Redtracker: In the Streets of Iran, Zahra Rahnavard Leads the Greens but We Also Hear from a Red

“I am not Michelle Obama. I am Zahra Rahnavard,” said the 61-year-old wife of defeated Iranian presidential candidate and former prime minister (1980-1988) Mirhossein Mousavi.

Reading about Zahra Rahnavard this morning underscores the irritation of so many Iranians and Middle Eastern people express that Zahra Rahnavard is suddenly recast in Western-woman terms, rather than as the proud Iranian woman that she is.

Zahra Rahnavard has broken new ground in Iranian politics by actively campaigning for her husband, maintaining a Facebook page, and assuming a prominent visibility in the blogosphere and Twitter. Rahnavard is a prominent public intellectual and a former university chancellor, a poet, painter and sculptor, and a staunch advocate of women’s rights.

Iranian women protestors, June 19, 2009Many Iranian women — especially young women — have rallied to her side, voting for her husband and now protesting in the streets, because they support Rahnavard.

The reality of life for large numbers of educated Iranian women, along with less-educated ones, is:

• Unmarried couples cannot date alone.
• Handholding is grounds for arrest.
• A woman can receive 70 lashes for ‘bad hijab’ (displaying any part of the body other than the hands and face).
• A woman’s word counts only half as much as a man’s in court.
• A woman can inherit only half as much as her brother.

On the subject of wearing the hijab, Rahnavard told the London Times: “The hijab should not be forced on anybody. That is a private decision. They should leave young women alone. Our women are mature enough to decide for themselves.”

Zahra Rahnavard on the Forefront of Mousavi’s Presidential Campaign

Color distinguishes the two sides of turmoil in Iran. Young female Mousavi supporters wear green to a creative extreme, challenging global dress norms with green eyebrows, a green wash in dark hair and green ribbon twisted around their bodies, often over their mouths.

Just eight minutes ago, the NYTimes has referenced a Twitter post by opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi: “I am prepared For martyrdom, go on strike if I am arrested”.

Before taking a right turn in this article — which I’m about to do — let me remind American readers that Rahnavard and Mousavi were part of the protests to overthrow the American-backed Shah of Iran in 1979.

In backing democratic rights for Iranian women, we must not assume that this movement represents a love affair with the U.S.

In today’s Google search on Rahnavard being called Iran’s Michelle Obama, I came across a photo of Carla Bruni, which took me to a well-written, articulate Tehran woman blogger “Pedestrian”.

I post Bruni’s photo not only to be provocative, but to underscore the “clash of cultures” aspect of Western life and the values of the Middle East.

Spending a few minutes trying to connect the Bruni photo with text, I gave up.

Presumably Pedestrian has commented on this photo somewhere in her blog. I invite her to direct us to her comments about Bruni.

Google delivered me to a post called “First Wives Club”, written Jul 29th, 2008 by Pedestrian.

The visual looked like a post from Mrs-O, and the writing was tersely critical:

Who are the wives of Middle Eastern rulers?

All around the world, first wives are more exemplary of luxurious mantelpiece decorations than real, decisive policy makers.

From Suha Arafat, the eccentric wife of the late Palestanian authority Yasser Arafat, to, Jackie Kennedy and Carla Bruni, it is their taste in clothes, and lavish lifestyles that garner our attention. Come it election season, in many parts of the Western world they are often portrayed as “important” assets but this particular blogger believes that to be more to do with a media obsession than a real, decisive issue. Rather than an aid to the president, they serve as a window to his soul, mind and/or libido. An arm piece with which we can indulge.

Writing about the esteemed Queen Rania, Pedestrian says: And nowhere else has it worked better than Jordan - a puppet state from its creation. A country where a cruel dictator and a clueless bimbo trot the globe reaping aid for his brutality and her wardrobe.

I’m clear that Pedestrian would dissect me totally in my support for Queen Rania. Spending 20 minutes on an Iranian woman’s blog isn’t enough to comprehend her issues and global point of view, but it’s clear that she supports the current government.

I’m intrigued with Pedestrian because she’s living through these moments in Iran and while she has a sophisticated taste and intellect, she’s highly opinionated on the subject of Smart Sensuality women.

She reminds me of Magatte Wade, with an in-your-face attitude about Western values and Westerners like me. Perhaps it is justified.

There’s no backtracking for Anne now, but more a sense of curiosity about how many young Iranian women share this view of Bruni, Queen Rania, and even Michelle Obama.

Pedestrian is posting today, live from Iran. She writes that the “greens” are mostly living in California, not Tehran. I’m not sure that her view is supported by the photos and news coming out of Iran.

Reality is that discovering her blog gave me a unique opportunity to share with you the writing and mindset of a young Iranian woman who supports the current government and despises just about every woman I admire here at Anne of Carversville.

We have a chance also to learn about a differing point of view, from a calm, reasonable young woman. There is no solution to a stable future for the world, if opposing minds can’t converse. I believe I can learn a lot from Pedestrian. Anne

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