The Anomalous Society Engages in 'Cruising'

The head of the country's traffic police states: "The police dealt with over 315,000 offending vehicles during late-night cruising, of which more than 21,000 were sent to parking lots." (Club News, September 6, 2015) The deputy head of Tehran's traffic police on May 7, 2015, says: "More than 100 teams from Tehran's traffic police will be present in busy streets and highways until 1 AM." (ISNA) Given the increase in inequalities, the government justifies its crackdown on this phenomenon using justice-seeking slogans, seizing some luxury cars in the process. "If the police have dealt with 315,000 cases, the participants in this collective activity must have been in the millions. A hundred police teams for hours cannot just be for gathering a few hundred people. Why should millions of cars roam the streets at night without any purpose and sometimes cause problems for people's movement? What deficiencies do the people of Iran have that are solved by nighttime cruising? What happens during these cruises? Why do individuals still engage in this activity despite the risk of fines and vehicle confiscation? Eyewitnesses say that three main goals attract individuals (mostly young) to these nighttime activities: 1) Displaying their cars and flaunting their wealth while watching others' cars, 2) Gathering friends in one car and peers in several cars for fun, and 3) Establishing connections with other young people with shared interests or exchanging phone numbers between girls and boys. In every part of the world, such activities occur in public gathering places like bars, cafes, clubs, sports venues, discos, and coffee shops. However, when public gathering places are shut down or severely restricted by the government, and individuals are even monitored in parks, they naturally turn to unconventional, less controllable, and more practical methods for socializing and having fun. Why do Iranian youth take to the streets at night to spend time with their cars? Because the Islamic Republic's police have deprived them of the opportunity to gather in other places, and during the day, they are more likely to be harassed by security forces and paramilitary groups. Over the past fifteen years since the advent of the internet in Iran, the police have shut down and sealed thousands of internet cafes. (The latest being the sealing of 272 internet cafes in 2015, Asr Iran, September 6, 2015); another example is the closure of hundreds of billiard clubs. (The latest being the closure of 9 billiard clubs in Ardabil, Mehr 24, 2015) In every part of the world, such activities occur in public gathering places like bars, cafes, clubs, sports venues, discos, and coffee shops. However, when public gathering places are shut down or severely restricted by the government, and individuals are even monitored in parks, they naturally turn to unconventional, less controllable, and more practical methods for socializing and having fun. Majid Mohammadi Thousands of cafes have been closed during the Islamic Republic by government agencies. (One example is the closure of 53 cafes in Tehran, Entekhab, July 9, 2012) A significant portion of civil institutions that emerged during Khatami's presidency (over 20,000) were shut down under pressure from Ahmadinejad's government. The number of attacks by the police and the Basij on private parties is countless. Iranian youth have no place to dance and drink alcohol outside their homes. The government even controls their hiking and desert excursions. Most music groups cannot hold concerts, and those who manage to obtain permits with great difficulty cannot perform their concerts safely and without interference from Friday prayer leaders, Basij members, and plainclothes agents. Individuals cannot attend concerts and listen to live music. It may be said that today's youth cannot afford such entertainment. In response, it can be argued that young people who can afford to spend 1000 tomans per liter for cruising can certainly pay for going to a disco, bar, club, or cafe. The Islamic Republic has been fighting against its own constructs for 37 years. Cruising as a pastime and a means of socializing is a product of the repression of youth and related institutions in the Islamic Republic. The "system" first destroys the socialization tools of youth and then mobilizes forces to combat the results of this destruction. The Islamic Republic usually fights against the symptoms it has created instead of the causes. The Islamic Republic itself is the cause of phenomena like "cruising," and therefore cannot combat it. The Islamic Republic is not only weakening and destroying itself; society is also harmed in this process. The government has monopolized social organizations and institutions, and most citizens avoid these institutions. As a result, social capital has diminished. The government continuously reduces social capital for its survival without realizing that without social capital, it cannot prevent anomalies. The survival policy of the Islamic Republic, which is mainly manifested in reinforcing Islamist values, has turned into a policy of destroying customary values and norms. An unorthodox government leads to an anomalous society. The Iranian society, from every angle and aspect, is an anomalous society. Annually, about 16 million cases are filed in courts, around six million bounced checks, over 22 million individuals with mental disorders, a 23-fold increase in the number of prisoners with a 2.3-fold increase in population, the prevalence of lies, fraud, and hypocrisy, hundreds of thousands of phone harassments for emergency service organizations, the weakening of the family institution, and an unprecedented increase in divorce, hundreds of thousands of child laborers, the inflation of university graduates, about half of whom remain unemployed, and the lowering of the age of prostitution and addiction are part of these anomalies. The phenomenon of cruising is another one of these anomalies. The magnitude of these phenomena in Iran is mainly due to the economic, social, and cultural policies of the Islamic Republic. Given the power of the central government and the monopoly of a significant portion of the country's resources in the hands of the government, the anomalous society of Iran is the result of a government and state that is distanced from society and oriented against norms.