Imagine waking up one day from sleep and finding yourself in a room with no windows and no means of communication. There is no one around, you are alone and you have no idea how you ended up there. You may feel anxious and try to find a way out, but there is no way; you are trapped and you don’t know why. You wonder how many days and weeks you can endure such conditions? Without any contact with anyone and in complete ignorance of your loved ones. How much can you talk to yourself and tolerate these unknown conditions? You may answer that any person in such circumstances would eventually go insane. What we imagine as isolation and loneliness is not this. Even if we are alone, we still have ourselves and a perception of our past, present, and future, and the people we know in our minds. We cannot be completely alone, because we need others to meet our physical and spiritual needs; but what “totalitarianism” imposes on human society is similar to the

Myth as reality

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Underground

The story of two friends during World War II and the occupation of Yugoslavia, where one of them joins a group to build weapons underground while the other stays above ground to use the weapons for fighting. The person who stays above ground deceives those who are underground and engages in arms trading, while they all live for twenty years in a fictional and deceitful underground world, imagining that the war on the surface is still ongoing. Totalitarianism is also portrayed in contrast to the society, similar to a movie.

Underground

Koosturitsa acts; meaning she tries to create a fake reality for the people of her society and keep them in the myth she has created.

The Totalitarian movement needs advertising to solidify its power and transform into a regime. This advertising is like the other side of the coin, which, with the establishment of a system, becomes indoctrination for the masses, but remains the same for trading and communication with the non-totalitarian world. The advertising of totalitarian movements in the first step is to create an unreal world. This advertising in the beginning of the movement tries to predict an unknown future with scientific or pseudo-scientific logic. This reference to a time beyond the people’s present time eliminates any supervision of the present time by members of society. Happiness, victory, and achievements are postponed to an impossible future where other people are not under surveillance or do not achieve them. For example, the Islamic Republic, by installing a sign in Palestine Square in Tehran, has determined the time of Israel’s destruction, which will happen in a certain number of days. This reference to a distant time disrupts the sequence of contractual and historical time and

Reality has a random nature. Totalitarian propaganda tries to turn this nature into logical compatibility in order to save the masses from the anxiety of chance and convince them with a false reality. In this case, the masses are prepared to accept any imposed ideology and unconsciously replace artificial compatibility with chance. This enthusiasm for conformity was present in Stalinist Soviet Union through forced confessions and fake admissions. The masses no longer felt safe in reality, but only in their imagination and delusions. The problem was not that the masses were convinced with intimidation and violence to believe in a movement or leader, but rather the issue was the elimination of any belief. In Nazi Germany, the propaganda convinced the masses that all the nations of the world were united against Germany, so before they destroy the German-Aryan race, they must eliminate all Jews in Europe and then the world. The Islamic Republic also sees Israel as a major threat, so before Israel destroys the Islamic nation, it must be eliminated.

Totalitarianism strengthens its artificial construction by creating a great enemy of the world. This world must constantly be under the threat of a great enemy in order to shed blood and intimidate, but to create this fake reality, it needs organizations to fulfill its propaganda lies. These organizations create a society in which its members act according to the rules of an unreal world and show reactions. “The chaotic masses of supporters who are used on election day are categorized in these organizations.” These fanatical organizations unconsciously cover the appearance of totalitarianism for the non-totalitarian world and make it inaccessible; for example, many of the Basij supporters are placed in this category. The Islamic Republic uses them for government parades, promoting its ideology, or for suppressing and intimidating, but these supporters are different from the elites and close layers to the leader and the main body of the government.

Elite and main groups of the totalitarian regime are classified in other organizations; quasi-governmental and non-governmental organizations. Members of these organizations have more power than the law and government, are very close to the leader and are informed of the fake reality, but they have a lower position compared to the leader and work under his supervision; meaning all their power and credibility is dependent on the leader. The leader can grant them power or dismiss them whenever he wants. They can never be the replacement of the leader, as the totalitarian leader is irreplaceable; so even though they are constantly struggling for power, they are actually powerless. They also believe that “without a leader, everything will fall apart.” On the other hand, in totalitarianism, the government is in the hands of second-tier individuals and does not have a determining or special position; so the people cannot form a political identity against it, but rather will become masses under the command of the leader.

