Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh's Dinner Party in Golkharestan

Host: Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh Guests: Cyrus, Zoroaster, Christ, Marx, and Mohammad Reza Shah Music: Imagine Dinner Menu: Nimirou This week’s host is Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh, one of the most renowned composers, especially known for film music. During his collaboration with director Masoud Kimiai in the 1960s and 1970s, he produced brilliant works, including the soundtracks for the films Qeysar, Dash Akol, Gozan-ha, and Reza Motor. He also composed the famous song Baharan Khajasteh Bad in memory of Karamat Daneshian and Khosrow Golserkhi, who were executed during the Shah's regime. Other notable works include the song Jom'e-ha sung by Farhad. Monfaredzadeh currently resides in Sweden. Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh: Welcome to the program. First, I want to know who you would like to invite to your dinner? Monfaredzadeh: Greetings to the listeners. I would like to invite Cyrus... Ah, wonderful... Well... Zoroaster, Christ, Marx, and the Shah. I will ask you later why you consider them as such and why you invited them. But before that, I want to ask you about the music for this program; since you have composed music for many songs and films, choosing music for this dinner might not be easy for you. But what music do you choose for this party? Monfaredzadeh: If it were the most impactful, I hope it is, it would be John Lennon’s valuable work. Which one? Imagine. Monfaredzadeh: Imagine? It has been translated into Persian. It’s a pity. I wish that part about wishing there were no religion had not been omitted. Of course, they removed that part in the Persian version. Yes. But it was an unnecessary precaution. Religion should not be destroyed. This is a private matter. In any case, this is my opinion. I like this song because I still hope that one day the global community will reach the aspirations that John Lennon had. If we summarize his wishes, it is that one day there will be no borders, no greed, and everyone will live in peace and harmony. There should be beauty and no war. Yes. No war; imagine there is no war and no religion, that would be amazing. I also love one of the best songs, Imagine by John Lennon. Let’s return to your guests. The first guest you mentioned was Cyrus. Cyrus: A historical Iranian figure and founder of the Achaemenid dynasty. His significance lies in his humanistic approach during that historical period. It is extraordinary; a kind of freedom of thought. His importance at that time was his humanistic perspective. It was extraordinary. A kind of freedom of thought, a kind of religion that was ancient parties, in my opinion. He said to return and establish their religious centers because there was oppression. This has value in that period. But that fundamental feeling cannot be institutionalized. Because life was not that transparent. There was not that kind of relationship everywhere. Yes. It was valuable that dissent or opposition existed. As they say, now I will say that there should be thorns alongside the flowers. So the reason you are interested in Cyrus and want to invite him is that apparently after the conquest of Babylon... Yes... he freed them... Usually, when they conquered, they destroyed the temples. They destroyed them. You see, despite those previous destructions, we saw that thought was not destroyed and cannot be. Therefore, this idea was wrong. But that person had value at that time. That is why we said he should be our guest and spend a night with us! Now we come to the second guest, Zoroaster. This one, because he was a prophet, can we say Zoroaster? Zoroaster: The founder of Zoroastrianism. The reason for the invitation: to remind that the slogan "Good thoughts, good words, good deeds" was extraordinary for that time, which did not have today’s complexities, and Zoroaster must have said that this slogan does not fit the view of the future. Yes. Zoroaster, with those three beautiful human titles, seems reasonable, I say seemingly reasonable, today seemingly reasonable... was extraordinary for the history of that time because life did not have the complexities of today. Any kind of attribute, including good, good thought, good word, good deed... good good... that primitive society was almost similar. It was enough to be good. But look at today’s complexities. Today, Mr. Khomeini and Mr. Mandela... both say be good. No one says ugly bad. No one says bad. They both say be good. Be good thinkers. However, the good thinking of one is seen as bad thinking by the other. The good thinking of the other is seen as bad thinking by this one. That is why I invited Zoroaster, so that this prophet would say at least these three would not fit the future. They are for today. A prophet should also have a vision! In contrast to me! He did not predict much! But... he did not think humanity would become so savage. Don’t you think that when Zoroaster was stating these principles, it was indicative that such things did not exist at that time and he wanted to create them? Certainly, from his perspective as a leader, he must have seen anomalies that he invited everyone to be good. That’s what I mean. There is always a thorn, and there will be. He wanted to create a flower. He and many others today want the world to become a garden. I might as well briefly say that the world has never been a garden since the dawn of collective life and will never be a garden in the future. Never and ever. What has it been? It has always been a thorny garden. I combined this word myself. Gol-kharestan! It’s very beautiful. Gol-kharestan, which during the time of Zoroaster, tried to make it a garden. But a percentage has come close. But a percentage of thorns remain. And if they do not remain, the world cannot have dynamism. Dynamism belongs to those thorns that are surely a minority and will one day become a majority because the thorn is free. The world has been and is a thorny garden. Anyone who says it should only be a garden has planted the seed of despotism. Tomorrow it will also be a thorny garden. It has always been that in social history, the majority has been wrong. The minority has created