Although the term revolution is used a great deal in contemporary culture an actual revolution that completely transforms a society is quite rare However during the period 19501990 a number of the worlds regions witnessed events that could legitimately be termed revolutionary ID: 377941
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Slide1
What is a Revolution?
Although the term “revolution” is used a great deal in contemporary culture, an actual revolution that completely transforms a society is quite rare. However, during the period 1950-1990, a number of the world’s regions witnessed events that could legitimately be termed revolutionary.
Historian
Mehran
Kamrava
provides us with a solid working definition of the term “revolution” – a definition that will help us to understand better many of the events portrayed in
Satrapi’s
Persepolis
.Slide2
Mehran
Kamrava’s Definition of “Revolution”
Revolutions involve “ingredients not always easy to come by: millions of people for whom pursuing a cause has become more pressing than the chores of daily life; the collapse of state institutions and their replacement by other, new ones; and the reconstitution of a political order radically different from that of the old order. These changes resonate not only domestically, but also regionally and globally,
a
ffecting balance-of-power equations, alliances, and international economics” (138).Slide3
Planned vs. Spontaneous Revolutions
Kamrava
notes that the Iranian Revolution was spontaneous in nature, meaning that it evolved in a haphazard, unstructured way. For contrast, he points to the Chinese or Cuban Revolutions, which were planned carefully over long periods of timely by highly organized guerrilla movements (139).
Why is the distinction important? Spontaneous revolutions often enable inexperienced or highly radical individuals to rise quickly to power, thus increasing the possibility for violence and instability.Slide4
The Iranian Monarchy
Reza Shah Pahlavi ruled Iran from 1925-1941
His son, Muhammad, ruled Iran from 1941-1978Slide5
Four Phases of Modern Iranian Politics
1925-1941
1941-1953
1953-1975
1975-1978
Reza Shah comes to power
through the efforts of the British government and institutes a powerful, centralized monarchy. Tribal factions are defeated and the clergy is suppressed. The Shah himself becomes identified with the government to such an extent that its success or failure is tied to him.
The British removed Reza Shah because his
German sympathies were making it difficult for the British to move war supplies in the region. They replaced Reza Shah with his son, Muhammad Reza Shah, and they divided Iran into two regions – the north, overseen by the Soviet Union and the south, overseen by the British. After the war, tensions rose between the Shah and the parliament, as factions fought to dominate political life.
The Shah,
with the assistance of the US, managed to rest power from the parliament and to oust a popular prime minister, Dr. Muhammad
Musaddiq
, who was accused of communist links. He and his supporters were arrested and suppressed. The Shah bolstered the power and influence of the secret police, creating a repressive atmosphere in which even moderate protest was quickly quelled.
The global recession and the oil
industry collapse of the mid-1970s placed the Shah’s government in peril. The Iranian people, who had been resentful of the social inequities and religious repression inherent in the monarchy, became increasingly angry in the face of huge budget deficits and other economic failures. The society was ripe for revolution.Slide6
The Opposition, circa 1978
Group
Outlook
National Front and
Tudeh
Party
Leftist in orientation.
The National Front had been the party of
Musaddiq
, and the
Tudeh
was the party of communist intellectuals. Both had been suppressed, with most of the
Tudeh
members facing execution or exile.
Mujahadeen
and the
Fedayeen
Parties
These organizations were established
by middle class young people who were frustrated by the inaction of the National Front and the
Tudeh
parties. Many of the members advocated a secular life for Iran, something that
alientated
many potential supporters. Both organizations were infiltrated by the secret police and were suppressed.
Independent
Intellectuals and Artists
Although
these individuals were never part of an established movement, their academic and journalistic work, which often called into question the suppression of Islamic thought, encouraged the average person to view the struggle against the Shah as potentially religious in nature.
The Clerics
Although they were by no means a homogenous group, the clerics
were able to get their message across in the mosques to large audiences.Slide7
The Iranian RevolutionSlide8
Ayatollah Rouhollah
Khomeini
In 1964, Ayatollah Khomeini had been exiled for his opposition to the Shah, first to a remote region of Iran, then to Iraq, and finally to France. By the mid-1970s, his anti-Shah speeches were being played in mosques across the country, via cassette tape. Increasingly, Iranian critics looked to Ayatollah Khomeini for guidance, paying special attention to his 1970 book,
Islamic Government: Authority of the
Jurist
. Ayatollah Khomeini was in an excellent position to take advantage of the revolutionary turmoil that emerged in the late 1970s.Slide9
The End of the Shah’s Rule
On January 18, 1979, the Shah left Iran due to “medical reasons,” and on February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran – over a million people rallied in the streets of Tehran in welcome.
On February 11, 1979, the military capitulated, and on March 30, 1979, the people voted to establish an Islamic Republic, with Ayatollah Khomeini as its leader.Slide10
Three Phases of the Iranian Republic
The First Republic, 1979-1989
The Second Republic, 1989-1997
The Third Republic, 1997-Present
During the
consolidation of the republic, the government eliminated or suppressed its obvious opposition in the persons of the Shah’s supporters, but it also quelled the voices of many of the intellectuals who had originally supported the revolution. The eight-year war with Iraq provided justification for extraordinarily repressive measures. Universities were closed for years, and a narrow interpretation of Islamic Law led to major changes in the daily lives of the people.
The
death of Ayatollah Khomeini and the end of the Iran/Iraq War led to a new era of political life in which the emphasis was on building up the Iranian infrastructure that had been damaged during the revolution and the war. Moderate clerics became more prominent in society, leading the way for the election, in 1997, of President Mohammad
Khatami
.
From 1997-2005, President
Khatami
relaxed the cultural and intellectual prohibitions that had stultified Iran’s public life. Although
President
Khatami’s
reforms were welcomed by many Iranians, his successor,
Presdient
Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad
, has reversed many reforms and governs from a more conservative viewpoint.Slide11
Satrapi’s
Persepolis
(2000-2003)
This brief background presentation should help you to make sense of the
politcal
and cultural events that
Satrapi
describes in her graphic narrative,
Persepolis. The primary source for this lecture was:Kamrava, Mehran
. The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since
the First World
War
. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.