“Whenever a movement with an international organization and a widespread ideology takes hold of power and its political aspirations become global, it exposes itself to a clear contradiction. The totalitarian leader is also contradictory in the same way. On one hand, he must impose the fabricated world of the movement as the reality of everyday life, and on the other hand, prevent any stability in this world. He is always seeking to conquer the world and must constantly protect this desire; stabilizing laws and creating stability destroys this desire. This is why the totalitarian regime continuously creates new laws and violates them. Things should never be normal. Normalizing the situation stabilizes a way of life, places it among other nations, and makes it recognizable. Identifying a non-totalitarian world breaks apart the false totalitarian world, as it makes it subject to international laws and thus undermines its absolute authority and loses its “total” nature. “In a totalitarian government, power means confronting reality, and totalitarianism is constantly faced with the problem of

Totalitarian rule, through the creation and utilization of all these organizations and with the help of propaganda and intimidation, transforms and solidifies the overall structure of society according to its self-made myth. Totalitarianism, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has taken it as a model, needs to cut off all connections with the real world in order to maintain its unreal world. In today’s era of the internet, cutting off this access is very difficult. Perhaps if Stalin and Hitler had come to power in this era, they would not have been able to launch large-scale killing and intimidation machines, or perhaps if the Islamic Republic had initially disrupted internet access, it would not have been forced to pass a plan to control the virtual space in order to also disrupt access to external reality.

Arranging living coffins

Every individual has a range of freedom depending on their cultural, social, political, and geographical circumstances. This range of freedom is determined by laws, norms, and customs. Within this range, individuals make decisions about personal and social matters and interact with others. The exercise of freedom is often accompanied by self-determination. Even if an action is forced, the individual is still aware of it to a great extent. Governments, as the enforcers, protectors, and executors of the law, are involved in determining the range of freedom. The range of freedom for an individual under an authoritarian government is less than that of an individual under a liberal democracy. In the case of totalitarianism, the concept of freedom is negated. “The purpose of a totalitarian government is not only to restrict freedoms or eliminate fundamental freedoms, but also to eradicate the love of freedom from the hearts of humans, as this type of government destroys the necessary space for individual movement.” The goal of totalitarianism is

“Power and authority lie solely in the hands of the totalitarian leader. The closest person to the leader is the chief of police, who in the Islamic Republic can replace the commands of the Revolutionary Guards. However, despite the proximity of individuals to the leader, there is ultimately no dependency between the ruling class and their associates. The totalitarian leader is at the top of a secluded government, and his followers are just as isolated. They are all complicit in each other’s crimes, but have no human connection. Hitler, with his slogan of creating a single body out of all members of society, was able to sever human connections. He would say, ‘I am you, and you are me.’ This unification of all members of society eliminates diversity and distinctions among humans. With the destruction of diversity, there is no longer any difference between individuals, and they cannot have individual actions and reactions, making them easily predictable. The totalitarian regime needs this complete predictability. This is why it wants to eliminate

Chirgi Tom zamanie emkan pazir mishavad ke dar kenar nabood kardan shakhsiat hoghoughi, shakhsiat akhlaghi ensan niz az bin baravad. Baraye ensan tahat salteye totalitarism tasavir haye akhlaghi va hokm vajdan bayad hamishe meshkuk be nazar barasad. Afrad bayad hamishe sar dourahihaye gharaebi gharar begirand ke digaran ra ghorban konand. In entekhabha rafta rafta hambastegi ensani ra az bin mibarad; masalan pirzani dar Alman Nazi bayad entekhab mikard ke kodam yak az pesaranash koshte shavand. Koshtan shakhsiat hoghoughi va akhlaghi ensan o ra be enz

Similarities between the Islamic Republic and Totalitarianism

The Islamic Republic of Iran may not be classified as a totalitarian regime, but in its violent and irrational behavior, one can see a tendency towards complete domination. The government in Iran, like totalitarian regimes, is authoritarian; it is lawless and although constantly passing new laws and adding various provisions, it still disregards them. The Islamic Republic is full of parallel institutions and has no clear structure; it also lives in a mythical world. Its actions do not correspond with reality and it is constantly fabricating reality through extralegal institutions and propaganda. It has major enemies such as America and Israel, and it must constantly intimidate its own people and neighboring countries in order to defend against their threats; it also seeks to achieve an Islamic nation which has no clear meaning or concept; it wants to impose its style of governance on the entire world and dominate the world; therefore, it is not dissimilar to a totalitarian regime.

From this perspective, it can be concluded that the government in Iran intends to cut off people’s access to reality and eliminate their communication in any form possible, in order to isolate and control them as a shapeless and predictable mass under the command of the leader. The internet is the lifeline of the government in Iran. Since 2009, it has been this virtual space and the internet that has shaped many protests against the government. It was the internet that spread images of the 1996 protests and united people in 1998. It was the internet that connected the mothers of the victims of the 1998 massacre or created a heroic image of a martyr. By disrupting access to reality, the government must justify its legitimacy and by cutting off social and individual connections, it aims to eliminate resistance and self-awareness among the terrified, so that society cannot unite around the cause of justice. The government has known for years the danger it poses, but has not been able to completely cut off

Note:

1- For further reading, refer to: Arendt, Hannah, Totalitarianism, Thalasi, Mohsen, Third, Tehran 1395.