Ettehâd
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Zorasan |
Ettehâd (Pasdani: اتحاد) or Ittiḥād (Rahelian: اِتِّحَاد) is a Zorasani political expression meaning literally “union” or “unification.” This expression, also used within the official name of the state (Union of Zorasani Irfanic Republics), also serves an ideological purpose. According to Sattarist Renovationism, the term Ettehad refers to the “unification of the heart, soul and mind” and breaking down elitism, ethnic, sectarian, cultural, linguistic and class divides into one singular community. The term constitutes the ethos of the one-party state in Zorasan and is widely seen as inherently totalitarian, by wedding the entire concept of community and society with the nation and state.
The term features prominently in Zorasani state propaganda and political discourse, notably in the forms of describing the socio-political basis of the state as the “union of the street, mazar and barracks”, about the role of civil, religious and military power-centres within the state.
Development
The term Ettehâd in its ideological and socio-political form was first used by Mahrdad Ali Sattari, the chief Union Father prior to the establishment of the Pardarian Revolutionary Resistance Command in 1924, in a series of articles he authored. In the widely perceived first case of its use, Sattari wrote in April 1924, “if we are to achieve our end goals, we must do all that can be done to form amongst our people, a union of heart, soul and mind. We must unite them at the deepest intimate level that the union between them makes in them, one singular entity capable of defeating all those arranged against it. Our union must transcend the physical into the metaphysical, psychological and emotional.”
Other senior figures around Sattari took to writing their positions on what Ettehâd would mean beyond the political term for a future state. Hossein Khalatbari wrote in 1925, “the union between the peoples of Zorasan must be of every dimension perceived by the human mind. It must meld them together spiritually, emotionally, physically, it must be the all-encompassing, all-demanding and all-consuming entity, that lifts the people above the petty differences and divisions of the colonial-capitalist ideologies.”
Erkin Dostum wrote the same year, “Ettehâd is the transcendent state of mind, heart and soul, in which the citizen forgoes individualism for the greater whole, the Union of every family, person and being. It is the abandonment of tribe, class, status and self-interest in complete subordination, supplication, and service to the union-state and with the state. It is the total worship of the Union and therefore each other.”
By 1926, the PRRC led by Sattari appeared to coalesce around the Dostum-interpretation of Ettehâd, which eventually evolve into a series of policies by the PRRC enacted within the territory it controlled prior and during the Pardarian Civil War. Its victory the conflict in 1950, saw the new government led by Sattari enact what it called the “Great Union Campaign” (Kârzâr-ye Bozorg-e Ettehâd) in which it pursued the destruction of individualism, classism, elitism, and difference over religion. The establishment of the Union of Khazestan and Pardaran in 1953, brought further impetus to Ettehâd’s evolution into a formalised and prominent feature of political discourse and policymaking, from then including the objective of unifying the Pardarians and Rahelians, as well as other minorities, into a single cohesive society in line with Pan-Zorasanism.
In a speech in 1954, Mustafa Al-Kharadji, the leader of the Khazi Revolution and Union Father said, “Ettehâd is the means in which we cease abiding by the rules established by the imperialists, it is the means in which we abandon their words Rahelian and Pardarian and submit ourselves wholly and without restraint or question, to the Zorasan we are in service to. In the union of heart, mind and soul, we are one before and within the Union.” Prior to unification 1980, the concept of Ettehâd constituted the foundation of the Normalisation, which saw among other actions, the forced resettlement of ethnic minorities, the destruction and repression of cultures, traditional values and religions in the aim of establishing a “singular identity rooted in the Union.”
Post-unification
Following the end of the Irvadistan War and the unification of Zorasan in 1980, the National Renovation Front opted to radically alter the agreed interpretation of Ettehâd. This new interpretation was devised to secure three aims; consolidate the expanded one-party state, stabilise the Union and unify the peoples of the former United Rahelian People’s Republic with those of the Union of Khazestan and Pardaran. While these aims were approached separately, they were intertwined as success would ostensibly consolidate the NRF’s authority and control over Irvadistan and Riyadha.
The approach to Ettehâd was radically different post-1980, with State President Javad Jahandar establishing the Union Committee for Social, Spiritual and Emotional Unification. The committee, comprised of four prominent party members (Homayoun Afshari chairing and deputised by Hakem al-Ragheb, the finance minister), opted to utilise real-life policies to foster Ettehâd among the populace. The Committee was granted limited authority over the Northern Reconstruction and Restoration Commission, the body tasked with rebuilding the two northern Union Republics. The Committee saw rapid reconstruction as the first step toward fostering Ettehâd by "ensuring that no citizen north of Khazestan lives in squalor brought about by war, for there resentment and envy of those south of that line will only grow." The Committee did succeed in expediting the return of utilities, primarily electricity and water to the cities, while introducing the "solidarity ration", in which food stuffs destined for cities in the former UKP were limited to feed the north's rural population, while was brought about disgruntlement in Pardaran and Khazestan especially, it served to diminish the possibility of starvation in the north.
The Committee’s recommendation that the NRRC employ thousands of demobilised and demoralised URPR troops for construction and rubble clearance was also regarded as a success. The role of the Committee however was steadily diminished until 1984, when it was abolished and succeeded by the Union Ministry for Popular Mobilisation.
The UMPM was established by the Union Command Congress in 1984 to “mobilise in the spirit of the populace, the Sattarist-Renovationist ideal and to mobilise them into the collective, Irfanic, revolutionary way of life.” Homayoun Afshari was the first Minister for Popular Mobilisation and worked closely with the Finance, Irfanic Culture and Guidance ministries and the military to coordinate policies. In 1984, the UMPM produced the doctrine of Blood, Sweat and Labour (XunʿAraq va Kār), which argued the soldier, the farmer and the labourer lived in an organic harmony by virtue of their interdependence. In 1985, the UMPM introduced mandatory school uniforms, private schools were abolished, having only emerged in Pardaran in the 1960s, and state propaganda within education about the perils of classism, elitism and cultural divides were established. The same year, the UMPM with the assistance of the Union Ministry for Education and Literacy established the All-Union Service for Young Labour, which was a body tasked with organising summer-long work placements for 15-16 year olds. However, the USYL was instructed to place urban members among farming communities and farming communities to be placed with urban families, in the hope that this would breakdown urban-rural and class divides. The introduction of mandatory education for those aged 5-16 was key in supporting the scheme, it was further empowered by applying extraciricular credit toward securing a university placement.
Afshari approached Ettehâd’s role in diminishing class differences by advocating social mobility and meritocracy. Afshari noted that the National Renovation Front’s pyramidal hierarchy was constructed in a way that only success, positive results and experience guarantee promotion from the lower party-strata and sought to replicate this in Zorasani society. In a speech to the NRF Committee on Popular Mobilisation, Afshari said, “meritocracy is the means upon which we dismantle the divisions of the Euclean origin. Class, elitism, religion, culture and regional, all must be destroyed, and to do that we must embrace meritocracy. However, it only works in the political sense if there is a visible ladder that any and all can climb by virtue of their merits.”