eevents inLondon IIranian art oof Mossadeq revisited ● SSPECIAL ISSUE r v f

a

AAcademic sanctions P e M n c n i o a E a t s s n d

s C

e i a n a m r

d I t L

i e A c ● o q n Streetart s L

S d r a e t o

n r v I e n c i S e s t i i t o t

S e a n d r s U t

● ● ● Iran'sliterary tradition E

IranandShakespeare I OOil andthecoup I r r a : a i

n l IIRAN

n a ' R s

n a

l d n A i t

d e t h

N r S a e r h

y – c a

o

t k SSIXTY YEARS AFTERTHECOUP r u e a p I s d

p X i ● t e i o MossadeqandtheInternational Bank M T a n r

o e Y ● s

Politics,broadcasting andrégime change ● s P

Y Iran'senvironment a o I d r l a i E e t n i q c ' A s

s a

, e

n R b n d r v o

S t i a h r o

d e A n c

I m a n F December 2013 – January 2014 2013–January DDecember s t e e t e T i n r c n n e t g E

m a ●

t a b

R i PPLUS o n e VVolume 10-Number 1 r n d L o

T 2 a

l U r u 0 l é

m 1 H S B g 3 e

a i

m RReviews and –

E 1 n

J 0 e e k a

v

- C n ● c

i N u e h

O a TThe fall u w a r m h n y s U e

g

b 2 a

e e 0 f n r a P ££4 1

● d 4 4 1 l l

VVolumeolume 1100 - NumberNumber 1 DDecemberecember 22013013 – JanuaryJanuary 22014014 ££44

SSPECIALPECIAL IISSUESSUE: IIRANRAN – SSIXTYIXTY YYEARSEARS AAFTERFTER TTHEHE COUPCOUP ● AAcademiccademic sanctionssanctions ● OOilil andand thethe coupcoup ● MMossadeqossadeq andand thethe InternationalInternational BankBank ● TThehe ffallall ofof MMossadeqossadeq revisitedrevisited ● IIran'sran's lliteraryiterary traditiontradition ● PPolitics,olitics, bbroadcastingroadcasting andand régimerégime cchangehange ● IIranianranian artart ● SStreettreet aartrt ● IIranran aandnd ShakespeareShakespeare ● IIran'sran's eenvironmentnvironment ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LondonLondon

Parastou Forouhar, Thousand and One Day, 2008 About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI)

Volume 10 - Number 1 Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide December 2013 – teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle January 2014 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between Editorial Board individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Professor Nadje Al-Ali SOAS membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Ms Narguess Farzad has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle SOAS East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Mr Roger Hardy it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its King's College, London programme of activities. Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists Mr Najm Jarrah Dr George Joff é Mission Statement: Cambridge University Mr Max Scott Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Gilgamesh Publishing East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Ms Sarah Searight British Foundation for the Study those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in of Arabia London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Dr Kathryn Spellman Poots AKU and LMEI Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Dr Sarah Stewart SOAS and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Mrs Ionis Th ompson Saudi-British Society and BFSA Dr Shelagh Weir SOAS LMEI Staff: Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Director Dr Hassan Hakimian Co-ordinating Editor Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking Sarah Johnson Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Listings Vincenzo Paci Designer Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor: Shahla Geramipour Th e Middle East in London is published Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Please send your letters to the editor at fi ve times a year by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal the LMEI address provided (see left panel) views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their or email [email protected] Publisher and organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's Editorial Offi ce Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the Th e London Middle East Institute magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the SOAS University of London LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy Th ornaugh Street, Russell Square of claims made by advertisers. London WC1H 0XG United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ ISSN 1743-7598 Contents

4 19 EDITORIAL Th e writing’s on the wall: street art in Iran LMEI Board of Trustees 5 Haleh Anvari Professor Paul Webley (Chair) Director, SOAS INSIGHT Professor Richard Black, SOAS Economic sanctions: a threat to 21 Dr John Curtis British Museum academic freedom Recalling the future: H E Sir Vincent Fean KCVO Hassan Hakimian post-revolutionary Iranian art Consul General to Jerusalem Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS 7 22 Mr Alan Jenkins IRAN Iran’s environment – a looming Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS Oil and the 1953 coup disaster? Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Dr Barbara Zollner Ervand Abrahamian Morad Tahbaz Birkbeck College 9 24 LMEI Advisory Council Mossadeq and the intervention REVIEWS Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) of the International Bank BOOKS Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS Homa Katouzian Th e Power and the People: Paths

Mr Stephen Ball of Resistance in the Middle East KPMG 11 Atef Alshaer H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Sixty years on: the fall of Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani 25 Arab International Women’s Forum Mossadeq revisited Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Oliver Bast BOOKS IN BRIEF President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS 13 27 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Th e coup and Iran’s literary RESTAURANT

Mr Farad Azima tradition Kateh NetScientifi c Plc Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak Nadje Al-Ali and Mark Douglas Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. Ms Zeynep Dereli 15 28 APCO Worldwide Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna Politics, broadcasting and OBITUARY British Egyptian Society régime change Keith Stanley McLachlan HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Roger Hardy Tony Allan Kingdom of Jordan Mr Zaki Nusseibeh 17 29 Iran’s love aff air with EVENTS IN LONDON Founding Patron and Member of the Shakespearean drama Advisory Council Narguess Farzad Sheikh Mohamed bin Issa al Jaber MBI Al Jaber Foundation

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Peter Brinson and Kurosh ValaNejad

DDearear RReadereader

An image from the Cat and the Coup, a documentary video game about the 1953 coup in Iran Narguess Farzad, Hassan Hakimian MEL Editorial Board

s 2013 draws to a close, Iran's tense and political commentators. First, Ervand concerns about environmental issues in Iran nuclear negotiations with the group Abrahamian explores the confl ict between are discussed by Morad Tahbaz who warns Aof 5+1 have been totally absorbing. imperialism and nationalism placing that air pollution in large cities, threats to But this year also marks another important the nationalisation of Iranian oil in the vanishing forests and drying-up of lakes stand-off between Iran and the West: that wider context of the struggle for control is reaching crisis point. On a happier of the 60th anniversary of the US and British of the oil industry globally. Second, Homa note, Haleh Anvari and a short report on backed coup that removed Mohammad Katouzian looks at the intermediation of a forthcoming exhibition in the Brunei Mossadeq, Iran’s popular premier, from the International Bank for Reconstruction Gallery refl ect on dynamic developments in offi ce and aborted one of the earliest and Development (IBRD) to end the crisis post-revolutionary Iranian art, whether on brushes with democracy in our region. Th is and how Mossadeq could have avoided walls, in the streets or on canvas. Narguess event has unsurprisingly had a profound the coup. In a somewhat sharp contrast Farzad off ers a look at Iran’s particular impact on Iranians' collective memory, to both these views, Oliver Bast argues fondness for Shakespearean drama followed shaping not only the internal politics and that the sapling of democracy in Iran was by a mouth-watering account of an evening external relations of the country but also not uprooted in August 1953 with the in the Persian restaurant Kateh from our more widely its contemporary art and fall of Mossadeq but rather a decade later resident gourmet connoisseurs – Nadje Al- literature. in 1963. And what of the position of the Ali and Mark Douglas. Th e contentious issue of economic media, and in particular the BBC, in those Finally, it is with profound sadness that sanctions against Iran has been debated turbulent summer months of 1953? Roger we mark the death of our former colleague, time and again but the indirect fallout Hardy off ers an in-depth assessment of the an unwavering friend of, and expert on, of these far-reaching measures is rarely controversial role of the Persian language Iran – Keith McLachlan. discussed. In his insight piece, Hassan service at that time – a topic fi ercely debated Hakimian sheds light on one such aspect – to this day. Season’s Greetings and best wishes for 2014. their eff ects on academic freedom in general Mossadeq’s forced removal also aff ected and international academic collaborations the outlook and dreams of several and exchanges in particular. generations of Iranian poets. Ahmad Th ree articles in this issue refl ect the Karimi-Hakkak looks at some of these and political reverberations of the 1953 coup, examines how the coup has since shaped representing a broad spectrum of views the poetry landscape in Iran. of Iranian and non-Iranian historians Beyond the coup, the ever-increasing

4 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IINSIGHTNSIGHT

Hassan Hakimian warns that sanctions against Iranian researchers and academic institutions are little understood and can be a threat to academic freedom globally EEconomicconomic ssanctions:anctions: a tthreathreat ttoo aacademiccademic ffreedomreedom © U.S. Mission Geneva/Eric Bridiers

US Secretary of State John Kerry at negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 group in Geneva in November. The tough sanctions regime featured centrally in these talks

uch has been said recently of the of these complex and potentially drawn out lives of ordinary people. Unemployment unilateral EU and US economic negotiations, an important – yet ominous and infl ation – hallmarks of economic Msanctions against Iran and their – aspect of the evolving sanctions saga has mismanagement during Ahmadinejad’s debilitating impact on its economy in been largely overlooked. eight-year presidency – have scaled new general and the standard of living of its Leaked internal memos from two of the heights. Economic contraction – estimated population in particular. Opinion has academic world’s publishing giants suggest at 1.3 per cent last year – has deepened been broadly divided between those who that international diplomacy may have further this year with the Rouhani view economic sanctions as amounting quietly permeated the world of research administration projecting a negative growth to collective punishment, ultimately and publications with adverse eff ects on of 5.4 per cent for 2013. Iranian currency being counter productive to international academic freedom well beyond Iran. (the Rial) has lost more than two-thirds of diplomacy, and those who favour them as Since the UN Security Council its value in less than a year with widespread a better ‘alternative’ to war. More recently, introduced multilateral and internationally reports of shortages of medicine and feverish speculation about the new tone enforceable sanctions against Iran’s military medical supplies due to Iran’s diffi culties and scope of discussions with Iran’s new industry in 2006, the country’s economy with international payments. Th e tough administration has raised aspirations for a has been battered by a raft of unilateral sanctions regime – described by Vice potential settlement of Iran’s nuclear measures adopted by the US and EU. President Biden in his election trail as ‘the stand-off with the West leading to an easing Th ese have targeted Iran’s strategic sectors most crippling sanctions in the history of of economic sanctions in due course. including oil, international fi nance, shipping sanctions, period, period’ – has featured While the jury is still out on the outcome and insurance, wreaking havoc on the centrally in recent negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 group and is also likely to If greater transparency is key to understanding Iran’s come as a serious constraint for the Obama administration vis-à-vis the Congress and nuclear intentions, why not encourage scientifi c publications Senate in the US. as a way of lift ing the lid of secrecy on Iran’s know how? Th at was until international publishing

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 5 Since December 2012, the EU has added Sharif in itself that Iranian academics manage to produce any signifi cant research. If these University – Iran’s highest-ranking university for obstacles were not enough, since December engineering and technology – to the sanctions list 2012, the EU has added Sharif University – Iran’s highest ranking university for engineering and technology – to the houses entered the frame. Two recently stop at the door of a given nationality sanctions list. leaked internal memos – one from Elsevier on either side of the divide? Academics Sanctions against academics on the in May, another from the Taylor and Francis typically operate in international teams basis of their nationality and institutional Group in early July – have reportedly that draw its members from around the affi liation pose a threat to academic freedom barred their US editors from handling world. Th is is true of both editorial boards beyond Iran. Decisions about publications journal articles originating from Iranian on which Iranian academics serve (many and knowledge dissemination are best government entities. Referring to a recent live and work abroad) as well as of joint made on the basis of academic criteria and regulation (number 580.538) by the Offi ce authored works on which diff erent nationals scientifi c merit and not by the imposition of of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), this collaborate. In a world where academic political directives and demands of warring includes entities acting directly, or indirectly, reviews are conducted anonymously, it diplomats or over-cautious editors who may on behalf of the Iranian government would be ill-advised to ask for, and receive, fear the wrath of the US Treasury. including the Central Bank of Iran. Despite proof of citizenship to determine eligibility. Th e ultimate irony is a simple one: if we the fact that Iranian universities and Ambiguities and contradictions aside, uphold freedom of expression and access to research institutions are explicitly exempt there is an even greater irony: if greater knowledge and information in all countries from this ruling, the bar is nevertheless set transparency is a key step forward to around the globe including Iran, then we are low with ‘direct government funding’ set as understanding Iran’s nuclear intentions, hard pushed to justify instituting obstacles the main criterion for defi ning whether an why not encourage scientifi c publications that restrict them on such an international entity is within or outside of the scope of as a way of lift ing the lid of secrecy on Iran’s scale. these sanctions. know-how? Th e implications of such broad, Sanctions exacerbate internal challenges Hassan Hakimian is a Reader in the ambiguous and ultimately contradictory many academics already grapple with. Economics Department and Director of the directives can be drastic both for the Th anks to hurdles with international London Middle East Institute at SOAS. His principles they breach and with regard to payments, for some time now they have new book Iran and the Global Economy: the problem of interpretation by over- been unable to use credit cards to pay Petro Populism, Islam and Economic cautious or over-zealous editors. submission fees for academic journals or Sanctions is co-edited with Parvin Alizadeh First, a focus on the source of university register at conferences. Moreover, limited and published by Routledge (November 2013) funding is a poor guide to Iran’s nuclear means and bureaucratic interferences by intentions. In an oil-rich country where the political system and a cadre of senior the arm of the state is long and its pocket management selected on the basis of their deep, most – almost all – universities are ideological purity make it an impressive feat bankrolled by the state. Th is is true of most public universities: since 2009, medicine © C - M Messkoub and medical science have come under the umbrella of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) with others covered by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (MSRT). In practice at least, it is very diffi cult to separate the public and private domains in Iran with genuine academics in most Iranian universities likely to become easy targets for these sanctions. Second, where geographical and institutional obstacles to information sharing and knowledge transfer have been falling faster than the Berlin wall – and nowhere is this truer than in the academic world where multinational, collaborative projects are the norm if not a requirement for success in funding – how could one

Young fan in Tehran celebrates the success of Iran's footfall team to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil soon after the election of President Rouhani in June 2013

6 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Ervand Abrahamian argues that the overthrow of Mossadeq in 1953 has to be understood in the context of the struggle for control of the global oil industry OOilil andand tthehe © L.C.Nøttaasen 11953953 ccoupoup

The US and the UK wanted to have control over Iran's oil - the main source of revenue in the country

n the last sixty years much has been which the latter readily accepted but the to Mossadeq such as Stephen Kinzer, written on the 1953 coup. Even more has former, unfortunately for all, did not. Th is Christopher de Bellaigue, Malcolm Ibeen written on the oil crisis of 1951-53 rejection led the US to reluctantly join Byre, William Roger Louis and Mark – so much so that we can now say there is the UK in overthrowing Mossadeq. Th e Gasiorowski. Writing in the Middle East an established narrative on the whole crisis. US, according to this interpretation, was Journal this year, Gasiorowski, for example, According to this narrative, as soon as Iran motivated mainly by the concern that the claimed that the coup had much to do with nationalised the oil industry, the US entered continued crisis would eventually cause Iran the Cold War and not with oil because the the fray as an ‘honest’ and ‘impartial broker’ to fall into the lap of the Soviet Empire. US readily ‘embraced’ nationalisation and accepting nationalisation and persuading Th is narrative has been repeated so easily persuaded the UK to do the same. its close ally, the UK, to do so also. It off ered oft en in the West that it has been accepted Readers awestruck by these authors both Iran and the UK a fair ‘compromise’ even by commentators highly sympathetic exposing the cloak-and-dagger mechanics of the coup do not realise these same ‘We can be fl exible in profi ts, administration, authors are ultimately placing the blame on Mossadeq – i.e. they are blaming the or partnership, but not in the issue of control’ victim. Some mitigate the blame by arguing

