C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000385

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/17/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI IR
SUBJECT: IRAN: IRIG SEES ROOT CAUSES OF OPPOSITION IN THE CLASSROOM
AND IN THE THEATER

DUBAI 00000385 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Timothy Richardson, Acting Director, Iran
Regional Presence Office, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)

1. (C) Summary: Supreme Leader Khamenei and the IRIG have
signaled their intention to move beyond the arrests of
opposition figures and attack the perceived intellectual basis
of the opposition. This initiative seems to be at least a
two-pronged approach -- limiting the ability of universities to
inculcate anti-Islamic and anti-regime sentiment and warning
Iran's artist community to stop use of anti-regime themes in
film and other media. It appears that Iranian universities
will open as scheduled, after earlier rumors they would not, and
the IRIG is enhancing the security presence on Iranian campuses
to prevent student protests. Moreover, the IRIG is also
considering reviewing the humanities curriculum to ensure its
compatibility with the Islamic Republic. Some analysts and IRPO
contacts are warning of a second Cultural Revolution that could
include further efforts to purge the university system of
liberal influences and increasing pressure on prominent artists
to conform to IRIG-approved themes to further combat Western
efforts of "soft overthrow." End summary.



On Campus and in the Classroom

--------------




2. (C) The majority of Iran's universities are scheduled to open
on September 23, though there was some earlier speculation that
the beginning of classes may be delayed on the pretext of
preventing an outbreak of H1N1. More recent indications are
that universities will in fact open, but under a heavy security
presence to include police and Baseejis highly visible on
campus. IRPO contacts have also noted that an undetermined
number of students have already been expelled from universities
for up to eight semesters for participating in protests or
having links to the opposition.




3. (C) Beyond the immediate goal of preventing campuses from
becoming a source of further unrest, the IRIG's longer term
strategy appears to be to try to inoculate universities from
exposure to the ideas that form the intellectual bases of the
op

position. In an August 30 speech to university professors and
Baseej students , Ayatollayh Khamenei warned that the teaching
of the social sciences and humanities that run counter to the
ideals of the revolution and should be curtailed. Khamenei said
that the teaching of such sciences leads to "loss of belief in
godly and Islamic knowledge" and to skepticism and doubt.
Subsequent press reports have indicated the Supreme Cultural
Revolution Council has begun considering revisions to the
university curricula to limit teaching of the social sciences
and humanities. (Note: Iran's Cultural Revolution was an effort
to rid Iranian universities of Western and other non-Islamic
influence from 1980 to 1987. At its outset, universities were
closed for three years, and later, books were banned and
students and faculty purged.)




4. (C) An Iranian academic now on a fellowship abroad, whose
entry into the university had been delayed in the initial
Cultural Revolution, told us that colleagues in Iran were
worried over the prospects of clashes on campuses and faculty
purges. She said that it was near certain that the IRIG planned
to take some action to tighten control over what is being taught
in Iranian universities. She added that liberal arts and social
science teaching and research in Iran had never fully recovered
after the First Cultural Revolution -- inadequate and outdated
textbooks, lack of access to Western research, the loss of
highly regarded professors who have never been replaced -- and
further diminution of them now would cripple them inside Iran.



In the Theater and Gallery

--------------




5. (C) Simultaneously, the IRIG has also warned filmmakers and
other artists about becoming involved in "soft overthrow" plots
to prevent what it sees as inflammatory and destabilizing ideas
from reaching the public. Many of them openly supported
Mousavi during the election, and in our meetings with them, have
shown open contempt for the IRIG. Khamenei met with several

DUBAI 00000385 002.2 OF 002


filmmakers, writers and other artists on September 15 to urge
them to use their art to glorify the Sacred Defense (the
Iran-Iraq War) and its values of epic struggle, piety, idealism,
altruism, resistance, and wisdom. According to one account we
heard, director Majid Majidi, whose film "Children of Heaven"
was nominated for an Oscar and who directed Mousavi's campaign
video, complained to Khamenei about the "oppression" of artists
after the election. An Iranian filmmaker based in the UAE told
us that several filmmakers who supported reformist candidates
are now on an IRIG blacklist and said Khamenei's message to
artists in his speech was a warning to promote IRIG-approved
themes or else. Another IRPO contact who fled Iran after being
arrested for making a critical documentary about the
post-election unrest, told us fear of arrest and torture had
grown throughout the arts community.



Comment

--------------




6. (C) Not content with forcing the opposition off the streets,
the IRIG now appears to be trying to get at what it sees as the
intellectual basis of the opposition movement. This root cause
of the criticism of the regime, in the IRIG's collective mind,
is promulgated in the teaching of liberal, Western humanities
and the political commentary hidden within works of art.
Students, intellectuals and artists remain some of the most
vehement critics of the regime, and it appears that the IRIG is
now taking further steps keep them in check, promising a
long-term struggle.
RICHARDSON