The Iranian society of tribes and nomads, which until a century ago played a primary role in determining the fate of the country in major political, economic, and social affairs, and the modernization advocates and supporters considered them the biggest obstacle or, in other words, their most powerful rival in transitioning to modernity, today in the fifteenth solar century and after suffering heavy damages and injuries from the implementation of the forced settlement and sedentarization law, which was carried out by the order of Reza Shah, in recent years, due to reasons such as mismanagement of the government officials, deforestation and destruction of pastures, water crisis, environmental destruction, drought, and dozens of other small and large problems in their traditional way of life, have been forced to abandon their nomadic lifestyle and accept their inevitable fate, which will only bring them misery, poverty, and displacement on the outskirts of cities.

The year 1401 in the solar calendar should be considered as the end of an era and a historical period of the life of the Ilis and nomads in Iran; a life that from now on should be read in the pages of books or observed in pictures and paintings.

The dry and barren nature and the suffering of the nomads have been devastated.

To prepare a report on the situation of the tribes in Kermanshah, who are currently facing difficult and unfortunate conditions, we travel to the forest and mountainous areas in the southeast of Kermanshah province, in order to see the nomads up close. As we leave the city of Kermanshah, after a long distance on a non-standard gravel road – a road that has been built for years with heavy machinery, but has been left in its current state for a long time – we reach a tribe that lives among the mountains and forests. Along the way, we catch a glimpse of small herds of goats and sheep, being led by an old or young shepherd through the dry and barren land and forest trees.

At the end of this road, which passes through the villages of Sarfirouzabad, Jalavand, and Osmanvand, we reach a few nomadic families in the village of “Poshtaleh”. It is a small village with seven or eight families located on the border between the provinces of Kermanshah, Ilam, and Lorestan, and is considered the last village of the Osmanvand district in Kermanshah.

This small nomadic family is one of the few remaining in this area of the central Zagros mountains and forests, where hundreds of nomadic families used to live before leaving their ancestral homes. This was once a thriving place for the nomadic tribes, with millions of livestock and black tents dotting the landscape, and the constant sounds of migration and bustling activity. But now, with a population of less than twenty and its residents struggling with poverty and despair, they are isolated in their terrifying circumstances, with no way out other than to flee.

The natural environment, where its inhabitants used to throw “thousand-year-old wood” into the air until not long ago, and according to the tradition of the Ilis and tribes, celebrated the arrival of their herds reaching a thousand heads, and with thousands of hopes and wishes, continued their way of life from generation to generation, has now come to an end here; because in this vast nature, there is no longer any trace of water, greenery, or various animals such as deer, goats, deer, and beautiful birds like grouse, geese, and pheasants, and its dry and barren nature is on the verge of complete destruction.

These extensive ruins that have occurred in this region over the years, have been caused by the indifference of government officials towards nature and the lives of tribal people, leading to the destruction of nature. As a result, consecutive droughts have devastated everything and there is no longer any vegetation, water, or wildlife remaining. The majority of the tribe’s population has been permanently extinct and the possibility of survival for the remaining survivors has also disappeared. Even the owners of small herds are forced to leave their homes and seek refuge on the outskirts of cities, selling their livestock at low prices. It is in these circumstances that the devastated nature seems to mourn from afar, alone and abandoned, until it decays.

A brief overview of the challenges facing the tribes in the western part of the country.

The tribes that we currently live among are part of the nomadic tribes of the independent Ottoman Ilkhanate; the regions where in the past the lives of nomadic and tribal people were vibrant and held special significance for the western tribes of the country, unfortunately now all signs of life in those regions are dwindling.

In this mountainous region, where the sparse forests have resisted until recently and have been the habitat and grazing land for hundreds of nomadic families, now one must travel through kilometers of difficult and mountainous roads to perhaps catch a glimpse of a small herd of goats and sheep, and a tired and desperate shepherd, living in a few tents or mud houses, on the edges of the mountains and in the valleys, surrounded by poverty and destitution, and watching over their own lives and their livestock in the shadow of death and the end, with no hope or solution for their lives, their future, and their salvation.

Negligence and irresponsible actions of the country’s managers in national affairs, especially their constant and prolonged disregard for the problems and difficulties of the nomads, severe water scarcity, destruction and rapid depletion of forests and pastures in the past half century, high wages for shepherds, inflation and daily rise in the prices of nomadic needs and livestock, exorbitant prices for forage, and on top of all this, the ongoing drought that has plagued the region for years, are major factors that have left the few remaining nomads under the oppressive laws of forced settlement and have forced them to abandon their way of life forever. This must be put to an end quickly, turning the once lush and lively forests into barren, waterless, and lifeless deserts.

