Iran: Sounds From the Underground

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The regime of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini has tried to ensure that Iran is contaminated by no joy, no color and no foreign culture. Morals police patrol the country publicly abusing or sometimes arresting women with even a trace of makeup. Men are not permitted to wear sleeveless shirts. "In the view of the Islamic Republic," says one Iranian, "a happy face deserves no hearing."

Faced with so cheerless a life, some Iranians have been staging something of a cultural revolution within their own homes. The focus of this underground world is that icon of blithe energy, Michael Jackson. On the black market in Tehran, his cassettes fetch up to $50, and videotapes of the Gloved One rent for up to $100 a night. Many houses regularly become covert discos. In response, detachments of Islamic Guards, acting on informers' tips, have been raiding homes and confiscating tapes. The government apparently fears that the Jackson clubs could influence Iranian youth to turn against the regime's fundamentalist dogma. With good reason. "When the regime treats a smile as an anti-Khomeini gesture," notes one former resident of Tehran, "a Michael Jackson tape is more dangerous than the Communist Manifesto."