Live @ Columbia Conference: Asef Bayat on Freedom and Post-Islamism

Asef Bayat is currently speaking and has made some very interesting points regarding generational shifts in the idea of what constitutes azadi, Persian for “Freedom.”

For the generation leading the protests of 1979 Bayat argues that azadi was more about liberation from Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and therefore instituting political reforms that included voting rights among others.

The struggle for “freedom” disappeared from the Iranian political consciousness during the Iran-Iraq war only to reemerged at the conflict’s end.

Today’s concept of “freedom” in Iran, is youthful and focused on individual liberties that allow for Iranians to live like other young people throughout the world.

This however, should not be confused with the idea of the 20th Century proto-Islamist that saw these aspects of “Freedom” as an excuse for decadence and other Euro-American sins.

Iran’s movement today is exclusively Iranian, peaceful (despite being confronted with violence), and globalized. Iran’s Green Wave should be seen as a “post-Islamist” movement, that is to say: a movement that seeks to reclaim citizenship within a religious order.