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Cultural Policies and the Islamic Republic: Cinema and Book Publication

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Sussan Siavoshi
Sussan Siavoshi
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Trinity University, San Antonio, Tex. 78212-7200, USA.
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Extract

The evolution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the dynamics of the relationship between the Iranian state and society can be explored by examining the postrevolutionary regime's policies toward intellectuals, particularly as expressed in its regulation of cinema and book publication. This relationship—at least in the period from the early 1980s to the early 1990s—was complex and nuanced. Factionalism within the regime provided an opportunity for intellectuals to engage the state in a process of negotiation and protest, cooperation and defiance, in pushing the boundaries of permitted self-expression. The degree of their success depended in part on which faction controlled the government and its regulatory agencies during particular phases in the evolution of the postrevolutionary regime.

Type
Articles:The Politics of Cultural Expression
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , November 1997 , pp. 509 - 530
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

NOTES

1 For an elaboration of the differences among Islamist groups and their discourses prior to and during the revolution, see Ashraf, Ahmad and Banuazizi, Ali, “The State, Classes, and Modes of Mobilization in the Iranian Revolution,” in State, Culture, and Society 1 (Spring 1985): 3–40Google Scholar.

2 For various analyses of factionalism in Iran, see Hoogland, Eric, “Social Origins of the Revolutionary Clergy,” in proceedings of the conference on The Iranian Revolution and the Islamic Republic (Washington, D.C., 1982), 29–37Google Scholar; and Akhavi, Shahrough, “Elite Factionalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” The Middle East Journal 41 (1987): 181–201Google Scholar. For a more recent and detailed analysis of factionalism in Iran, see Siavoshi, Sussan, “Factionalism and Iranian Politics: The Post-Khomeini Experience,” Journal of the Society for Iranian Studies 25, 3–4 (1992): 27–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Ashraf, Ahmad, “Charisma, Theocracy, and Men of Power in Post-revolutionary Iran,” in The Politics of Social Transformation in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, ed. Weiner, Myron and Banuazizi, Ali (Syracuse, 1994), 101–51Google Scholar.

3 Since 1996 several authors and publishers have been targeted by the state. Abulqāsim Gulbāf, the publisher of Guzārish, a monthly magazine, and Abbas Maʿrufi, the publisher of the now-defunct monthly magazine Gardūn, were among those arrested, tried, and sentenced to three- and six-month jail terms, respectively. Faraj Sarkuhi, the editor of the literary magazine Ādīnih, is awaiting trial. Among the targeted publications are newspapers and magazines such as Hamshahrī, a daily paper whose publisher is the mayor of Tehran, Ghulam Hussayn Karbaschi, and the monthly magazine Bahman, published by Sayyid Ataʾullah Mahajirani, one of the deputies of President Rafsanjani. Both these publishers belong to the culturally tolerant factions of the elite.

4 For the latest examples of Khatami's views on freedom and tolerance, including cultural freedom, see the complete text of his platform as the basis of his presidential campaign in Salām, 25 03 1997, 1, 3Google Scholar. In this text, Khatami has put a great deal of emphasis on popular sovereignty, human dignity, rule of law, and a government that is a “servant” of the people and not their “master”.

5 For the list of founders of this organization, see the weekly, Iran Khabar, 5 04 1995, 5Google Scholar.

6 The leader of this faction, Muhammad Rayshahri, has modified his views on openness of the polity since he has become a candidate for president. See, for example, Salām, 5 01 1997, 9Google Scholar, and International Ettelaʿat, 9 01 1997, 2Google Scholar.

7 Khomeini, Ruhollah, Paydām-i Inqilāb: Majmūʾyi Payām-hā va Bayānāt-i Hazrat-i Imām Khomeini (The Message of the Revolution: The Collection of Imam Khomeini's Messages and Speech) (Tehran, 1979), 326Google Scholar.

8 Algar, Hamid, trans., Islam and Revolution: Writing and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (Berkeley, 1981), 295–99Google Scholar.

