Sarah Glynn talks politics with Rojîn Mûkrîyan, who chaired the first session of the conference on Iran that was held at the European Parliament in Brussels last week.
For a place that is not part of Europe, Iran has been the subject of quite a lot of debate at the EU, but this conference specifically heard voices from Iran’s margins. As the speakers made clear, Iran’s non-Persian peoples may be marginal to the current regime, but they are playing a leading role in the ongoing revolution. As well as selecting speakers from different marginalised nations, the conference was historic in bringing together the leaders of the three main political parties of East (Iranian) Kurdistan or Rojhelat.
Below are some key extracts from Rojîn Mûkrîyan’s answers in which she discusses the potential for radical change and the dangers of Persian nationalism, especially from the Iranian diaspora. They have been lightly edited for clarity. To hear the complete interview please click on the conversation above.
“These marginalised nations – non-Persian nations living in the political geography of Iran – always put their national identity first. They always consider themselves first as Kurds, for example, and then they might identify themselves as Iranian. All this identity building and the oppression that is imposed on these non-Persian minorities has led to a grassroots mobilisation, and we saw the impact… in this revolutionary movement of Jin Jiyan Azadi. All these marginalised nationalities came together, and they are actually seeking a very radical change and not just regime change…
“If we talk about the nine months that the revolutionary movement of Jin Jiyan Azadi has been taking place in Iran, we know that we face two different nationalisms from Persians towards these non-Persian people: Persian nationalism that is in power and in charge of government inside Iran and that seeks an Islamic Persian nationalism, and, at the same time, another nationalism outside of Iran from people who consider themselves as the main opposition. That nationalism is a secular one, but still it is based on Persian identity… One nationalism is inside and tries to oppress and suppress the revolutionary movement of the people of Iran, and the other, outside Iran, is trying to seize the revolution and to decrease and reduce the revolution to only a change of regime. Alongside these two different nationalisms, we have these oppressed nations that seek something more radical. For example, what we saw in this conference – all these different representatives from different nationalities were asking for decentralisation of power. And this is something outside of these two different nationalisms that come from Persian groups. And the main aim is not just removing the Iranian regime that is in power, but at the same time to fight against the Persian nationalism outside, to resist this, to make sure that the history of 1979 is not going to repeat itself again. This is what made all these different nationalities come together. And another factor that brings together different oppressed non-Persian nations inside Iran is sharing the same pain. We felt this in the conference. The different nationalities talked about the oppression that they have faced since the establishment of the Iranian state in 1923, and we saw a very deep solidarity among all these nations in terms of the oppression that they felt and the future that they are imagining for Iran… This is what brings all these non-Persian nationalities together….
“During this revolutionary movement of Jin Jiyan Azadi we saw that the Rojhelati people were completely unified. And they were asking the Kurdish political parties to come together. To solve the Kurdish issue, I would say that Kurdish unity, at least the creation of a unified platform to be the voice of Rojhelat, is the first and necessary step for achieving Kurdish liberty for Rojhelat and in general for the Kurdish people. And I say it was the pressure from inside that makes the Kurdish political parties realise the fact that they cannot represent the people with diverse voices…
“We shouldn’t forget that this revolutionary movement started from Rojhelat… It started from the periphery, went to the centre of Iran, and dispersed to all other parts of Iran. But it was Rojhelati people that were leading the revolution. And we saw realisation of this in the speeches of the Kurdish political parties. For example, the leader of the KDPI, Mustafa Hijri, in his speech said that a chant had come from Tehran, that they were saying, if Tehran becomes Kurdistan, then Iran becomes like a ‘gulistan’ – it is full of flowers. And that means that the Kurdish political parties had the potential to lead the opposition, to make a coalition; but how, and based on what, and with what strategy? This is one of the main questions of this conference: how we can lead – not to monopolise the revolution, not to seize the revolution, not to impose our rule, but how we can become the true voice of these marginalised groups. I refer to non-Persian nations, women, the working class, LGBTI+ groups, and whoever is not represented either in the Iranian regime or outside in the far-right opposition. And if we look at the issue from this angle, yes, I would say it was a historical moment in Kurdish politics…
“Outside Iran there are huge attempts to divide what exists inside Iran. And it is the reality of outside that makes us worry actually, not the inside. We cannot underestimate the power and wealth and the influence that, for example, the far-right Persian groups have. But, at the same time, we believe that if this revolution is to be successful, it is the people inside Iran that will make this happen. And we believe in the power of the people first. At the same time, outside Iran it is our responsibility to make sure to reflect the exact voice of the Iranian people both from marginalised groups and even from those Persians that consider themselves as marginalised groups too…
“I dream every day that one day we will finally have a free society – a democratic society where everybody can freely and equally live together. What I hope for the future of Iran and Rojhelat and all these marginalised groups is that one day we reach a harmony where we can truly live together in peace. And to reach that peace – to be free of domination, to be free of oppression – we need to have equal political power and decision making. If we want to liberate the national minorities, if we want to overcome patriarchy, we need to empower these societies, and we can reach this only by creating a grassroots democracy – by a direct form of democracy where people have equal political power in discussion, in decision making and in the implementation of policies. Through this we can overcome national oppression, women’s oppression, other marginalised groups’ oppressions. This is my hope. It is, of course, a dream, but I feel that we can learn from Rojava. It’s not something unreachable or unimplementable. My dream for the future of Iran is a democratic confederalism structure, because only this way can we really bring harmony and peaceful co-existence…”
Rojîn Mûkrîyan is originally from Bukan in Rojhilat or East Kurdistan and is currently working on a PhD in Kurdish politics at University College Cork.
(For clarification: In the full interview, Mûkrîyan refers to two different Komala leaders, Ebrahim Alizadeh, who spoke at the conference, and Abdullah Mohtadi. Mohtadi’s Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan split from Komala – Kurdistan Organisation of the Communist Party of Iran in the year 2000. Mohtadi has discarded his more radical roots and was part of the now dissolved coalition that included the son of the former Shah, Reza Pahlavi.)
