Leiden – In a recently published article, scholar Geoffrey Gresh argues that Iranian Kurdish nationalism is growing due to globalization. “In this age of globalisation, the Iranian government’s ability to rule over the Kurds will continue to erode,” he wrote in an article for the journal Iran and the Caucasus.
In his article ‘Iranian Kurds in an age of globalisation’, Gresh predicts that Regional Government of Kurdistan’s ‘recent success, coupled with globalisation forces, has led to enhanced Kurdish mobility and the recasting of a new Kurdish national identity for many in Iran. Kurdish ethnonationalism will continue to challenge Iran’s government in the future’.
According to Gresh says the rise of Kurdish nationalism among Iranian Kurds is the result of the political success of Kurds in Iraq and globalization, ‘such as global communications technologies, transnational networks, and increased mobility across borders. In this age of globalisation, the Iranian government’s ability to rule over the Kurds will continue to erode, unless it caters toward Kurdish demands of minority rights’.
The scholar notes that since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow, Kurdish political parties from Iran have been able to successfully use global communications technologies. “Specifically, Iranian Kurds have taken advantage of satellite television, the Internet, and other telecommunications systems to organise and spread Kurdish nationalism.” As a result this has fortified Kurdish transnational networks and the propagating of Kurdish nationalistic ideas.
In the recent years, the Iranian government has ‘resorted to old practices, like repressive laws and the use of force to thwart the spread of Kurdish nationalist ideas’, but the scholar emphasizes this is futile, unless Iran grants Kurds more rights.
© Rudaw
