August 14, 2008

National Geographic (awesome photos) ran a story on Iran and focused on the country’s legacy, people & culture. The Iranian people are fiercely independent thinkers, and place a serious premium on honor. Reading this cover story triggered a lot of thought into where Iran is today and how it can move forward by looking deeper into its past and not just acknowledging it.

There is no question that humanity advanced significantly when the Persian empire was at its zenith. Before the Magna Carta, there was the Cyrus Cylinder, the world’s first charter of human rights.

Cyrus Cylinder:

Cyrus Cylinder

Before email, Peter Drucker, planes, trains & automobiles - the Achaemenid Dynasty established a doctrine that allowed them to rule over a land-mass that began with Macedonia in the West and stretched into the Indus river valley, or what is known today as Pakistan. Much of the known world, remained united under this umbrella for approximately 200 years. At the core of the doctrine, was a pragmatic process of delivering regional independence, religious freedom & a preservation of leadership in exchange for loyalty to the empire.

This legacy was interrupted by Alexander the Great, who was greatly influenced by the Persian model and exercised it during his short reign of the region. Persia was back in the driver’s seat with the rise of Parthians and then the Sassanids, who coined the term Iran and ruled over the largest empire on Earth as Rome declined. In summary, for about a 1,000 years (550b.c. - 650a.d.) they remained one of the most influential empires in existence. Then came the Arabs, the rise of Islam and the transformation of Iran into how we know it today. An Islamic nation with deep ties to its heritage and identity.

The cover story in National Geographic ends with a line that I identify with very much:

Inside every Iranian, there is an emperor or empress.

There appears to be a natural tendency for every Iranian to seek comfort & pride in their past as a benevolent & innovative superpower, regardless of how suppressed & vilified it may be today. The Persian identity isn’t muddled, and it certainly isn’t divisive. The Cyrus Cylinder would have permitted a difference of opinion with the United States on cultural, religious & sociological issues.

The rise of the China clearly makes that very clear - a nation unified in thought and comfortable with its cultural legacy can set its own terms. China differentiates itself from other asymmetric nations by quietly abandoning historic faux pas and embracing new approaches. It’s prepared to fail on a micro level if it has to, as long as the macro goal is reached.

However, a confused Iran is one that cannot fulfill its potential, and the world is lesser for it. Iran is not Western. It is not Eastern. It is not Arab. It is not European.  It is Persian, and the day it figures that out, I don’t see the planet having any issue with it.

Full Disclosure: While I am certainly Indian by birth, I am Persian by blood. I am a Zoroastrian, my forefathers came to India about a 1,000 years ago when the Arabs invaded Iran. We didn’t want to convert, and thus we came to the shores of India to preserve our faith. India has taken care of us, and we of them. It seems that India learned more from the ‘Cyrus Cylinder’ than Iran has.

Note: This is an opinion piece. I will not be lured into any political or religious debate. I simply think Iran can be better than it is now and some of the answers lie within the people.

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