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Iran's Nationalism Problem

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Even in the context of mass demand for social reform, religious-based oppression remains
widespread in Iran. Despite the prevalence of the Kurdish language, with over 30 million Kurdish
speakers, Kurds remain a stateless people, and are thus, marginalized in countries across the
modern Middle East (Ghaderi, 724). In this erasure, the systematic process of Persianization
must be discussed, not only because of its historical implications, but its modern ones as well.
Persianization in the Women Life Freedom movement means the translation of “Zin Zendegi
Azadi” into “Jin Jian Azadi. It means calling the movement's central figure Mahsa Amini and
ignoring Jina. This direction that the WLF movement has taken is reminiscent of the process of
state building undertaken by Iran in the early to mid 20th century.

The measures to suppress Kurdish literary traditions or even coercive measures had the effect of creating the image of the
ideal Iranian; a Persian. This ideal was a member of a homogenous state, anyone who existed
outside this concept was to be vilified and dehumanized, like in the military campaigns during
the 1980s. (Ghaderi 722) The parallels between the marginalization of the Kurds in these two
different time frames is reflective of a greater problem with Iranian national identity. Additionally,
in “What Iranians Want: Women, Life Freedom,”: Arash Azizi provides insight into the
perspectives of other groups that suffer discrimination.

Religious minorities in Balochistan like Sunnis and Bahá’is, endure despite the state's predatory suppression of their religion. But the advocacy of
cleric Moulavi Abdul Hamid represents opposition to the homogenous state and its continued
repression. The need for a bottom up re-appraisal of ethnicity in Iran is a process that must be
enacted. It’s not too late for the intersectional nature of the WLF to allow for an incorporation of
this process, instead of drifting further towards the plans for Persianization drawn up by the
regime of yesterday. However, the nature of the WLF movement can and has been expanded to
meet the needs of other oppressed groups in the past, and this fact must be kept in the forefront
if real structural change is to result from the movement.

References:
       Azizi, Arash. What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom. Simon & Schuster, 2023

      Ghaderi F. Jin, Jiyan, Azadi and the Historical Erasure of Kurds. International Journal of Middle East Studies. 2023;55(4):718-723.

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