The tie that brought expulsion, brings rebellion in Iran

The tie that brought expulsion, brings rebellion in Iran
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

TEHRAN, JANUARY 17: The necktie, long banned in the Islamic Republic of Iran as a symbol of Western decadence and still criticised, is starting to make a comeback.

Today, doctors, manufacturers, lawyers and businessmen have started sporting them and no one turns around in the street any more at the sight of them.

Tie owners are no longer afraid to wear them except Government employees. Any Iranian official seen wearing a tie faces immediate expulsion.

"I still have my tie, and I'm Proud of it," Shipping company manager Behruz Mahdavi said. "Our important meetings are all done in ties. Why would Iran mark itself out as different? What a paradox! Foreigners have to wear them when meeting officials, even if they don't like it. And here we have to remove them," he added.

A lawyer specialising in international business said: "I wouldn't take it off for anything in the world. Without it, I feel deprived." He went on to add: "I remember, in the 1980s, the Revolutionary Guards used to cut them off. It wastheatre. The anti-tie campaign resembled the Chinese cultural revolution. Instead of the Mao costume, we had to wear `Islamic' clothing. But the tie, invented in Eastern Europe, isn't specifically Western.

However, the tie, worn by the hated Shah and his ministers, is no longer part of the usual Iranian wardrobe. Exceptions are made for mourning, including at a mosque, and for weddings. A merchant in the relatively posh neighborhood of Mirdamad in northern Tehran said: "I don't display them in my shop. It's too great a risk. I'd be fined 150,000 riyals (about 200 dollars). "But we do sell them on request for 8,000 riyals (10 dollars) each on average," he said.

Strangely, the rules, which are not very clear, are not the same from one neighborhood to the next. Farther South, on Avenue Enqelab, greater tolerance is shown toward tie sellers. "It was the Islamic republic's first President, Abolhassan Bani Sadr, who attacked the tie immediately after the revolution. He saw it as a donkey's tail. He also spokeof a cross, which he considered anti-Islamic. And there it remained," journalist Qolamreza Abdali said.

"Without question, the tie is doing better since the arrival of (President) Mohammad Khatami in May 1997. There's more tolerance, more understanding, as there is for other aspects of life in society. But we are still wide off the mark," he said.

The tie is often used as a symbol for being different but not violently so. The former prime minister, the late Mehdi Bazargan, and other so-called dissidents continued to wear their ties. At the Gulf free zone of Kish, waiters in all the restaurants wear ties. But Kish is more relaxed about attire for both men and women.

For Iran's leadership, though, the tie remains a taboo. Nevertheless, even the top mullahs are more elegant these days, with carefully trimmed beards and clerical clothing, including the collarless shirt, cut from Italian and other foreign cloth, now the norm.