Minister of Minority Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
The first Ahmadinejad government was the exemplary government for the principlists, especially in cultural domains, at a time when there was no news of the ‘Spring Government’, Cyrus, or Mashaei’s charming relations with artists. The Minister of Culture of the ninth government was exactly what it should have been. Now, Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili’s policies continue that same perspective and policy of maximum control and the imposition of a specific security outlook on this domain.
Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Ebrahim Raisi’s government, is the worthy successor of Hossein Saffar Harandi, a former IRGC member and former Kayhan writer. A minister with a political-security background and presence in the judiciary and state TV, he is said to have unsheathed his sword against artists, and in the year he has been in office, his language has leaned more towards threats, warnings, and defending bans and censorship rather than welcoming and openness towards the diverse world of art and artists.
A quote from Hassan Rouhani has repeatedly been used as a target for the principlists’ jabs and attacks because he questioned the foundation of their cultural policies with the statement that ‘we are not obligated to forcibly take people to paradise’. The current Minister of Culture also found it necessary to attack him again by recalling this statement, saying that the former president said we should not forcibly take people to paradise, but in the Islamic system, we are obliged to provide the grounds for people’s happiness and stand against those who want to render the Ministry of Culture passive.
We are not obligated to forcibly take people to paradise.
حسن روحانیContinuing Saffar’s policies
The current government’s cultural policies are familiar to the art community and reminiscent of the first Ahmadinejad government. In the early months of his ministry, Hossein Saffar Harandi promised to prevent the screening of certain films and the issuance of permits for some books and newspapers. Later, he stated that we are not committed to the growth of cinema but to the growth of desirable cinema. He said the experts and observers of the Ministry of Culture should be vigilant so that not even a needle’s worth of leniency occurs in the face of subversions.
He also told the cultural managers that they should not allow vile documents to be issued and published under their watch. For instance, it was said that the 2007 Fajr Festival was one of the least vibrant festivals in its over twenty-year history, and many prominent filmmakers were not granted permission to make films. There were also cases where, after all the stages of obtaining permits and production, the permission to screen was revoked. Saffar Harandi later reacted strongly to the lifting of bans on some films during the Ministry of Culture after his term. In 2009, he ordered artists not to support any specific candidate.
Defending the work ban
The recent action by the Cinema Organization in banning some cinema artists from working provoked strong reactions, especially from Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Mani Haghighi, and Taraneh Alidoosti, who issued very strong statements in response. However, the reaction of the minister and his deputy indicates that they see themselves in a serious confrontation with artists and are not willing to back down. Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili defended the Iranian Cinema Organization’s action to prepare a list of artists banned from work and once again threatened artists that if they act against national interests or speak against the Islamic Republic, they will face a ban on artistic activities.
The Ministry of Culture wants to demonstrate in words and actions that they are merely a ministry serving a specific minority, to the extent that when a screenwriter makes statements containing personal views at the Fajr Film Festival, he is forced to apologize, and the Minister of Culture apologizes to the country’s faithful community for the screenwriter’s remarks.
Or in defense of banning the film ‘Leila’s Brothers’, he says that in previous years, the Ministry of Culture and the Cinema Organization acted passively on these issues for whatever reason, but our intention is to act according to the law in the new period. He considered another instance of passivity in the previous government related to the home video network and said the situation of this network needs to be corrected. He also stated that we should not see one type of hijab on TV and another in cinema; there should be unified display standards in TV, cinema, and the home video network.
We are not representatives of artists
Mojtaba Salari, the artistic deputy minister, also yesterday clearly and without ambiguity publicly announced the current government’s intentions and policies in the field of culture and art. According to him, the support and permits from the Ministry of Culture only apply to insiders, a policy that always existed but was not publicly stated. ‘I am not a representative of artists, I am a representative of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and I must implement its intentions.’
The artistic deputy has not come to support an artist who acts contrary to the grand policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and if an artist wants to promote immorality or liberal ethics, there is no reason for the government to support them.
The artistic deputy has not come to support an artist who acts contrary to the grand policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and if an artist wants to promote immorality or liberal ethics, there is no reason for the government to support them.
محمود سالاری معاون هنری وزارت فرهنگ و ارشادAnyone who wants to insult the Islamic Republic should get their funding from those who tell them to insult; there is no necessity for the government to support them. Support is only for a stream of art that can strengthen the charter of Islamic Republic of Iran’s art as stated by Imam Khomeini. Some artists believe art is a matter of the heart and want to follow their heart’s desire.
The government cannot give public funds to an artist to follow their heart’s desire. The secretary of the Tehran Short Film Festival, after announcing the festival’s red lines, said these festivals will end, and I am supposed to be accountable elsewhere.
Hasn’t acted revolutionarily yet
The strange point, however, is that all these actions by the Minister of Culture are still not considered sufficient and satisfactory by some revolutionary supporters of the principlists. A group of clerics and students in June launched a campaign demanding the impeachment of the Minister of Culture for inadequate reactions regarding the hijab situation and actors’ dress shows at the Fajr Festival, inadequate reactions against actors who neglect hijab or speak against the sacred system of the Islamic Republic.
Failure to ban offensive films that have insulted clerics and the devout, inadequate supervision over music concerts, and failure to provide a transformative program in music and singing, inadequate supervision and provision of a transformative program in cinema and vulgar films and the home video network, failure to provide a transformative program in the virtual space and supervision and legislation over Instagram bloggers’ activities, and failure to provide transformative reformative legislation in the field of numerous book publishers were among the accusations against the current Minister of Culture, as the signatories of the campaign believe he has not taken steps in line with the second phase of the revolution.
Some have also criticized the indifference and silence of the House of Cinema, perhaps because the House of Cinema is glancing at the past and, fearing another closure, is seeking a safe margin. The Ministry of Culture in Ahmadinejad’s government had voted to close the House of Cinema, and it remained closed for a long time.