On Sept. 19, seven Iranians were sentenced to 91 lashings and six months imprisonment for a video depicting them dancing on the rooftops of Tehran to Pharrell’s “Happy.” The video, called “Happy in Tehran,” was part of a campaign in which people uploaded videos demonstrating their happiness for the UN’s International Day of Happiness. The two women in the video were seen without headscarves and wearing pants, both of which are illegal in Tehran. All seven participants were charged for public dancing, which is, (you guessed it) illegal in Iran.
Neda Motameni, one of the dancers, told IranWire in April that, “We wanted to tell the world that the Iranian capital is full of lively young people, and change the harsh and rough image that the world sees on the news.”
The irony is almost too much, though it seems to be missed by the Tehran court that deemed the video “vulgar” and “pornographic.” The participants were forced to publicly apologize and state that they were “tricked” into doing the video. The sentence has been put on hold for three years, during which time no further offenses can be committed, if they wish to avoid any lashings.
While the situation could easily be used to further demonize and make a caricature of “Iran the enemy,” it is important to consider the context. The sentencing occurred days before President Hassan Rouhani arrived in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. President Rouhani won last year’s election by criticizing Iran’s extreme isolationist policies and promising reform, the freeing of political prisoners, and the guarantee of civil rights.
Needless to say, this did not sit well with his ultra conservative counterparts, whom are believed by the New York Times to have used the “Happy” incident as a way to internationally embarrass President Rouhani prior to the UN convention. The message here is clear: Don’t get too liberal. Don’t get too comfortable. And above all, don’t get too Western. After all, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was catalyzed by the infiltration of Western ideals and the regime of the brutal Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was little more than a puppet for United States interests.
When Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini assumed control after a popular deposing of Pahlavi, he instituted an anti-Western theocracy based on the concept of Guradianship of the Islamic Jurists. In short, this means that Islamic jurists have complete custodianship over the people, allowing them to govern and enforce strict moral law. However, this is only one interpretation of one aspect of Twelver Islam.
The power of one facet of a very diversified religion to justify an extremist authoritarian regime exemplifies the ability of political leaders to twist one aspect of their given faith and use it as a means to yield absolute control over the people they govern.This is not about religion. This is about consolidating power.
The punishment that was issued to the Iranian dancers is not reflective of Iranians or Shia Islam as a whole, but of a regime that draws its legitimacy through the polarization of Islam and the demonization of the collective West. The creators of the video were showing that happiness is not a Western concept, that you can find joy and lightheartedness in Tehran as much as you can in New York.
Islam is not “the other,” and Iran is not “the gravest threat plaguing the world today,” as Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard University asserted in the Wall Street Journal back in 2010. Rather, the greatest threat plaguing the world today is the idea that difference must be contained and destroyed, along with the passivity that allows change to be stifled.
Jessica Olave is a senior sociology major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.