Community Life and Politics

There are a variety of Iranian cultural associations in different parts of Canada. Some of these organizations have been established in response to specific exigencies. The Centre Culturel Iranien, for example, was created by the community in Montreal to meet the particular needs of Iranian refugees and new immigrants in that city in the 1980s, although it no longer exists. The Iranian Women’s Association, also in Montreal, was started in the early 1990s to create an awareness of the multiple forms of oppression – class, gender, and ethnicity – that women faced and to empower them in relation to patriarchal attitudes within the Iranian community as well as discrimination in Canadian society generally. In addition to group meetings and community activism, the association celebrates International Women’s Day on 8 March and supports work on problems affecting women in Canada generally, such as racism, poverty, violence, social injustice, and inequality.

There has been a certain degree of tension between Iranians who were members of an ethno-linguistic minority prior to their departure from the homeland and those who belonged to the majority Persian speakers. The Iranian media and cultural associations in the diaspora have been criticized for their tendency to focus on the Persian language and to ignore ethno-linguistic differences. In Vancouver, Iranian Azeris and Kurds have their own cultural associations. There is also an organization in that city for Iranian youth called Anjoman-e Javanan North Shore. In Montreal, aside from restaurants, grocery stores, and dance clubs, a Persian-language library, Ketabkhaneh Nima, has been created by community members to provide access to literature, poetry, history, and children’s books.

In terms of political activism, three trends are identifiable among Iranian immigrants. The first is related to the political nature of second-wave migration and is defined in terms of the various groups’ opposition to the Ismalic fundamentalist government currently in power. This opposition does not represent a homogenous political front; rather, its members range from monarchists and nationalists to social democrats and leftists. These groups remain attached to a belief in the possibility of a return to Iran. Accordingly, every event in the homeland is followed with close attention. For many Iranians, return is conditional upon profound political change. Some immigrants have been involved in groups attempting to bring about such change, including the monarchists and the Mojahedin Khalq, a Muslim association that became active in Iran in the late 1960s and that today is opposed to the Islamic republic. These groups’ main political focus is the overthrow of the Iranian government.

The second trend includes certain grass-roots organizations that are trying to create a cultural and political milieu not only in Canada but transnationally by organizing seminars, lectures, and other activities. For many Iranians, participation in political life is not limited to the homeland but is tied to the experience of racism and discrimination in the diaspora. Women’s organizations, human rights groups, and certain Marxists, socialists, and social democrats are all part of this movement. Women’s groups are particularly concerned about the politics of history, identity, culture, and activism.

A third category of Iranians in Canada includes a large number who are unengaged politically and who are sceptical about any form of activism. This group is primarily involved in such non-political enterprises as poetry readings, lectures, and New Year’s celebrations. Many events in the calendar, including No Ruz (Iranian New Year), Yalda (the longest night of the year), Char-shan-be-suri (the last Wednesday in the year), and Sizdeh Bidar (the thirteenth day of spring), are observed by all Iranian ethnic and religious groups, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, since they pre-date Islamic influence in Iran.