Marjane Satrapi, author of the acclaimed graphic novel Persepolis, has just passed away, “of sadness,” according to a statement from her family. The work, whose first edition appeared at the dawn of the third millennium, is autobiographical and introduces us to the history of Iran from the beginning of the Islamic fundamentalist regime in 1979, when Satrapi was 10 years old. The young girl belongs to an upper-class, progressive family opposed to the reign of the Shah of Persia (an authoritarian system, let us not forget, also supported by the West), but she will come to understand that the country has carried out a “revolution” only to establish another dictatorship, a perverse fundamentalist regime.
We witness how, among many other restrictions on individual freedoms, a young Satrapi, with her remarkable intellectual and spiritual concerns, as well as her growing awareness of injustice, is forced to wear the headscarf, as she is to so many other women. Persepolis, as has already been reiterated, is a key work, even in the form of a medium usually despised by some fools—the graphic novel—for understanding the Iranian regime of the ayatollahs, but also for humanizing and giving voice to its victims.
Today, more than a quarter of a century after the book’s publication and with the country at war, simplifications and biased analyses of an Iran now at war continue unabated.
When I heard the news of her death and saw those headlines alluding to sadness as the cause, and despite the later clarification that Satrapi had lost the man she considered the love of her life last year, I couldn’t help but think about her possible state of mind, also because she hadn’t been able to witness the end of a terribly authoritarian regime and now sees her homeland bombed by the United States and Iran. Whether the end of his life was due to personal reasons, or perhaps an excessive awareness of the world’s ills, or maybe a mixture of both, the news has stirred my soul and, once again, prompted some reflection.
The military aggression currently being perpetrated by Iran and the United States, whose death toll is barely mentioned and whose evident atrocities are ultimately denied, is like pouring more gasoline on the ever-present fire that is the Middle East. In fact, since the war began on February 28 of this year, the Islamic regime’s repression of its own people has intensified, so the lives of countless people are doubly threatened. Let me try to make this clear, and historical experience demonstrates this: violent external intervention very rarely leads to a system of greater freedoms in a country; rather, it often leads to new forms of domination.
That said, I still find it incredible that so many, sometimes from the perspective of a supposedly transformative left (oh, the intolerable authoritarianism and dogmatism of certain left-wing groups!), activate their most anti-American tendencies and imperialist activities to, in one way or another, defend the Islamic regime. There is no heroic resistance of a rebellious state against imperial aggression; there is the suffering of a people under decades of repression and now also under criminal bombings driven by clear geostrategic interests and the acquisition of resources.
Of course, we must oppose the wars promoted by NATO, along with the enormous propaganda machine that justifies them, and the rearmament taking place in Europe in this also turbulent 21st century. But how is it possible that in the name of this opposition someone ends up justifying authoritarian, totalitarian, or theocratic regimes, which also feed on external aggression in the name of so-called national sovereignty and begin or end by repressing their own people?
Marjane Satrapi had called France home since 1994, but it’s not widely known that she declined the Legion of Honor, France’s highest distinction, out of attachment to her homeland and because she couldn’t understand the country’s stance on Iran. The author wanted to show solidarity with the Iranian people, especially women and youth, and denounce France’s denial of countless visas to dissidents, while the children of Iranian oligarchs strolled through Paris without any problem. This is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the “developed” Western nations.
A couple of years ago, in an interview, the author of Persepolis remarked that the Iranian people were very revolutionary and that what was happening in the country, stemming from the “Woman, Life and Freedom” movement, could ultimately lead to a complete cultural transformation and a system of greater freedoms. Sadly, having passed away so young at the age of 56, she not only didn’t get to experience it firsthand, but she also witnessed the situation worsen with the war. In her memory, we will continue to resist despite our sorrow, extending networks of solidarity with the Iranian people and with all the oppressed of the world.
Machine translation from Exabruptos Politicos
