To provide context for the reading that we will be doing this week, this blog will help better explain what the Iranian Revolution is, and its relevance in this week’s reading, “Persepolis”. To begin, the Iranian Revolution began in January 1978 and ended around February 1979. The overarching goal of this revolution was to overthrow the current dynasty, which was effectively a monarchy and as a result replace it with a republic that would be of Islamic religion. So what would bring a group of people to overthrow their government in a situation like this? To begin with, Mohammad Reza Shah, who presided over them, effectively oppressed their rights by doing things such as suppressing the Tudeh, (Iranian communist party) The National Front, suppressing the press, and strengthening the secret police (History). Due to this, the people simply had enough after some time and began to revolt against this.
Thousands of youth began to take to the streets and began protesting what the regime had been doing. Unfortunately at this time, Shah had been stricken by cancer and as a result, felt that these protests were an effort to try and conspire against him. Due to this, the government began to kill many of those protesting, which would only make the violence way worse. Due to the escalating violence from death after death, martial law was eventually declared in September, and lead to even more deaths, as well as government workers beginning to strike, because they were unhappy with what was going on. Due to the unmounting civil unrest that was going on, eventually, the Shah left, and as a result, Iran would be considered an Islamic Republic.
Unfortunately, even after the fall of the Shah and replacing him with a new leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, women’s rights would still be limited. The book “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi goes to show the effects of women’s rights during, the revolution and post-revolution. Such things as segregated schools, as well as mandatory dress codes, are just a few of the many difficulties faced in this book.
Citations:
Afary, Janet. “Aftermath.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 Mar. 2020, www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution/Aftermath.
Erdbrink, Thomas. “The Iran Revolution at 40: From Theocracy to ‘Normality’.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/10/world/middleeast/iran-revolution-40.html.
History of Iran: White Revolution, www.iranchamber.com/history/white_revolution/white_revolution.php.
Parvaz, D. “Iran 1979: the Islamic Revolution That Shook the World.” Middle East News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 11 Feb. 2014, www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/02/11/iran-1979-the-islamic-revolution-that-shook-the-world/?gb=true.
Thank you for the context on the Iranian revolution. By providing the time period it gives me a better visualization overall. You see these problems still to this day in different countries. Protesting does lead to unnecessary deaths. It also depends on what kind of protest it is. This weeks reading will give us a better understanding of women rights in a different country and how leadership plays a role.
Hi Bradley
I liked your blog post as it provided useful background knowledge to support the reading this week. I am very unfamiliar with the Iran Revolution. It is interesting to know this occurred in history fairly recently – in 1978. It is unsettling to know women’s rights in Iran are still very limited and how they did not gain much from the Iranian Revolution.
Hi Bradley!
I really enjoyed reading your post and I thought is informed my of some very useful events to know while reading this book. I must admit, I am not familiar almost at all with the Islamic Revolution, but you gave a very good overview of these events. It’s hard to imagine how these events took place not too long ago as you said is only lasted a little over a year. When I started reading “Persepolis”, and learned it was taking place during a time of war, I thought it was going to be staged many many years before now. Through your post I realized that happened not too long ago, which make this books emotions and events way more relevant that I had originally thought. Again, I really liked your post and enjoyed all the background information I got to read about!
Thank you for the explanation of the parties the Shah originally opposed. I was first confused when reading the book because there seemed to be many parties that he opposed however I was unsure of who they were and why.
Thank you for your post Bradley!
Your background information on the Iranian Revolution and the reason behind it was very insightful. Even though I knew there was conflict in Iran and they had a long history of government overthrows and religious tensions, I was unaware of the large amount of injustices that occurred over the course of the year. In Persepolis, the author tries to tell her story on her life as a child during the revolution which supports the ideas of gender and religious inequalities during the European influence.
Hi Bradly,
I really liked your post. It was really helpful to learn about more of the background information. The timeline also helps us better understand the other things that were going on in the world that could have contributed to this. When I first started reading this story, I thought the timeline took place long before it actually did. I believe this makes the story even more relevant and people should be aware of what’s going on in the world around them. This course and especially this section have showed me that I need to be more mindful of what is going on around me.
This post provides clarity for our reading this week, as Iranian history really isn’t something I know a lot about. Its strange to think that such an important historical event is pretty much unknown to us in America. I now have more context and a better understanding on “Persepolis” and the conflict as a whole.
Thank you for giving me a better in-site on the Islamic Revolution, where I come from it’s something that’s not taught in schools and helps me have a better understanding of their history. Along with the rights of women and men during that time period. After reading this post and finishing “Persepolis” it helped me have a better understanding about what Marji was going though during that scary time. Their leader in the book Shah reminded me a little bit like Hitler and how he lead his country and how horrible that was. Also Shah reminded me a bit like our president right now and how everything has fallen apart with our world and government.
Hey Bradley! Really good job on your post this week!! I really enjoyed getting better in depth information regarding Iran during this time period as i found it very helpful to me as i read this weeks reading. I thought it was important you provided much information about the Shah and the protests during this time. Thanks for your insight and information!!!