Iranians Lash out at Hypocrisy of Anti-American Billboards

 

When Tehran city officials replaced corporate billboards with Anti-American slogans in late June, it was just one part of a wider effort to foster public support for the annual Quds Day rallies, which took place in major cities in Iran on Thursday, June 30. Those behind the campaign never expected more than the customary amount of criticism. And they most likely didn’t expect a backlash.

But hundreds of Iranians responded with anger, outrage, and a good deal of humor and creative flair. Across social media, people grabbed the opportunity to poke fun at the somber, serious tones of city officials, and started posting a few ideas of their own.

Using the hashtag “Banner Suggestions for Tehran Municipality (#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران ),” the spontaneous online campaign exposed the ridiculousness of the city’s attempts to “educate” the public about the United States and to remind the public of just how good it is to live in Iran. But they also exposed links between such propaganda and government tactics to control its citizens. They ridiculed the mayor and his reputation for cracking down on human rights, and uploaded their own mock-ups for billboards. For almost every poster that popped up across the capital “informing” Iranians about the United States’ poor human rights record, Iranians responded, highlighting the brutality, hypocrisy and inefficiency of their own government. 

The office of Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf — a politician and former Revolutionary Guards commander with a self-confessed history of violence toward protesters — spearheaded the Anti-American campaign, drawing on US statistics on social problems to help whip up anti-American sentiment ahead of the Quds Day rallies. “One in every 110 American citizens is in prison,” read one billboard. “Every nine seconds an American woman is battered,” read another. In response, dozens of people on Twitter turned the municipal government’s tactic on itself, drawing on statistics about Iran’s own social problems, and on the fact that the country executes hundreds of people every year.

Particularly popular among sarcastic and angry Iranians was a reference to the so-called “pincer movement” — the tactic Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf used against student protesters in 1999. Hassan Rouhani exposed the tactic during his 2013 presidential campaign, in which Ghalibaf also ran as a candidate. At the time of the 1999 protests, Ghalibaf was a Revolutionary Guards commander, and he has repeatedly boasted about his treatment of students, who had gone out on the streets to protest against the judiciary’s closure of a newspaper, and later, against violence meted out to fellow protesters.

 

 

بهترین گازانبر را از ما بخواهید.#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— P (@PhillipOfAjam) July 1, 2016

“Order the best pincers from us.”

Another tweet read: "In Iran, pincers are not just used for plumbing, but as a military tactic against students," while others expressed their bitter sarcasm through a series of questions: “Did you know that in America, authorities don’t use the pincer movement against students?”

 

 

Also popular were tweets about women's rights.

 

آیا می‌دانستید در ایران زنان حق رفتن به استادیوم و تشویق تیم‌های محبوب‌شان را ندارند؟!#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— Farnaz Miri (@FarnazMiri) July 1, 2016

“Did you know in Iran women do not have the right to enter stadiums to cheer their favorite teams?”

 

“In Iran, some fathers kill their 'legitimate' daughters 'suspected' of illegitimate relationships," @parastoo posted on July 1, while @sahariiam wrote, “Did you know that the babies of homeless women are sold before birth?”

Other hypocrisies were exposed too, poking fun at some of Iran's officials' most ridiculous statements. 

 

آیا میدانید مسئولان ایرانی میگویند عکس گرفتن زنان کنار رودخانه علت خشکسالی است؟#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران#قالیباف

— کیوت السلطنه (@davwvod) June 30, 2016

“How many Iranian officials who shout ‘Death to America’ send their children to live in America?”

Another person asked: “Did you know that, according to Iranian officials, the reason for the draught is that women take photographs on the riverbanks?”

 

Iranian Twitter users also showed their anger at Tehran municipality’s reference to prison statistics in the United States — for many, the hypocrisy was just too much.

 

در ایران از هر 10 نخبه 9 نفر در زندان هستند#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران pic.twitter.com/CBmUFEfqlq

— آقای سنگ (@Alireza_Moein) June 30, 2016

 

One banner read: “One in every 110 American citizens is in prison.” In response, Iranians posted reminders of the Islamic Republic’s record of punishing experts, reformist activists and politicians, journalists and people who might be in a position to help the country progress economically and in terms of scientific advancement.

"One out of every 10 Iranian elites are in prison," reads the tweet above.

 

آیا میدانید سطح علمی زندانهای آمریکا چقدر از ایران پایین تر است؟#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— پهلَوان (Champ) (@pahlavvan) June 30, 2016

“Did you know that American prisons have fewer scientists than in Iranian prisons?”

