The complex debate about the legacy of the Iranian Revolution 45 years later

45 years ago they fought for a change that completely transformed Iran, they participated in the movement that promoted the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Today they reflect on what they experienced at that time and the weight that their actions had in the present.

Some regret it, others firmly believe it was the right thing to do.

“45 years ago, none of the revolutionaries could imagine that the day would come when people would look at them as criminals,” says Sadegh Zibakalam.

He was one of the millions of Iranians who took to the streets to protest against the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the monarch who had led the country with absolute power for more than 37 years.

The massive demonstrations managed to overthrow the regime of the proclaimed “King of kings”, but now, 45 years later, many young people question the current Iranian leaders, the revolution and those who supported it.

Freedom and democracy

In 2022, the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, after being detained by the so-called morality police, triggered a wave of massive protests against the ruling class.

Human rights violations, restrictions on social freedoms and the state of the Iranian economy have also contributed to discontent, with inflation of 43% in the 12 months to January.

On the other hand are the sanctions imposed by the West for Iran's nuclear activities and US attacks against groups in the region supported by Iran.

Some members of the younger generation blame the revolutionaries for the direction Iran has taken and wonder if this is really what they fought for.

“I'm not saying this out of stubbornness, nor out of hatred, nor out of pride and prejudice, but if I had to go back to 1979, I would do the same thing again and participate in the revolution,” says Zibakalam, who spent his university years in the United Kingdom.

“What did we want? We wanted free elections, that there were no political prisoners and that the person who ran the country did not do whatever he wanted,” he explained.

And he blames the country's current problems on the Iranian leaders, not on the revolution itself.

“The mistake that I and people like me made was that instead of pursuing the goals of the revolution, which were freedom and democracy, we followed anti-imperialist slogans like 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' and 'We will destroy Israel.' '”.

He says he still believes in the same principles he fought for in the 1970s, despite losing his job as a professor of political science at the University of Tehran last year after protesting against the brutal repression of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. ” from the country.

He explains that 45 years ago, lFreedom was what Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, repeatedly promised him and his fellow revolutionaries.

“Freedom is the right of the people. The independence of a country is a right of all. You should not imprison a person and prevent him from speaking freely,” Khomeini said in a speech he gave during his exile in France in 1978.

Hearing these words now makes many, especially from the generation that never lived through the Khomeini era, think about the current struggle between activists and the establishment.

The role of Khomeini and the Shah in the revolution

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi reigned as monarch of Iran for more than 37 years.

Under his leadership, the country experienced a period of Westernization and economic growth, and there was a concerted effort to instill national pride in Iran's ancient heritage and pre-Islamic history.

Women gained the right to vote in the 1960s and enjoyed relatively equal rights to men.

Tehran, for its part, was known as a party city, with nightclubs and cabarets, and the country exported Persian wine around the world.

However, despite these social freedoms, the shah faced criticism for his autocratic style and lack of democracy.

Shiite Muslim clergy frequently accused him of undermining Islamic values, while left-wing groups, influenced by the then Soviet Union, which bordered Iran to the north, called for greater equality within the country.

Until mid-1978, few could imagine a revolution capable of profoundly altering Iran, but when it arrived, it encompassed leftist, nationalist, secularist, and Islamist intellectuals.

As the year progressed, anti-Shah protesters increasingly couched their demands in religious terms.

At the end of 1978, Islamist rhetoric dominated the streets.

venerated figure

Khomeini skillfully projected himself as the only one capable of unifying the various currents of an Islamic government.

Millions of people revered him as a sacred figure striving to transform Iran into the promised Islamic society described in the holy book of the Koran.

Khomeini even assumed the title of imam, the head of the Muslim community.

Television reports from 1979 show the sea of ​​emotions that erupted on the streets of Tehran as millions of people gathered to welcome Khomeini after 15 years of exile.

