The Western media machine has gone into 5th gear. We are being told that the world is on the brink of another colour revolution, another dictator will be thrown into the dustbin of history and freedom loving people can expect moral support from the liberal West.
Iran is once again witnessing mass demonstrations and such Ipod loving, rock and roll dancing, Twitter people want to free themselves from the conservative shackles of their forefathers who continue to rule the country. This was the narrative I was sold growing up in the UK about the country my parents were from. I was taught in British schools that ayatollah Iran was a miserable place, authoritarian, autocratic, conservative, ‘all women must cover’ and where women were treated as second class citizens.
My recent visit to Iran showed me there was much the West does not understand about Iran and does not want to.
The recent events from Iran have shown the biggest civil unrest since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The unrest has so far led to demonstrations where 7 people have died. Whilst the issue of contention is the election result there are a number of much deeper issues that have been simmering for decades that are now reaching boiling point.
The unrest we are witnessing is a backlash as both the conservatives and reformists have been unable to solve many of Iran’s problems especially its economic problems. 3 million people are unemployed in Iran and the trend is set to continue.
Currently only 30% of the Iranian population witnessed the Islamic revolution, 70% of Iran was born after 1979. However on my trip I realised those who witnessed the revolution including many from my family who have mixed views on the revolution and what it achieved. I have family members who lived through both the Shah’s rule and then the Islamic revolution. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi focused on modernizing Iran in the name of advancement. This modernization was in many areas and included social reforms.
However nothing really materialised. Aside from a few factories and allowing workers to own shares in them from an economic perspective poverty increased even though more and more oilfields were discovered in the Persian Gulf. The Shah wanted to break the existing economic structure which was built upon farming and made the clergy immensely wealthy. During the 1960’s the Shah concentrated on his Social reforms, his reforms were built upon the emulation of the West and instituted western dress, symbolised by his wife and daughters. Such behaviour only alienated the mostly Muslim population from the ruler and this led the Shah to resort to brute force. As the 1970’s were in full flow many viewed the Shah as a despot, the economy had not modernized as he promised. As the Shah became ever more authoritarian many began to demonstrate in what they saw as injustices perpetuated by the Shah. The Shah’s failure to solve the problems of the country resulted in many to look for alternatives.
Ayatollah Rahulla Khomeini came to symbolize ‘change’ and many groups that were not even Islamic mobilised with other groups and brought the country to a stand still. When the Shah ordered the army to open fire on the demonstrators – that was the final straw. Before anyone could shout revolution the Shah had fled the country.
What united the people of Iran around the revolution was everyone wanted change, the Shah had not delivered on his promises and as many explained to me, any person could have become the leader, as long as they condemned the Shah.
The revolution marked a change from one extreme to another. Almost overnight women went from being able to wear the latest western fashion items to being forced to wear the black chador or long dress and head scarf. This major change occurred without addressing the views of the people, and consequently Iranians still had a secular mindset, whilst effectively being forced to act in a more conservative way in public.
As soon as the Islamic revolution was in full swing cracks began to appear with the groups that brought Khomeini to power. As some of the elders in my family explained what began as an authentic and anti-dictatorial popular revolution based on a broad coalition of all anti-Shah forces was soon transformed into a power grab. Except for some of Khomeini’s core supporters, the members of the coalition thought Khomeini intended to be more a spiritual guide than a ruler. However his core supporters took positions in important offices whilst many of those who had sacrificed to bring Khomeini to power found they were either exiled, imprisoned or sidelined.
The 8 year war with Iraq meant that all of the nation’s production was geared towards the war effort. Once again the economic concerns of the people were neglected. The notions of Islam, Islamic ruling etc according to those who lived the revolution were nowhere to be seen. Islam was never applied, however Khomeini did everything but refer to the Qur’an or the Sunnah. In fact many saw a very different Khomeini once he was ruler, compared to the Khomeini they saw prior to the revolution. Khomeini had been in exile for over 10 years and had no ruling or leadership experience, however he was going to hold on to the nation through hook or crook – in reality Khomeini turned out to be no different to the Shah.
Like the Shah Khomeini did nothing to address the economic problems of the nation. Many elders consider the revolutionary period as causing many of the ills Iran’s suffers from today. Such ills are openly paraded on the streets of Tehran and have only got worse. The mineral wealth of Iran has not benefited most the people of Iran.
Today’s Iran suffers from a major prostitution problem. According to many surveys up to 500 000 women under the age of 30 make up Iran’s prostitution problem. Many have been forced into this due to poverty and the stigma of divorce, a number of such girls are also runaways who were forced into temporary marriages.
Iran also has a huge drug problem. According to the Iranian government there are over 1.2 million drug addicts, with HIV on the rise. Alcohol is widely available and if one is not a cocaine addict they are most likely addicted to Alcohol. My own cousin died in a drink drive crash, whilst another uncle actually produces Alcohol.
My time in Iran showed me that the people of Iran have been failed one too many times, by rulers who promised the world and didn’t deliver. The current religious authority has failed the Iranian people both socially and economically, the problems that the revolution failed to rectify, has now been adopted by the reformist’s.
The landslide victory of Mohammed Khatami, in 1997 was the first time an open reformist managed to gain power. Ever since a very active reformist movement has gained momentum and used the slogan of reform to call for engagement with the West and Western values in the shape of freedom and democracy. Secularism the separation of religion from public life is in greater demand from the reformists who work hard to promote their ideas through various types of media such as internet blogs and newspapers.
Many of the youth who were born after 1979 witnessing the failure of the revolution in retaliation to an oppressive ‘Islamic’ government have looked to the west for progress and solutions, where they feel the Islamic establishment and even Islam in some cases has failed them.
Iran in no way represents Islam, in my trip I found Iran to be a mish mash of everything, whilst Iranian society is drowning in a sea of cocaine and alcohol. I was not surprised when massive demonstrations rocked Tehran as the elections were announced. This is because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad symbolises the failure of the conservatives who have unable to revive the economy. Iranian society is polarized, the educated middle classes adore the West whilst the poor although Islamic are unable to understand how the Islamic texts deal with modern problems. This confusion is leading to many to conclude Islam is the problem.
Iran in some ways it at odds with the reality of the wider Muslim world, whilst the wider Muslim world is returning to Islam, attempting to understand its solutions and calling for the Khilafah and reunification with other Muslim countries. Many Iranians believes they lived under Islam and it was a big failure. But in reality aside from a few rules Islam was never applied. Iran’s Islamic rhetoric, was exactly that, the realties of ruling, the economy and judiciary were not Islamic in any way. Ayatollah Khomeini’s wilayat al Faqhi remained in the books it was written and pragmatic politics was the order of his revolution.