Iran Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow — Women’s Voices— Why and Wherefrom to Where?

Photo taken on Caspian sea shore, Kazakhstan, the other side of Iran’s part of the sea (Image free license, courtesy ‘Roving Snails’)

I bow my head — and my heart goes out to all who suffer — and all who suffered: Iran has seen centuries of human tragedy and suffering, of fighting and death and killing, because of its natural resources — and partly because of its too often strict laws regarding women.

The movement ‘my stealthy freedom’ has reached millions of people, especially women, around the world.
Together with recent protests it seems another very large uprising inside and outside Iran for more democracy in Iran — more civil rights and more independence for women.

Yet, the hijab is not the beginning — or the end of suppression, dictatorship or political murder. It is a symptom, one of many.
Power and money are usually the basics of any nation’s political setup — in individual cultural and historical ‘blends’.

“Go where the money is” is a well-known casual phrase in journalism. In other words, using the old Latin expression:

Cui bono? — Who benefits?

That’s why I feel the urge to create awareness of a couple of facts regarding Iranian (Persian) history:

Historical: The Shah’s Reign and Enforced Reforms

• During the reign of the last Shah, poverty in cities as well as country was wide-spread — as was illiteracy. This had been part of the society’s system for decades.
• Only the huge protests against the social injustice during the 1950s and 1960s that threatened to unsettle the Shah’s position started what was called the ‘White Revolution’.
• He tried to force a lot of Western ideas and regulations on a country and population that to a greater extent was not ready for them, especially among the less fortunate or educated — or the opportunists found everywhere in this world.
• Women opposed to these ideas, were publicly stripped of their hijab, when caught on the street with it — or their ‘chador’, a huge body veil, often in black but also in light colours — against their permission.
• Many of the reforms actually did some good, though. But they were late in the day. And they were forced on a large part of the population.

Iran has huge natural resources which makes it so interesting to outside interests, Russia, the US, Britain, France, you name them, once imperial powers — and has made it so for centuries.

The Shah’s ‘Dictatorship’ — Cause for Uprising

• During the reign of the Shah he really and actually was in power only because of countries such as the USA, who supported him — but with ‘a vengeance’: the contracts regarding oil and gas deliveries were like muzzles: Iran providing with lowest possible prices.
• In order to stay in power and guarantee those conditions he had to make sure that no protests could unsettle his reign. That resulted in an actual dictatorship of sorts, with political prisoners and a severe secret service all complete — clad in a monarchy’s glamour.

Political Power Factions in Iran

Political power throughout the history of mankind always existed and exists in close connection with money; the same principle holds true in Iran.

• The power factions in Iran are age-old and at least since the 16th century by Western reckoning, well established: the clerics on the one hand — the ‘bazaaris’ on the other.
• The ‘bazaaris’ are the merchants of the country, especially in Teheran. They have been the most powerful faction at least as long as the clerics.
• Kings or Shahs or governments of the country as we know it today, as well as in the past, depended on them, for money and thus for power.

Therefore, the protesting as well as the deeply felt loyalty to all the fine people who care should be mingled with a wary eye on political power and its sometimes complex dependencies.

• No nation or its leader can be completely altruistic, completely having the well-being of the other in mind: It is clear that political power as well as economic interests are always part of the power ‘games’.

Awareness is key: We can start with awareness of necessities to protect and safe — and let Iran find its own way to more democratic politics, without external influence throttling it.