Who is Atoussa H.?

They say: “History repeats itself.” I respond: “History does not do anything. We repeat the history by our ignorance, forgetfulness, and indifference. More than three decades ago, in the midst of what was later labeled as the Islamic Revolution of Iran, a philosopher found inspiration for his unleashed fantasies. This Philosopher was French; his name was Michel Foucault, and his new fascination was called “Political Spirituality”. He traveled to Iran a couple of times to observe the “reality”, met Ayatillah Khomeini to be theoretically correct, and wrote joyfully and optimistically about his most profound discovery.

In November 6, 1978 an anonymous reader of Le Nouvel Observateur pen named as Atoussa H. wrote a letter as a response to one of Foucault’s articles. Her letter was censored but published by the editors of the paper. Till this day, no one knows who Atoussa H. was. However her prediction was far more realistic than the philosopher, -Alas!- No one gave a damn.

In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s masterpiece; The Little Prince there is a passage about a Turkish astronomer who had discovered a planet. He presented his discovery and scientific observation in an international gathering. No one cared about his scientific achievement, and in fact he was ridiculed for his traditional Turkish clothing. Years later, he presented the same paper, this time wearing Western attire. He was immediately admired and applauded.

Who knows, maybe one day, Atoussa H. could reveal her identity, label herself as a Feminist, Post-structuralist, Post-cultural relativist, Post-nativist, etc. and regardless of all these bloody decades of repression, all the executed souls, and all the abused Iranian women she would be hounored by the indifferent international community as an insightful person. But that would be too late. So let the history repeat itself.

The following translation was printed in: Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson, Foucault and the Iranian Revolution; (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005), 209.

Living in Paris, I am profoundly upset by the untroubled attitude of French leftists toward the possibility of an “Islamic government” that might replace the bloody tyranny of the shah. Michel Foucault, for example, seems moved by the “Muslim Spirituality” that would advantageously replace, according to him, the ferocious capitalist dictatorship that is tottering today. After twenty five years of silence and oppression, do the Iranian people have no other choice than that between the SAVAK and religious fanaticism? In order to have an idea of what the “spirituality” of the Quran, applied to the letter under Ayatollah Khomeini’s type of moral order, would mean, it is not a bad idea to reread the texts. [ …] Sura 2: “Your wives are for you a field; come then to your field as you wish.” Clearly, the man is the lord, the wife the slave; she can be used at his whim; she can say nothing. She must wear the veil, born from the prophet’s jealousy towards Aisha! We are not dealing here with a spiritual parable, but rather with a choice concerning the type of society we want. Today, unveiled women are often insulted, and young Muslim men do not themselves hide the fact that, in the regime that they wish for, women should behave or else be punished. It is also written that minorities have the right to freedom, on the condition that they do not injure the majority. At what point do the minorities begin to “injure the majority?” […]

Spirituality? A return to deeply rooted wellsprings? Saudi Arabia drinks from the wellspring of Islam. Hands and heads fall, for thieves and lovers. […] It seems that for the western left, which lacks humanism, Islam is desirable… for other people. Many Iranians are, like me, distressed and desperate about the thought of an “Islamic” government. We know what it is. Everywhere outside Iran, Islam serves as a cover for feudal or pseudo-revolutionary opposition. Often also, as in Tunisia, in Pakistan, in Indonesia, and at home, Islam –alas!– is the only means of expression for a muzzled people. The Western liberal Left needs to know that Islamic law can become a dead weight on societies hungering for change. The Left should not let itself be seduced by a cure that if perhaps worse than the disease.