The remaining tribes, who with their simplicity and habit of living an Illy and tribal life, were struggling with the modernization and demands of the government officials on one hand, and the anger and indifference of the ruling power on the other, trying to preserve themselves and defend their identity and survival against modern life. Every year, with their numbers decreasing, they were forced to move to the outskirts of cities due to various problems, until finally in 1401 AH, they witnessed the end of their Illy and tribal life in Iran. The nomadic tribes never returned and the last migration was the one that never came back, thus putting an end to centuries of traditional nomadic life and animal husbandry in Iran. How will they cope with this devastating destruction and the event that has occurred in the lives of the Illy and tribal people?

From the calamities and hardships of today’s Iranian society, above all, we must mention the lack of justice and the prevalence of chaos and lawlessness, which have challenged all aspects of people’s lives and instead of solving them, have become the cause of more chaos and corruption, making the society sick in all aspects. In the shadow of injustice and lawlessness, a young person, after six and a half years of studying medicine at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, was expelled from the university for unjust reasons, and the broken-hearted and hopeless youth was forced to return to the nomadic life of his ancestors, and this time faced an irreparable defeat.

This young man was expelled from university and has been left as a shepherd in life. After ten years of shepherding and enduring the difficult life of a nomad, he eventually went bankrupt and, according to himself, doesn’t know what to do and can’t think of anything.

We found him in “Poshtaleh”, wearing ragged clothes and with a tired and sunburned face, pouring out defeat and despair from his face, next to his flowers.

Among the forest and sparse trees, a stunted and humiliated oak tree stands next to its small herd, ready to graze.

In the sorrowful gaze of the shepherd, one by one, the flock grazes on the ground and wanders in search of the tooth-grass that will fill their stomachs. The flock has not seen kilometers of mountains and forests to graze on, but now, as the sun sets, due to the lack of vegetation, their stomachs remain empty and hungry. This is the daily pain and unsolvable problem of the shepherd, whose only possession is this small flock. If the flock does not graze on the mountain vegetation, the shepherd must buy feed for them, but due to its high cost, this will lead to the complete bankruptcy of the shepherd and close all roads for him. Buying feed is not cost-effective, and the shepherd has already sold more than half of his flock to buy feed. In a rough calculation, he has come to the conclusion that it won’t be long before he has to sell the entire flock to buy feed and be left with nothing, forced to

The fate of this shepherd, while regretful and astonishing, reminds us of the suffering of our fellow countrymen and the chaos and turmoil that they have endured over the years. In addition to the unprecedented challenges and hardships that have arisen in the field of higher education in our country, the lives of shepherds in remote villages have also not been spared from turmoil and danger.

A shepherd who has studied medicine.

His name is Sefallah and he was born in 1352 (1973) in the solar calendar. He is tall and his sad face tells the story of the suffering he has endured in his short life. He is single and says he never even thinks about marriage and does not have the means to start a family. We ask him to tell us about his life and destiny.

He defines with confidence in his words.

I spent all of my childhood with my family in this very place where I live now, living a nomadic and shepherd life. As a teenager, my father sent me to Kermanshah to study. In Kermanshah, I faced many difficulties and finally obtained my diploma. In 1993, with the help of Basij quota, I entered the medical school at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. After three years of studying at the university and passing sixty-one semesters, I, along with a few others, were expelled for false reasons and the excuse that my Basij documents were not valid. I tried for several years to return to the university and continue my studies, but all my efforts were in vain. Meanwhile, those who were expelled with me were able to return to the university and continue their studies, but I had no one to help me and I couldn’t go back to the university and finish my education. During these years of struggle

I have never experienced living in a country where due to a sick economy, corruption and bribery reign, some become billionaires overnight while hundreds of families fall into poverty. I couldn’t understand what fate awaited me in the midst of the Iranian tribes, as I, myself, am living a nomadic lifestyle.

I was living in a small town and struggling with hardship and difficulties, when suddenly everything changed over the course of two years. Two consecutive years of drought, lack of any support from the government for the nomadic tribes, and many other problems caused us to be completely destroyed during these two years.

Two consecutive years of drought have made it impossible for us to graze our herds like we used to, from the pastures and springs. Due to the destruction of vegetation caused by drought and mismanagement of the government, for the past two years we have been forced to buy feed and water for our livestock; feed that becomes more expensive every day. Until today, where the price of straw has reached six thousand tomans per kilogram, barley ten thousand tomans per kilogram, and fifty thousand tomans for a bale of alfalfa, and it becomes more and more expensive every day. So, I had to sell my livestock and buy straw, barley, and water with a tanker to keep my animals alive. Wrong policies and government corruption in the export and import of meat and feed on one hand, and the excessive supply of livestock due to the high prices and lack of feed, have caused livestock owners to sell their animals, and on the other hand, no one is willing

He continues with a choked voice, “I cannot bear to see these animals, who have suffered at my hands for years and have been our only hope and livelihood, die in front of my eyes from hunger and thirst. Despite being human, I have a special emotional attachment to these animals. My conscience does not allow me to do so, but in reality, with the current situation, I would have to let them loose in the mountains and forests so they can all perish from hunger and thirst, and I can be relieved from this agonizing suffering. I am at a loss and do not know what to do.”

