The Seven Obstacles to Publishing in Iran
I used to think that this new Renaissance around the world would change anything for mankind, but during the last six months things have really changed: Fidel Castro is no longer in power, Putin is no longer the president of Russia, Berlusconi and Sarkosy are in power, and I think in the next six month Bush will probably leave the White House in the United States, and Ahmadinejad too will be a nobody in Iran. But the new Renaissance will continue.
Seven Obstacles to Publishing in Iran
First Obstacle: the State
In order to understand how difficult life in Iran is let me remind you, first of all, that Ahmadinejad continues to be the president of Iran. I say this so you know that the first obstacle to publishing in Iran is the state. I do not mean the government because even though the government has the official duty of controlling publishing, in Iran the state too intervenes in whatever you wish to publish. So while the government may approve of something that you may wish to publish, the judicial court of the state may prevent you from doing so, even though you have a license from the government.
Second obstacle: government
Officially the government in Iran is responsible for controlling the publishing of books. Every time you wish to publish a book, you need to get a license from it. But you must also remember that in Iran the government does not translate into stability or coherence.
So, for example a government that bestows a freedom one day may take it away later. Similarly, you may obtain a license to publish your book this month, but the very same government will stop you from publishing it the next year. There are eight people in a specific government agency in Iran who decide whether your book may be published or not. They can do anything they want and they regularly make these kind of changes to your text: “a girl friend” is changed to “a fiancé”, “a kiss” to “a look”, “sexual relations” are altered to “marriage”, “an automobile” becomes “a bus”, “a blossom” turns into “a carrot”, etc. Let me be clear, there is no stable law or rule and so while your support of Fidel Castro this year may send you to prison for three years, your opposition to him ten years from now will result in a ban on the publishing of your book. These eight people are the happiest people in the Islamic Republic of Iran because they have a chance to read about kissing, life, sex, truth and freedom, while at the same time they ban them for all others so that you and others do not end up in hell.
The history of the Islamic Republic has shown that almost all those people who are engaged in the censorship of books are viewed as opponents of the Islamic Republic after a few years of work because they come to know all those things that are banned in the country.
Third Obstacle: the Publisher
The government’s business extends to everything that is published. Publishers must even set their clocks to match those of the government’s. The third obstacle to publishing is undoubtedly the publisher.
For example, when I wrote a book about my mother and took it to a publisher, he read the book, put it aside, and said, “Would it not be better if you wrote something about a young woman instead of your old mother?” I told him no because I wanted to write about my mother. But the publisher insisted that nobody read books about mothers because young women were more important, again inviting me to write about young women. I reminded him that I had a book about my mother that I wished to publish. “I read your book, but young women are more important. You should write that young women are challenging things around them and wish to change everything,” he said.
So I decided to write a book about young women. It took me three months to finish it, and when I did I took it to the publisher. I brought back my first book on my mother and placed it at my sick mother’s bedside. Three months later I get a telephone call at 8am from my publisher who asked me to visit him. When I arrived at his office, he seemed angry and yelled at me, “Do you wish for them to kill me? You want them to confiscate my car and my house? You want to destroy me? You want my wife to divorce me? You want to discredit my publishing house?” I denied such intentions, and tried to calm him down. To explain his thoughts, he asked me a question: “Did you not think that if I published a book about the freedom of women I would be destroyed?”, to which I expressed my ignorance and probed, “Why? Has anything happened?” He explained the situation in these terms, “Yes. Today the minister of culture was changed and they said that your book was not publishable, and so they returned your book to me.” He then quickly added, “But look, with this new minister, I think your first book, the one about your mother, has a better chance of being published.
The new minister only likes old women. So if you can write a book about your great grand mother they will issue a publishing license in three days, about your grand mother in two weeks and about your own mother in one month.” A month later my mother smiled at me; she was pleased with the minister of culture.
Fourth Obstacle: the Editor
Living under dictatorship makes us fortunate in one respect. There are always people who think for us. They identify dangers and thus protect us. One such people are editors. These people have usually been to prison for 5 years in their youth and so nobody can tell them what truth is. An editor has seen the truth without even putting on his shorts. So he thinks for me. He does not know how to write, but he surely knows what I should or should not write. He knows exactly which words need to be changed so that I and others do not end up in hell or in jail. My editor changes the words of my text in a manner that ensures that my book is published. These are some of the kind of changes that he makes: “is” becomes “is not”, “love” becomes “hate”, “was” becomes “was not”, “cold winter” becomes “beautiful spring”, “I wanted to kill myself” becomes “I wanted to save others”, and, “I ran away” becomes “I resisted”.
Fifth obstacle: the Iranian Nation
We are, after all, Iranians, even if we were not born in Iran and even if we do not speak Persian. Even if we have been driven away from Iran, we continue to be Iranians. We love Iran. One of the principal sources of censorship is Iran and its people. We can say any joke we like about ourselves, but if that extends that to a criticism of Iranian customs or morals, we are immediately labeled as traitors. This is something that will always hinder our work. We have absolutely no right to be critical of the behavior of Iranians.
Sixth Obstacle: the family
An obstacle greater than myself is my mother, brothers, sisters, children and even my friends. I would like to say that our private lives are our sixth obstacle. I cannot write about love or hate in my father’s house. I cannot write I have fallen in love with my wife. If I do, then I will be viewed as a criminal. So, if I fall in love before marriage, I will be viewed as a criminal, and if I love her after marriage, nobody will believe me. I cannot even write about my relations with my children. I cannot write that my daughter has a boyfriend because if I do, then people will look at me as if I am an immoral and corrupt person.
Seventh Obstacle: the Writer
Now we come to the biggest obstacle of all when it comes to writing in Iran. And this is none other than me, me, me, and me. I cannot openly be who I am. I cannot be a regular writer, a normal person, or a regular citizen. In a country like Iran, I am seen as a statesman, because readers expect me to speak on behalf of all politicians.
In a country like Iran, I am seen as the leader of a political party because there is no political party, and so I must speak like the leader of a party. In a country like Iran, I must act like a moral-ethics teacher and guide people to heaven, especially because all previous moral-ethics teachers have ended up in hell, and so no one believes in them any longer. In a country like Iran, I must be a politico-social hero because this is what people expect of me. But in reality I am neither a statesman, nor the leader of a party, not a political fighter, and not even a moral-ethics teacher. This is why I must always present a picture of myself that is different from who I really am. I do not have the right to say that I am in love, that I get drunk, that I dance, that I am sometimes discourteous, that I am scared, that I am afraid of prison, etc. I cannot write my true memoirs. I must always appear to be powerful like God, invulnerable like a superman, and perfect like a priest. But in reality I am none of these. I am an ordinary and simple human being. The only difference is that I write.
I am afraid of the state, because I am an ordinary and simple human being. I am afraid of anybody who changes my writing. I am afraid of my parents. I am afraid of my friends. I am afraid of my fellow-Iranians. I am even afraid of you because what I say here may one day be passed on to others. Fear is an inseparable part of writing in my country. And this is a country in which everything is a tragedy while at the same time being a comedy.