9 In this manuscript, the positions labeled liberal and conservative are defined in the text in relation to the specific context of cultural debates and attitudes within Iran. Despite differences between cultural attitudes in Iran, on the one hand, and those in Western societies on the other, there are certain elements in common that make the use of the two labels meaningful. See the text for the specific characterizations of each position.

10 See, for example, Ahmad Jannati's views, expressed mostly during Friday Prayers, regarding cultural and artistic development in various issues of the Iran Times, such as 12 April 1991, 5; 7 June 1991, 5; and 6 09 1991, 5Google Scholar.

11 See statements by Abulqasim Khazʿali, a member of the Guardian Council, with regard to censorship of video products and his criticism of the government in its failure to control them, in Iran Times, 18 09 1992, 5Google Scholar.

12 See parliamentary speeches published in “Mashrūh-i Muzākirāt-i Majlis-i Islāmī” (Comprehensive Proceedings of the Islamic Consultative Assembly) (hereafter MMMSI). For example, see before agenda speeches given by Fayazbakhsh, Nafisah, MMMSI, session no. 18, 11 07 1992, 18Google Scholar; and Musavi, Hishmat, no. 16, 8 07 1992, 19Google Scholar. In both, the speakers urged stricter and more comprehensive enforcement of restrictions of lifestyle and cultural expression and alluded to the desirability of vigilantism in enforcing the laws.

13 On the social support base of different factions within the elite, see Ashraf, Ahmad, “Charisma, Theocracy, and Men of Power in Post-revolutionary Iran,” in Politics of Social Transformation, 101–51Google Scholar.

14 See, for example, the editorial by Murtiza Nabavi, the chief editor of Risālat. In pp. 1 and 16 of the 25 September 1991 edition, Nabavī argued for the need to fight against “Western art” and for an art that is in accordance with “piety, truth, and God.” Also, see an editorial with the same line of argument in the daily Jumhūrī-yi Islamī, 25 09 1991, 1–2Google Scholar.

15 For example, see a letter critical of one of the controversial movies made by Muhsin Makhmalbaf by Nasrabadi, in Kayhān, 11 03 1990, 2Google Scholar.

16 See Khatami, Sayyid Muhammad, Bīm-i Mūj (The Fear of the Wave) (Tehran, 1993), 188–89Google Scholar.

17 See, for example, Abrār's criticism of the minister of interior's declaration of the ministry's intention to confiscate satellite dishes from the rooftops of private homes as a defensive and ineffectual move: Abrār, 5 04 1994, 2Google Scholar.

18 See, for example, Rafsanjani's, interview published in the cultural monthly Adabistān, April–May edition, 1991, 6–9Google Scholar. See also his speech to a group of education officials printed in Salām, 25 07 1993, 1Google Scholar.

19 See a critical editorial titled “Why President Is Silent,” Surūsh, 3 08 1991, 4Google Scholar.

20 Quoted by Ali Larijani, the successor to Khatami as the minister of MCIG, in his speech to the Fourth Majlis. See MMMSI, in Rūznāmi-yī Rasmī, no. 13826, 11 08 1992, 26Google Scholar.

21 See Risālat, 16 07 1992, 1, 2, 6Google Scholar. See also Kayhān, 18 July 1992, 1, 2, and 19 07 1992, 18Google Scholar.

22 See in particular Kayhān, 19 July 1992, 18; 21 July 1992, 2; and 23 07 1992, 2Google Scholar.

23 See Abrār, 19 07 1992, 1–2Google Scholar, and Salām, 20 July 1992, 1–2, and 25 07 1992, 1Google Scholar.

24 Larijani has both familial and nonfamilial connections with the Qum Seminary. He is the son of Fazlullah Javadi Amuli and the son-in-law of Ayatullah Muttahari.

