A Review of a Book entitled Memoirs of Seyed Mostafa Hashemi -Taba
Seyedeh Tahereh Moayedi
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad
2021-09-01
Listening to historical narratives from different people can be interesting. Oral history is the transformation of individual experiences into collective experience and memoir writing as methods of recording personal experiences and expressing the social, economic, cultural, and political situation of a particular period for the present and the future. The memoirs of "Seyed Mostafa Hashemi -Taba" is one of the memoirs and oral history books which is based on the memoirs of "Seyed Mostafa Hashemi-Taba" and edited by Akbar Khoshzad in 416 pages. This book is the result of 50 hours of interviews with the narrator, which was first published in 1250 copies by Surah Mehr Publications in 2019.
In the first few pages of the book, the author gives the number of years of the narrator's life and describes them in four chapters. One of the attractions of this book is the narration of people and topics that only consider the aspect of information and avoids the analysis of people and situations as much as possible.
The book entitled the memoirs of Seyyed Mostafa Hashemi-Taba is one of the books by the country's political figures and provides a brief overview of the narrator's life and cultural and political activities. This memoir is from his birth in 1946 to 2007. In compiling the book, it has been attempted to provide an overview of his life and managerial and cultural activities based on the main sources, especially the narrator's statements.
This book contains the narrator's cultural, economic, political, and social experiences, but of course, its social and cultural issues are more colorful than other topics. This book provides good sociological information, especially from the pre-revolutionary period, which will be useful for understanding the roots of the revolution. In the post-revolutionary memoirs, in addition to expressing his executive positions and jobs in various industries of Iran and the Physical Education Organization, he also has a look at the economic and cultural situation of the society. The narrator has held government positions and responsibilities in the three governments of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Mohammad Khatami. The last pages of the book include documents of positions and activities as well as photos related to the mentioned memories. His memories are candid but sincere. When he recounts his childhood memories of the 1950s in one of Tehran's neighborhoods, he not only does not hide his family's poverty and livelihood problems but also sees it as a reason for the formation of his resilient personality. He described the political and social situation of his childhood and youth, from primary school to entering the Polytechnic University, as well as cultural and political activities after his studies until the Revolution, and analyzed various issues and events instead of memories.
His memories are candid but sincere. When he recounts his childhood memories of the 1930s in one of Tehran's neighborhoods, he not only does not hide his family's poverty and livelihood problems but also sees it as a reason for the formation of his resilient personality. He described the political and social situation of his childhood and youth, from primary school to the Polytechnic University, as well as cultural and political activities after his studies until the Revolution, and analyzed various issues and events instead of memories. Although these analyzes are a contemporary look at the past and can be criticized, they are useful in understanding the reasons for events. An important part of the narrator's documentary memoirs, which is rarely told anywhere, is about the Ayat Film Cultural Institute and its artistic activities during the Revolution. One of the important works of Ayat Film is to prepare videos and photos of the demonstrations and events of the Revolution, especially the events of September 8, 1978, and photography on September 9, 1978, of the Behesht Zahra's morgue and the corpses leftover from the events of the previous day. This book opens a new window into what happened before and during the revolution.
The presence in Noflushato and meeting with Imam Khomeini's companions has caused a different and good analysis of the situation of Noflushato village and the people present in that place. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the narrator has gained different experiences in the executive affairs of the country by accepting different positions and occupations. Although memoirs are told by a political person, because of his work in the arts such as filmmaking and photography, events are told from a different artistic perspective.
In the pre-revolutionary period, when currents and political parties were active, some new material emerged from the student movement of the Islamic Association of the Polytechnic University (now Amirkabir University). It also introduces active pre-revolutionary political parties and currents, such as the People's Fedayeen guerrillas, the Tudeh Party, the National Front, and the Marxists. Before the revolution, the university had become a war room and a place for political parties, but after the revolution and with the Cultural Revolution, the universities were cleansed of these extremist political groups.
People who were striving for education, a good future for the country at that time, each choose a different path; Some succeed and some destroy themselves by choosing the wrong path. The narrator believes that some people who could have been useful to the country were tended into foreigners and hypocrites.
In this book, the activities of famous people such as Dr. Shariati have been mentioned, which has had a great impact on the narrator's point of view; The interactions and activities of other figures such as Ayatollah Motahhari, Dr. Bahonar, and Allameh Jafari have also been mentioned.
In a part of the book Seyed Mostafa Hashemi-Taba memoirs, you will read:
"We do not know ourselves and we do not have a definition of what we should be. But sometimes we say in our slogans that we are too high. Or in the next few years, we will become unique in the world. We suppose that the others are asleep! If we do not have accurate information and definition, we cannot determine our route. Not only do we not know our coordinates, but we also do not know our worth. For example, in a country like Germany, everyone has value for themselves. We do not have such value in Iran; very valuable People suddenly become the most worthless people. We do not have a correct definition of human. Because if we had, then we would have realized how valuable our human beings are. "(P. 335)
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