Thanks Admsmith for the links.
Just wanna say that “religious-nationalism” is not a “new” concept in Iran (pre & post Islamic regime) by any means.
The 3 pillars of consequence for Iran, for a long time, are/have been: Monarchy, Religion & Trade/Business (Merchants i.e. Bazzaris).
The ‘Supreme Leader’ position of IRI today took over from an absolute ‘Monarch’ of yesterday, in a sense, while promoting an air of democracy & peoples’ participation in the political process. The intentions & in comparison were, however, distinct & different.
Actually, during latter yrs when Khomeini was still alive, and thereafter during Rafsanjani & Khatami, “religious-nationalism” was often injected into Iranian society (whether mostly Islamic, Shia Islam, and/or a hybrid of Zoroastrianism & Islam).
Because, in Iran, Islam or Shia Islam on its own simply can not survive.
See some links & some comments on Islam & preceding religions, from one perspective:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2548900/posts?page=10#10
As a summary, my assessment is/has been that whenever, specifically in last 31 yrs, IRI sees a threat of a *secular* revolt in Iran, it falls back on further reinforcing Islam (esp. Shia Islam), AND, combines it with Iranian long ingrained pride in nationalism - nothing new.
IRI continues in the tradition of initial Muslim-Arab invaders of Iran, later those of Safavids (15 to 17 century), who forced their version of Shia Islam on Iran & made it the official State religion, and now we have IRI, who Perfectly knows how to deal with Iranian tradition & religious psyche.
IRI, thru history, knows how to combine religion with Iranian non-religious nationalism. They do it by force, or thru some type of pressure. Examples can be numerous. It is very clever & goes to show they aren’t as stupid as many in the West would like to portray them.
I do wish that we didn’t So Much focus on Ahmadi-Nejad alone. He is only a small portion of the Overall Iranian problem.
But, the more we focus on Ahmadi-Nejad, the more IRI is able to distract us from the Real issue, which is the IRI regime itself & in its entirety, incl. its *other leaders & reformists*. That’s what IRI wants, imo.
I think this needs to be explored and exploited further. Iranian nationalism is a strong current historically.
There is no other way to get around it, Iran has been occupied by a foreign Arab religion for over 5 centuries. Their forefathers did not convert willingly, they fought and died in an attempt to keep this insipid foreign totalitarian religion from their land and their people. They fought gallantly but ultimately failed and those that remained had the choice to convert or to die.
The forefathers of the Great Persian Empire have wept for centuries as their offspring have been occupied, terrorized and forced into submission of the invader Arab Islam. They cry for those in despair and curse those who embrace the very evil they fought and died to defend against. Perhaps the time is near when the people of Iran will cast off the alien evil once and for all and rebuild what once was and could be again. An enlightened society of great governance, laws, and works.
There is no compulsion to embrace a religion that was forced upon your forbearers at the point of a sward.
No Iranian can deny that the only reason Islam is in Iran today is because it was brought by the sward and they were too weak at the time to stop it.