Monday, August 10, 2009
What a Collar Can Tell You
These two men are clearly on the opposite side of the political spectrum in Iran, yet both Ahmadineajd and Mousavi will never wear a tie on the collar of their shirts.
The might seem like a minor detail, but it has a deep political significance. In Iran the tie is considered to be a symbol of the West and men that are Islamic should not wear a tie. Thus all political figures in Iran from the hardliners to the reformists do not wear ties because they want to present themselves as Iranian and Islamic.
This is particularly important for the reformist movement because it shows that they do not want to completely embrace all parts of the Western lifestyle and want to keep the Islamic Iranian tradition of not wearing a tie. Yet at the same time they are arguing that freedom and democracy are fundamental parts of Iranian society that have a tradition in Islamic history and are not merely imports from the West. Thus not wearing a tie can communicate that you are not a puppet of the West even though you believe in freedom.
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