Shahin Nejad – 'Making Iran Great Again'

London Forum

Following the failure of the reformist Green Movement in 2009, Iranians, especially those living in exile, have increasingly adopted the pre-Islamic identity of the Persian Empire as the basis for a cultural revolution that could bring about lasting social and political changes. Known as the Iranian Renaissance, this right-wing nationalist movement is extremely critical of Islam’s colonial misappropriation of Iran’s glorious Indo-European or Aryan heritage in the arts, sciences, and spirituality. The Iranian Renaissance is an organic, grassroots movement knit together by ideals drawn from the Gathas of Zarathustra, the precepts of great statesmen such as Cyrus and Anushiruwan, and the ethos of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. With its vision of the reconstitution of Greater Iran, the Iranian Renaissance may be the contemporary cultural movement with the most revolutionary geopolitical significance for the future of the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Its triumph could also open the possibility of a deeply rooted and enduring alliance between Iran’s future regime and nationalist movements in Europe and North America.  Shahin Nejad is a lecturer in history and the author of several books including ‘Decline after the Summit’ covering the collapse of Sassanid Iran after the 7th century Arab-Muslim invasion, and ‘The Political Philosophy of an Aryan Imperium’ which looks at the possibility of reviving ancient Persian concepts of sovereignty and statehood within Iran and internationally to create an alliance of nationalisms, (a nationalist International), international nationalism –  the only internationalism after all that makes any sense.

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