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 7 Th e American and British hope was to Although confi dential documents laid bare the negotiating strategy of both somehow persuade, pressure, sweet talk or Britain and America, one did not have to hoodwink Mossadeq into accepting a compromise wait for their long-delayed release to see through their double-talk. Very early in that Mossadeq was misled by bad advisers, which dominated the global petroleum the oil crisis, Professor L. P. Elwell-Sutton, intimidated by extremists who would refuse industry from the mid 1940s to the 1970s, who had worked for AIOC and knew the any settlement, or perhaps immobilised by declared this would be the end of Western company well, wrote in his classic Persian a presumed martyrdom complex inherited ‘civilisation’ as they knew it. Another Oil: A Study in Power Politics in 1955: ‘Th e from his Shi’i culture. In August last year, claimed it would be better to have Iran go British attitude was that in return for their the Washington Post, in praising Bellaigue’s communist than carry out a successful recognition of nationalisation, the Persian laudatory biography of Mossadeq, claimed nationalisation. At times, this fear reached government should forego its insistence on the Prime Minister never appreciated how absurd levels. Th e United Fruit Company that principle.’ far Britain had come to meet his demands presented a brief to the US Senate Foreign Th e fact that so many writers, so many and the tragedy of the whole story was Relations Committee arguing that if Iran got years aft er the crisis and so long aft er the that he could not bring himself to accept away with nationalisation the whole of the declassifi cation of documents, continue a compromise that would have saved the US banana industry in Guatemala would be to be wedded to the notion that the West honour of both Iran and Britain. endangered. accepted nationalisation and off ered Th e main problem with this conventional Confi dential papers drawn up by the State Mossadeq a ‘fair compromise deal’ should interpretation is that it readily accepts Department as well as the Foreign Offi ce, provide us with serious food for thought. Western public declarations at face value by British as well as American negotiators, and ignores what was being demanded by petroleum experts in AIOC as well as Ervand Abrahamian is Distinguished of Iran behind closed doors. As soon as in the American oil companies, show that Professor of Iranian and Middle Eastern the crisis started in April 1951, the US the US and the UK were willing to accept History and Politics at Baruch College, developed a formula which it doggedly nationalisation as a ‘cloak’, ‘veneer’, and CUNY, New York. His latest book Th e Coup: kept to for the next 26 months and which ‘façade’ so long as they did not lose actual 1953, Th e CIA, and the Roots of Modern it managed to persuade the UK to accept control. George McGhee, the US Under US-Iranian Relations was published by the without much diffi culty. According to this Secretary of State responsible for negotiating New Press earlier this year formula, the UK and US would accept with Mossadeq consistently reassured not the principle of nationalisation and the only the British government and AIOC right of Iran as a sovereign state to have but also the major American oil companies ultimate authority over its natural resources, that under no circumstances would the but actual control of the oil industry US permit loss of control of the running of had to remain in the hands of either the the oil installations to Iran. He argued that Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) the US would never support a settlement or a consortium of Western companies. that would ‘injure the fabric of the world A British negotiator put it bluntly: the oil industry.’ In his memoires published problem was how to pay ‘lip service to the in 1983, McGhee wrote that the obvious notion of nationalisation while keeping solution was to accept nationalisation as eff ective power of this asset in our hands.’ ‘the expressed desire of the Iranian people,’ Mohammad Mossadeq - A Private Photo His American counterpart put it equally but, at the same time, ‘retain control’ over succinctly: the term ‘nationalisation’ would oil production. He never explained how this © Hassan Hakimian not be a problem because in any future could be done. Some would accuse him of arrangement ‘control of operations’ would Orwellian double-talk. remain out of the hands of Iran. Th e UK Th e American and British hope was to Foreign Offi ce recognised the real issue somehow persuade, pressure, sweet talk or early on when it admitted that ‘the fi nancial hoodwink Mossadeq into accepting such aspect is not uttermost in Persian minds a compromise. Th ey subjected him to a but the core of the matter is the feeling that torrent of details on prices, on diff erences they have no control over the main source between crude and refi ned, on rates in the of their revenue.’ It added that ‘whatever Mexican versus Persian Gulf, and on the arrangements we arrive at, they should be complexities of fi nding markets and tankers. such that we keep eff ective control of the He would cut through the thick details assets in our hands ... We can be fl exible in to the core issue: who would control the profi ts, administration, or partnership, but industry, its production, refi ning and sale? not in the issue of control.’ Th e Western negotiators claimed they were Under no circumstances was Iran trying to educate him. He rightly suspected to have control over its oil industry – they were trying to take him for a ride. such a calamity would trigger waves of Once he refused to oblige, they determined nationalisations in other countries. One to remove him through either political or of the Seven Sisters, the oil companies military means.

8 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Homa Katouzian sheds light on a missed opportunity for averting the oil crisis MMosaddeqosaddeq aandnd tthehe iinterventionntervention ooff tthehe IInternationalnternational BBankank

General Fazlollah Zahedi and soldiers drive jeeps through Tehran

he 1953 coup and the failure of the Th e Popular Movement would have of the Iranian National Oil Company, Popular Movement of Iran (Nehzat-e succeeded if the government had (1) something similar to, but better, than TMelli-ye Iran) were not inevitable. enforced the law and stamped out plots the Consortium Oil Agreement which Mosaddeq and many of his colleagues against it by its right and left opposition; was made aft er the coup. Th is was not repeatedly emphasised that the primary and (2) settled the oil dispute in the best acceptable because the political aim of the objective of oil nationalisation was to ‘possible’ way. oil nationalisation was to remove a foreign remove the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Th e two earlier British solutions company’s control of Iranian oil. However, from Iran, thus stopping its infl uence on off ered by Jackson and Stokes included the two later solutions off ered jointly by domestic politics and achieving political the establishment of an international Britain and America did not envisage this independence which would allow the purchasing company to act on behalf condition but demanded that compensation country to progress along the path of parliamentary democracy. Th e economic issue of increasing Iran’s oil revenue, though Accepting arbitration would have been costly, highly important, was second in the minds and public declarations of Mosaddeq and but it would have fulfi lled Iran’s principal aim of his men. controlling its own oil, and becoming fully independent

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 9 include the loss of business to the Anglo- Mosaddeq told the two senators that he was personally in favour Iranian Oil Company as a result of the cancellation of the remaining forty years of the intervention, but if he accepted it (without inserting of the 1933 concession, to be decided by ‘for and on behalf of Iran’), people would accuse him of treason the arbitration of the International Court of Justice. Iran was prepared to accept the Court’s arbitration but only if it considered and his [sic] treacherous face was seen by development. When, a year and a half compensation for the loss of the Company’s all.’ Th e Tudeh’s real concern was anti-US aft er the failure of the Bank’s intervention, property, not loss of business due to the struggle in support of the Soviet Union Mosaddeq decided to close the seventeenth cancellation of the concession. Accepting during the Cold War, which they repeated Majlis by referendum, at least one of his arbitration on the basis of ‘loss of business’ decades later during the hostage-taking of motives was that he feared the discovery would have been costly, but it would have US diplomats in Iran. by the Majlis that he had secretly printed fulfi lled Iran’s principal aim of controlling Th e government nevertheless entered into money to help relieve the economy in the its own oil, becoming fully independent, negotiations with the Bank representatives. face of the oil boycott. Th e measure had and promoting political as well as economic Th ere were some queries about the Persian been sensible but would not have been development. Th e second and last solution Gulf price of $1.75, and the 58 cent necessary had the Bank’s mission not failed. off ered by the US and Britain was presented ‘discount for the major buyer’ (i.e. Britain). to the Iranian government in February- A more important diffi culty was that Iran Homa Katouzian is a member of the Faculty March 1953 and, if on that basis, the was reluctant to let the Bank employ any of Oriental Studies at the University of government had agreed to go to arbitration, British technicians in its operations, but this Oxford and Editor of Iranian Studies. He has the coup, for which preparations were being too was not something which would have written extensively on Iranian history, society, made, would not have happened. stopped the agreement. economics and politics, and is winner of the Long before this, however, in winter Th e agreement did not succeed merely SINA Award for contributions to Humanities, 1952, when Mosaddeq had won the because Iran suggested that in its preamble 2013. His latest book – Iran: Politics, History argument in the UN Security Council; that the Bank was acting ‘for and on behalf and Literature – was published by Routledge the Popular Movement had not split; the of the Iranian government’, which would in 2013 Shah publicly supported the Movement; contravene the Bank’s neutrality and would and Iranian oil had not yet been boycotted; never be acceptable to Britain. It was on Th e International Bank for Reconstruction this petty legal wrangle that the whole and Development (later the World Bank) scheme collapsed and the Bank delegation came forward with a temporary solution. left Iran. But just before they left , Senators Th ey off ered to act as an intermediary for Mohammad Soruri and Abolqasem Najm two years between the Iranian government al-Molk – both of them government and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and supporters, Soruri becoming President of the British government, by taking over the Supreme Court a few months later – oil operations at their own expense, and pleaded with Mosaddeq to accept the Bank’s dividing the net earnings into three parts: intervention. Mosaddeq told them that he a part to be paid to the former company, a was personally in favour, but if he accepted part to the Iranian government and a part it (without inserting the words ‘for and on to be divided by the two parties aft er they behalf of Iran’), the people of Iran would Iranian soldiers surround the Parliament building in Tehran in 1953 reached a fi nal settlement. accuse him of treason. Th e idea did not appeal to the Th is was the greatest missed Conservative government in Britain at opportunity in the whole of the Anglo- the time, which was reluctant to deal with Iranian oil dispute; it would have been Mosaddeq. Th ey had to consider America’s tantamount to a ceasefi re declaration. Oil favourable attitude towards the Bank’s production would have resumed and there proposal, however, and they accepted it would have been plenty of time to resolve with some reluctance. Mosaddeq was at the dispute in a peaceful atmosphere, which fi rst highly open to the suggestion and, aft er is likely to have been more favourable to some preparatory work, the Bank sent a Iran than any of the solutions later off ered high-level mission to Tehran led by Robert by Britain and the US. L. Garner, a Vice President at the Bank. Th e Th e failure of the Bank’s intervention led Bank’s representatives had hardly set foot in to the international boycott of Iranian oil, Tehran when the Tudeh (communist) party leaving Iran with no choice but to resort to led a hysterical press campaign against it, the policy of non-oil economics. Th is they declaring treason and, inter alia, wrote in managed fairly well by taking appropriate, its Teaching Pamphlet No 12: ‘When ... the if unpopular, measures. But it could only wheeling and dealing with the International last for a short period because the country Bank proved our views about Mosaddeq was poor, foreign exchange scarce, the cost and his demagogic gang, then the mask of of running the oil industry with hardly any the enemies of the people was torn apart oil income high, and no hope for economic

10 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Oliver Bast questions whether Mossadeq was the hero that he is so often portrayed to be SSixtyixty yearsyears oon:n: tthehe ffallall ooff MossadeqMossadeq revisitedrevisited

Mohammad Mossadeq pictured with Zartoshty children

hen, in 2012, BBC Persian TV territorial state, he also bequeathed many is habitually described as an event in which polled its audience on the greatest of the city of Isfahan’s architectural gems the democratically elected Iranian Prime WIranian of all time, only one to Iran and indeed to the whole world, as Minister, a beacon of self-determination personality of the modern era fi gured on the recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage and anti-imperialism, whose plucky six-strong shortlist: Mohammad Mossadeq, List. nationalisation of Iran’s oil resources had who was twice Iran’s Prime Minister With Mossadeq not having comparable earned him the wrath of the West, was between 1951 and 1953. Six-hundred achievements to his name, one might illegally overthrown due to the meddling years separated Mossadeq from the person be forgiven for asking what the reasons of Anglo-American secret agents: their that was the second closest to the present- were for the late Iranian Prime Minister’s boundless cash and superior intelligence day on this list: the classical poet Hafez inclusion in such a shortlist. Th ey lie, expertise allowed them to orchestrate the (d. 1389/90). Th e BBC’s shortlist did not of course, in the perception of the treacherous deeds of a horde of Iranian include Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1926-1941), circumstances of Mossadeq’s violent hirelings. the authoritarian soldier who ruthlessly removal from offi ce sixty years ago, at the Mossadeq was popular during most of forged the modern Iranian nation-state with height of the early Cold War. His downfall his premiership. Nowhere is this better blood and iron between 1921 and 1941. Th ere was also no sign of Shah Isma’il I (r. 1501-1524), the founder of the Safavid Turning Mossadeq’s downfall as a caesura of dynasty nor, indeed, of Shah Abbas I (r. epic proportions into a veritable hour zero for Iran’s 1587-1629), a later Safavid ruler. Shah Abbas I not only consolidated Isma’il’s new modern history, is as ahistorical as it is wrong

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 11 illustrated than in the huge demonstrations History, academic history at any rate, is in his favour in July 1952 aft er the Prime Minister had stepped down over served badly by erecting high pedestals a constitutional disagreement with the monarch, and which compelled the latter day? Why did they (and the communists) downfall at that particular juncture in the to reappoint Mossadeq. However, at not come out en masse on 20 August 1953, history of the Cold War, regardless of how the time of his overthrow on 19 August demanding Mossadeq’s reinstatement as it was achieved, may not have been in Iran’s 1953, Mossadeq’s premiership lacked they had done the previous summer? best interests, even if, at the same time, it constitutional legitimacy since he had At the more general level it is not clear also benefi ted the interests of the Western chosen to disregard the Shah’s legal decree whether Mossadeq’s premiership had not powers, whose meddling no-one denies? I dismissing him on 15/16 August 1953. already hit the buff ers by the summer of realise that posing such a question amounts Murkier is the question as to what degree 1953 in any case, and as a result of a variety to an unspeakable heresy. In response, Mossadeq’s downfall, with regard to the of reasons not necessarily related to the the proponents of the orthodox view will specifi c date of 19 August 1953 and more Anglo-American attempts directed at be quick to point out that the overthrow generally, can be attributed to the manifold undermining him. Mossadeq had lost the of Mossadeq forever closed the door to a activities of Anglo-American agents in support of many of his erstwhile political democratic development in Iran, resulting Iran. Th at is the prevailing view and one allies who had not turned against him just in Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s authoritarian that denies Iranians any meaningful agency because the Anglo-Americans had told rule, which in turn led Iran to become within the episode. As for the narrower them to. Th us his premiership had become the Islamic Republic. Moreover, they see issue of the 19 August, it is clear that increasingly authoritarian with Mossadeq the American interference in Iran as the Mossadeq’s successful resistance to the resorting to undemocratic measures that root cause of the still-prevailing Iranian earlier attempt to remove him from offi ce sit oddly with the received wisdom about anti-Americanism. I beg to diff er. Iran on 16 August had left those who had been him: at one point Mossadeq prevented did not become entirely undemocratic plotting against him in utter disarray. Th e scores of elected deputies that he suspected immediately aft er 1953, and certainly not Shah fl ed abroad, one of the key American might oppose him from taking their seats before 1963. Concerning the rise of anti- agents was talking of organising his own in parliament, accusing them of being in Americanism, here the underlying cause furtive departure from Iran, while the the pay of foreign powers, nor did he shy seems to be the unfortunate 1964 Status US ambassador told Washington that away from ‘rigging’ a referendum. His of Forces Agreement, not the events of 19 they would have to continue living with intransigence in the nationalisation dispute August 1953. Indeed, turning Mossadeq’s Mossadeq for some time to come. Yet, just yielded virtually nothing for Iran, when downfall as a caesura of epic proportions three days later, Mossadeq, who would have a more conciliatory approach might have into a veritable hour zero for Iran’s modern had time to organise his defences, fell with at least secured a partial advantage from history is as ahistorical as it is wrong. little resistance. Th e question is to which which to push for further gains. Mossadeq’s Mossadeq secured his place on that BBC force, led by whom, did he fall on that day? constant conjuring up the threat, vis-à-vis shortlist because of the courage with which Also, if Mossadeq had been as massively the Americans, of a great communist tidal he pursued his noble aspirations. His valiant popular at that moment as is the prevailing wave, which he, and only he, was able to struggle for Iran’s complete mastery of her contention, where were Mossadeq’s stem, may well have helped fuel the US Cold own national resources continues to inspire supporters and, more importantly, why did War concerns rather than alleviating them. present-day Iranians and non-Iranians they not take to the streets on the following Th us, I wonder whether Mossadeq’s alike. Th is legacy, however, must not preclude critical enquiry into Mossadeq’s political life and times. History, academic history at any rate, is served badly by erecting high pedestals.

