Geranaz Mousavi: What's the Point of Returning Home?

Speaking at the session 'Reverse Migration: Artist Service or Betrayal,' Geranaz Mousavi described her experience of returning to Iran after 25 years living abroad. At the session, she said attacks on returning artists are a sign of restricting the right to choose and independence of opinion.

According to the reporter of Iran's Ambassador Arjan (Ambassador Arjan), the 20th session of the "Meeting of Writers and Singers" was dedicated to the issue of reverse migration of artists; A topic that Granaz Mousavi, a poet, writer and filmmaker, examined from the angle of his personal experience. This meeting was organized by "Siyastnameh" magazine and Humanities Center at Cheshme Cafe. In this program, Mousavi tried to explain why returning to Iran, especially among artists, has become a controversial issue, and who interprets returning as a compromise with the government and with what reasoning.

Returning to the country after years away did not mean reaching a familiar environment as he imagined: "When I returned four years ago, there was no one to greet me at the airport. No one knew I was coming back. Neither my family knew, nor was there anyone here who wanted to know. I came, I went to the house of a friend who returned to Iran a few years before me, I found a house and started my life."

He said about the difficulty of this experience: "It is not easy for a person to return to Iran after 25 years, that too alone. It is true that it is my country and my language, but the fact is that I came back like a foreigner. I neither knew the city nor the people. "Those I knew had either died or emigrated."

From his point of view, the demand to stop the activities of artists in the country and the opposition to the return of migrant artists, in practice, reaches one result: limiting the possibility of production and circulation of cultural works. "This is an attack on the cultural infrastructure," he said. Whether those who are outside do not return and do not work and whether those who are inside stop working, the result is the same. "Culture needs activity, and its wheel cannot be suspended."

Return, personal choice and the artist's need for language

In another part of his speech, Mousavi examined the return from the angle of artistic needs. According to him, the decision to return can have personal reasons; From the illness of the parents to the home and the relationships that a person has in his country. However, he considered another factor important for artists, especially poets: the need to live in the linguistic and social context in which the work of art is formed.

He said: "For me, a poet, poetry happens in the context of language. When I am away from Iran, I am away from the living language that is constantly growing and I lose part of my work tools. After so many years, this tool seems to be rusting."

Mousavi explained that the sources of the artist's creative work are not limited to words and subjects: "The sounds you hear in society, the noises that exist in the city and in the privacy of people, are all the resources and tools that the artist needs for creative work. "When you move away from this space, you lose some of these resources."

To explain the experience of immigration, he read a poem titled "Auction" from his first collection; A poem which according to him was written in the same year 1376, at the beginning of his migration.

Mousavi then said about the effect of distance on the language and form of his poems: "When I was away from Iran, my poetry became more focused on form and language, because it was the only thing that was under my control. I did not have access to my community; I didn't have access to all that noise and resources that could give me ideas and energy. As a result, the experience of migration literature shows itself in changing the language and focusing on language work.

An important part of Mousavi's speech was devoted to the criticism of virtual attacks against artists who return to Iran. He considered these attacks to be in conflict with the libertarian claims made by some critics of the return.

According to Mousavi, the problem becomes more complicated when those who present themselves against tyranny ask the artist to behave according to a predetermined pattern: "How does someone who claims to be libertarian and fights against tyranny attack the agency of the artist to manage his personal space?"

Mousavi also emphasized the diversity of views in the society and said: "Iranian people are not of the same color. This community is colorful and has a wide range of opinions and choices. How can this diversity be reduced to a defining line of people? A definition that a group sets for itself?

He described the virtual attacks on artists as a form of "virtual stoning" and said such behavior can lead to the exclusion of different voices. According to him, if libertarianism means obliging everyone to follow a political position, this approach also ends up limiting individual independence.

The twelve-day war and the defense of Iran

Explaining his position on the 12-day war, Mousavi said: "My personal position is that I must be on the side of my country at any cost and under any circumstances. I am against any foreign presence, influence and force. The main issue for me is the survival of Iran, the integrity and security of Iran. This is my opinion and you can disagree with it."

He said that during the war, despite the differences of opinion that may exist about his positions, he attended a rally and gave an interview. According to Mousavi, in that interview, he protested against tyranny and demanded freedom and justice, but after the publication of his picture, he faced a wave of attacks.

He considered the presence in the public space as an opportunity to raise demands and bring different groups closer to each other: "If we are on the side of Iran, we should be able to be present in the field with the plural form we have; Who has chosen hijab and who has not. This is an opportunity to fill social faults, not to deepen the gap between us and others."

A person who returns to his homeland has no reason

In the final part of his speech, Mousavi linked his return with the hope of continuing his artistic activity and presence in society. He said that worries about the future, war, sanctions and the economic situation have cast a shadow on people's lives and it is not possible to talk about the future of Iran.

He added: "If we want to have a better future, we must first be honest and see the whole picture. Choosing only a part of reality and not seeing other parts is not related to intellectualism.

At the end, Mousavi read a poem about war and homeland; A poem in which the image of destruction and worry about the future was placed next to the attachment to Iran's geography. Referring to the different "dialects" and the name of Iran, he spoke about the connection between home, language and memory and ended his speech with a sentence that was actually his answer as a meeting: "The main question is not about someone who is returning to his homeland. If there is a question, it is from someone who leaves his homeland: why? Otherwise, the person who returns to his homeland has no reason; It's pointless."

Granaz Mousavi in the meeting "Reverse migration; Artist's Service or Betrayal" said about the experience of returning to Iran after 25 years of living abroad. In this meeting, he considered the attack on returning artists as a sign of limiting the right to choose and vote independence.

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