25 Ali Larijanī eventually replaced Muhammad Hashemi, a member of the rast-i mudirn and the brother of President Rafsanjani, as the head of the Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic. Mir-Salim, a member of the culturally restrictive organization Islamic Coalitionary Society took charge of the MCIG in 1994.

26 Speech delivered by Fakhriddin Anvar, former deputy minister in charge of cinematic affairs in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Administrators and Film Makers, published in Māhnāmi-yī Sinamā-yī Film, no. 140, 04 1993, 38.Google Scholar

27 See Allamihzadih, Riza, Sarāb-i Sinamā-yī Islami-yi Iran (The Mirage of the Islamic Cinema of Iran) (Saarbrucken, 1991), 15–44.Google Scholar

28 See Haydari, Ghulam, Filmshinākht-I Iran, vol. 1 (Tehran, 1992)Google Scholar.

29 Ibid.

30 For the relevant data on the number of films made by either private sector and the public sector, see Haydari, , Filmshinākht-I Irān.Google Scholar

31 Personal interview with Dadgu, Muhammad Mihdi, a leading member of the Assembly of Producers and Distributers of Film, Tehran, summer 1992.Google Scholar

32 For relevant data, see Naficy, Hamid, “Islamizing Film Culture in Iran,” in Iran: Political Culture in the Islamic Republic, ed. Farsoun, Samih and Mashayekhi, Mehrdad (London, 1992), 178–82Google Scholar.

33 Personal interview with Anvar, Fakhriddin, Tehran, 07 1992.Google Scholar

34 See statement made by Bihishti, Muhammad, the former director of the Farabi Cinematique Foundation, in Māhnāmi-yī Sīnamā-yī, no. 142, 06 1993, 142Google Scholar.

35 See Dadgu, Muhammad Mihdi, Nukātī Pīrāmūn-i Iqtiṣād-i Sīnamā-yī Īrān (Considerations about Economic Aspects of Iranian Cinema) (Tehran, 1991), 63–66Google Scholar.

36 Ibid., 66–69.

37 On populism and the Islamic Republic, see Moghadam, Val, “Islamic Populism, Class, and Gender in Postrevolutionary Iran,” in A Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran, ed. Foran, John (Minneapolis, 1994), 189–222Google Scholar.

38 Democratization in this context does not refer to liberalization or elimination of censorship but rather to an effort to expand film production to include amateurs, particularly youngsters from the provinces—in other words, to “de-eliticize” the activity.

39 Personal interview with Anvar, Fakhriddin, 07 1992Google Scholar.

40 The number of movies made in 1983 was 17. Within two years, the annual production increased to 27. See the speech given by Musavi, Sayyid Ghulam Riza, director of the Central Council of the Association of Producers and Distributors of Iranian Films, in the “Ninth Session of Reporters and Film Artists,” published in Salām, 14 02 1993, 2Google Scholar.

41 For the annual film production during the 1980s, see Haydari, , Filmshinākht-I IranGoogle Scholar.

42 Personal interview with Dadgu, summer 1992Google Scholar.

43 For the evolution of women and cinema in the postrevolutionary period, see Naficy, Hamid, “Zan va Masʾala-yi Zan dar Sīnamā-yi Iran Baʿd az Inqilāb” (Woman and the “Problematic of Women” in the Postrevolutionary Iranian Cinema), in the quarterly Nīmay Dīgar (Spring 1991), 123–69Google Scholar.

44 See Naficy, Hamid, “Women and the Semiotics of Veiling and Vision in Cinema,” The American Journal of Semiotics 8, no. 1/2 (1992), 50–51Google Scholar.

45 For a more detailed analysis of female directors and women in cinema, see Naficy, Hamid, “Veiled Vision/Powerful Presences: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema,“ in In The Eye of The Storm: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iran, ed. Afkhami, M. and Friedl, E. (Syracuse, 1994), 131–50Google Scholar.