Oliver Bast is a Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Manchester and the co-convenor of the international conference on Mossadeq on 6-7 September 2013, supported by BIPS and the Iran Heritage Foundation

Civilians and soldiers surround a tank during the 1953 coup

12 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak examines how the coup infl uenced Iran’s literature TThehe ccoupoup aandnd IIran’sran’s lliteraryiterary ttraditionradition

Akhavan-Saless, whose pen name was M. Omid, was a prominent Iranian poet

t is oft en hazardous to posit a direct in prevailing moods may in turn bring political upheavals surrounding what is connection between political changes about shift s in the works of social groups oft en referred to simply as ‘the coup’ are Iand shift s in literary expression. While that tend to refl ect or record them. seen as the most signifi cant watershed not the winds of political change may blow Still, we would be pressed to point to just in the country’s political history but overnight, changes in literature almost events in the political history of modern in its cultural history as well, including always manifest themselves in slow, gradual Iran that are believed widely to have rattled the production and dissemination of progressions. It would, therefore, be diffi cult the nation as much as those of the years literary works and the ideas and emotions to see a cause and eff ect connection between 1951-53, particularly those volatile summer governing such texts. For many Iranians, the two spheres of politics and culture. Still, days that culminated in quick succession this was not only the Pahlavi monarchy’s one can fi nd events of social and political in the humiliating departure of Shah trial by fi re, and the beginning of the end signifi cance that have had consequences for Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, the spectacular of the country’s supposed 2,500-year-long artistic and literary production. Changes fall of Mohammad Mosaddeq, and the monarchical system, but the beginning of a that may lead to perceptible modifi cations shah’s triumphal return. To this day, the sense of frigidity and gloom in the literature of Iran. Chroniclers of contemporary Persian literature have Chroniclers of contemporary Persian literature have seen the coup as apocalyptic seen the coup as apocalyptic to devastating, its impact to devastating, its impact on literary on literary expression as nothing short of catastrophic expression as nothing short of catastrophic.

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 13 It was not until 1970 when a guerrilla movement energised younger and more radical left emerged that we see a more positive, if still idealistic, began to come together with the traditional democratic forces in the middle and sundry mood appearing on the left of the political spectrum religious groups on the right, and seriously challenge the state’s legitimacy. And the poet who best illustrates the mood dark vision bordering on the apocalyptic; Th e plethora of poems, stories and other and most extensively exemplifi es this feeling it also turns into an abiding feature of forms of literature written since the early is Mehdi Akhavan Saless (1930-1990), a the emerging canon of the so-called New 1950s manifests the desire to see a coming poet of tremendous promise whose career Poetry. In one particularly prophetic poem together of all these oppositional forces and was defi ned by the coup. Reading Zemestan titled Terrestrial Verses the opening lines when all this happened a new revolutionary (Winter, 1956), his fi rst major collection of herald the end of the world thus: ‘Th en/ movement began to take shape, eventually poetry 60 years aft er the coup, it is hard to the sun cooled/ and fertility left the earth’. culminating in the Iranian Revolution of believe that the man was only 23 when the Th e poem goes on to depict the horrifying 1978-83. coup took place and 27 when that book was impact on the intellectual community in published. It seems as though he had aged at these words: Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak is Professor and least 40 years in the four years that separated Founding Director of the Centre for Persian the two events. Th ere is an inevitable sense ‘Swamps of alcohol Studies at the University of Maryland. He in reading the title poem, for instance, that exuding dry deadly gases is a leading expert on Persian language and the man must have gone through bitter attracted inert masses of intellectuals literature and Iranian culture and civilisation experiences that have made their mark on to their depths and author of nineteen books and over 100 his mind and soul. while in antique cabinets major scholarly articles As the poem opens, the speaker, an old, pernicious rats gnawed utterly defeated man, stands shivering at the golden leaves of books.’ behind a closed tavern door begging to be let in to drown himself in the liquid that Th e prose literature of the 1940s and appears to be his only solace. And as it ends, early 50s was even more explicit in its we see an assertion of the kind of cosmic condemnation of the ruling classes and deep freeze that, to him, as to the many direr in foregrounding doom and gloom, at poets who picked up on his mood, as never- times combining it with a desire to return ending: to an imaginary bygone era marked by individual innocence and social purity. ‘Air stifl ing, doors closed, heads bent Jalal Al-e Ahmad’s famous novel Nefrin-e down, hands hidden in pockets Zamin (Cursing of the Land, 1967) hearts weary, pressed connects the dislocations that the Shah’s Simin Daneshvar’s (pictured) novel Savushun trees crystalline skeletons Land Reform programme gave rise to with (1969) linked attempts at revolt with ideas of earth rotten to its core, dome of the sky certain Th ird Worldist notions of a return heroic martyrdom low to village life and farming as a pathway to sun and moon dust-covered: salvation, while his wife Simin Daneshvar’s it’s winter.’ renowned novel Savushun (1969) linked attempts at revolt for the betterment of her A similar emotion, though perhaps society with mythical and religious ideas of not as intense, prevails in Hava-ye Tazeh heroic martyrdom. Appeals to historical or (Fresh Air, 1956), a collection of poems by legendary uprisings also became a feature Ahmad Shamlu. Here, poems bearing titles of this literary tradition, as illustrated by like Bitter Patience, Cold Arsen and Dark the multi-volume novel Kelidar (1980s), Symphony depict doleful idleness on one the narrative of a 1940s revolt in north-east side, callous indiff erence on the other. More Iran. directly related to what the poet perceives to It was not until 1970 when a real guerrilla be the governing emotion, if not the spirit, movement registered itself on Iran’s of the times, in several poems here and in socio-political scene that the prevailing subsequent collections of poetry, we see a mood began to take a more positive, if speaker lamenting the years that have been still idealistic, turn, which appeared in the spent in a futile struggle for a less oppressive wake of a series of newly formed radical ruling class which would allow poets to political movements on the left of the express themselves and their society, rather political spectrum. In response, the Iranian than take on a political system which they government unleashed its security forces think has little legitimacy in the eyes of to crush that movement, thus further the people. A decade or so later, as Forugh widening and deepening the already Farrokhzad was beginning to write her alarming chasm between state and society mature poems, the prevailing mood turns over the preceding two decades. For its part, angrier and more explicitly expressive of a the opposition forces, now comprising an

14 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Roger Hardy looks at the story of the BBC Persian Service – and what it tells us about the relationship between government and broadcaster PPolitics,olitics, bbroadcastingroadcasting aandnd rrégimeégime cchangehange

The Foreign Offi ce initially wanted the BBC to portray the Iranian monarch, Reza Shah (pictured with his son), 'as an energetic modern-minded ruler'

he relationship between the BBC and Service: Th e BBC and British Interests in embassy’s press attaché, Ann Lambton, successive British governments has Iran, is in the press.) drew up a fourteen-point draft detailing Tnever been easy, especially in times of Foreign Offi ce guidelines initially Reza Shah’s corruption and despotism, war and crisis. Th e example of the Persian suggested that the Iranian monarch, Reza which formed the basis of a series of Persian Service illustrates the extent to which Shah, ‘should be presented as an energetic Service broadcasts. (Th e text of the draft can governments have infl uenced, or attempted modern-minded ruler’. However, as his be found in Bullard’s Letters from Tehran, to infl uence, coverage of a sensitive region. pro-German bias became more apparent, 1991.) Th e Shah himself interpreted the Th e Persian Service began broadcasting this attitude changed. In August 1941, with broadcasts as proof that the British were in December 1940, during some of the the prospect of an Anglo-Soviet occupation out to get him. Under intense pressure darkest days of the Second World War. As of Iran, Sir Reader Bullard, the British he abdicated in September 1941 and was Annabelle Sreberny and Massoumeh Torfeh ambassador in Tehran, wrote confi dentially, succeeded by his young son, Mohammed have shown, drawing on offi cial documents ‘To forestall the Germans and make the Reza. and BBC fi les, the Foreign Offi ce and the prospect of occupation more palatable, we British embassy in Tehran were intimately might … release articles and wireless talks British interests and Iranian oil involved in the service’s birth and early life. … referring not only to the good points, Aft er the Second World War, a White (See their article ‘Th e BBC Persian Service but also to the great defects of the present Paper set out the gentlemen’s agreement 1941-1979’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio regime.’ that has governed relations between British and Television, 2008; their book, Persian His bosses in London agreed. Th e governments and the BBC to this day. Th e Corporation should be independent but should broadcast in the ‘national interest’. Th e corporation should be independent but should Each side was left to interpret what this meant in practice. Th e agreement was put broadcast in the ‘national interest’. Each side was to the test in 1951-53, the period between left to interpret what this meant in practice the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 15 Whether the Persian Service was used to transmit to him. Th e Persian Service, for its part, could scarcely fail to cover the swelling a coded signal to the Shah, to strengthen his protest against his rule, once this had faltering morale, has been the subject of debate become a big international story. Conspiracy theorists may conclude that all this proves what they had long Company by the Iranian Prime Minister, began to look somewhat more ambiguous. suspected, that the BBC was (and is) merely Mohammed Mossadeq, and his overthrow My then-BBC colleague Gerald Butt made the voice of British imperialism. But a in an Anglo-American coup two years later. a Radio Four programme exposing the role more accurate assessment would be that Sreberny and Torfeh quote a despatch of Sharq al-Adna, the MI6-run Arabic radio the relationship between government and from the British ambassador, Sir Francis station in Cyprus, in producing clumsy broadcaster changed as the world entered Shepherd, in March 1951 suggesting it anti-Nasser propaganda. Senior BBC the post-colonial age – and as the nature of would be useful to ‘inspire’ the Persian offi cials had, it appeared, ‘connived in the broadcasting changed. Governments have Service to argue the case against government’s decision to convert the station always sought to infl uence broadcasters – nationalisation. Th is was refl ected in a into an open propaganda weapon’ (Richard this was as true in the Iraq war of 2003 as broadcast three days later. At the time, Norton-Taylor, reporting the fi ndings of the it had been earlier – but they have found Iranian nationalists were convinced that programme in the Guardian, 16 September it harder to do so. As Sreberny and Torfeh the BBC took an anti-Mossadeq position, 1994). remark with regard to the World Service, a view shared by Iranian journalists at the It was also revealed that senior BBC its ‘practice of distance from government BBC who went on strike, forcing the BBC to offi cials had known that Eden lied about has emerged over time and not without a bring in British Persian-speakers to read the the true purpose of the Anglo-French struggle to claim and preserve control over broadcasts. intervention – which he claimed was to the content of its broadcasts’. Whether, in the run-up to the coup, separate the combatants (Israel and Egypt). the Persian Service was used to transmit Th e head of the BBC External Services, Roger Hardy was a Middle East analyst with a coded signal to the Shah, to strengthen Hugh Carleton-Greene, was a member of the BBC World Service from 1986 to 2010. his faltering morale, has been the subject a secret government committee whose task He is currently a visiting fellow at King’s of some debate. Th e CIA’s internal history was to produce propaganda against Nasser, College, London, and the LSE of the coup, made public by the New York with the explicit aim of toppling him. All Times, says that it was; so too does C. M. this was explored in greater depth by the Woodhouse, one of the MI6 coup-planners, historian Tony Shaw in his book Eden, Suez in his memoirs (Something Ventured, and the Mass Media (1996). 1982). Before he died, Sir Denis Wright, Th e Iranian revolution of 1979 is beyond who became ambassador in Tehran the scope of a short article. Suffi ce it to say immediately aft er the coup, told me he that the Shah, haunted by the fate of his believed some such coded message had father, was convinced the BBC was hostile indeed been sent. But there is no conclusive proof.

Suez and aft er Th e BBC’s role in the Suez crisis of 1956 marked a turning-point. Brian Lapping, in his book End of Empire (1985), commented that the BBC was ‘probably the only offi cial British institution that emerged from the Suez crisis with its reputation enhanced’. Th e corporation certainly stood up to the Eden government in one important respect: by insisting that, once the prime minister had made a television broadcast on the matter, the Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell must have the right of reply. Th is infuriated Eden, already ill disposed towards ‘those Communists at the BBC’. But forty years aft er Suez, with new documentation available, the BBC’s role

Iranian nationalists were convinced the BBC took an anti-Mossadeq position in March 1951

16 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Narguess Farzad explores the history of the Bard’s tales in Iran and the reasons for their popularity

IIran’sran’s lloveove aff airair wwithith SShakespeareanhakespearean ddramarama A poster advertising this year's International Fajr Theatre Festival where two Shakespeare plays will be staged

he Fajr International Th eatre Festival Memorable phrases such as Budan yā the conjunction of history, mythology, religion and folktales as well as the titanic ﺑﻮﺩﻥ ،ﻥﺩﻭﺏﻥ ﻳﺎ ﺍﻱ ﻧﺒﻮﺩﻥﻥﺩﻭﺏ in Tehran, starting in late December nabudan, mas’ale in ast to be or not to be, that is clashes between the forces of good and evil‘ ﺕﺱﺍ ﻣﺴﺄﻟﻪ ﻥﻱﺍ ﺍﻳﻦ ﻩﻝﺉﺱﻡﺍﺳﺖ Tand continuing through January 2014, will host two Shakespeare plays: the question’ or Mordan, khoft an; khoft an, and allegories of divine or sensual and oft en .tragic love ؛ﻥﺕﻑﺥ ﻣﺮﺩﻥ،ﺧﻔﺘﻦ، ،ﻥﺕﻑﺥ ﺧﻔﺘﻦ،ﻥﺩﺭﻡ ;Desdemona’, an adaptation of Othello by shāyad ham khābidan‘ to die, to sleep; to sleep, Many of Shakespeare’s plays resonate at‘ ﺷﺎﻳﺪ ﻫﻢ ﻥﺩﻱﺏﺍﻭﺥ ﻡﻩ ﺩﻱﺍﺵﺧﻮﺍﺑﻴﺪﻥ the Australian troupe Kropka Th eater, and ‘Macbeth, Tehran, 1392’, written by Iranian perchance to dream’, and agar moosighi several levels in Iranian life today as they explore questions of honour and virtue, love ﻙﺍﺭﻭﺥ ﺍﮔﺮﻣﻮﺳﻴﻘﻰ ﻱﻕﻱﺱﻭﻡ ﺧﻮﺭﺍﻙﺭگﺍ ,Chista Yashrabi, whose play will look at the khorāk-e 'eshq ast if music be the food of love’, are and loyalty, justice and treachery, humour‘ ﺕﺱﺍﻋﺸﻖ ﻕﺵﻉﺍﺳﺖ lives of four generations of Iranians living in Tehran between 1970 and the present quotations that Iranians know well and and tragedy. Moreover, where Shakespeare day. Th is comes hot on the heels of Atilla appear time and again in Persian blogs and touches on issues like kingship and the Pesyani’s critically acclaimed production the comment boxes of networking sites. divine right to rule, Iranians can relate to of Richard III at Tehran’s Iranshahr theatre Courtly romance and passion, fatal this both in terms of their ancient past and where local critics compared and contrasted jealousy or corruption, use and abuse of their more recent experiences. this production with that of the RSC’s, power and trials of kings and heroes, have Apart from the clear references to the starring Simon Russell-Beale and directed been the mainstay of Persian epics for more Sophy, the Persian King in Twelft h Night, by Sam Mendes. From this level of interest, than 1,000 years and they readily accept the it is not really known whether Shakespeare you can conclude that Shakespeare is very themes and stories developed and explored had any direct knowledge of Persian stories much alive in Iran today. in Shakespeare’s plays. Iranians appreciate such as those in the Shahname, although some say that both Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet were inspired by Persian heroic and Iranians appreciate the conjunction of history, romantic epics. mythology, religion and folktales as well as the Iran’s fi rst experience of the Bard was almost 200 years ago when a young Persian, titanic clashes between the forces of good and evil Mirzā Sāleh Shirāzi, who was in Britain,