 

آیا میدانید نزدیک ۲۰۰۰ روز هست ۳ نفر را در حصر کرده‌ایم #بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— Mehdi Saharkhiz (@onlymehdi) June 30, 2016

“Did you know that we have kept three people under house arrest for close to 2,000 days?”

 

آیا میدانید در ایران اگر فیش حقوقی غیرقانونی رسوا شود، صاحب فیش از رسواکننده‌اش شکایت میکند؟#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— مهری بانو (@Mehribanooo) June 30, 2016

“Did you know that in Iran disclosure of corrupt payments results in the whistleblower being sent to court, not the person receiving illegal funds?”

 

در ايران از هر چهار روزنامه نگار يك نفر در اوين فعاليت ميكند#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— كامران (@Kamran1247) June 30, 2016

“In Iran, one out of every four journalist is active — at Evin Prison.”

 

ایران، رکورد دار بیشترین تعداد اعدام نسبت به جمعیت است.#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران

— صمصام‌السلطنه (@Amoo_Sibiloo) June 30, 2016

“Iran has the highest number of executions per capita.”

 

Some people posted photographs of their own Tehran billboards, using Photoshop to make sure their messages had the most impact:

 

هر ساعت یک کشته در جاده های ایران#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران pic.twitter.com/qdwAjrnFVh

— OstadKaveh (@OstadKaveh) June 30, 2016

“Every hour, one person is killed on Iranian roads.”

 

#بنر_پیشنهادی_برای_شهردار_تهران pic.twitter.com/txkb8Ny7oD

— پدرام (@P3Dr4m) June 30, 2016

“Do you know about our pincer movement in 1999?”

 

Outrage over the treatment of Iran’s educated class also made the poster suggestions: “Did you know that in the brain drain that followed the revolution most of the brains that went to America were ‘sloppy’? ‘Tidy’ brains escaped to Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela and Russia — if they escaped at all.” Some of the newly-suggested banners made reference to Iran’s recent crackdown on workers who had called for fair pay and justice.

“Did you know that the cost of paying for one of these billboards could solve the problems of several laborers — including the ones you flogged?”

Other suggestions directly mocked Tehran municipality’s attempt to employ US statistics on obesity and wealth inequality to make Iranians feel better about their lives in the Islamic Republic. 

“Did you know that only three percent of Americans control more than half of their country’s wealth?” read one fake banner. “Now stop being jealous of the meager earnings of the officials and the Revolutionary Guards who serve you.” 

“Did you know that more than 71 percent of Americans are overweight?” said another sarcastic banner. “But thanks to the wise policies of the ‘Resistance Economy,’ these problems are much less severe in Iran”.

Another proposed banner read: “Have you ever heard about the American Prohibition on the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages between 1920 and 1933? It was because of this Prohibition that great men such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were born in this period.”

The rights of women were also a popular theme among Iranians:

- “Did you know that 40 percent of American babies are born to unwed mothers? So, my sister, mind your hejab if you want the blessing of the father for yourself and your baby.”

- “Did you that after the late Iranian film director Farajollah Salahshour called Angelina Jolie ‘a whore’ she never again appeared nude and always dressed properly? My sister, let us not go there!”

 

Iranians also lashed out at the municipal government’s suggestion that American citizens were fed lies and encouraged to embrace propaganda: 

“Did you know that 27 percent of Americans still believe that the landing of Neil Armstrong on the moon was staged and fake? But in our Islamic country, there is no doubt whatsoever that the face of the Late Great Imam Khomeini appeared on the moon.”

“Did you know that in America the gun laws allow everybody to shoot, murder and be violent at any time that they want to? But in our beloved country, only the Basijis and plainclothes agents can do this.”

Did you know that the Americans have brought in Donald Trump so that people will rush to vote for Hillary Clinton? They have done this out of fear because they know they are actually violating the copyright owned by the Islamic Republic. This is how it increases voter turnout!”

Also on Twitter, and on IranWire, Mana Neyestani’s cartoon about women’s lives in Iran: 

 

"All is well. Iranian women are so happy," it reads. 

"According to the American Anti-Violence Organization,
every nine seconds an American woman is battered," says the sign in the background. 

“Thanks! I can rest easy.”

“Mind your hejab!”

 

Though it’s unlikely that Ghalibaf and other propaganda pushers in Iran will be damaged by such a retaliatory campaign from the Iranian public, one thing is for certain: Iranians will continue to use social media in the battle to combat regime ideology. Yet this recent outpouring of bitter jokes and PhotoShopped mockery is less an example of the alleged “tech savviness” of young Iranians, and more about embracing one of the oldest forms of protest in the world: subversion and undermining of power through sarcasm, wit and humor. 

 

 

For more billboard suggestions from Iranian public, see Sharagim Zand’s blog [in Persian]