Videos show the crowd blocking the car carrying him and throwing pieces of cloth towards him, hoping for a blessing.

Before his arrival, a rumor spread through the country that if people looked at the night sky at 10:00 p.m. on a given day, they would see Khomeini's face on the moon, a symbol of his success. Many followed this instruction.

“We were stunned, wondering what made people believe such things,” says Farah Pahlavi, the former empress of Iran, who now lives in exile.

Together with her husband, the Shah, and their three children, she left Iran in early 1979 to take a “vacation” and never returned.

Remembering the weeks before the revolution, she states that “after all the efforts she made for her country, witnessing those events was deeply disheartening” for her husband, who died in exile in 1980.

He points out that the participants in the demonstrations were mainly university students and intellectuals.

“We kept wondering what kind of organized groups had been able to fill people's brains like this and get them out onto the stree
ts,” he said.

Among the leftist and anti-religious groups that supported Khomeini was the communist Tudeh party of Iran. Shahran Tabari, who now lives in London, was a member of the party and his uncle was its leader. He now questions the decision to overthrow the shah.

“We didn't understand what democracy was,” he admits. He says some members of the opposition did not agree with what was happening, but remained silent.

“Everyone wanted the shah to disappear at any cost,” he says. “It's hard to understand how it happened. It seemed like we were brainwashed and manipulated,” he recalled.

“The end justifies the means”

Someone who agreed with her was Homa Nategh, who was a professor at Tehran University during the revolution. Nategh, who died in 2016, even felt personally responsible.

Known as one of the leftist brains of the revolution, she translated and wrote books and articles in support of the movement.

A few months after the revolutionary regime took power, Nategh became disillusioned with the religious authorities and fled to France, where he reflected on his role.

“My guilt may be greater than that of others,” she wrote in an article in the 1990s, “since during the revolution I served as both an educator and a researcher.”

“Unfortunately, I got carried away by the fervor, discarded reservations and knowledge and joined the crowd in the streets, aligning myself with the ignorance of the people.”

Around the same time he also gave numerous interviews to the BBC, acknowledging that his work had incited people to overthrow the Shah, but that he later disagreed with what he had written in the 1970s.

“The end justifies the means,” he commented.

“We cried out for freedom, but we hardly understood its true meaning. Neither I nor anyone who spoke of freedom understood its essence; we interpreted it in the way that suited our interests.”

But Sadegh Zibakalam refutes the idea that people were manipulated and brainwashed.

“It wasn't like that at all. Just look at the images,” he says. “It cannot be said that they were all uninformed. Who were the revolutionaries? They were university students and professors. It is disrespectful to suggest that they allowed themselves to be influenced by propaganda.”

Although several left-wing groups were banned after the revolution and their members and some prominent revolutionary figures who had helped Khomeini establish the Islamic Republic were executed, Zibakalam believes that the criticism “has its origins in people's discontent with the regime.” current”.

For Iranian leaders, the revolution freed Iran from foreign domination, especially the United States and Western powers.

They point to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the creation of a national arms industry as evidence of being a country with a self-sufficient defense capability.

And they take credit for improving healthcare and education, especially for the poorest.

“I don't want to carry bitterness with me”

But more than four decades after the revolution that ended Pahlavi rule, the Islamic Republic has faced a new problem, as some protesters have chanted in favor of the monarchy and deposed kings.

“Pray Shah, blessed be your soul” and “Iran without a king is not good”, are some of the songs that have been sung.

Furthermore, the former empress assures, there are former revolutionaries who have asked for forgiveness.

“It is very encouraging that people now, despite years of propaganda, understand what the king did for Iran,” Farah Pahlavi told the BBC.

“Many send me emails to tell me that they participated in the revolution but now they regret it. They ask me to forgive them.”

“Would you do it?” I ask him.

“Of course!” he replies, “because I don't want to carry the bitterness with me.”

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ALI HAMEDANI
BBC PERSIAN