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 17 made references in his diaries to the Where Shakespeare touches on issues like kingship and playhouses of Europe and performances of Shakespearean plays. the divine right to rule, Iranians can relate to this both in Th e fi rst full translation of a terms of their ancient past and their more recent experiences Shakespearean play, however, was completed in 1917 by Abolghāsem preoccupations of both Shakespearian the honour of all the world is mine Qaragozlou, known as Nāser ul-Molk, an and Persian epics is the notion of honour - My deeds remain as my memorial; aristocrat and later high-ranking court whether at court, on the battlefi eld or in the My life on that, Enough!’ offi cial, who was also one of the fi rst Iranian tavern: honour in all its manifestations, its students to study at Oxford. Legend has possession, its defence and its loss. No wonder Iranians so easily understand it that at a dinner party in Paris someone Ferdowsi could have equally spoken for these lines in Richard II: suggested that it would be impossible to Shakespeare when he summed up his own translate any of Shakespeare’s plays into writing as ‘stories full of love and trickery, ‘Mine honour is my life, both grow in Persian. Th is prompted Nāser ul-Molk fi rst whose heroes lived for honour and chivalry’. one; to translate Othello and later Th e Merchant For some societies or individuals, honour Take honour from me, and my life is of Venice. Before long other works is only determined in battle and for others done; including Romeo and Juliette and Hamlet it equates to stoic virtue when faced by Th en, dear my liege, mine honour let were also translated. Today, more than 24 of temptation and evil. But one thing that both me try; the plays, as well as many of Shakespeare’s classical Persian and Elizabethan traditions In that I live, and for that I will die.’ sonnets, have been translated into Persian, agreed upon was that death is always including among others, Macbeth, Julius superior to loss of honour. For Iranians, the enduring appeal of Caesar, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra In the poignant Shahname story of Shakespeare’s plays is that they tell human and Henry IV. Rostam and Esfandiyar, Ferdowsi explores stories and make the audience feel the Biographies of Shakespeare are available the confl ict between blind obedience on the complexities, richness and diffi culties in Persian translation and television one hand, with upholding honour on the of life as they juxtapose the dramatised documentaries, radio plays and review other. Rostam, the hero of the epic, is faced heroic account with everyday experiences articles in magazines have also made many with a demand that goes against every grain of tension between rulers and the ruled, more people aware of the works of the man of his being. He laments: between fathers and sons, between authority whom Iranians regard as the greatest non- - whether church or state - and man. In Iranian poet and writer of all time. ‘Th e world is but deceit and toil, short, dramas that highlight the paradoxes Iranian theatre directors like to bring their One man is rich, another poor; this and ironies of life. own ideas to the staging of Shakespeare man plays. Occasionally, they experiment in Is honoured, that despised, but all must Narguess Farzad is Senior Tutor at the innovative ways, for example, by creating a go, Faculty of Languages and Cultures at SOAS new play entitled Maclet, a combination of, Still, men at least shall quote and a member of Editorial Board you guessed it, Macbeth and Hamlet. Good words from me when I have Maclet was fi rst performed as a passed away, traditional Persian passion play. Th e plot is A wise man will not turn from truth: a parody in which Macbeth returns from battle with the Norwegian army and joins Lady Macbeth and King Duncan to attend the wedding of Gertrude and Claudius; and so the combined story unfolds. Of course, not all of the current productions of Shakespeare plays in Iran meet with the approval of the state-run cultural establishment. Last year, a physical performance of Othello raised the eyebrows amongst the more conservative critics who found the production, to quote, ‘trivial and scandalous’. Both Shakespearean drama and classical Persian stories have fl ourished in countries where kings and rulers were deemed to be divinely anointed by God, and religious aspects of kingship continue to play a role in shaping the ruling institutions of both Iran and the UK. One of the shared

The theatre in Iran where Richard III was performed with a poster advertising the play in the left corner

18 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN

Haleh Anvari looks back at how street art began and how it has developed over the years TThehe wwriting’sriting’s oonn tthehe wwall:all: sstreettreet aartrt iinn IIranran

Walls in Iran today range from the revolutionary to the commercial, the decorative to kitsch, and are a mix of text and cartoons

riting on walls has a political spaces, turning them into giant offi cial Despite state control of this mode of history in Iran. A photograph of showcases paying homage to the revolution’s cultural production, the motivation to WMohammad Mossadeq’s house leaders and its heroes in mural art. In write on walls has proved mutable, from taken aft er the coup d’etat of 1953 is an subsequent years, political propaganda and the revolutionary to the commercial, the early example; ‘Death to Mossadeq - Long religious edicts dominated the cityscape. decorative to kitsch. Modern-day walls Live Shah’ was daubed on the façade of Writings on walls served to acculturate the are a baffl ing mix of text and image where the vandalised building. Twenty-six years population to the ideology of the state, not cartoons vie for space with martyrs of the later, and the rubric of ‘Death To - Long least in the context of the protracted war revolution. Live’ took a turn - Marg bar Shah became with Iraq. In the early 1990s the Municipality the iconic slogan of the revolution. Walls became an unregulated public space for expressing political dissent. Following the revolutionary period, the Despite state control of this mode of cultural production, the Islamic Republic appropriated the same motivation to write on walls has proved mutable

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 19 men. Th e new generation of muralists are Th e walls of Iran chatter in many tongues seemingly emotionally detached from the spirit of the revolution and the war. eyes, the walls were being reclaimed by Occasionally, you can still fi nd faded citizens who wished to express dissent. A slogans from the early days of the spray can war raged between the supporters revolution in unexpected corners of Tehran. of the Green Movement and their Sometimes they are obscured by material detractors. What was not whitewashed by realities like a new gas pipe, sometimes they municipality workers during the day would are changed not by weather but by a hand be defaced by an unseen hand. Overnight from another time, like the unexpected the V of the Green Movement painted on a addendum to an old favourite: ‘Say Death wall would be turned into cartoon mice, or to Shah’ is augmented with the words ‘who faces, or ice cream cones. Reducing a serious left ’, transforming a revolutionary absolute political signifi er to a childish squiggle was into a bitter lament. Th e walls of Iran chatter a deft way of denigrating and demoting in many tongues. dissent. Th is process of action and reaction of Tehran’s Beautifi cation Offi ce made established a conversation on the walls. Haleh Anvari is a writer and photographer its fi rst foray into the world of billboard Meanwhile, an eff ort was made to advertising. To pave the way for this break renovate neglected and weather-beaten from revolutionary sensibilities, the fi rst revolutionary murals. But conservation, billboards carried a carefully chosen, intended to add new lustre to old self-referencing sentence from the Quran in revolutionary icons, seemed instead to drain Persian: ‘God is beautiful and likes beauty.’ them of their aesthetic appeal and their Th ese new billboards dominating the city’s authority. highways and byways added to the noise A famous mural of a teen martyr in generated by the already chattering walls, Abbasabad became brighter in colour at compounding the dizzying juxtaposition the cost of the young martyr’s serene smile. of the spiritual, the political and the Elsewhere, the minimal style of the original commercial. Abshenasan mural was transformed into Experiments with decoration began kitsch. Abshenasan appears to have aged during the latter part of Mohammad visibly, looking more like a general in his Khatami’s presidency (1997-2005) as a seventies as opposed to a man who died at (Above) An old slogan on a wall- original Death departure from the austerity of revolution 49. Th e intention may have been to prompt to the Shah is amended with the words ‘who left’ and war. Trompe l’oeil techniques, using meanings suggesting that martyrs are (Below) This Mural uses trompe l'oeil techniques realistic imagery to create the illusion of forever alive, or that the moral authority to depict a man securing giant screws on the depicted objects in three dimensions, were of the revolution lies in the hands of older facade of a building introduced. From a painted housewife casually shaking her carpet outside an imaginary window over Vanak Square or men securing giant screws on the facade of a high-rise to a child being lift ed to the sky with giant balloons, the deceptive realism of the genre escalated into the fantastical. Iran’s mural culture was transformed into something much more complex in which the political was inscribed in apparently trivial as well as commercial concerns. In the wake of post-election unrest in 2009, the municipality under Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, seemingly on a mission to soothe the nerves of a city nostalgic for a lost past, turned the walls of the city into a collection of surreal scenes and kitsch renditions of the Persian rural idyll. Billboards at major crossroads dispensed advice on how to appreciate your spouse or achieve inner calm. One, ‘Record the sound of your parents's laughter’, set against a psychedelic background, was positively hallucinatory. But in the back streets, away from prying

20 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 IIRANRAN A new exhibition promises to show Iran’s history and culture in a new light RRecallingecalling tthehe ffuture:uture: ppost-revolutionaryost-revolutionary IIranianranian aartrt

rom January to March 2014, the Brunei Gallery at SOAS will host Fa major exhibition of Iranian contemporary art. Recalling Th e Future focuses on the post-revolutionary period of the1990s and 2000s, and aims to show how a group of Iranian artists have set out to illustrate what it means for them, or their art, to be Iranian. Th e art of Iran, as of the whole Middle East, is increasingly under the spotlight of the international market. Th e global art crowd expects certain exotic signifi ers of 'Iranianness'. Furthermore, with well-intentioned but misplaced liberal sentiments, it also encourages certain kinds of political and social commentary. Divorced from any proper analysis of the complicated Iranian situation, this can only serve to reinforce unhelpful stereotypes. Things & lines by Mehran Mohajer However, while it is easy (and no doubt important) to criticise this international the 1960s and 70s; the core of the modern the light of a fi xed and unaltering past, we desire for a fantasised 'Iran,' it is also Iranian canon. While earlier artists aimed to can perhaps call these artists constructivists, possible to overstate its importance, and produce art which could embrace 'modern' who seek to combine the fractured parts of to ignore what is really at stake inside the styles while remaining distinctly Iranian, their history into new assemblages, and to country. the artists in Recalling Th e Future have produce variants of their own. Recalling Th e Future is an exhibition of questioned the idea of 'Iranianness' as a Alongside the exhibition, there will artists who produce art in Iran today. Th e fi xed, timeless entity. Th ey have considered be several public events including fi lm premise of the exhibition is the claim that how ideologies which seek authenticity screenings, artist talks and a major these artists deconstruct received ideas of (either nationalist, religious or nativist) symposium at the Brunei Gallery on 1 Iranian national identity, and probe links have contributed to repressive politics and February 2014. with problematic socio-political situations. opened up avenues for the construction Artists in Recalling the Future include Th ere is no real tradition of art history of new identities, thereby re-routing Reza Abedini, Bijan Akhgar, Nazgol in Iran. Th e fact that we lack any historical themselves and society towards a diff erent Ansarinia, Mehraneh Atashi, Fereydoun framework for understanding the practice future. While much of their work is focused Ave, Navid Azimi, Mahmoud Bakhshi, of these artists is a signifi cant problem on working through historical tropes, and Masoumeh Bakhtiari, Shahrzad because the history of Iranian art is arguably on identifying the mechanisms which Changalvaee, Homa Delvarai, Parastou the crucial terrain upon which their critical reproduce them in the present, what makes Forouhar, Shahab Fotouhi, Farhad Fozouni, battles have been fought. In particular, them so important is that their work focuses Kaveh Golestan, Ghasem Hajizadeh, this exhibition argues that their work can on present constructions and leads towards Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Ghazaleh Hedayat, best be understood when it is properly a newly politicised conception of the future. Bahman Jalali, Rana Javadi, Katayoun contrasted with the 'Iranian modernists' of No longer romantics, viewing themselves in Karami, Aria Kasaei, Amir Mobed, Mehran Mohajer, Masoumeh Mozaff ari, Iman Raad, Neda Razavipour, Hamed Sahihi and Rozita Th e art of Iran, as of the whole Middle East, is increasingly Sharafj ahan. under the spotlight of the international art market

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 21 IIRANRAN

Morad Tahbaz explains why concerns with water, air pollution and decreasing biodiversity have to be taken seriously in Iran IIran’sran’s eenvironmentnvironment – a loominglooming ddisaster?isaster?

