Communicating Arts - Main Web SiteSince the end of WWII, the west has had for the delight of children as well as their early ethical and moral education the Nazis for buffoonery and camp, an endless hoot of ridiculous men fluffed up in black jack boots and swastika now harmless to ridicule and most worthy of the same. In time to come, perhaps sooner than expected, the children of Persia -- perhaps even those of the whole middle east, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim -- will have for humorous prodding the bizarre leaches and sadists of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the corrupt and erratic puppetry of Ayatollah Khamenei's military dictatorship.
Maziar Bahari's (with Aimee Molloy) Then They Came for Me provides my library its latest kick in the regime's foul crotch -- and in perhaps no place are its degenerate agents more foul than Evin Prison, but I'll leave the jury out on that until it is no more and its recorded deeds may be cataloged for Persians forevermore -- while it joins in the same space a growing shelf of Evin Prison legends and expat Iranian memoirs and reflections.
I jumped out of the car. "Have you heard about the Fars News report?"
"Yes, we have," the other man said. "That's why we're leaving."
The man got inside his car and started the engine. Amir told me in a hurry, "I'll call you later tonight, Maziar. They have staged a coup. Votes are rigged, ballot boxes are missing around the country, and Ministry of Interior computers have been hacked. We don't know what exactly has happened. But one thing we know is there there's been a coup. We have to go now. You have to go now. I don't think you were followed. But we have to move. They may raid this office at any time." (pp. 53-54).
I suspect those of us who gloss and blog around politics associate the Ahmadinejad farce of an election with the president's command of the Revolutionary Guard; however, Bahari adds detail to this notion, in effect suggesting Ayatollah Khamenei had succeeded in wrapping around himself an even more elite and completely private army. Combined with the notorious corruption, intimidation,and subjection of subalterns, basically everyone down line from the "God King" as Bahari will later allude to the Ayatollah, there would seem little room for doubt in reading off of that attitude that the Ayatollah's power has been consolidated, made singular, and in character has become what it intended to become: totalitarian.
Evil consumes itself as well as others. The prisoners of Evin may come and go or die, but the guards would seem the more locked in, and Bahari well notes his own interrogator's life in hell as one who makes his living torturing innocents and unable to leave the vice -- the behaviors, the perceptions, and the prison confines -- in which he has been trapped.
On the larger field, the same in evil, this evil not unrelated to my "Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy" thesis, does as the psychological syndrome would suggest: promotes compulsive, deluded, irrational decision making and reckless behavior that needs must, whether with a credit card or with a state's military assets, bring the roof crashing and flaming down around so many lost and intemperate heads. At the moment, those of us who watch may be watching the "conversations" over the Strait of Hormuz, where NATO forces are patrolling or demonstrating their freedom of movement today, and Iran's dual-use nuclear program that as it grows only begs Israel, the United States, NATO, and others to shut it down with decision.
Reference
Bahari, Maziar and Aimee Moloy. Then They Came for Me. New York: Random House, 2011.
NPR. "'Then They Came For' Journalist Maziar Bahari. Interview by Terry Gross. June 15, 2010.
The Daily Show. Most Recent Videos Tagged "Maziar Bahari".
The Daily Show. "Jason Jones: Behind the Veil -- Persians of Interest." Aired June 22, 2009.
Oppenheim Library
Having been humbled by the discovery of legions of "people just like me" on the web, I understand a home library -- make that a library in an 850-sq.ft. apartment -- of even 2,000 volumes may be pleasant but not so important as to carry a title. However, should any wish to underwrite, say, an "Oppenheim Library for Cultural, Language, and Peace Studies," feel most welcome to get in touch. :)
Majda, Hooman. The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. New York: Doubleday, 2008. (Unread)
Moaveni, Azadeh. Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran. New York: Random House, 2009.
Nafisi, Azar. Things I've Been Silent About. New York: Random House, 2008.
Saberi, Roxanna. Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran. New York: Harper Collins, 2010.
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