Iranians physical escape from the city where jobs are elusive, but also a mental one - from self-censorship
International Herald Tribune / Roger Cohen Published: February 15, 2009
16-Feb-2009

Iran's pursuit of liberty, unbowed since the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, remains unfulfilled. The Islamic revolution has not birthed a totalitarian state; all sorts of opinions are heard. But it has created a society whose ultimate bond is fear. Disappearance into some unmarked room is always possible. So the freedom of the mountains is double in nature.For young Iranians, the Alborz trails are a physical escape but also a mental one - from self-censorship, from monochrome dress, and from the morality police ever alert for a female neck revealed, hands fleetingly held, or hair cascading from a headscarf.

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