Side notes on a Revolution in the making

With the Iranian revolution heading to its 100 days of protests, there are clear signs that there is no turning back. The wave of contestation of the mullah-lead regime and the extreme violence of the counter-reaction of the different layers of the establishment leaves no place for ´dialogue´ or ´reform´, as some interested voices of pundits and journalist may be trying to make believe. 

That this will be the last winter under the cleric yoke it´s almost clear. December seems to be a bad months for dictators, and the former Romanian dictator whose last visit before being condemned to death for decades of crimes against his own people was Iran, experienced this on his own skin. What it largely unclear is what will be the next steps of this transformation? Will the perpetrators of the 43 years of dictatorship brought to justice? Would they be able to escape to sunnier lands? Would they eventually use the assets transferred through third outside the country and make a come-back as ´democratic´ participants to the inner competition for power within the incoming free regime?

Reading the notes of the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński who chronicled the last months of the Shah and the instauration of the new clerics´ regime, one may notice a lot of similarities: a ruling elite, with the Shah on the top of it, living in complete denial about the real needs and aspirations of the people; the constant persecution and murder of intellectual elites; the active role of repression forces - like SAVAK - in maintaining the regime and violently discouraging of dissent; the widespread corruption and the large scale stealing of natural resources; the persistence of protests for month before the Shah - at last - and his family decided to leave the country.

There are also many more small differences that do distinguish one regime from the other, one being the desperate blindless of religious fanatics who may not spare anything to stay in power. There is no other danger for humanity than a religious fanatic in position of power. Hence, the refusal to leave the theatre with minimal decency. Also different is the deep hate those mullahs seem to have for the culture of the country they kept hostage.

Even when on the wrong side of history, Iran remains an important regional player and the changes taking place sooner or later within the country may send waves of change across the region. Time will show what kind of changes will be involved and especially who will be the agents of those changes. 

The Revolutionary Women of Iran

 

There is a lot to be said why more than one month after the protests asking an end of four decades of oppression in the Islamic Republic of Iran do still have such a low and relatively distorted reflection into the German media. But for those really looking to understand what are the roots of discontent and why women are on the forefront of the protests, Golineh Atai published exactly one year ago a book featuring nine women from Iran, most of them unknown outside the borders of Iran - the most famous of them is Masih Alinejad who may not be everyone´s cup of tea but nevertheless she started a movement encouraging women to speak out against the government.

Born in Iran, Golineh Atai moved to Germany as a child, shortly after the religious establishment started its take over of power, economy and society in Iran. 

The women movement in Iran has a longer history. Women like Sediqeh Dowlatabadi or Forough Farrokhzad opened the way to more acceptance towards women. Personalities like Nasrin Sotudeh or Shirin Ebadi and the many many unnamed women who refuses the hear to the rules made for them by greedy blood-thirsty clerics. 

What is really disturbing reading the testimonies gathered in Iran. Die Freiheit ist weiblich is the terrible mistreatments ongoing in Iran prisons and the even more horrible barganinig with the corpses of people murdered in prison or during the protests. It is simply.

The book by Golineh Atai is eyes opening and helps to map the mental realm of the current protests. More and more people outside Iran should read such testimonies because it shows how resolute the women of Iran are to challenge a regime way too courted by Western governments and companies. The ongoing Iranian Revolution will definitely change more than a regime in Iran, it will redefine a better and more peaceful Middle East while pushing forward the Western democracies to restrain their appetite for friendly diplomatic lakeys of dictators.