46 See the monthly Āyinih, 14 01 1993, 7Google Scholar.

47 See the proceedings from a roundtable discussion in which the participants consisted of the general director of Farabi, two producers, and two film directors; Māhnāme-yi Sīnamā-yī Film, no. 142, 06 1993, 30–39Google Scholar.

48 For expressions of anxiety on the part of filmmakers, see Salām, 25 02 1993, 5Google Scholar. See also Māhnāmi-yī Sīnamā-yi Film, no. 142, 06 1993, 34Google Scholar.

49 See MMMSI, no. 13826, 11 08 1992, 24Google Scholar. For general criticism of both films and MCIG responsibility, see MMMSI, no. 13826, 13827, 11 and 12 08 1992Google Scholar.

50 See a transcript of a roundtable discussion publishedin Māhnāmi-yi Sīnamā-yī Film, 10 1994, 20–36Google Scholar.

51 As a result of more severe restrictions, the last two movies made by Hatami Kia, Burj-i Mīnū (The Tower of Minu) and Būy-i Pīrāhan-i Yūsif (The Smell of Yusif's Shirt), have been targeted for stricter censorship and have led to the further disillusionment of this filmmaker, who was once an ardent supporter of the regime: seeSalām, 6 09 1996, 7Google Scholar.

52 Quoted in Makhmalbāf, Muhsin, Gung-i Khābdīdih (Tehran, 1995), 304Google Scholar.

53 See, for example, the editorial in the daily Jumhūrī-yi Islamī, 3 03 1991, 1–2Google Scholar.

54 See, for example, Razavi's, Murtizā article published in Abrār, 26 03 1991, 2Google Scholar.

55 Published in Makhmalbāf, , Gung-i Khābdīdih, 364Google Scholar.

56 Ibid.

57 lbid., 364–65.

58 See Māhnāme-yi Sīnamā-yī Film, no. 107, June–July 1991, 16Google Scholar.

59 See Amuzegar, Jahangir, Iran's Economy under the Islamic Republic(London, 1993), 73–78Google Scholar.

60 For a survey of books and articles on book publishing in different periods of the pre-Revolutionary era, see Āzarang, Abdulhussayn, “Kand-u Kāvi dār ‘llathā va Rishihā-yi Buhrān-i Nashr Kitāb dar Iran“ (An Investigation into the Causes and Roots of Book Publication Crisis in Iran), in the monthly Nigah-i Nu, no. 26, 1995, 80–95Google Scholar.

61 The number of journals and newspapers published during 1980–1981 was 227, whereas the numbers for 1982–1983 and 1983–1984 were 66 and 70, respectivelyGoogle Scholar. See Sālnāme-yi Ātmārī: 03 1984–03 1985 (Tehran, 1985), 210Google Scholar.

62 See Ali Riżāʾī, “Vażʿīyat-i Iqtisādī-yi Nashr dar Īrān” (The Economic Circumstances of Publication in Iran), in the monthly Sanʿat-i Chap, no. 114, 1992, 9–14.

63 See the quarterly Kitābnāmih, published by MCIG. Data collected from the Winter 1990 and Spring and Summer 1991 issues.

64 Data collected from various years of Kitbānāmih.

65 Personal interview with Karim Imami, a well-respected author and publisher, summer 1992.

66 See Encyclopaedia lranica (Costa Mesa, 1992), 5:420Google Scholar, s.v. “Children Literature”.

67 Data collected from various issues of Kitābnāmih.

68 Personal interview with Salihi, Hussayn, publisher, Ihyā-yi Kitāb press, Tehran, summer 1992Google Scholar.

69 Encyclopaedia lranica, 5:423Google Scholar.

70 Most publishers consider the high cost of production to be the most dangerous problem for the future of book publication in Iran. See Salām, 28 06 1994, 5Google Scholar.

71 The decline has also affected children's books, a category that is presumably politically safe. See the statistics given in the article “Book from Another View,” Salām, 4 11 1996, 5Google Scholar.