We leave Sifallah with his pain and suffering and go to another shepherd.

Year.

Ten.

I am paying a million fine for late payment.

His name is Mohammad and in response to our questions, he says about the problems that have gripped the tribes these days:

“Three years ago, I took a loan of one hundred million tomans for my eldest son who had been unemployed for years. I used the money to buy a number of sheep, totaling seven million tomans. I have been renewing the loan for three years and every year I pay ten million tomans to the bank for late fees. In this situation, I am forced to sell the sheep that I bought for seven million tomans three years ago for only three million tomans, and that too as a one-year installment. I don’t know what my son will do from now on.”

We ask him, where did you used to get drinking water for yourself and your animals before this?

In response, he/she says:

We used to get water for our livestock from the springs that used to provide enough water for our livestock during the two years of drought. And for ourselves, we used the water from the same spring and the water tanks that the local government would send for the tribes.

We ask why is there a district? Shouldn’t the Water Organization have provided piping for you?

In response, he says: “As we are considered nomads, our legal responsibility lies with the local government.”

We are asking, isn’t the local government providing water for you now with a tanker?

He responds: “No, the last blue tanker that the district sent was about a month ago and it only reached two or three households, not us.”

What does the mayor say? Through the person who is with us and is familiar with the mayor of Firuzabad Kermanshah district, a call is made to Mr. Shafiei, the young 30-year-old mayor, from there, and he says: “I have emphasized that every ten days a water tanker be sent for those few families in “Poshtaleh”. I will emphasize it again.”

Insurance for Livestock and Lack of Responsiveness from Insurance Companies to Livestock Farmers.

Noorkhoda Jamshidi is from the nomadic tribes living in the mountainous region of “Goljiran”. The problems of the tribes are shared. When we ask him about the insurance of their livestock, he responds:

“Last year, the insurance company came and charged us twelve thousand tomans for each of our livestock’s earrings and said that if any of our livestock were to die, we should bring the ear with the earring and receive compensation. Unfortunately, the earrings caused infections in some of our livestock’s ears and as a result, they died. We brought the ears and earrings and handed them over. The next time we brought the carcass of a livestock with an earring, but the insurance company refused to compensate us even a single rial. We had to travel nearly one hundred and fifty kilometers back and forth and they kept telling us to come back tomorrow, exhausting us. The year ended and we did not receive any compensation for our losses.”

He adds, “For years, my sons have been struggling with poverty and destitution. They left home to escape poverty and now they are unemployed and have no income in the city. I am left with my eldest son who has a wife and children, and around seventy sheep and goats. We sold all our cows and bought feed for them, but now we have no money left to buy more feed. I calculated that each animal needs about twenty thousand tomans of hay and barley per day, and there is no one to buy them from us.”

He talks about providing drinking water for himself and his animals, saying: “We use water from a well that is about three kilometers away from our home. We don’t know if the water is contaminated or not.”

We ask, does agricultural jihad, which claims to provide low rates for livestock to tribes, not help you?

In response, he says: “A few years ago, sometimes they would give such small amounts that it was not worth bringing it home, and the delivery distance was so far that it didn’t even solve one hundredth of the problem for the livestock farmer. Now, it has been completely cut off for some time and there is no news of it anymore.”

On our return from among the tribes, while a heavy lump is pressing on our throats, we think of the tribes who have fallen into such a dark fate; tribes who once had thousands of hopes and dreams and lived a luxurious life, but now have reached the end of their lives and all roads are closed to them and no one comes to their aid. The mountains and forests have fallen silent and not even the sound of birds can be heard; forests that until just a few years ago brought joy and beauty to humans and were full of life, with the constant hustle and bustle of herders and thousands of livestock. Herders who used to provide a large portion of the country’s organic and healthy meat, wool, and dairy products, are now disappearing forever.

Are nomads generally made up of several families? Can the government not save and help the most hardworking and poorest segment of society, who have fallen out of existence, by injecting interest-free loans or providing subsidies, and help them pass through this period? Do officials not feel responsible when they see the situation of these nomads?

And in the end, nothing but bitterness in the throat and despair in the heart is caused by the state of the country. With closed lips and a heart more pained than ever, it seems as though someone is whispering mournfully: “The home is in ruins.”