Persepolis

Like Susie in her discussion board post, I am often struck by the fact that Americans don't take to the streets more often. People all over the globe vocally, physically, and non-violently protest all kinds of abuses. We're seeing this in the "Arab Spring" this year. Americans used to protest. Take the Civil Rights Moment and the Vietnam War as two examples. What has happened to us?

I find myself silenced by not wanting to incur the animosity of my neighbors, not wanting to disrupt my classroom by having my political views interfere with student learning, and not feeling as if I know enough even to comment publicly on the larger issues that make me angry. Yet, I do believe political voice is the foundation of our democracy, so why the paralysis?

I like Satrapi's depictions of protests in Persepolis. On page three, she depicts a group of men and women dressed in black against a black background. Each person has a raised fist, and the fists and the faces are the only white parts of the image. The caption reads "In 1979 a revolution took place. It was later called 'The Islamic Revolution.'"

Another frame depicts women after the revolution protesting for and against the veil. One one side are women covered except for their faces in black shouting "the veil!" and on the other are women in white clothes with black hair shouting "freedom!" Again, both groups have fists raised. The background here is white, and the caption reads, "Everywhere in the streets there were demonstrations for and against the veil" (5).

What strikes me in both of these depictions is the groups of individuals doing the same thing, and the fact that protest involves raised fists, which suggests the capacity for violence. These aspects capture another aspect of my reluctance to protest: I'm not comfortable with group protests. Somehow, my participation in a group protest reduces the complexity of my understanding of a situation to the party line. I'm not comfortable being perceived as wholly agreeing with others in my group with whom I only partly agree. Maybe that's just an excuse.

The violence aspect, that even peaceful protests symbolized by raised fists involve the attempt to force others to share my view, is also not comfortable for me. I'm angry enough to believe in my view, but my recognition of the complexity of the situation makes me wary of imposing it on others who may better understand the details.

The Iranian revolution is a good example of the problem of complexity. In that revolution, the liberals and the fundamentalists collaborated to overthrow the Shah's excessive regime. The Shah needed to be overthrown, but the liberals did not predict that the fundamentalists would take that opportunity to impose Islamic law. If they had, they might not have joined the revolution. The situation was not as simple as it appeared, and the liberals like Satrapi's family have suffered for their simplistic reading of the situation. As we watch the various "Arab Spring" events, we would do well to be mindful of this history, as revolution involves tearing down existing structures, and it's never sure how they will be replaced.

And yet... all action is action. Even inaction and silence are action. When it comes down to it, we'd better just pick a stance and take to the streets even if our knowledge is not complete or risk never having our voices heard.