Matti asked me to write something personal about Hossein for Project Carousel. After the first few articles, I realize that what I have to say is from a different perspective and not the objective political angle that most people are taking.

One of the first times I noticed Hossein was during our weekly seminars put on by the Media and Film studies department.  I don’t remember the details of the presentation, but I do remember a smarmy smooth talking woman presenting ways in which to frame the Israel/Palestinian conflict on news programs.  Her presentation made my stomach turn and encapsulated everything I find immoral about the mainstream media industry.  Again, my memory is fuzzy on the details, but I remember that when the floor was opened for questions, and Hossein posed his, it made the woman so angry that she demanded he leave the room and refused to continue the Q & A.

Hossein is a mind to be reckoned with: this wasn’t the last time he would make a visiting scholar feel years of study and careful construction of worldviews shattered by a simple question.  At first I found his style a little jarring: how impolite to rip the rug out from under this settled media practitioner.  But the more time I spent in conversation and in classes with him, the more I realized that there was absolutely nothing vindictive in his motives, on the contrary he always comes from a place of innocent curiosity. He spends his life transgressing boundaries and breaking taboos purely for the pleasure of learning.

At this point you know that he set in motion Iran’s blogging revolution, that is an activist, journalist and a son and a brother. He is also a good friend, and interested listener, has a soft-spot for dark, thick hot chocolate, is fascinated by French New Wave cinema, and loves Iran with all of his heart.  The last day that I saw Hossein was a gorgeous sunny day in London.   As we shared a lunch in Russel Square, he waxed poetic about Tehran being a beautiful city and how happy he was to be going home.  Hossein knew better than anyone that he had made a lot of enemies over the years.  He knew that going home to Tehran meant risking his freedom, but Hossein is as dedicated to his country as he is to his cause.  I hope he knows how much I admire the choices he’s made, and how much I miss him.

Barrie McClune got an Masters in critical Media and Cultural Studies from SOAS in 2008. She now works for California Newsreel, a non-profit educational film distributor in San Francisco.

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