(Left) The drying up of Lake Urmia in Western Azarbaijan Province, Iran (Opposite) The Asiatic cheetah is a critically

© M Tahbaz © M endangered species

ran faces a number of major streams for agricultural use. Add to that the following year. Th e result is that environmental challenges. Together, they signifi cant pollution of wetlands, ground much of the rangeland loses its ability to Icould lead to a possible humanitarian water and rivers, and the pattern of the regenerate and slowly allows the process of disaster: there is serious concern over the impending disaster begins to take shape. desertifi cation to take hold. In many areas, future availability of potable water and To compound all of the above, the recent traditional rangeland has been converted agriculturally useful land, not to mention droughts will multiply the negative eff ects to agricultural use on a massive scale. Th is the loss of biodiversity. dramatically. Th e drying-up of Lake Urmia, is particularly visible on the foothills of Water limitation and pollution are and the subsequent fallout as a result of the mountains where rangeland is consistently signifi cant challenges that warrant people’s exposed salt beds to the elements, and the ploughed for dry farming and left as attention. Currently, Iran’s aquifers are additional impact on air quality, should wasteland aft er one or two seasons of crop declining at 7 per cent on balance annually. be considered one of the great ecological production as the topsoil is easily washed While the water shortage issue in Iran is disasters of our time. away by rain. As a consequence, livestock urgent, mismanagement is magnifying the Soil erosion and land degradation is owners turn to more remote areas with problem. In agriculture, which uses about another signifi cant issue. Currently the fragile ecosystems and the negative cycle 90 per cent of the country’s water resources, grazing areas (rangelands) in Iran are continues. With human developments and the effi ciency rate of water usage is only being used at three times their carrying agricultural activities come excessive water 30 per cent. To compound the problem, capacity. In other words, the land can only use and pollution. domestic use of water is 70 per cent above support a third of the herds of sheep that Another of these challenges is the what other people use around the world. are grazing and still be able to regenerate threat to Iran’s natural ecosystems and Large inland bodies of water have been drying up as a result of drought, excessive According to a survey by the World Health Organisation, four water use, depletion of the aquifers through drilling deep wells, and diverting rivers and of the top ten most air polluted cities in the world are in Iran

22 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 It is critical for the wider Iranian population, both local but similarly suff er from insuffi cient funding and management capabilities. It is and expatriate, to become more aware of the challenges, critical for the wider Iranian population, educate themselves and try to resolve the problems both local and expatriate, to become more aware of the challenges, educate themselves biodiversity. Th ese are characterised by the out terrifying amounts of toxic fumes and try to resolve the problems. It is current loss of biodiversity (loss of species) contribute to Iran’s air pollution issues. also critical for international NGOs and and fragmentation, caused by human Add to this dust and sand storms, riz gard concerned parties to help in dealing with intervention and/or natural causes. Iran has and other forms of airborne particulate these crises. With the current trend in a total of 1,144 species of fauna, of which pollution, and the level of harmful air intake warming political relations it is hoped there 194 are mammals. Seventeen of these are reaches dangerous levels. will be more opportunities for international threatened, according to the International Iran also faces the impacts of climate collaboration. Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN). change. Average annual precipitation To begin to address some of these Some of the better-known critically has decreased by 9 per cent and overall concerns, an international symposium endangered species are: the Asiatic cheetah, temperatures have increased by 0.5 per is being held in London on 18 and 19 of which there is an estimated population cent degrees Celsius. As a result, there January, 2014 entitled: “Iran’s Natural of less than 70; the Iranian wild ass, also is less available water and a reduction of Heritage: A Catalyst Symposium to Spark known as the onager, of which there are less agricultural productivity. Th e results of Measurable Change”. Th e symposium is than 1000; and the Persian leopard, whose these impacts have already begun to show organised by the Iran Heritage Foundation numbers are estimated at less than 800. and can be seen in high rates of soil erosion, in association with the Persian Wildlife Overgrazing by domestic sheep, poaching decrease in topsoil fertility and reduced Heritage Foundation, the London Middle and human encroachment have contributed crop production. Migration from rural to East Institute, IIED and I.B. Tauris. to these population declines. Successive urban areas has been happening at a steady years of drought and mismanagement rate over the last 50 years, but has increased For more information, please visit of resources have also contributed to the dramatically in the last 30. Th e ratio of rural http://www.iranheritage.org/newsfl ash/ situation these endangered species face to urban has gone from 70/30 to 30/70 Ecology/newsfl ash.html today. Birds, fi sh and reptiles all face similar during this period. threats and various species in each category Most of the issues and challenges stated Morad Tahbaz received degrees from are endangered. above are not unique to Iran and are Colgate and Columbia Universities in the Iran’s limited forests are cause for grave seen throughout the region. How these US and has been an active participant in concern. Th ey have been in decline since challenges are met is what will make the wildlife conservation for the past 35 years. the 1960s, partly due to climate change but diff erence. Th e government is engaged Five years ago he co-founded the Persian also largely as a result of human population in resolving these issues but is limited Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which has expansion and subsequent development by budgetary constraints and a lack of grown to become the most signifi cant wildlife activities. Th e forests of Iran have decreased suffi cient management talent and know- conservation group in Iran by 30 per cent in the last fi ft y years. Once how. Th e United Nations has been an active again, lack of management and insuffi cient partner in helping resolve some of these planning have played a major role. Many problems too, but is also limited in what it trees in forested areas have been felled can do. Non-governmental organisations to provide fi rewood and to make way (NGOs) are also involved in this struggle, for agricultural activities. Deforestation has major long-term negative impacts. © M Tahbaz First and foremost, forests are important providers of oxygen conversion. Multiple species of fauna and fl ora are dependent on this form of habitat and, given the minimal water resources available to the country, regenerating forestlands will be a challenging task. Th e biodiversity loss is tremendous and much of the time, irreplaceable. Air pollution in Iran’s large cities is also at a critical stage. According to a survey by the World Health Organisation (reported in Time Magazine, 27 September 2011), four of the top ten most air polluted cities in the world are in Iran, with Ahvaz ranking number one. Lack of refi ning capacity, modern fuel additives, catalytic converters and the prevalent use of antiquated fl eets of buses, trucks and cars continually belching

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 23 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS The Power and the People: PPathsaths ooff RResistanceesistance iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast

By Charles Tripp

Cambridge University Press

Reviewed by Atef Alshaer

rofessor Charles Tripp’s latest book, Violence was inbuilt into the very system writes, ‘the perceived moral bankruptcy of Th e Power and the People: Paths of of colonialism, giving rise to resistance established power, the resonance of violent PResistance in the Middle East, draws that defeated or undermined it. In the narratives and experiences among the a clear picture of the various forms and case of Algeria, the colossal violence of population ... all these can infl uence the patterns of power and resistance in the French colonialism abetted native Algerian fateful decision to fi ght against generally Middle East. Tripp writes with compelling resistance, which succeeded in liberating overwhelming odds’. Besides the physical lucidity that sometimes borders on poetic Algeria aft er 130 years of occupation. Here, violence, there are various forms of coercive virtuosity. His understanding of power and eight years of violence led to independence authorities, which are challenged by acts resistance is informed by historical facts and from an intransigent colonial power. Th e of resistance, whether at the economic, narratives, economic facets and behaviours, Palestinian case is another where violence cultural, gender or memory levels. Women political discourses and activities, and gave the Palestinians a sense of reclamation from Morocco, Palestine and Iran have artistic productions and eff ects. Th e book and recognition: ‘Th e Palestinians had found ways to challenge the patriarchal and does not dwell on the philosophical origins established themselves through armed religious authorities which limit or typify and entailments of power and resistance. resistance, however gruesome some of its their roles. In Israel, acts of resistance took Instead, it opts for an empirically grounded methods, and however many Palestinians place at the level of memory whereby the narrative that shows them at work in several died in the Israeli reprisals’. In addition, manipulatively heroic Israeli state narratives contexts in the Middle East. Th e virtue of a number of armed groups have taken were undermined, allowing a Palestinian this method is that it demonstrates that up arms for various reasons in the recent narrative to emerge. Artistic works in there is hardly any example of power that history of the Middle East. Th ese tended to Palestine and Turkey also challenged does not give rise to examples of resistance, undermine the central authority of the state the incumbent authorities and revealed whether violent, subversive or peaceful. One and to propagate their own ideologies – the limits of power, and in a way, the of the arguments Tripp advances is that ‘... a Islamist in the majority. inevitability of resistance. politics of resistance follows power in that it Within the nation-state itself, Tripp Overall, the book, though descriptive too is capillary in nature, branching out in shows that there are recurrent patterns of rather than analytical at times, is enriched many diff erent ways’. power and resistance. Th is is the case of with examples that depict the dynamics Two predominant patterns of power and Syria in 1982, when the Syrian president of power and resistance in a region that resistance can be discerned from the book. Hafi z al-Assad, the father of the current continues to see so much of these aspects. First, there is the power and violence of incumbent Bashar al-Assad, emitted harsh colonialism and the nationalist resistance reprisals against the Muslim Brotherhood Atef Alshaer is a Senior Teaching Fellow in to it. Th is can be seen during the colonial in Hama. Th is fl attened parts of the city and the Near and Middle Eastern Department at era in Algeria and Iraq and in the context killed thousands of people. Th e violence SOAS. He has several publications, including of the continuing Palestinian resistance of the father was continued by his son in his forthcoming book Poetry and Politics in to Israel. Secondly, there are internal 2011. Th us, violence has been contagious the Modern Arab World patterns of resistance, which are directed in the formation of the state in the Middle against dictatorships and various forms of East. As it grew in scope, people found repressive authorities in the Middle East. ways to revolt and fi ght against it. As Tripp

24 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF IIranran aandnd tthehe GGloballobal EEconomy:conomy: PPetroetro PPopulism,opulism, IIslamslam aandnd EEconomicconomic SSanctionsanctions

Edited by Parvin Alizadeh and Hassan Hakimian

Th e recent mass uprisings against autocratic rulers in the Arab world have highlighted the potency of Islamist forces in post-revolutionary societies, a force arguably unlocked fi rst by Iran’s version of the ‘spring’ three decades ago. Th is book is concerned with the economic aspects and consequences of the Iranian Revolution in general and its interaction with the international economy in particular. Th e contributions in this volume by experts in the fi eld address ways in which, in the span of three decades, Iran’s economy has evolved from a strong aspiration to develop an ‘independent economy’ to grappling with debilitating international economic sanctions.

Nov 2013, Routledge, £87.62 CContemporaryontemporary IIranianranian AArtrt NNewew PPerspectiveserspectives

By Hamid Keshmirshekan

Th is book explores the history of modern and contemporary Iranian art by reconsideration of the relationship with the cultural past, modernism and the issue of contemporaneity vis-à-vis cultural specifi city. In this new, comprehensive study, featuring 379 colour images, Hamid Keshmirshekan considers the dynamics at play for Iranian artists as they confront their cultural past as well as issues of contemporaneity and cultural specifi city. He contends that the twentieth century in particular proved a crucial period in the art and culture of Iran; it was then that the legacies of tradition and modernism came under critical review, and artistic concerns revealed themselves as indivisible from ideological ones.

Oct 2013, Saqi Books, £45

TThehe RRenaissanceenaissance aandnd tthehe OOttomanttoman WorldWorld

By Anna Contadini and Claire Norton

Th e fourteen articles in this volume contribute to an exciting cross-cultural and inter- disciplinary scholarly dialogue that explores elements of continuity and exchange between the two areas and positions of the Ottoman Empire as an integral element of the geo- political and cultural continuum within which the Renaissance evolved. Th e aim of this volume is to refi ne current understandings of the diverse artistic, intellectual and political interactions in the early modern Mediterranean world and, in doing so, to contribute further to the discussion of the scope and nature of the Renaissance.

Oct 2013, Ashgate, £65

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 25 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF IIranran bbetweenetween IIslamicslamic NNationalismationalism aandnd SSecularism:ecularism: TThehe CConstitutionalonstitutional RRevolutionevolution ooff 11906906 By Vanessa Martin Th e events of the Constitutional Revolution in Tehran have been much discussed, but the provinces, despite their crucial role in the revolution, have received less attention. Here, Vanessa Martin seeks to redress this imbalance. She analyses the role of the Islamic debate in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its relationship with secular ideas, and examines the ramifi cations of this debate in the main cities of Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan and Bushehr. By exploring the interaction between Islam and secularism during this tumultuous time, Iran between Islamic Nationalism and Secularism concludes that in each province, the Constitutional Revolution took on a character of its own.

Sept 2013, IB Tauris, £42.15 WWarfarearfare aandnd PPoetryoetry iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast

Edited by Hugh Kennedy

Th e Middle East has a poetic record stretching back fi ve millennia. In this book, leading scholars draw upon this legacy to explore the ways in which poets, from the third millennium BC to the present day, have responded to the eff ects of war. Th ey deal with material in a wide variety of languages including Sumerian, Hittite, Akkadian, biblical and modern Hebrew, and classical and contemporary Arabic, and range from the destruction of Ur in 1940 BC to the poetry of Hamas and Hezbollah. Some poems are heroic in tone, celebrating victory and the prowess of warriors, others refl ect keenly on the suff ering that war causes.

Oct 2013, IB Tauris, £59.50

CCulturalultural RevolutionRevolution iinn IIranran CContemporaryontemporary PPopularopular CCultureulture iinn tthehe IIslamicslamic RRepublicepublic Edited by Annabelle Sreberny, Massoumeh Torfeh Th e Islamic Republic of Iran has entered its fourth decade, and the values and legacy of the Revolution it was founded upon continue to have profound and contradictory consequences for Iranian life. Th is book draws on the expertise and experience of Iranian and international academics and activists to address diverse areas of social and cultural innovation that are driving change and progress. While religious conservatism remains the creed of the establishment, this volume uncovers an underground world of new technology, media and entertainment that speaks to women seeking a greater public role and a restless younger generation that organises and engages with global trends online.

Aug 2013, IB Tauris, £56.50

26 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: RESTAURANTRESTAURANT KatehKateh 5 WarwickWarwick PPlacelace

pistachios and almonds. Th e rices have company. Alhena enjoys chargrilled baby chicken (joojeh), marinated and tender. Fesenjan is fi rm duck revelling in dark pomegranate and walnut sauce. Nadje is a particular fan. A venison special is rather dense and dry. It shares this quality with the kookoo sabzi herb cake accompanying the sea bass special, though the fi sh is silky and fresh fl avoured. (Th e specials aren't priced on the menu so you may want to check before ordering.) Mark is hypnotised © Nadje Al-Ali and Mark Douglas © Nadje by succulent minced veal kebab, but our eaves fall, the air cools, and the clocks Of the starters, kooft eh berenji makes Iranian friend is less impressed. She laughs change this weekend. British Summer all eyes close. Th ese tender Persian meat graciously and says Iranians argue over LTime is over. We visit Kateh, near balls are leavened with plum, rice and koobideh because it's so close to the heart. the canal at Little Venice, accompanied by split peas; neither sweet nor tart, just Th ree servings of faloodeh end the meal, two friends familiar with Iranian cuisine. delicious. Oktapoos is popular and Mark's a distinctive rice noodle and rosewater It’s an early Friday supper for us – the only favourite: pan-fried squid served with sorbet with saff ron ice cream. Alhena enjoys booking available at this popular place artfully scattered strands of beetroot is a homemade frozen blueberry yoghurt. Mark being 6.30pm – but at least it’s suitably dark. salt-sweet triumph. Not on the website, likes simple cheesecake. Th e restaurant’s windows glow invitingly. it's presumably one of the daily/seasonal People relax. Many tables, we notice, As we enter, Alhena, our design conscious variations promised by the owner, Narges have Iranians with non-Iranian friends. Th e daughter, likes the simple but stylish décor, Pourkhomami. Salad Dezfouli is a delicate website speaks of ‘combining traditional particularly the colourful lamps. We’re fi rst cucumber and pomegranate salad sparkling and contemporary Iranian hospitality’. Th ey to arrive, but the place is soon buzzing. with indigenous angelica powder, lemon succeed; though, at £40 per head, it is with Th e restaurant speaks to a cosmopolitan and mint. Smoky grilled baby aubergine a crowd not fazed by austerity. We'll return London clientele, as does the Italian waiter creamed with yoghurt, then given an edge one day. For now we drink tea. with fl uent French, eager to entertain. with mint and walnut is kashke bademjan. We’ve visited the menu in cyberspace and Only yoghurty borani spinach fails to excite. Nadje Al-Ali is on the Editorial Board of recognise the language of 21st century Now arrives a kaleidoscope of rices. Middle East in London and Mark Douglas is foodies. Organic off erings abound, along Saff ron rice – glistening white rice arranged her eating partner with the free range, the pan fried, the fresh; around a golden bed of saff ron steeped lamb is sourced from Rhug farm in Wales; grains; aromatic herbed rice is moist and they proudly blend pomegranate and comes in variegated greens; zereshk polow walnut with Ligurian ‘Taggliasche’ olive. is, our friend says, a menu understatement: When plates arrive they are fashionably really it's the legendary javaher polow large and white - square for the starters, (jewelled rice), resplendent with barberries, oval for the mains – food centred beautifully © Nadje Al-Ali and Mark Douglas by a Paul Klee in the kitchen. Th e question on all of our minds as we begin is: What might be lost in this translation; and what gained? Eating with friends is fun, especially because you can sample more food! Kateh's menu is fairly extensive; we ask for ten dishes – fi ve small and fi ve large. As the waiters manoeuvre plates, all appurtenances are banished: napkins, phones, spectacles; even the sultry bottle of Sicilian Nero d'Avola must sit far away.

