Damn, it has been a lil while. Apologies to my 5 followers…
This was the first event I covered. Mir Hossein Mousavi was addressing labor workers in Tehran at the Mausoleum of Khomeini.
I really had no idea what to expect. To tell you the truth, I was just surprised that I had a job to begin with.
The first thing you learn in Iran is “organized chaos”, in the sense that while everything looks so disorderly everywhere you look, things get done. Having a job in Tehran, this was made clear pretty much every second of the day.
The first reaction we got after getting to the mausoleum was from a disgruntled old lady who angrily announced to those around us that our crew was probably from “fox news”, or as she put it “facks nouz”. No idea what her problem was, but she was not amused by us. Great first impression of this job.
We were told that all entrances were closed. We went through a courtyard under renovation when some guy with a walkie talkie questioned us and began escorting us through the construction site, taking us to the back entrance gates where security began inspecting our equipment (pause…).
Anyways…
Standing by the back entrance, a few people said Mousavi had already gotten in and was wrapping things up. I, like an idiot, acually believed what I heard.
Within a few minutes Mousavi pulled up in a white Kia Pride, pronounced Perride in Farsi. The Kia Pride is a very shitty hatchback that many drive in Iran. For a former Prime Minister to pull-up in something like that was an interesting statement. I’m sure it was staged to portray him closer to the common man. And it worked…at least in my head.
He got out the car, did the standard photo-op and went inside.
Inside the auditorium was chaos. Audience members just ignored everything and sat where the press was supposed to be. Cameramen would fight with each other for the best spot, like, physically fighting each other. I witnessed one old disgruntled camera man take a student-reporters tripod and equipment bag, and throw it across the stage.
The actual talk was much more boring than the commotion from the setting up process.
“HAVING SAID THAT” it was a good talk/tactic by Mousavi It showed that he was trying to win over the working class at the start of his campaign, knowing that that is what it would take to win the presidency.
On the way back we stopped for breakfast in Rah-ahan, which is considered a seedy part of south Tehran.
The mixture of cigarette and hooka smoke filled the dimly lit room, with streaks of light breaking through the grease and dust stained windows.
It felt like a dive bar, without alcohol. The character made up for the lack of cleanliness.
All in all it was a fine day for a first day.
