Only Hope Can

Only hope can come to our rescue. The total domination of despair has destroyed our collective wills and created a dangerous environment full of corruption, selfishness, greed, and anxiety for all of us. I think the main characteristic of the recent unrest in the country can be seen as the total domination of despair. This is in direct contrast to all previous transformations and movements that drew their energy from hope: the revolution of '57, the Second of Khordad movement, and what happened after the '88 elections. The recent movement was a reaction born of desperation towards the pervasive extent of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and corruption. The reaction of a desperate collective psyche is far more complex and profound than collective political action that enters the scene hoping to realize a collective demand. The Islamic Republic knows well how to disappoint hopeful movements. It brings such an intensive operation to the streets and its propaganda spaces that the hopeful return home crestfallen. But against a collective psyche driven to desperation, those previous habits are no longer effective. When despair and desperation become the substance from which a collective movement emerges, you are not facing a storm, strong wind, or heavy rain; you are facing fire. Sometimes it is smoldering beneath the ashes, sometimes blazing and bright. It does not use language much; it has learned more to flicker its flames. You cannot attack it with accusations of opposing religion and Sharia; it is the one that attacks everything, even Sharia and religion, with the weapon of hunger. You cannot accuse it of being against the law and national unity; it is the one that fights against whatever law and unity there is. You cannot assault it on the grounds of being dependent on foreigners; if necessary, it will compromise with any foreigner and generate power. If unemployment, corruption, discrimination, and poverty become the main substance of a collective movement, it turns all previous offensive positions into defensive ones. Perhaps for the first time, one can expect the Islamic Republic to abandon its techniques of inducing despair and to set about employing techniques and actions that give people hope. If I were asked to make recommendations for instilling hope, things like the following come to my mind:

First: Calm the international and regional environment. The least effect of the daily news of increasing pressures and sanctions is to darken the future for the people. There was a time when Iran's regional and international conditions were only tangible for classes who faced inappropriate reactions from Westerners during foreign trips. But today, even the lowest social strata, upon hearing of increasing pressures and sanctions, receive the message that their hope for improving conditions and the employment of their unemployed children is gone with the wind.

Second: Do not make people think we are only present in the flashpoints of this region and constantly worried about the fire spreading. The collective psyche of the people will become much calmer if they also witness extensive economic, social, cultural, and artistic connections.

Third: For four decades, everyone has witnessed the system's effort to play a leadership role in the region in the fight against Israel and America. In pursuit of this goal, we have not even been inclined to compromise or cooperate with other actors fighting against Israel and America. We have wanted everyone under our own umbrella. It would be good to shift our role a little. The people of this region have been greatly harmed. They are tired, as are the people inside the country. Do not retreat from any achievement. Relying on your achievements as a powerful actor, think about increasing opportunities for peace in the region.

Fourth: Economic policies in the country have never been carried out with purely economic considerations. Political considerations have always been dominant, such that laying the groundwork for reliable economic growth has always been postponed. Please reconsider the political considerations. And if you are going to postpone the rules of economic growth, think about the issue of the lower strata and the marginalized in the country.

Fifth: Lower the flame of conflict with the riff-raff, internal wreckers, and infiltrators a little. Opponents have always been addressed with these insulting labels because you never wanted to formally admit that you are not everyone, that you represent a segment of the people. If the country belongs to all the people, allow the people all to have a voice, to have their own representatives and leaders, and to appear on the scene with their own voice and image. Just step aside a little, just a little; do not be afraid if others are also loved alongside you.

Sixth: Think of a solution for the rampant and pervasive corruption. The darker the atmosphere becomes and the dimmer the horizons of hope, the more the scattered seeds of corruption become fertile. Have mercy on everyone, including yourselves, and show that you are seriously seeking to restore discipline in the country.

Seventh: Find a language of self-criticism. If you are to open up horizons of hope, you need to win the people's trust. You have praised yourselves every day. The people believed it for years. If the country had a problem, you attributed it to others so that you yourselves would not, God forbid, be blemished. But today, even problems that may have nothing to do with you are attributed to you. The first step to winning trust is to be willing to confess yourselves and point to your own shortcomings. As a supplement, praise others a little. Show that you also see the strengths of others who do not share your views.

Eighth: Create a little opportunity for love. Believe me, in acting according to the verse "severe against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves," you went so fast that no "among themselves" remains for mercy and friendship to be possible. Because you were so fixated on not letting the disbelievers and enemies out of your sight, you forgot the habits of friendship and deprived the people of opportunities for friendship. You have turned political life into groups that are only temporary allies against others. Even if you view the political arena in the manner of Carl Schmitt, besides enmity, we also need friendship. Fundamentally, the backbone of enmity is friendship. If you have dried up the seeds of friendship in politics, rest assured you have also destroyed the potentials for enmity. I think we need a collective exercise in producing hope. What I have said is very offhand and unreflective. The truth is that we do not know the logic of producing and safeguarding hope. But today we are in dire need of it. Otherwise, a movement that draws its energy from collective desperation and despair does not fundamentally think about life and its continuity; it has come for destruction. It will bring everything down upon everyone.

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Only Hope Can

Author: Mohammad Javad Gholamreza Kashi

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