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 27 OOBITUARYBITUARY PProfessorrofessor KKeitheith SStanleytanley MMcLachlancLachlan 1199 FFebruaryebruary 11937937 – 1122 OOctoberctober 22013013

Member of the academic staff of SOAS 1962-1996

eith was born in Warrington, now resources of Iran and then of the Middle which we founded in 1980. Keith’s regional in Cheshire. A busy family bakery East and North Africa more generally. For expertise has always underpinned the Kwas his home where the virtues the next four decades he was a prominent reputation of MENAS Services. Th e widely of early rising and coping with customer commentator on the energy resources of the recognised SOAS expertise on international quirks were key concerns. He had a lifelong MENA region. border studies stemmed from Keith’s and very nuanced faith in the private In 1965 Keith was a founder member experience in advising on many off -shore sector, entrepreneurs and competition. of the SOAS Geography Department and on-shore cases at the International At the same time other ideas and values with Charles Fisher, John Lebon and John Court in the Hague. came his way at Boteler Grammar School Sargent. He was an inspiring lecturer and Keith will be remembered as a major where inspired teachers introduced him supervisor and enjoyed generating debate analyst of the contemporary Middle East. to the ‘enlightenment’ and the virtues of and constructive controversy. Over 50 years, as friend and colleague, one cooperation and equity so evident in the He was a founder member of the Centre constantly admired and benefi tted from industrial history of his native Lancashire. of Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS in 1968 the power of his intellect and the integrity He was much better read than any of us and of the British Society of Middle Eastern of his professionalism. One has valued who joined the Department of Geography Studies in 1971. He was an active chairman even more his sense of unstinting personal at Durham in 1955. of the SOAS Centre from 1975 to 1978. loyalty and of his wider sense of social In the 1950s the Durham Geography He also made continuous contributions justice. Th ey have underpinned his relations Department established itself as a major to the national profi le of contemporary with family, friends and all the individuals national research centre on Middle Eastern Middle Eastern studies. His participation and institutions with whom he engaged so and North African studies. On graduating was especially strong in the aff airs of the successfully. Keith gained funding to complete a PhD at British Institute of Persian Studies [BIPS]. Durham. He worked with a Durham team He served for many years on the Council of Tony Allan is Emeritus Professor at KCL and in the newly independent [1951] Libya. BIPS. SOAS. He was an undergraduate at Durham He analysed agrarian change in the coastal He published continuously and made a University with Professor McLachlan. Over district of Al Khums. Th e theme of agrarian number of key contributions such as his the next 50 years he researched and worked change remained one of his main research 1988 analysis of the Iranian agricultural alongside him at SOAS interests throughout his life in the academy. sector in a highly regarded book - Th e From Durham he joined the newly Neglected Garden: politics, ecology and established Economics Department at agriculture in Iran. In parallel with his SOAS with a Research Fellowship in academic writing he generated a huge Contemporary Iranian Studies in 1961. volume of high-quality specialist regional He signifi cantly expanded his Middle analysis on political, commercial and Eastern expertise undertaking language environmental risk. He initially developed training which facilitated a period of these skills in working with the Economist intensive fi eldwork on land reform and Intelligence Unit. For over 30 years - the agricultural transition in Iran. In Iran including aft er his retirement from SOAS he also extended the range of his expertise in 1996 - he channelled these contributions on the political economy of the region. through MENAS Services, a provider He began to research the oil and gas of consultancy and publishing services,

28 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

HE EVENTS and BM – British Museum, Great Near and Middle East. Admission will discuss the main fi ndings from organisations listed Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG free. G3, SOAS. E [email protected] W his new book US Foreign Policy and Tbelow are not necessarily SOAS –SOAS, University of www.soas.ac.uk/history/events/ the Iranian Revolution: the Cold endorsed or supported by The London, Th ornhaugh Street, Russell War Dynamics of Engagement and Middle East in London. The Square, London WC1H 0XG 6:15 pm | On looking at Late Strategic Alliance and will show accompanying texts and images LSE – London School of Economics Babylonian seal impressions that, contrary to the claims of Iran's are based primarily on information and Political Science, Houghton (Seminar) Christopher Walker, leaders, US diplomats tried in good provided by the organisers and do Street, London WC2 2AE BM. Organised by: London faith to build bridges with the new not necessarily reflect the views Centre for the Ancient Near East. regime. Chaired by: Roham Alvandi, of the compilers or publishers. Convened by: Mark Weeden, SOAS. LSE. Admission free. Wolfson While every possible effort is DECEMBER EVENTS Admission free. Room G51, SOAS. Th eatre, New Academic Building, made to ascertain the accuracy of T 020 7898 4328 E mw41@soas. LSE. E [email protected] W www. these listings, readers are advised ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/nme/ane/ lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/home. to seek confirmation of all events Monday 2 December lcane/seminars/ aspx using the contact details provided for each event. 5:15 pm | Ibn al-Muqaff a', a 6:30 pm | US foreign policy and the 7:30 pm | Couplings Fireworks Submitting entries and updates: Double Agent between Iran and Iranian revolution: the dynamics (Reading) Organised by: Exiled please send all updates and Islam (Seminar) István Kristó- of engagement and strategic Writers Ink. Exiled Lit Cafe. submissions for entries related Nagy, Exeter. Organised by: alliance (Lecture) Christian Emery, Includes works by the Iranian short to future events via e-mail to Department of History, SOAS. Part University of Plymouth. Organised story writer and novelist, Navid [email protected] of the Seminar on the History of the by: LSE Middle East Centre. Emery Hamzavi, and the Iranian writer,

Friday 13th December Kings, heroes and Zoroastrianism in Persian literature

Narguess Farzad, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart will read extracts of stories related to Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia from the colourful collection of Persian literature. Th ese include myths from the Shahnameh or Book of Kings of Firdowsi, completed in AD 1010, and Gurgani’s Vis and Ramin of the mid- eleventh century. Th e readings in original Persian and English translation will bring to life kings and heroes of pre-Islamic Persia and their role as defenders of the Zoroastrian religion. Heroes such as Esfandiyar and Siyavush, who are revered both in the Avestan literature as well as the Shahnameh, will be included in this poetry session.

Th is event is in connection with two exhibitions on Zoroastrianism: “Th e Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in history and imagination”, Brunei Gallery, 11 October – 14 December 2013: www.theeverlastingfl ame.com and: “Wise men from the East: Zoroastrian traditions in Persia and beyond”, Gallery 69a, British Museum, 24 October 2013 – 27 April 2014: www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/ exhibitions/wise_men_from_the_east.aspx.

Th e Brunei Gallery will close at 5pm and re-open from 7-9pm.

Organised by the Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS, University of London. Venue: Brunei Gallery Suite, SOAS Time: 6-7pm The fi re ordeal of Siyavosh, Son of Key Kavus

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 29 Nasrin Parvaz. Tickets: £4/£2 EWI members. Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX. E [email protected] W www.exiledwriters.co.uk

Tuesday 3 December

5:30 pm | Th e Arabian Peninsula in World War I (Lecture) Eugene Rogan, St Anthony’s College, Oxford. Organised by: Saudi-British Society. Th e Ghazi Al Gosaibi Memorial Lecture. Admission free to Saudi-British Society members/£5 guests. Pre-registration required E ionisthompson@yahoo. co.uk. Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, 43 Upper Grosvenor Street, London W1. W www. saudibritishsociety.org.uk

5:45 pm | An Historical Overview of the Iranian Presidency: 1979- 2013 (Lecture) Siavush Randjbar- Daemi, University of Manchester. Organised by: London Middle East Institute, SOAS (LMEI) and the Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS. Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Abu Zaydun Hanoos, 'Hanoos Hanoos'. Threads of Light & Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Evening Lecture Programme on (See Exhibitions, page 38) the Contemporary Middle East. Randjbar-Daemi will provide 6:00 pm | Protest and Revolution in formula for them and the Israelis of Contradictions (Seminar) an overview of the genesis and the Arab World: Refl ections Th ree – what would that actually mean? William Hale, SOAS. Organised evolution of the presidency in the Years On (Discussion) Madawi Al- Chaired by: Rosemary Hollis, by: SOAS Modern Turkish Studies Islamic Republic of Iran and will Rasheed, LSE, and John Chalcraft , Olive Tree Programme. Admission Programme (London Middle East argue that the three decades under LSE. Chaired by: Toby Dodge, free. To register see contact details Institute, SOAS) and sponsored by consideration have witnessed a LSE. Organised by: LSE Middle below. A130, College Building, 280 Nurol Bank. Part of the Seminars continuous struggle, by successive East Centre. Admission free. Hong St John Street, London EC1V 4PB. on Turkey series. Convened by presidents, for recognition of their Kong Th eatre, Clement House, LSE. E [email protected] W www.city. Benjamin Fortna, SOAS. Admission constitutional authority and its E [email protected] W www.lse. ac.uk/olivetree free. G3, SOAS. T 020 7898 4431 E augmentation. Tea and biscuits ac.uk/middleEastCentre/home.aspx [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/ available from 5:15pm. Admission Th ursday 5 December lmei/events/ free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. 6:00 pm | All Change in the T 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] Middle East: Implications for the 6:30 pm | Th e Renaissance and the Monday 9 December W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Palestinians (Panel Discussion) Ottoman World (Book Launch) Ahmad Khalidi, St Antony's College, Organised by: Royal Asiatic Society. 5:15 pm | Th e Unique Necklace Wednesday 4 December Oxford, Oroub El-Abed, SOAS, Event to mark the publication of by the Andalusian Ibn Abd Ahmed Ziat, Oxford University. Th e Renaissance and the Ottoman Rabbihi: Arab Identity in the 5:00 pm | Libyans, Sea Peoples and Organised by: Olive Tree Middle World (edited by Anna Contadini Making? (Seminar) Isabel Toral- Egyptians: the mystery and myth East Forum. What will be the fate and Claire Norton, Ashgate, 2013). Niehoff , AKU-ISMC. Organised by: of Libyans in the Late Bronze of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Admission free. Royal Asiatic Department of History, SOAS. Part Age (Lecture) Robert Morkot, now that the Egyptian authorities Society, 14 Stephenson Way, of the Seminar on the History of the Th e Society of Libyan Studies. have reclosed the border and London NW1 2HD. T 020 7388 Near and Middle East. Admission Organised by: Th e Society for most of the tunnels? How has the 4539 E [email protected] W www. free. G3, SOAS. E [email protected] W Libyan Studies. Admission free for Palestinian situation been aff ected royalasiaticsociety.org www.soas.ac.uk/history/events/ Society members and guests. British by successive new fl ows of refugees? Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, What is the future of the Palestinian Friday 6 December 6:00 pm | Archaeology and Bar London SW1Y 5AH. E GenSec@ refugees in the Arab host countries? Kokhba since 1870: A Non- societyforlibyanstudies.org W www. And supposing that John Kerry’s 12:00 pm | Th e AKP Government Archaeologist's Impression societyforlibyanstudies.org initiative produces a ‘two-state’ at Home and Abroad: A Bundle (Lecture) William Horbury,

30 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 LONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE SOAS, University of London

Tuesday Lecture Programme on the Contemporary Middle East Spring 2014

dŚĞDŝĚĚůĞĂƐƚͲŚĂŶŐŝŶŐĐŽŶŽŵŝĐĂŶĚWŽůŝƟĐĂů>ĂŶĚƐĐĂƉĞƐ

21 January YĂƚĂƌĂŶĚƚŚĞƌĂď^ƉƌŝŶŐ͗WŽůŝĐLJZĞƐƉŽŶƐĞƐĂŶĚŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶĐĞƐ <ƌŝƐƟĂŶŽĂƚĞƐͲhůƌŝĐŚƐĞŶ͕ĂŬĞƌ////ŶƐƟƚƵƚĞŽĨWƵďůŝĐWŽůŝĐLJĂƚZŝĐĞhŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJŝŶ,ŽƵƐƚŽŶ

28 January >ĞƐƐŽŶƐĂŶĚŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƟĞƐŝŶƌĞƐĞĂƌĐŚŝŶŐĚƌĞƐƐŝŶ^ĂƵĚŝƌĂďŝĂ͗ŝŶƐŝŐŚƚƐĨƌŽŵƚŚĞƌƚŽĨ,ĞƌŝƚĂŐĞWƌŽũĞĐƚ ŝƐĂDĂƌƟŶĞnj͕>D/

ϰ&ĞďƌƵĂƌLJ tŽŵĞŶ͕WŽǁĞƌĂŶĚWŽůŝƟĐƐŝŶϮϭstĞŶƚƵƌLJ/ƌĂŶ ůĂŚĞŚZŽƐƚĂŵŝͲWŽǀĞLJ͕ĞŶƚƌĞĨŽƌ/ƌĂŶŝĂŶ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕^K^ KƌŐĂŶŝƐĞĚũŽŝŶƚůLJǁŝƚŚƚŚĞĞŶƚƌĞĨŽƌ/ƌĂŶŝĂŶ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕^K^

ϭϭ&ĞďƌƵĂƌLJ ZĞĂĚŝŶŐtĞĞŬ

ϭϴ&ĞďƌƵĂƌLJ dŚĞŵLJƚŚŽĨWĞƌĮĚŝŽƵƐůďŝŽŶ͗ŶŐůŽͲ/ƌĂŶŝĂŶƌĞůĂƟŽŶƐŝŶŚŝƐƚŽƌŝĐĂůĐŽŶƚĞdžƚ ůŝŶƐĂƌŝ͕^ƚŶĚƌĞǁƐ

Ϯϱ&ĞďƌƵĂƌLJ &ĂůĂĨĞů<ŝŶŐ͗ĐƵůŝŶĂƌLJĐƵƐƚŽŵƐĂŶĚŶĂƟŽŶĂůŶĂƌƌĂƟǀĞƐŝŶWĂůĞƐƟŶĞ ĞŝŶĂ'ŚĂŶĚŽƵƌ͕ŝƌŬďĞĐŬŽůůĞŐĞ KƌŐĂŶŝƐĞĚũŽŝŶƚůLJǁŝƚŚƚŚĞĞŶƚƌĞĨŽƌWĂůĞƐƟŶĞ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕^K^

ϰDĂƌĐŚ WƌŽƐƉĞĐƚƐĨŽƌ/ŶĐůƵƐŝǀĞ'ƌŽǁƚŚŝŶƚŚĞDEZĞŐŝŽŶ ,ĂƐƐĂŶ,ĂŬŝŵŝĂŶ͕>D/Θ^K^

ϭϭDĂƌĐŚ Ŷ,ŝƐƚŽƌŝĐĂůKǀĞƌǀŝĞǁŽĨƚŚĞ/ƌĂŶŝĂŶWƌĞƐŝĚĞŶĐLJ͗ϭϵϳϵͲϮϬϭϯ ^ŝĂǀƵƐŚZĂŶũďĂƌͲĂĞŵŝ͕hŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJŽĨDĂŶĐŚĞƐƚĞƌ ;ZĞͲƐĐŚĞĚƵůĞĚĨƌŽŵϯĞĐĞŵďĞƌϮϬϭϯͿKƌŐĂŶŝƐĞĚũŽŝŶƚůLJǁŝƚŚƚŚĞĞŶƚƌĞĨŽƌ/ƌĂŶŝĂŶ^ƚƵĚŝĞƐ͕^K^

dh^zϱ͗ϰϱWD;ƵŶůĞƐƐŽƚŚĞƌǁŝƐĞƐƚĂƚĞĚͿ <,>/>/>dhZd,dZ͕D/Eh/>/E'͕^K^

dŚĞ>ĞĐƚƵƌĞƐĂƌĞĨƌĞĞĂŶĚŽƉĞŶƚŽĂůů͘dĞĂĂŶĚďŝƐĐƵŝƚƐĂƌĞĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞĨƌŽŵϱ͗ϭϱƉŵ͘

&ŽƌĨƵƌƚŚĞƌŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶĐŽŶƚĂĐƚ͗ dŚĞ>ŽŶĚŽŶDŝĚĚůĞĂƐƚ/ŶƐƟƚƵĞĂƚ^K^͕hŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJŽĨ>ŽŶĚŽŶ͕dŚŽƌŶŚĂƵŐŚ^ƚƌĞĞƚ͕ZƵƐƐĞůů^ƋƵĂƌĞ͕>ŽŶĚŽŶ͕tϭ,Ky' d͗ϬϮϬϳϴϵϴϰϯϯϬ͗ůŵĞŝΛƐŽĂƐ͘ĂĐ͘ƵŬt͗ǁǁǁ͘ƐŽĂƐ͘ĂĐ͘ƵŬͬůŵĞŝͬ December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 31 multilateral and unilateral sanctions policies, dynamics of class and state levied against Iran may not be formation, imperialism and the compatible with international law nature of regional accumulation, and international human rights the signifi cance of Palestine and standards. Tea and biscuits available the Gulf Arab states, and the from 5:15pm. Admission free. ramifi cations of the global economic Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T crisis. Admission free. DLT (G2), 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] W SOAS. T 020 7898 4490/4330 E www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/ lmei/events/ 6:30 pm | Alan Hall Memorial Lecture – Th e leopard changes 6:45 pm | Contemporary Egyptian its spots: recent work on societal Literature (Reading) Ayman El- change at Çatalhöyük (Lecture) Ian Desouky, SOAS. Organised by: Hodder, Stanford University and Centre for Cultural, Literary and British Academy. Organised by: Th e Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS) and British Institute at Ankara (BIAA). P21 Gallery. Part of the CCLPS Hodder discusses recent evidence Reading Group. Admission free. that demonstrates that Catalhoyuk P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, was not a stable entity as has oft en London NW1 1JD. E kl19@soas. been supposed and will look at the ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/cclps/ complex ritual and symbolic world cclps-reading-group/ that has become so well known. Tickets: £10 (available online W 7:00 pm | Hijazkar Maqam Concert www.biaa.ac.uk)/Admission free Organised by: Ed Emery. Featuring for BIAA members. Pre-registration players and singers from the various required. British Academy, 10 "national" traditions - Mohammed Carlton House Terrace, London Antar (ney) from Cairo, Najib SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7969 5204 E Coutya (oud) from Lebanon, [email protected] W www.biaa. Peyman Heydarian (santur) from ac.uk Iran, Cahit Baylac (violin) from Turkey and Pavlos Carvalho Hanieh Delecroix & Keyvan Saber, 'Balade Nocturne', acrylic on paper, Wednesday 11 December (bouzouki) from Greece. Plus 50x40 cm, 2012. Hanieh Delecroix & Keyvan Saber: Lifeline (See Exhibitions, page 38) guest singers and instrumentalists. 4:30 pm | Saudi Arabian foreign Tickets: £10/£6 conc. Pre-booking University of Cambridge. Organised Seminar of the Centre for Hellenic policy aft er the Arab Spring advised. Cockpit Th eatre, Gateforth by: Anglo Israel Archaeological Studies, King's College London. (Talk) Adel Al-Toraifi , Th e Street, Marylebone, London NW8 Society (AIAS) and the Institute of Part of the series BIZANS - New Majalla. Organised by: LSE Kuwait 8EH. E ed.emery@thefreeuniversity. Archaeology, UCL. Admission free. Perspectives from Turkey in Programme and LSE Middle East net / [email protected] Lecture Th eatre G6, Ground Floor, Byzantine Studies. Admission free. Centre. Admission free. NAB.1.04, Institute of Archaeology, UCL, 31- Council Room, King’s Building, First Floor, New Academic 7:00 pm | Collecting from the Past 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H King’s College London, Strand Building, LSE. T 020 7955 6639 or Appropriating the Present: OPY. T 020 8349 5754 W www.aias. Campus WC2. E ioanna.rapti@kcl. E [email protected] W www. the Dilemma in Contemporary org.uk ac.uk / [email protected] lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/programmes/ Iranian Art (Lecture) Hamid W www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/ middleEastProgramme/kuwait/ Keshmirshekan, LMEI & University 6:15 pm | Hittite Scribes: Th eir chs/events/byzsem1314.aspx events/Home.aspx. of Oxford. Organised by: Islamic hands before our eyes (Seminar) Art Circle at SOAS. Part of Shai Gordin, Leuven. Organised by: 5:45 pm | Sanctions on 6:00 pm | Lineages of Revolt: Issues the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS London Centre for the Ancient Near Iran, International Law and of Contemporary Capitalism in Lecture Programme. Chaired by: East. Convened by: Mark Weeden, international human rights the Middle East (Book Launch/ Doris Behrens-Abouseif, SOAS. SOAS. Admission free. Room G51, standards (Lecture) Mansour Panel Discussion) Adam Hanieh, Admission free. Khalili Lecture SOAS. T 020 7898 4328 E mw41@ Talebpour, SOAS. Organised by: SOAS with Gilbert Achcar, SOAS, Th eatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/nme/ London Middle East Institute, Jamie Allinson, University of E [email protected] W ane/lcane/seminars/ SOAS (LMEI) and the Centre for Westminster and Brenna Bhandar, www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ Iranian Studies, SOAS. Part of the SOAS. Organised by: London Tuesday 10 December LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Middle East Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Th ursday 12 December Programme on the Contemporary Drawing upon extensive empirical 5:30 pm | Byzantium's relations Middle East. Few scholars have research, Adam Hanieh's Lineages 5:30 pm | Figural Sculpture with the Islamic East: trade and focused on the humanitarian issues of Revolt tracks the major shift s in Mshatta. A Neglected beyond (Lecture) Koray Durak, of the economic sanctions against in the region’s political economy Topic (Seminar) Jens Kröger, Boğaziçi University. Organised Iran. Talebpour will attempt to over recent decades. Hanieh Museum für Islamische Kunst by: Byzantine and Modern Greek examine how certain aspects of the explores the contours of neoliberal im Pergamonmuseum, Berlin.

32 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 Organised by: Department of the 4539 E [email protected] W men from the East: Zoroastrian Gallery, SOAS. E [email protected] History of Art & Archaeology, www.royalasiaticsociety.org traditions in Persia and beyond W www.soas.ac.uk/law/events/ SOAS. Research Seminar in Islamic (see Exhibitions). Admission free. Art. During the preparations of Brunei Suite, Brunei Gallery, SOAS. 6:00 pm | Sheikh Imam Concert bringing part of the Mshatta- Friday 13 December T 020 7898 4490/4330 E vp6@soas. @ SOAS In a gesture of solidarity Façade to Berlin, a number of ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/ with the Egyptian revolution, the fi gural fragments of limestone were 6:00 pm | Kings, heroes and events/ SOAS students' union voted to elect found within or in the vicinity of Zoroastrianism in Persian the blind Egyptian oud player Sheik the audience hall. In 1962 further literature (Reading) Organised by: 6:00 pm | On Palestine, G4S and Imam Issa (d. 1977) and the Egyptian fragments were excavated. Th e Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS. the Prison Industrial Complex: poet Ahmed Fouad Negm as joint study will present the sculptures Narguess Farzad, Vesta Sarkhosh an evening with Angela Davis and Honorary Presidents of the SOAS and look into some art-historical Curtis and Sarah Stewart will Gina Dent (Talk) Angela Davis, Student Union. Th e songs of Sheik implications. Convened by: Anna read extracts of stories related to University of California, Santa Cruz, Imam and Ahmed Fouad Negm Contadini, SOAS. Admission free. Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia Gina Dent, University of California, will be performed by Najib Coutya Room B111, Brunei Gallery, SOAS. from the colourful collection of Santa Cruz, and Rafeef Ziadah, War (oud and vocals), Mohammed E [email protected] W www.soas. Persian literature. Th ese include on Want. Organised by: War on Antar (ney and vocals), and Cahit ac.uk/art/events/ressemislamicart/ myths from the Shahnameh or Book Want, School of Law at SOAS and Baylav (violin). Admission free. of Kings of Firdowsi, completed in the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. Pre-registration required. SOAS. E 6:00 pm | Cathay at Court: Far AD 1010, and Gurgani’s Vis and Discussion on Justice for Palestine [email protected] / Eastern Inspirations in some Ramin of the mid-eleventh century. and the Stop G4S campaign. [email protected] Post-Mongol Persianate Drawings Readings in original Persian and Chaired by: Brenna Bhandar, SOAS, (Lecture) Ladan Akbarnia, BM. English translation. Th is event is and Frank Barat, Russell Tribunal 6:00 pm | Iran-UK Sonic Residency Organised by: Royal Asiatic in connection with two exhibitions on Palestine. Tickets: Suggested (Performance) Organised by: Six Society. Admission free. Royal on Zoroastrianism: Th e Everlasting donation £8. Tickets available at W Pillars, the London College of Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, Flame: Zoroastrianism in history waronwant.org/AngelaDavisBrunei Communication – University of London NW1 2HD. T 020 7388 and imagination, and Wise Gallery Lecture Th eatre, Brunei the Arts London and Southbank NASSER MY HUSBAND NEW Tahia Gamal Abdel Nasser, with a foreword by Hoda Gamal Abdel Nasser

www.ibtauris.com 216 pages 230 x 150mm 9789774166112 hardback £24.95

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 33 Centre. Collaboration between the World Music (Concert) Organised Irani. Directed by Zachary James. [email protected] W fi nal participants in a two week by: Peyman Heydarian and the A narrative of migration, memory, www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ residency in London for emerging SOAS Iranian Music Society. and the Zoroastrian community Iranian sonic artists and digital Celebrate the longest night of -- set in Iran, Yemen, and India: A Monday 13 January music producers living in Iran the year with Persian, Kurdish, young woman and her brother sail or the wider Middle East, North Russian, Greek, Turkish, Sephardik from Iran to India. Found on the 6:00 pm | Th e Promontory Palace Africa or South Asia region. Tickets: (Jewish music from Spain), Italian, docks in Yemen, they are taken in at Caesarea Maritima, Israel TBC. Southbank Centre, Belvedere English, Irish and Scottish music. by a local Indian family on the eve (Lecture) Barbara Burrell, University Road, London SE1 8XX. W www. Tickets: £15/£10 students and of an anti-British uprising. Evolving of Cincinnati, Ohio. Organised by: sixpillars.org/IranUK the unwaged/£6 SOAS students. embroidery traditions weave a Anglo Israel Archaeological Society Advance booking required W www. tale of two communities bound by (AIAS). Admission free. Lecture Saturday 14 December thesantur.com. DLT (G2), SOAS. E religion yet separated by culture. Th eatre G6, Ground Floor, Institute [email protected] Admission free. Pre-registration of Archaeology, UCL, 31-34 Gordon 10:00 am | A Conference on Maqam required E sawcc-london@sawcc. Square, London WC1H OPY. T 020 Music Organised by: Ed Emery. Monday 16 December org Th e Actors Centre, 1A Tower 8349 5754 W www.aias.org.uk Keynote contribution by Owen Street, Covent Garden, London Wright, SOAS. Admission free. 7:00 pm | Tree of Seeds (Reading) WC2H 9NP. W www.sawcc.org/ Saturday 18 January Pre-registration required. SOAS. E Organised by: South Asian Women's community/sawcc-london/ [email protected]/ Creative Collective (SAWCC) Iran’s Natural Heritage: A [email protected] London. Staged reading of a play- Th ursday 19 December Catalyst Symposium to Spark in-progress by Emmy award Measurable Change (Two-Day 7:00 pm | Yalda Night Festival of winning American writer Kayhan 7:00 pm | Th e Iran Society Symposium: Saturday 18 - Sunday Christmas Party Organised by: Th e 19 January) Organised by: Iran Iran Society. Iradj Amini will speak Heritage Foundation in association Ayşe Erkmen: Intervals. Installation shot by Jane Hobson, 2013. Courtesy on Napoleon and Persia. Tickets: with London Middle East of Barbican Art Gallery (See Exhibitions, page 38) £30. St Columba’s Church Hall, Pont Institute, Persian Wildlife Heritage Street, London SW1X 0BD. T 020 Foundation, Persian Wildlife 7235 5122 E [email protected] Foundation, International Institute W www.iransociety.org for Environment and Development, and I B Tauris. International 7:30 pm | Syria: Freedom versus NGOs, conservation practitioners Death (Reading) Organised by: and internationally renowned Exiled Writers Ink and Th e Syrian scholars will highlight and discuss Writers Association. Exiled Lit the challenges and demands that Cafe. With the Syrian writers Iyad face Iran and the preservation of Hayatleh, Maram al-Masri, and its unique ecology: its ecosystems, Husam Eddin Mohammad. Tickets: habitats, wildlife and natural £4/£2 EWI members. Poetry Cafe, environments. Tickets: TBC. Royal 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H Geographical Society, Kensington 9BX. E [email protected]. Gore, London SW7 2AR (Day co.uk W www.exiledwriters.co.uk One) & 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP (Day Two). T 020 7493 4766 E info@iranheritage. JANUARY EVENTS org W www.iranheritage.org Sunday 19 January Wednesday 8 January Iran’s Natural Heritage: A Catalyst 7:00 pm | Th e Hadassah and Daniel Symposium to Spark Measurable Khalili Memorial Lecture in Change (Two-Day Symposium: Islamic Art and Culture: A Battle Saturday 18 - Sunday 19 January) of Books: ‘Abbasid Patronage See listing on Saturday 18 January and Qur ‘anic Manuscripts for more information. (Lecture) François Déroche, École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Monday 20 January Section des Sciences Historiques et Philologiques, Paris. Organised by: 6:30 pm | Agency and Gender in Islamic Art Circle at SOAS and the Gaza: Masculinity, Femininity and London Middle East Institute, SOAS Family during the Second Intifada (LMEI). Chaired by: Doris Behrens- (Lecture) Aitemad Muhanna- Abouseif, SOAS. Admission free. Matar, LSE. Organised by: LSE Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. E Middle East Centre. Muhanna-

34 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 The Hadassah and Daniel Khalili Memorial Lecture in Islamic Art and Culture A Battle of Books: ‘Abbasid Patronage and Qur ‘anic Manuscripts

Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, KFQ 96. Copyright Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust. P r o f e s s o r F r a n ç o i s D é r o c h e Director of Studies, École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Historiques et Philologiques, Paris

7.00pm Wednesday 8 January 2014

Khalili Lecture Theatre, Main Building, SOAS, University of London London WC1H 0XG

Admission Free—All Welcome Organised by the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS and the London Middle East Institute, SOAS, University of London

Enquiries: E-mail [email protected] or Telephone 020 7898 4490 December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 35 Middle East Summer School 2423 JuneJune-24 – 26 July July 2014 2013

An intensive five-week programme which includes two courses: an Arabic Language Course (introductory or intermediate) and another on ‘Government and Politics of the Middle East.' or 'Introduction to Arab Culture'.

