HISTORY AND CAUSES.
A THEOCRATIC ISLAMIC REPUBLIC REPLACED THE SECULAR PAHLAVI DYNASTY IN IRAN DURING THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION OF 1978–1979, ENDING MORE THAN TWO MILLENNINES OF MONARCHICAL RULE. WIDESPREAD DISAPPROVAL OF SHAH MOHAMMED REZA PAHALAVI'S REGIME, WHICH WAS PERCEIVED AS AUTHORITARIAN, CORRUPT, AND UNDULY ALIGNED WITH WESTERN POWERS—PARTICULARLY THE UNITED STATES—WAS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE REVOLUTION. THE SHAH'S ATTEMPTS AT MODERNIZATION, PARTICULARLY THE WHITE REVOLUTION (STARTED IN 1963), ALIENATED IMPORTANT GROUPS WHILE ATTEMPTING TO MODERNIZE IRAN THROUGH LAND REFORMS, WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, AND INDUSTRIALIZATION. DESPITE OIL WEALTH, THE URBAN POOR AND WORKING CLASS FACED ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, THE SHIA CLERGY OPPOSED SECULARIZATION, AND LANDOWNERS LOST THEIR WEALTH. INTELLECTUALS, STUDENTS, AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE FRUITED BY THE SHAH'S SECRET POLICE, SAVAK, SUPPRESSING DISSENT.
WESTERN INFLUENCE WAS CRITICIZED BY INTELLECTUALS SUCH AS JALAL AL-E-AHMAD AS "GHARBZADED" (WESTOXIFIED), A CULTURAL PHENOMENON THAT NEEDS TO BE REFORMED. A WIDE COALITION OF ISLAMISTS, LEFTISTS, AND NATIONALISTS WAS INSPIRED BY ALI SHARIATI'S VISION OF ISLAM AS A LIBERATING FORCE AGAINST COLONIALISM AND CAPITALISM AND MORTEZA MOTAHHARI'S RETELLINGS OF SHIA THEOLOGY. EXILED SINCE 1963 FOR OPPOSING THE SHAH, AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI HAS EMERGED AS A UNIFYING FIGURE WHO ADVOCATES FOR AN ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT FOUNDED ON VELAYAT-E FAQIH (JUDICIAL GUARDIANSHIP).
IMPORTANT REVOLUTION EVENTS.
WITH CONSIDERABLE VIOLENCE FROM THE SHAH'S FORCES, THE REVOLUTION BROKE OUT THROUGH LARGE-SCALE PROTESTS, STRIKES, AND NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE.
IMPORTANT EVENTS INCLUDE:
RELIGIOUS STUDENTS IN QOM STARTED PROTESTS IN JANUARY 1978 IN REACTION TO A GOVERNMENT ARTICLE SLANDERING KHOMEINI. A SHIA TRADITION THAT INTENSIFIED ANTI-SHAH SENTIMENT WAS THE KILLING OF SEVERAL PROTESTERS BY THE SHAH'S FORCES, WHICH SET OFF A CYCLE OF MOURNING DEMONSTRATIONS EVERY FORTY DAYS.
AUGUST 1978: THE SHAH'S SUPPORTERS BLAME ISLAMISTS, AND THE OPPOSITION BLAMES SAVAK FOR THE CINEMA REX FIRE, A TRAGIC FIRE IN ABADAN THAT KILLED HUNDREDS. PUBLIC OUTRAGE WAS TRIGGERED BY THIS INCIDENT.
BLACK FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1978: AT LEAST 100 PEOPLE WERE KILLED WHEN SECURITY FORCES FIRED ON PROTESTERS IN TEHRAN'S JALEH SQUARE ON SEPTEMBER 8. KNOWN AS BLACK FRIDAY, THIS MASSACRE GALVANIZED THE OPPOSITION AND ESTABLISHED A POINT OF NO RETURN.
STRIKES AND MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IN FALL 1978: THE ECONOMY WAS PARALYZED BY STRIKES, ESPECIALLY IN THE OIL SECTOR. CHANGING "ALLAHU AKBAR" AND DEMANDING THE SHAH'S OUSTER, MILLIONS MARCHED IN CITIES. USING SMUGGLED CASSETTE TAPES, KHOMEINI, WHO WAS EXILED IN IRAQ AND LATER FRANCE, COORDINATED THE MOVEMENT WITH A FOCUS ON MARRIAGE AND NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE.
JANUARY 1979: SHAH'S EXILE: THE SHAH LEAVED IRAN ON JANUARY 16TH, OFFICIALLY ON A "VACATION," AS A REACTION TO OVERWARMING OPPOSITION. IN AN ATTEMPT TO STABILIZE THE REGIME, PRIME MINISTER SHAHPUR BAKHTIAR WAS APPOINTED, BUT HE WAS NOT SUPPORTED.
