Excited to share my latest essay in The New Republic - my reflections on fascism in Iran and America

"A Cowed Normality: On Daily Life In A Fascist America"

Hi Friends and Colleagues,

I'm thrilled to announce the publication of my new essay, "A Cowed Normality: On Daily Life in a Fascist America," featured in The New Republic's special issue What American Fascism Would Look Like published today.

I've poured a lot into this piece, and I believe it offers a critical perspective on a very pertinent topic. I would be honored if you could read it and share it within your networks. Your support in spreading the word would be immensely appreciated!

And please give this page a like (if you like it of course) and I love to read your comments.

thanks!
Kian

Here are some excerpts

“Would you describe the Iranian regime as ‘Islamo-fascist’?”

I hesitated before responding. The term was a favorite of the neoconservatives at the time, which was a year after Operation Iraqi Freedom began. It was a way of ginning up a possible new U.S. military adventure in Iran. But the question was from my former professor, a man I liked and respected, Ira Katznelson. Not a neocon. I had dropped by while visiting New York after living for a few years in Iran, and I knew he wanted my honest opinion.

…

Returning to the United States in 2016, like Rip Van Winkle, I found myself in a country that in many ways I didn’t recognize, and I found new reasons to worry about illiberal politics. On the left, the Black Lives Matter movement spoke a language that was entirely new to me; the more extreme articulations of anti-Americanism sounded uncomfortably close to the grievances of my former Islamist jailers. I had hoped to leave the world of ideologues, sometimes strident and self-righteous and making claims wildly disconnected from empirical reality, behind me in Tehran.

And on the right, oh boy. I was shocked by statements I never expected to hear in a Western democracy. I couldn’t believe my ears as candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric trashed basic democratic norms. Fighting for those same norms had led to my imprisonment in Iran. And then in 2020 and 2021, Trump’s actions seeking to overturn the election turned rhetoric to horrifying action.

….

I hate to give any theoretical pleasure to the intelligence officer who asked me when I thought the United States would collapse. But here I am contemplating unfathomable future scenarios. If the worst comes to be, and democratic liberalism begins to fray in America, daily life will always go on, as it did under the worst regimes in history. But ultimately, I fear, in daily life Americans are not going to be as resilient to fascism as Iranians are, for all the reasons I spelled out. We’re going to live through it, but it’s going to be harder on us.

Yet, in the contrast I’ve drawn lies an ironic twist: The very resilience of Iranians—or any people—living under authoritarian rule inadvertently nourishes the regime’s longevity. Conversely, the lower tolerance of Americans suggests a dual-edged fate: a quicker uprising in the face of tyranny, or, should the malevolent forces prevail, an arduous struggle to endure…

Read the full essay here "A Cowed Normality: On Daily Life In A Fascist America"