The Iranian Revolution:

1. The Iranian Revolution: An Introduction to Funny in Farsi

2. The Iranian Revolution: • Also named the Islamic Revolution or 1979 Revolution • Refers to the events involving the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran, which had been run under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The revolution was led by a very conservative Iranian leader whose name was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. • The revolution began in October of 1977 with civil resistance demonstrations, partly secular and partly religious. The revolution greatly intensified in January of 1978 where strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the entire country. • The Shah (Pahlavi) was exiled on January 16, 1979, making him the last Persian Monarch, ever.

3. After Pahlavi left, Khomeini was greeted by several million Iranians who believed, who hoped, that he would be a great ruler. • Guerilla soldiers loyal to Khomeini took over the military and police who were holding out, waiting for Pahlavi to come back. They lost within a few weeks and the nation voted to change their government to and Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, writing and implementing a new democratic-theocratic hybrid constitution making Khomeini the Supreme Leader of the country. All was official by December of 79.

4. Life Before Khomeini: • The Royal family tried to introduce and/or force more and more westernized cultural values into the country and on the people, who are 99% Muslim, and thereby naturally conservative. The people were not supportive of this introduction to a culture created by the “infidels”. • The Shah’s regime has unanimously been described as oppressive, brutal, corrupt, and extravagant… all of which are sins in Islam. He apparently had no sense of social justice and was seen by his people to be a puppet of the United States, who were seen as enemies due to their dedication to Israel and due to the liberal culture practiced by its population. • During this time, there was also an economic depression.

6. The Reign of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini • The revolution replaced Pahlavi’s westernized monarchy with a conservative, Shi’a ideology (called “the Islamic Revival”) that opposed anything to do with the west and its culture, which was described as a “plague or an intoxication to be eliminated”. • Khomeini believed that Islam was the one true liberator of the Third World from the oppressive, capitalistic, neo-colonialist ideology of Europe and the United States. • Khomeini preached that revolt, and especially martyrdom, against injustice and tyranny were part of Shi’a Islam and that Muslims should reject both the liberal capitalistic culture of the U.S. and the communistic culture of Russia, China, and Cuba. Their motto was: “Neither East, nor West- Islamic Republic!”

7. Khomeini came up with the ideology of “velayat-e faqih” which is the theory of guardianship of a jurist, where every single member of the Iranian society was “fathered” by a local, leading Islamic jurist whose only job was to make sure that your actions and thoughts remain pure at all times. They could put you in jail for anything indecent and Khomeini believed that this ideology would eliminate poverty, injustice, and the thievery of Muslim lands by foreign non-believers and infidels (the United States). • Many Iranians believe that the U.S. didn’t intervene in the revolution because they were unsympathetic of the people and their situation. Some people believed that the U.S. inaction made them responsible for Khomeini’s victory and subsequent abuse of power. Some believe that the U.S. is doing whatever it can to get ahold of Iranian oil, and other materials, that would make them money.

9. The Hostage Crisis • In late October of 1979, Shah Pahlavi came to the United States for top of the line cancer treatments. The facts that the U.S. allowed him within their borders and that they were helping the Shah survive cancer angered the Iranians who disliked him and the Iranian people began to demand that the U.S. extradite him back to Iran for trial and execution. • On November 4, 1979, an Islamic youth group broke into the U.S. embassy in Tehran and seized its staff, 52 American diplomats, of which they kept hostage for 444 days (A year and a half as a hostage!). • There were several attempts to rescue the hostages, but none prevailed and they were finally released in January of 1981. Khomeini had believed that he was allowed to keep the hostages, by divine intervention, and would only release them when he got his way. And thus he did.

11. Iranian Culture • "Iran's prize possession has been its culture.” Thus an eclectic cultural elasticity has been said to be one of the key defining characteristics of the Persian spirit and a clue to its historic longevity. • There are several languages spoken in different parts of Iran. The predominant language and national language is Persian, which is spoken across the country. Azeri is spoken primarily in the northwest, Kurdish primarily in the west, Arabic primarily in the Persian Gulf coastal regions, Balochi primarily in the east and Turkmen primarily in northern border regions. • Today of the 98% of Muslims living in Iran, around 89% are Shi’a and only around 9% are Sunni. This is quite the opposite trend of the percentage distribution of Shi’a to Sunni Islam followers in the rest of the Muslim population from state to state (primarily in the Middle East) and throughout the rest of the world.

12. In Iran, religion has been a major source of power that has governed the way that women have been able to live their lives. There is a common theme of subordination that comes from the fact that religion has placed strict rules on the actions of women in Iran. • While Sharia dictates the way that women are able to act in different Muslim countries, the people if Iran—especially the women—have a negative attitude toward veiling, dating, women’s dress code, and the general view on women Islam holds. • More recently, however, women have been taking more and more control of their lives. In modern Iran—post-revolutionary Iran—while it still is illegal for women to break dress code, there is a trend of young women that boldly walk around in public wearing makeup, tight coats (mãntos), brightly covered headscarves—with a lot of hair showing—and not get arrested.

13. By disobeying dress code flagrantly, women in Iran are making a statement—one that is so powerful that one can almost see a “sexual revolution” sweeping over Iran. This revolution is supported by many parents of young women in Iran because of their being against the ideologies of the Islamic Republic. In this sense, it would seem as though not only are the young women of Iran taking control of their lives, but so too is the older generation of Iranians that have been oppressed by the Islamic Republic and Islamic law.

14. Being Iranian in America • Iranian-Americans are amongst the most highly educated groups in the United States • Iranian-Americans have historically excelled in business, academia, the sciences, arts and entertainment – but have traditionally shied away from participating in American politics or other civic activities. • There is a tendency among Iranian-Americans to categorize themselves as "Persian" rather than "Iranian", mainly to disassociate themselves from the Iranian regime and the negativity associated with it, and also to distinguish themselves as being of Persian ethnicity, which is around 65% of Iran's population

15. Iranian immigration to the United States has been continuous since the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of foreign born from Iran in the United States increased by 74 percent.[16] Today, the United States contains the highest number of Iranians outside of Iran. The Iranian-American community has produced significant numbers of individuals notable in many fields, including medicine, engineering, and business. The community chiefly expanded in the early 1980s, following the Iranian Revolution and its abolition of the Iranian monarchy.

16. From 1980 to 2004, more than one out of every four Iranian immigrants was a refugee or asylee.The PAAIA/Zogby poll also cites that almost three-quarters of Iranian Americans believe the promotion of human rights and democracy in Iran is the most important issue relating to U.S.-Iran relations.