correctness. Because the majority does not see time; it sees the minority. It sees change. Now we come to your third guest. This one is Christ. What interest do you have in Christ? Christ: The founder of Christianity. The reason for the invitation: a question about "submitting to oppression." He was an earthly person. A group gave him a heavenly presence out of love. There is no harm in that, from their perspective. Imposing it on others is dangerous. From this person, the idea of submitting to oppression was propagated. If you get slapped on one cheek, turn the other cheek. I don’t know if that’s right or not, I said this because I want him to come and explain whether if you get slapped, you should slap back or take another slap? It’s a question. So you want to ask Christ at the dinner if what is attributed to him is correct that if you get slapped, you should turn the other cheek? Then why did you go to heaven? You ran away! Does Christ have any other significance for you? This is not insignificant. Because he is more contemporary than the others, just answering this question is significant. Do you think he can answer? What do you want him to answer? This is a statement. Well, the answer is... today’s society... well, that day can justify it. At that time, whatever you say... he was a Jew himself who was a minority, a thorn who went to make a garden. He created a thorny garden where thorns were forbidden. I wish he had said there that my thorns should also be free so they wouldn’t get slapped or slap back. Maybe that is my wish. The reason why such things are attributed to Christ is that he was non-violent and thought that only through peace and reconciliation could a better world be built, not through violence. Yes. Christ could endure his thorny garden and not get slapped or slap back. Because the one who slaps is the one who gets slapped. He should see time as changeable, and Christ should have thought that just as he changes Judaism and makes it his garden, that thorn also wants to make its tomorrow its garden, which is something that for him is Islam. That also repeats this method. What do you believe the role of religion in society should be? The choice of everyone... every religion... when we were kids... Jesus to his religion, Moses to his religion... everyone should choose and do whatever they want in their privacy. It is completely natural, and we should not disturb them. No one has the right to insult anyone’s thoughts or those who lack thoughts. This is natural, no. My wish is that any kind of organized thought should be removed from governance. Because organized thought of any kind is what I say new parties are ancient religions. Or ancient religions were ancient parties. These new parties are the same behavior. When they reach power, they do not only not step aside for various reasons, but they also do not tolerate thorns and want to make a garden. The fight is over the thorny garden. It does not exist. It must be accepted that there is a thorny garden. So you believe that Christ, Zoroaster, and Islam, different religions, and all of these are good, but everyone should be private. Religion should be private. Everyone can have a religion, but religion should not be imposed on anyone. There should not be a religious government. Is this your wish? Exactly, when it comes into government, this self and non-self exist automatically. Self and non-self! Self and non-self! We were also non-self! Non-self is not bad. You were non-self! Let’s return to one of your other guests. Karl Marx. He is different from the others and a great theorist of socialism. The new era. What interest do you have in Marx? Karl Marx (1818-1883): Thinker, philosopher, and German sociologist. Fame: One of the founders of communism. Important work: The Communist Manifesto, Capital. Reason for invitation: A question about dissenters and opponents; if someone regrets and says I was wrong, what happens to them? Let me say again, Mr. Marx, so that others are not offended. He also has his own disciples... Yes. His presence has a prominent presence, and his view... let’s put it this way. The answer he must give to supporters who have this question... I don’t know if everyone has it... I ask this question from the ardent supporters of Marx, assuming that 90 percent or as they say on Bahman 22... no. After that... Farvardin 12... 99.9 percent of the people in Iran said Marxism and socialism and communism are our governing method and socialist economy... let it be established. Well, the first question is that tomorrow when a percentage of 99.9 regrets and says I was wrong. I want to promote capitalism. Can I have a newspaper and a television? Am I free or not? What should he answer? Mr. Marx. How should he answer? I don’t know; supporters should analyze and find in the texts whether if someone regrets tomorrow, will they chop his head off, for example? What you want to ask Karl Marx is whether in the society he envisioned, there could be something called dissent and opposition, or must everyone obey the leader? This is a great pain! This is the question you want to ask Karl Marx. That your government, not yourself, that ideal government that wants to be established... Yes. Because I also liked it... In a classless communist society in the future, if someone comes and says I like class and I don’t want to be classless... should we destroy him or should he be able to form a party and publish a newspaper and do his work? I am someone who has been saying these things since at least twenty years old, living with this ideal and being happy that I am changing the world. I have reached some things and seen, oh my God, what issues there are, and this question has arisen, and because they ask me, I express it. If Karl Marx were to say to you, my dear Asi, thank you very much for inviting me to the dinner, I promise you that if I establish that government, I will allow dissenters to live, would you be satisfied? Then I would hold a banquet not as humble as now! Is your ideal society one of justice and freedom together? It is very ideal! Do you think we will reach it? Well, it is clear that my lifetime has not ended and will not end. But we must move towards it. Your last guest, as you said, is the Shah.