BeginnersArabic 100 Arabic (Level 1) Government andand PoliticsPolitics of of the Middle East This is an introductory course in Modern Standard Arabic. It teaches students the Arabic script and This coursecourse provides serves as an an introduction introduction to theto the politics politics of the provides basic grounding in Arabic grammar and ofMiddle North East Africa and (TheNorth Maghreb), Africa (MENA) the Arab region. East It gives(The on a syntax. On completing the course, students should Mashriq)country by including country basis,the Gulf, an overview the Arabian of the Peninsula, major political be able to read, write, listen to and understand simple Israel,issues andTurkey developments and Iran. It ingives, the region on a country since the by Arabic sentences and passages. This course is for countryend of the basis, First anWorld overview War and of addressesthe major keypolitical themes complete beginners and does not require any prior issuesin the studyand developments of contemporary in theMiddle region East since politics, the knowledge or study of Arabic. endincluding: of the the First role World of the War military, and addresses social and key economic themes indevelopment, the study of political contemporary Islam, and Middle the recent East uprisingspolitics, Arabic 200 including:(the ‘Arab Spring’). the role of the military, social and economic Beginners Arabic (Level 2) development, political Islam, and the recent uprisings (the ‘Arab Spring’). This coursecourse is focuses a continuation on reading, of Beginners writing Arabicand grammar Level 1. Itand completes provides the training coverage in listening. of the grammar The course and syntax will also of Introduction to Arab Culture* Its main aim is to develop the students’ understanding introduce modern media Arabic to prepare students to Modern Standard Arabic and trains students in reading, Thisof the course major examines trends in the Middle major Easterncultural politicspatterns and and read newspapers, magazines and internet news sources comprehending and writing with the help of a dictionary institutionstheir skills ofof politicalthe Arab analysis world. It through is taught critical through reading, a study published in the Arab world today. On completing the more complex Arabic sentences and passages. oflectures, some lively presentations topics such and as religious informed and discussion. ethnic diversity, course, students should be able to read and understand impact of the West, stereotyping, the role of tradition, texts of an intermediate level, compose short texts in education (traditional and modern), family structure and Arabic on a variety of topics and be able to follow oral To qualify for entry into this course, students should value, gender politics, media, life in city, town and village, communication in Arabic. Students will also be trained have already completed at least one introductory labour and labour migration, the Palestinian refugee in the basic skills necessary to read and understand course in Arabic. problem and Arab exile communities, culinary cultures, Arabic news media with the aid of a dictionary. music and media, etc. This is an intermediate course. To qualify for entry into this course, students should have already completed at * (subject to approval) least one introductory course in Arabic.

FEES Session (5 weeks) Programme fee* Accommodation fee** 2324 June–26June-24 July July 2014 2013 (two (two courses)courses) £2,500 from £300/week

* An Early early bird bird discounts discount of 10%10% applyapplies to to course course fees fees before before 1 March31 March 2013. 2014. ** Accommodation fees must be paid by 1 March 2013 to secure accommodation. ** Rooms Please cancheck be ourbooked website at the from Intercollegiate mid-October Halls 2012 which for confiare located rmed prices. in the heart of Bloomsbury: www.halls.london.ac.uk.

For more information, please contact Louise Hosking on [email protected]. Or check our website www.soas.ac.uk/lmei 36 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 Matar will discuss her new book the Council for British Research in Birmingham. Organised by: 5:45 pm | Lessons and which explores how gender and the Levant. Mansel will talk on his Department of History, SOAS. Part opportunities in researching dress gender relations of power in recently published book Levant: of the Seminar on the History of in Saudi Arabia: insights from the Gaza are renegotiated to develop Splendour and Catastrophe on the the Near and Middle East. Seminar Art of Heritage Project (Lecture) material mechanisms of coping or Mediterranean which discusses re-scheduled from 28 October. Aisa Martinez, LMEI. Organised by: resistance against the livelihood the history from ancient times to Admission free. G3, SOAS. E bf7@ London Middle East Institute, SOAS crisis. Chaired by: Sumi Madhok, the present of three Mediterranean soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ (LMEI). Part of the LMEI's Tuesday LSE. Admission free. Room 1.04, cities, Beirut, Alexandria and Izmir. history/events/ Evening Lecture Programme on New Academic Building, LSE. E Admission free. Stevenson Lecture the Contemporary Middle East. [email protected] W www.lse. Th eatre, BM. E ionisthompson@ 6:30 pm | Th e Arab Uprising: Martinez will elaborate on studying ac.uk/middleEastCentre/home.aspx yahoo.co.uk W www.thebfsa.org Results and Prospects (Lecture) traditional dress and adornment Gilbert Achcar, SOAS. Organised in Saudi Arabia. She will compare Tuesday 21 January Monday 27 January by: LSE Middle East Centre. Gilbert methodology using archival records Achcar will assess and discuss of European travellers to her 5:45 pm | Qatar and the Arab 9:00 am | Middle East and the latest developments in the fi eldwork visits to the Kingdom in Spring: Policy Responses and North Africa Energy 2014: Arab-speaking region to mark the 2012. Using these research methods Consequences (Lecture) Kristian New Uncertainties and New publication of his recent book, Th e in addition to studying the Art of Coates-Ulrichsen, Baker III Institute Opportunities(Two-Day People Want: A Radical Exploration Heritage Project dress collection, of Public Policy at Rice University Conference: Monday 27 - Tuesday of the Arab Uprising. Chaired by: there are lessons and opportunities in Houston. Organised by: London 28 January) Organised by: Chatham John Chalcraft , LSE. Admission to gain from the interdisciplinary Middle East Institute, SOAS House. Th e conference will look free. New Th eatre, East Building, approach to studying dress in the (LMEI). Part of the LMEI's Tuesday at the key concerns for energy LSE. E [email protected] W www. Arabian Peninsula. Tea and biscuits Evening Lecture Programme on the producers in the MENA region and lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/home. available from 5:15pm. Admission Contemporary Middle East. In only will explore how political, economic aspx free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. a decade, Qatar has been catapulted and market factors are reshaping T 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] from a sleepy backwater to a regional the energy sector. Tickets: Various. Tuesday 28 January W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ power with truly international T 020 7957 5729 E conferences@ reach. Coates-Ulrichsen will assess chathamhouse.org W www. 9:00 am | Middle East and Qatar's startling rise to regional chathamhouse.org/Mena_energy14 North Africa Energy 2014: EXHIBITIONS and international prominence, New Uncertainties and New describing how its distinctive policy 5:15 pm | Grudging Rescue: Th e Opportunities(Two-Day stance toward the Arab Spring French Withdrawal from Cilicia Conference: Monday 27 - Tuesday Until 14 December | Th e emerged. Tea and biscuits available and the Exodus of Armenians, 28 January) See listing on Monday Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism from 5:15pm. Admission free. 1921 (Seminar) Benjamin White, 27 January for more information. in History and Imagination Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Ayşe Erkmen: Intervals. Installation shot by Jane Hobson, 2013. Courtesy of Barbican Art Gallery (See Exhibitions, page 38) 7:00 pm | Silver and steel: highlights of Safavid metalwork (Lecture) James Allan. Organised by: Th e Iran Society. Admisson free for Society members and one guest. Marlborough Suite, Th e Army and Navy Club, 36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN (Dress code calls for gentlemen to wear jacket and tie). T 020 7235 5122 E info@iransociety. org W www.iransociety.org

Th ursday 23 January

4:00 pm | Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean (Lecture) Philip Mansel, Royal Historical Society, Royal Society of Literature, Institute of Historical Research (University of London) and the Royal Asiatic Society. Organised by: British Foundation for the Study of Arabia (BFSA), the Palestine Exploration Society and

December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 37 Th e fi rst exhibition of its kind to provide a visual narrative of the history of Zoroastrianism, its rich cultural heritage and the infl uence it has had on the major world religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Th e exhibition takes you on a journey from the earliest days of the religion to its emergence as the foremost religion of the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian empires of imperial Iran. Admission free. Brunei Gallery, SOAS. T 020 7898 4046/4023 E gallery@soas. ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/ everlastingfl ame/

Until 15 December | Siah Armajani: An Ingenious World Th e fi rst major UK survey of Iran-born, American artist, artist Siah Armajani traces his 'Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here’. Threads of Light & Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here (See Exhibitions, page 38) early works on paper, made in Iran during the late 1950s, to his present day public sculpture commissions. Admission free. Parasol Unit, 14 Until 5 January | Ayşe Erkmen: characterised by two signifi cant third edition, see the works by the 10 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW. T Intervals Interspersed throughout themes: the fi rst is human faces- short-listed 3 artists and designers, 020 7490 7373 E info@parasol-unit. the 90-metre space Turkish artist with Pharaonic and African features ranging from Arabic typography org W www.parasol-unit.org Erkmen presents a series of scenic alongside an attempt to deal with and calligraphy to fashion inspired backdrops that are slowly lowered the Oriental Regality and the second by the Hagia Sofi a in Instanbul, Until 15 December | In the City and raised by an automated fl y theme is focused on fables, revealing and from social design and video Graphic design and sound art system. Responding to the Barbican the artist's passion animals. installation to delicate miniature exhibition providing a rare glimpse as a leading venue for all the arts, Admission free. ARTSPACE drawings. Admission free. V&A into four Arab cities - Alexandria, Erkmen brings an element that is London, 7 Milner Street, London South Kensington, Cromwell Road, Algiers, Baghdad and Nablus - and normally in the background to the SW3 2QA. T 020 7589 5499 E info@ London SW7 2RL. T 020 7942 2000 showcasing a series of works from a forefront, as if these backdrops were artspace-london.com W www. W www.vam.ac.uk/jameelprize line up of established and emerging performers in their own production. artspace-london.com Arab designers, illustrators, video, Admission free. Th e Curve, Friday 17 January and sound artists and explores Barbican Centre, London UKSilk Until 27 April | Wise Men From each city’s panorama through their Street, London EC2Y 8DS. T 0845 the East: Zoroastrian traditions Until 21 February | Th reads of Light streets, landmarks, people, signage, 120 7550 W www.barbican.org.uk/ in Persia and beyond On display & Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts and sounds. Admission free. P21 artgallery are a variety of ancient and modern Here Two-part exhibition featuring Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, London objects and coins which highlight paintings by Iraqi artist Abu Zaydun NW1 1JD. T 020 7121 6190 E info@ Until 19 January | Pearls Organised the importance of Zoroastrian Hanoos and a selection of art books p21.org.uk W www.p21.org.uk in partnership with the Qatar traditions in other religions. It will and broadsheets from the project Museums Authority (QMA), the touch on the concept of the Th ree Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here. Until 20 December | Hanieh exhibition explores the history of Kings of the Christian tradition, Hanoos's exhibition Th reads of Delecroix & Keyvan Saber: Lifeline pearls from the early Roman Empire described in the New Testament as Light includes paintings inspired First solo exhibition in London to the present, and is a highlight Magi from the east – Zoroastrian by the Iraqi poet Abdel-Wahab Al- for Hanieh Delecroix & Keyvan event of the Qatar UK 2013 Year priests in the Persian tradition – Bayatti. Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Saber, the two Iranian artists based of Culture. On display are over 200 and modern objects will show Here features responses by artists in Paris. Signing their paintings pieces of jewellery and works of the ongoing legacy of this ancient and writers to the 2007 bombing Hanieh & Keyvan, their works art showcasing the extraordinary Iranian religion and its signifi cance that destroyed Baghdad’s cultural involve Hanieh painting abstract variety of colour and shape of as a symbol of national identity. and intellectual hub: Al-Mutanabbi images as a stage on which Keyvan natural and cultured pearls. Tickets: Admission free. Room 69a, Street. Admission free. Th e Mosaic performs his writing, abstract £10. Victoria & Albert Museum, BM. T 020 7323 8299 W www. Rooms, A M Qattan Foundation, calligraphy of his own poetry or South Kensington, London SW7 britishmuseum.org Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, texts by contemporary and classical 2RL. T 020 7907 7073 W www.vam. London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 Persian writers. Admission free. ac.uk Wednesday 11 December E [email protected] W www. Rose Issa Projects, 82 Great Portland mosaicrooms.org Street, London W1W 7NW. T 020 Until 20 January | Adel El Siwi: An Until 21 April | Jameel Prize 3 7602 7700 / 020 7323 1710 E info@ Exhibition of Works Exhibition Launched in 2009 and held every roseissa.com W http://roseissa.com of works by El Siwi which are two years, the Jameel Prize is in its

38 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014 (International) in the United Kingdom Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

MA in Muslim Cultures

Based in central London, the Aga Khan University Institute for the +LJLTILY Study of Muslim Civilisations two-year MA Programme: UÊ Ê"vviÀÃÊ>Ê`ˆÃ̈˜V̈ÛiÊÜ>ÞʜvÊ՘`iÀÃÌ>˜`ˆ˜}Ê Õψ“ÊVˆÛˆˆÃ>̈œ˜ÃÊ>ÃÊÌ iÞÊ >ÛiÊ  evolved over time. Virtual Open Day: UÊ Ê-ÌÀiÃÃiÃÊÌ iÊ«ÕÀ>ˆÌÞÊ>˜`ÊVœ“«i݈ÌÞʜvÊ«>ÃÌÊ>˜`Ê«ÀiÃi˜ÌÊ Õψ“ÊVՏÌÕÀiÃ]Ê {Ê iVi“LiÀÊÓä£Î ÃÌÕ`ވ˜}ÊÌ i“Ê>ÃÊ«>ÀÌʜvÊܜÀ`ÊVՏÌÕÀið £Î°ä䇣x°ää UÊ Ê “«œÞÃÊÌ iÊ̜œÃʜvÊÌ iÊÜVˆ>ÊÃVˆi˜ViÃÊ>˜`Ê Õ“>˜ˆÌˆiÃÊ>ÃÊ>ÊvÀ>“iܜÀŽÊ for learning. -LIY\HY` 7ˆÌ ˆ˜ÊÌ iÊ`ˆÃVˆ«ˆ˜iÃʜvÊÜVˆ>ÊÃVˆi˜ViÃÊ>˜`Ê Õ“>˜ˆÌˆiÃʜÕÀÊÃÌÕ`i˜ÌÃÊÃÌÕ`ÞÊ>Ê ˜Õ“LiÀʜvÊÃÕLiVÌÃʈ˜VÕ`ˆ˜}Ê>˜Ì Àœ«œœ}Þ]Ê`iÛiœ«“i˜ÌÊÃÌÕ`ˆiÃ]ÊiVœ˜œ“ˆVÃ]Ê «œˆÌˆV>ÊÃVˆi˜Vi]Ê>ÀÌ]Ê>ÀV ˆÌiVÌÕÀi]Ê ˆÃ̜ÀÞ]ʏˆÌiÀ>ÌÕÀi]ÊVœ“«>À>̈ÛiÊÀiˆ}ˆœ˜Ê>˜`ʏ>ÜÆÊ  ÃÌÕ`i˜ÌÃÊ>ÀiÊ>ÃœÊÀiµÕˆÀi`Ê̜ÊÃÌÕ`ÞÊiˆÌ iÀÊ
À>LˆV]Ê*iÀÈ>˜ÊœÀÊ/ÕÀŽˆÃ Ê>˜`Ê՘`iÀÌ>ŽiÊ Application >˜Êˆ˜Ìi˜ÃˆÛiÊvœÕÀ‡ÜiiŽÊ>˜}Õ>}iÊVœÕÀÃiÊ>LÀœ>`°Ê Deadline: ˆ˜>˜Vˆ>Ê>ÃÈÃÌ>˜ViʈÃÊ>Û>ˆ>Li°Ê ÓnÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊÓä£{

œÀÊvÕÀÌ iÀʈ˜vœÀ“>̈œ˜Ê>˜`Ê̜ÊÀi}ˆÃÌiÀÊvœÀÊÌ iʜ«i˜Ê`>ÞÊۈÈÌ\ www.aku.edu/ismc December 2013-January 2014 The Middle East in London 39

IRAN’S NATURAL HERITAGE

Symposium

Presented by:

IRAN

HERITAGE

FOUNDATION

18 January 2014 Royal Geographical Society London

19 January 2014 Asia House

London

In association with:

40 The Middle East in London December 2013-January 2014