72 See Salām, 6 01 1993, 1Google Scholar.

73 Recently, a new rule of censorship has been added that requires MCIG approval of manuscripts before their publication. Although this rule might address some of the financial worries of the publishers, it creates stricter limitations on self-expression. In protest of this new rule, Ahmad Masjid-Jāmaʿī, the cultural deputy of MCIG, one of the last officials from the more liberal era of the MCIG, resigned.

74 There were four earlier editions of the book. The last of these four was published in Tehran in 1986.

75 Telephone interview with Bijan Asadipur, fall 1995.

76 Mahmūd, Ahmad, Zamīn-i Sūkhtih (Tehran, 1983)Google Scholar.

77 Fasīh, Ismāʾil, Zimistān-i Shast-u Du (Tehran, 1987)Google Scholar.

78 See MMMSI, no. 13826, 23.

79 See Iran Khobar, 22 02 1996, 2Google Scholar.

80 For example, the government-funded institution of the Center for Strategic Studies publishes a quarterly journal, Rahburd, which contains articles aimed at stretching the limits of legitimate political debates.

81 I deliberately chose the word “tendency” rather than “category” because in my view the concept of “category” conveys a sense of clear boundaries, whereas “tendency” signifies some flexibility.

82 Pahlavan, Changīz, “In Search for New Regional Structure,” Guftigū, no. 3 (Spring 1994), 27–44Google Scholar.

83 Ibid., 28–29.

84 Ibid. 29.

85 Surūsh, Abdulkarīm, Qabż va Bast-i Tʾurik-i Sharīʿat (Tehran, 1991), preface, 5Google Scholar.

86 Ibid., 6.

87 Ibid., 7–8.

88 Apparently, Surush has been denied access to television for expressing his views. He has also reportedly been attacked and beaten by a mob while delivering a speech at the University of Isfahan in the past year. More recently, Surush was attacked by a mob at Tehran University while giving a lecture on Mulawi.

89 Larijani, Sadiq, Maʿrifat-i Dīnī (Tehran, 1991), 5Google Scholar.

90 Larijani, S., Qabż va Bast dar Qabż va Basti Dīgar (Tehran, 1993), 80Google Scholar.

91 Ibid., 81.

92 See, for example, Shahrnush Parsipur's Zanān-i Biḋūn-i Mardān (Women Without Men), in which she explicitly deals with issues of sexuality, women's possession of their own bodies, and romantic love. For a less explicit treatment of these issues, see Qazi-Nuri's, Qudsi two short stories “Sib” (Apple) and “Zamzamih” (Murmur), in the collection of stories Kusūf (Eclipse) (Tehran, 1990)Google Scholar.

93 See, for example, the collection of poems by the famous poet Shamlu, Ahmad, Bāgh Āyīnih (The Garden of Mirror) (Tehran, 1967)Google Scholar. See also Gazi-Nuri's “Bātlāq” (Swamp) and “Bakhtak,” in Kusūf.

94 See, for example, Makhmalbāf, Muhsin, Bāgh-i Bulūr (The Crystal Garden) (Tehran, 1966)Google Scholar.

95 In her novel Khāni-yi Idrīsīha (The Idrisis' House) (Tehran, 1991)Google Scholar, Ghazalih Alizadih portrays a dim picture of revolution and revolutionaries. Although the story takes place in Ashqabad, and the revolution is supposedly similar to the Bolshevik Revolution, its message for the Iranian case is quite clear.

96 An interesting and telling case is Muhsin Makhmalbaf's experience. His earlier writings, such as Chashm-i Bīsū (1984)Google Scholar and Huz-i Sultān (1985)Google Scholar, were published by the Artistic Center of the Organization of Islamic Propaganda. His later works, however, were published by independent publishing houses.

97 The fate of Saidi Sirjani, and vigilante activities against some other authors, prompted a collective response on the part of 134 authors in the form of an open letter declaring their intention to establish an independent association of writers. The stated reason for such action was to guarantee the individual independence of all professional authors.