a society where I was not free as a person, as an individual, and as an Iranian. Everything was an insult to my being, to my individuality, and to me as an Iranian. I couldn t tolerate such conditions. Thus, I decided to go back to Europe and from
6 then on, with the help of the Internet, which was still a new thing in 2000, I decided to start writing. A new chapter of my life began: writing and political activism. - Most of your book are in French. Why do you write in French? - Well, first of all, no Iranian publisher has ever asked me to write for them. I do my Persian work for Tavaana. I can say that Tavaana is the only Iranian publisher that has asked me to do work for them. I consider myself in debt to Tavaana; it was Tavaana that provided me with the possibility of writing and translating from English to Persian and translating some material from Persian to English so that they could have an impact on public opinion. I really owe this to Tavaana. But the answer to your question is yes, the only publishers that would hire me for my first, second, and third books were French. All the media networks that I ve worked with are French, Dutch, Swedish, Israeli and American newspapers, and French and Israeli TV. Persian media has only asked me to work for them three or four times over the years. You can t force the media; the media finds the writer and interviewee itself. - Could you summarize, in a few sentences, the reasons behind the work you did for Tavaana s Democracy Web translation, and why this resource is necessary for an Iranian audience? - For the introduction to Democracy Web, I chose the title Historical Research on the Idea of Liberty, which I believe is self-explanatory. The content of Democracy Web is important both in its concept and discourse. There are other ways in which this issue can be talked about. Historical Research on the Idea of Liberty is one perspective. The idea of liberty, as I wrote in my introduction to Democracy Web, was described first by an Iranian Sufi. Freedom is embedded in humans just as heat is in fire, he said. The Iranian mystic who first so simply and so beautifully described this, whose name I can t recall, was hung and burnt by the clerics. I think he says everything in these few words: Freedom is embedded in humans just like heat in fire. Freedom is what distinguishes me from you, and human beings from other animals. It is criticism through reasoning, or wisdom. The first sentence in the epic book that revitalized the Persian language and the story of Iran is: In the name of the Lord of life and wisdom. It is criticism, based in wisdom, which makes the idea possible. Without liberty there is no criticism, without criticism there are no ideas, and without ideas there is nothing but darkness. Democracy Web starts from ancient Greece and continues through the twentieth century s civil rights movement. It describes the Age of Enlightenment, and even prior to that, habeas corpus and the Magna Carta, which recognized the rights of English citizens and limited the despotic and tyrannical monarchy to a republican model of governance. In countries like France and elsewhere, this quest was necessary to show the development and evolution of liberty, this simple idea and simple concept. I repeat the words of that Iranian mystic, who was rolled in
7 a sack and burnt by the order of clerics: Freedom is embedded in humans just like heat in fire. - You are using a special term to describe the future of Iran. You say you are interested in Iran s rebirth. What do you mean by rebirth, and what kind of future do you foresee for Iran? - What I mean by rebirth is that you cannot describe Iran with any adjective other than Iranian. Iran is Iran. Iran does not need any prefix or suffix, or any adjective that gives it a special color. Any color is a discrimination against other colors, other colors that have created the rainbow of Iran. The combination of this rainbow is the white color that we call Iran. No color in this rainbow can singlehandedly describe Iran, for it would fail to do so. If you try, you will weaken both the foundations of Iran and the foundations of that color. A single color cannot describe Iran s rebirth. This was one mistake of our elite, including the intellectual, political, and religious elite, and those in power in the monarchy before the revolution. This mistake was characteristic of this group of elites, and unfortunately still is today. Their misconception caused us to color Iran with only the Islamic color, and even that color is not completely Islamic. It s the color of Twelver Shi ism. In fact, it is not even the color of Twelver Shi ism, because political Shi ism was Khomeini s invention. Therefore, they colored Iran with this innovation and built the regime that we see today. That is why I say that a single color cannot describe the rebirth of Iran. Why do I say rebirth? One must only take a glance at the conditions in Iran to realize how much we need a rebirth. We have moved backwards in every field: social, cultural, economic, and in terms of security, military, army and bureaucracy. In every field, people will pinpoint some achievement and say, for example, we have millions of girls in schools. But we had girls in school before before clerics said that universities are najes, unclean, and that girls should not go to university. If you had a balance sheet for every field, their achievements and their costs, you could ask if the same results could have been achieved at a lower cost. Without a method to analyze and compare the cost against the result, your balance sheet has no value. If we made such a balance sheet today, I don t think that any honest, fair and wise person would say that Iran is in good shape after 35 years, two generations, and hundreds of billions in petrol dollars. - For my last question, what is your personal project in regards to Iran s rebirth? What have you done so far, and what do you have planned for the future? Moreover, what is Tavaana s project, its mission, and its future? How are they aligned, in your opinion? - If you look at this issue from any angle, you ll have no other option but to give the right to choose to eighty million Iranians, the right to vote to the forty five to fifty million voting-age Iranians in that country. Give them the right to engage in free enterprise. Give those who are Shi a, since Shi ism has played an incredible important role over the past 35 years put an end to
8 Khomeini s invention. Give them the right to emulate who they want. The traditional Shi a clergy stood up to Khomeini and his invention. Traditional Shi ism was apolitical, and people were free to choose whomever they wanted to emulate. Velayet-e faghi, or the supremacy of the jurist, was the end of free emulation. It forced velayet-e faghi on all. My goals for Iran are the following: freedom of choice, freedom of trade, and freedom of emulation. If you bring these three freedoms back to Iran, you have prepared Iran for a rebirth. Iran would become the economic, cultural, and military power of the region within ten to fifteen years. Thank you very much. Thank you.