L.A. Iranians, MEK holdouts, Pahlavists and super-progressive Swedish Iranians all moving to Iran en masse would be a sight to behold. One almost intersting enough to hope they actually get the chance (without the suffering that seems inevitable before then).
Some, of course, reguarly travel "back" and many take their heritage very seriously and keep up to date with the culture of Iran as much as they can.
But just imagine how interesting it will be if a substantial number of them go and live in a post-regime Iran?
No one is at "fault" here. Come on, how could they be? But growing up and successfully adapting to new nations with their own culture and norms (which Iranians have been extremely good at doing) ends up with a fundamentally diverse diaspora that looks very different from "back home".
I don't know if there's any way to measure this in the least, but Iran definitely has one of the most diverse - and as a result, weirdest - diasporas out there.
You meet some American Iranians and trying to connect them beyond names and appearance to Iran today is difficult at best.
Ha! You meet them sometimes if they have demonstrations in the diaspora. A tiny group usually with an age range of 45-75.
If there is a credible opportunity for Iranian Kurdish parties to join a larger Iranian movement to create a just life for Iranians im the future, there is nothing to suggest that time is now.
Again, let's pray they all know this and that this is all just posturing and not a suicide pact.
This is all ignoring both the recent past (the abandonment of Kurds in Syria and the support for Iraqi Federal forces taking over Kurdish majority areas in Iraq)- as well as former U.S. admins urging Iraqi Kurds to "rise up", and then doing nothing to support them.
The proposed "local" partner being discussed in some circles is basically MEK. I have never, in my entire life, met a single person outside of MEK supporters themselves (a tiny group) who wish to see them come to power in Iran.
People might be confused by why I say this, but there is absolutely no solid support or even semblance of a plan here. The U.S. is not going to commit ground forces, nor do the Kurdish parties have reliable local parties for engaging IRI grouns forces (which are mostly intact).
Praying that Iran's Kurdish parties do what they do best - absolutely nothing.
Those acronyms won't matter locally as we just make up nicknames for the parties anyway, so they'll be left for Western researchers and journalists to enjoy.
Those will, eventually, split. Because we are unimaginative with names, we will give them such similar names that we need endless acronyms to describe them.
Get three Kurds in a room, and you will create four political parties.
Use this.
I am betraying my age with this meme, but so be it.
Beginning to think the campaign promise wasn't "No more forever wars" but actually "No, more forever wars".
I can't imagine the situation for the average Iranian at the moment when it comes to their prospects.
Either you continue with a weaker, but far more hardline repressive state. Or, if the Americans commit to regime change, you get MEK or the Pahlavis.
@matthewpetti.bsky.social, visit the tomb in Ayutthaya if you ever have the chance. Would be a cool thing to document.
To me, this is just another example of countless other ones where Persians are the ultimate immigrant family.
Whether it's The Yuan court in China, or local L.A. royalty, Persians will rise to the top with grit and become more local than the locals in short order.
Tomb of Sheikh Ahmad of Qom in Ayutthaya, Thailand
The internet is a cesspool, but every now and then you can learn something new.
For example, I just learned about the Bunnag family - a Thai noble family of Persian origin from Qom that even served as Regents for the ruling Chakri dynasty. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnag_...
I mean, yeah. For sure. Even though the biker groups are definitely more diverse than they seem. I only comment on the "deep connection" stuff people have in the U.S. that I don't feel we get close to achieving in Europe.
Thanks Joe. Could this have something to do with the melting pot concept? That is, because they are "American" now, ethnic heritage becomes defanged because it is a thing of the past?
Neither do I, nor have any solid evidence for the claim beyond social media exposure which could definitely be skewed.
Is there some unique reason this seems to happen to immigrant communities in the U.S. or is it not actually that widespread and social media just gives off that impression? Any U.S.-ians who know something about it, please inform me.
I get that the U.S. is a unique example of a nominal civic-nationalist state with obvious racial characteristics. But the extent to which U.S-ians fetishise their home countries and ethnic origins is so alien to me.
A bit of a rant here, but I grew up partly in Sweden so I have some experience with the immigrant imaginings of "back home" when you grow up in a completely different place.
But I can't really understand the apparent self-fetishisation among immigrants in the U.S.
It is a great song and I really love listening to it still, but the entire feeling when I hear it now has fundementally changed. I wonder how long we will even hve revelations like this happen now that all languages seem to be given translation options in quick succession.
I've been listening to this song for years and never knew it was about the subject matter it was about because there was really no way to even find out (very local language) unless someone who knew the language translated it to another language I speak.
The girl manages one day to get to the ocean, but drowns in her voyage abroad upon the Chiri Hari and never returns to her homeland alive.
The song is about a young girl who is born in the desert of Northern Mali and how life around her has its own beauty, though the people of the region might not understand it. "Some even call it paradise". The girl dreams of nothing else but travelling abroad and seeing the (Chiri Hari) Ocean.
