Paper #2
Iran and Civil Liberties
It is no secret that Iran has a poor record on human rights from a Western liberal perspective. However, social and cultural norms vary greatly from one country to another. Thus, the issue is more about degrees of subjugation rather than a position of moral absolutism. In this paper, I will argue how Iranian laws regarding decency and other social issues are not completely alien to similar laws or customs present in other nations throughout the world, including India and the United States. To do this, I will first highlight the social restrictions presented in the article I have chosen as well as the text; next, I will argue why one cannot view Islamic law through a Western perspective; and finally, I will compare those restrictions with similar laws or customs in the West.
The social restrictions in Iran derive from Islamic law, a religion shared by 98% of the population (O'Neil, Fields, and Share 2012). There are many restrictions with the goal of “propagating virtue and preventing vice” (Erdbrink 2014). These include bans on alcohol, premarital sex, Western music, and standards of dress (Erdbrink 2014). While it seems inviting to live in a society where one can walk down the street without risk of being subjected to Nickelback by a passing motorist, many of these laws are viewed as oppressive and a denial of civil liberties by those in the West. This is underscored by a new law enabling law enforcement, as well as citizens, to cite alleged violators of these laws either verbally or through documentation (Erdbrink 2014).
I argue that one cannot view Islamic law through a Western perspective. The vast majority of Iranians are Muslim and this, along with their unique language and Persian identity, comprises their political and cultural identity. The criticism, I believe, stems from a Western position of moral absolutism and ethnocentric ideals on what constitutes basic human rights. For instance, many take concepts such as freedom of expression and separation of church and state as fundamentally necessary for human rights to exist; however, what is a more basic human right than food and shelter, which are provided for under the foundation of bonyads (O'Neil, Fields, and Share 2012). Furthermore, on the issues of freedom of expression and separation of church and state, these ideas are antithetical to a nation whose cultural identity was developed on religious principles and uses those principles to form the rule of law. In addition, individuals are empowered to practice religions outside of Islam and provisions are made for those people, including requisite seats in parliament (O'Neil, Fields, and Share 2012).
Finally, the restrictions mentioned in this paper are not exclusive to an authoritarian state such as Iran, but also exist in democracies such as India and, perhaps to a lesser extent, the United States. For this, I focus my attention on the subjugation of women. For instance, in India, it is not uncommon for rural girls to be married at a young age, often depriving them of a complete education. While this practice has been legislated against, the state lacks the capacity to enforce age of consent laws, leaving many women vulnerable to exploitation (Shulman). Also, when one contrasts the social restrictions placed on women in Iran with those in the United States, one must concede that women’s bodies are to be covered, albeit to a lesser degree; breastfeeding in public is widely frowned upon, though perhaps not illegal. It is clear by the arrests that have been made of the attackers of women in Iran that the state has both the capacity and the interest of enforcing a rule of law that extends to both men and women, which I believe is a credit to their regard for equality.
Iran is far from a perfect state. However, it seems that there is some effort by the government to maintain some equality. In this paper I presented social restrictions, argued for the cultural perspective of Iranians, and finally compared Iran to India and the United States. While there is something to be said for a universal set of human rights, whose perspective should we take when deciding what those rights are?
Bibliography
Erdbrink, Thomas. 2014. “Iran: Women Hit in Acid Attacks.” The New York Times, October 21. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/21/world/middleeast/arrests-follow-acid-attacks-on-iranian-women-.html (October 22, 2014).
O’Neil, Patrick H., Karl Fields, and Don Share. 2012. Cases in Comparative Politics. Fourth edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Shulman, Juliana. “Child Marriage in India.” Essay, Chicago: University of Chicago.
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