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“If I were working in Iran today, I would teach men that their penis does not make them superior.”
-Marjane Satrapi, 36
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Marjane Satrapi (left) is the author of the bestselling
graphic novel Persepolis, an account of her life in Iran, which she
left when she was 14. “I drew Persepolis with a pedagogical
purpose, for the Western public. I had heard so many stupid things
about my country. Some thought they knew more than me about
Iran, because they had seen Not Without My Daughter [a 1991 film
set in Iran] in the cinema! We are often made to feel that a person
who emigrates does so for economic reasons. I wanted to show
that you leave your home because you can't breathe any more.
In a sense, I censor myself everyday. I'm responsible for what
I transmit about Iran. Consequently, that limits my freedom. Words
can kill. If I do something wrong in France, I know what I risk. In
Iran, you can't count on anything. For a long time, I thought I was
paranoid. Then one day I was supposed to take part in an Iranian
cultural event and the [Iranian] embassy in Paris said they
wouldn't take part if I were invited. Censorship is a reality.“
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“This job is always hard. It's hardest
when you think they may shut you down any minute for something you've written, something you've said.”
-Shahla Sherkat, 49
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Zanan (Women) has been called the Ms. of the Middle East.
But the American feminist magazine was probably never confiscated
when it featured a woman with her wrists exposed, while for Zanan,
shut'downs and court summonses are common. Even so, says
editor Shahla Sherkat, “10 years ago we couldn't even talk about
feminism as a movement. It was too threatening.“ Zanan's content
ranges from interviews with female beggars and prisoners to
sexist statements by politicians (often published alongside their
photos). “Our art is knowing how to write articles so that we are
not shut down. We say what we have to say, but in creative ways.”
Over at Tehran newspaper Shargh, which was temporarily closed
recently after publishing a letter from a parliamentary candidate,
there are four levels of internal monitoring before anything is
published. “Self'censorship is one of the biggest problems in Iran,”
says staffer Badrossadat Mofidi. “We have become our own worst
enemies.” They have also become resilient. Of the 10 papers
Mofidi has worked on in the last ten years, “each time one was
shut down, it reopened in a new form.” “I'm optimistic,” says
Sherkat. “If the magazine is closed down, I'm not sure what I'd do,
except start again.”
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From near left to right:
Farid Modarressi (on the left) and Mohamad Javad Rooh in the editorial offices of Shargh, Tehran.
Photo from an article from Zanan about Iran's first ever clinic treating male and female impotence.
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