Iran - The People


The worst part about Iran has to be the way the people are affected by it's governing. I found this quite difficult at first, culture dictates that women are second class citizens and are therefore treated as such. They must always be covered up including the hair, it is only acceptable to show feet, hands and face. We met a girl who had been arrested for not being properly covered, I believe her top was insudficient and she was given a warning later for having part of her calf on show. Younger women tend to wear a scarf, long sleeved fitted jacket (which must cover the bum) and skinny jeans. All the other women seem to opt for a cidor which is a full body scarf they hold closed under the chin or across their mouth/nose, it's like a bedsheet! No matter what we do we are preoccupied with our scarves, sorting it, readjusting it, holding it in the wind. This 'hejab' also plays with your mind, some of us felt depressed or grumpy having to always wear it. It might not sound that bad but it's a level of suppression that we are not used to.
The heat makes it uncomfortable and sweaty, in hostels we can't open the door, be near windows or even go to a use a shared bathroom without ensuring we artfully covered! Sometimes you just automatically push up your sleaves, but they have to cone right back down again!
Our guide Muhammad is not religious and made it clear from the start that we can remove hejab and relax in his company, however at bushcamps we always get visitors so we wait till after dark to relax. 
On top of this, some men won't acknowledge women, we can be ignored if there's a man around or we can be spoken to in a short tempered grumpy manner. Women are not allowed to smoke. Buses are segregated, women get on the front, pay the driver, get off the bus and get back on using the rear door, they cannot even walk through the mens section! In a village I asked 2 women if I could photograph them, one scarpered while the other looked nervous and hid her face until her husband appeared and gave consent!

Having said that attitudes are changing and the vast majority if people we met were just lovely and greeted us with a warm welcome. The only things holding them back are their government and the worlds perception of them. Muhammad won't talk about religion or politics without first removing the battery from his mobile phone as people have been arrested when conversations have been listened to, once he's done this is the only way he will admit he is atheist. 
We were told to avoid all conversations about politics as undercover police will speak to people and encourage these conversations!
Trucker J'mo had a long chat with a clinical psychologist in a cafe. He explained that a lot of Iranians are depressed and put thus down to 2 main reasons. One is the worlds perception of them, they feel like the whole world hates them and indeed another girl had commented that the rest of the world thinks they're all terrorists. The other thing Iranians suffer is identity crisis. Living in a society where their religion and lifestyle is forced upon them takes away so many of their choices and while most of them would continue to follow their religion and abide by it's rules they arenot given the freedom to make their own way. I can easily believe this as I feel so sorry for the women I pass on the street completely covered in black, it's like there's no personality in there, you hardly even notice them. The worst part of the conversation came at the end when they noticed a car across the street with a telescopic camera lens pointed in their direction. The poor man gotvery upset, asking J'mo if he was an undercover policeman as he can go to jail for what he's just said about his country, and with that he scampered!

This is a sad way to treat a wonderful nation, the people are respectful and their society is so polite and friendly and they're keen to keep up with the rest of the modern world, take on new ideas but they're held back. Every town we go through has billboards portraying their religious and political leaders, as if they might be forgotten! Tourism is dismal, apparently far worsened by 9/11 and they get only 400,000 tourists a year!

I feel torn by thus country, I love it and the people are so welcoming and kind but I am stifled by the rules, even the men have complained as they want to put shorts on!

So all my blogs on Iran have waited until I left there for two reasons. One is that my blog site is one if the many banned websites in Iran, the other is that someone did successfully blog while in Iran and his Iran entry mysteriously disappeared within an hour of being uploaded!! Big brother is always watching!