FEBRUARY 1979: KHOMEINI'S RETURN: ATTRACTED BY MILLIONS, KHOMEINI RETURNED TO IRAN ON FEBRUARY 1. HE DESIGNATED MEHDI BAZARGAN AS A PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT'S PRIME MINISTER. THE BAKHTIAR'S GOVERNMENT AND MONARCHY COLLAPSED AFTER THE ARMED FORCES DECLARED NEUTRALITY ON FEBRUARY 11.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC IN APRIL 1979 THE CREATION OF AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC WAS SUPPORTED BY A NATIONAL REFERENDUM. BY DECEMBER, THE RABBAR (SUPREME LEADER) WAS GRANTED SWEEPING POWERS BY A NEW CONSTITUTION BASED ON KHOMEINI'S VELAYAT-E FAQIH, OF WHICH KHOMEINI WAS THE FIRST.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAM AND DIVERSE COORDINATION.
INITIALLY A POPULIST MOVEMENT THAT BROUGHT TOGETHER A VARIETY OF GROUPS, INCLUDING ISLAMISTS, COMMUNISTS, LIBERALS, NATIONALISTS, AND STUDENTS, IT IS FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO AS THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION. MOSQUES SERVED AS CENTERS FOR DISSEMINATING AND ORGANIZING, AND SHIA ISLAM PLAYED A CENTRAL ROLE. INSPIRED BY SHIA NARRATIVES SUCH AS IMAM HUSAYN'S STAND AGAINST ZAZID, KHOMEINI'S MESSAGE OF MARTYRDOM AND RESISTANCE AGAINST TYRANNY STRUCK A DEEP CHORD. ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF CLERKS, HOWEVER, AGREED WITH KHOMEINI'S VISION OF CLERICAL RULE; OTHERS, LIKE AYATOLLAH SHARIATMADARI, REJECTED IT AND PREFERRED MODERATION.
FOLLOWING THE FALL OF THE SHAH, THE ISLAMIC IDENTITY OF THE REVOLUTION BECAME STRONGER AS KHOMEINI'S WELL-ORGANIZED SUPPORTERS MARGINALIZED LEFTIST AND SECURITY-RELATED ALLIES. KHOMEINI WAS ABLE TO SUPPRESS OPPOSITION AND ESTABLISH A THEOCRACY AS A RESULT OF THE 1979 U.S. EMBASSY HOSTAGE CRISIS AND THE 1980 IRAQI INVASION, WHICH FURTHER SOLIDIFIED CLERICAL POWER.
LEGACY AND AFTERMATH.
ALTHOUGH THE REVOLUTION SUCCEEDED IN OVERTHROWING THE MONARCHY, IT FELL SHORT OF ITS PROMISES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY. THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC SUPPRESSED POLITICAL DISSIDENTS, UPHELD STRICT DRESS CODES, AND FOUGHT FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS—OFTEN WITH MORE BRUTALITY THAN THE SHAH'S REGIME. INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION OF IRAN WAS CAUSED BY THE HOSTAGE CRISIS AND ANTI-WESTERN POLICIES. NEVERTHELESS, DESPITE PERSISTENT ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, THE REVOLUTION INCREASED INFRASTRUCTURE AND DECREASED RURAL POVERTY.
THE REVOLUTION IS SEEN FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE AS A REVIVAL OF ISLAMIC GOVERNANCE, RESTORING SHIA VALUES AND REJECTING WESTERN SECULARISM. ACCORDING TO SUPREME LEADER ALI KHAMENEI'S VISION OF MOVING FROM AN ISLAMIC REVOLUTION TO A FULLY ISLAMIC STATE, SOME SEE IT AS A STEP TOWARD A GLOBAL ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION. OTHERS CONTEND THAT, WITH ONGOING DISCUSSIONS REGARDING THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN GOVERNANCE, IT DID NOT PRODUCE A SOCIETY THAT WAS TRULY EQUITABLE.
END.
THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION WAS A COMPLEX, MULTIFACETED UPRISING DRIVEN BY ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS GRIEVANCES. WHILE ROOTED IN SHIA ISLAM, IT WAS NOT SOLELY AN ISLAMIC MOVEMENT INITIALLY BUT BECAME ONE UNDER KHOMEINI’S LEADERSHIP. ITS LEGACY REMAINS CONTENTIOUS, CELEBRATED BY SOME AS A TRIUMPH OF ISLAMIC SOVEREIGNTY AND CRITICIZED BY OTHERS FOR ITS AUTHORITARIAN TURN. UNDERSTANDING WHAT TRULY HAPPENED REQUIRES RECOGNIZING BOTH THE REVOLUTION’S BROAD COALITION AND ITS ULTIMATE DOMINATION BY KHOMEINI’S VISION.
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