Kristen Brammer
In order to fully grasp the context in which Marji Satrapi experienced the Iranian Revolution, and even her life well beyond the revolution, it is important to understand the positions in politics and different ideologies that played important parts in the revolution.
A combination of multiple combating groups, all with the shared goal of overthrowing the Shah, were the key forces in what is now known as the Islamic Republic. While not all of these subgroups particularly desired a theocracy, which is a theocratic democracy with theological jurists to ensure the following of Islamic law, that is what ended up prevailing in the end. Whoever wrote This Article said, “Today it is often forgotten that the revolution was not originally aimed at producing an Islamic theocracy. What became the Islamic Revolution in Iran was initiated not solely by an Islamic movement but by a coalition of interest groups united against the shah…which included secular liberals, nationalists, communists, and Islamist-Marxists” (pg 9). Some of the major influences were the National Front of Iran, the Tudeh Part of Iran, the Freedom Movement of Iran, and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran.
The National Front of Iran was founded by Mohammad Mosaddegh. This political group is pro-democracy and during the Iranian Revolution was in support of replacing the monarchy with an Islamic Republic. This group was the main symbol of the nationalists within the coalition.
The Tudeh Party of Iran is a communist party with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head. The group advocated for oil nationalization when many insisted against it, and also recruited many youth during the Iranian Revolution in guerilla activities in support of the Islamic Revolution.
The Freedom Movement of Iran, aka the Liberation Movement of Iran, is a pro-democracy organization who describe themselves as Muslims, Iranians, and Constitutionalists. This group primarily dominated the movement due to its extensive network of mosques, mullahs, and millions of followers in Iran.
The People’s Mujahedin of Iran were a political-militant group advocation for installing its own government in place of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The group refused to support the ratification of the constitution and was denied the opportunity to run in the 1980 Iranian presidential election.
References
Ali Ansari Kasra Aarabi, et al. “Ideology and Iran’s Revolution: How 1979 Changed the World.” Institute for Global Change, 11 Feb. 2019, institute.global/policy/ideology-and-irans-revolution-how-1979-changed-world.
“Freedom Movement of Iran.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Movement_of_Iran.
“Tudeh Party of Iran.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudeh_Party_of_Iran.
“National Front (Iran).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 July 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Front_(Iran).
“Organizations of the Iranian Revolution.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizations_of_the_Iranian_Revolution.
“People’s Mujahedin of Iran.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People’s_Mujahedin_of_Iran.
Thank you Kristen for the context of the Iranian revolution. If I’m being honest I did not know much on the politics and different ideologies before we started learning from the readings that we were assigned in class. Your presentation gives me great detail on this discussion. You are right that they all shared a goal of overthrowing the Shah. With that statement it reminded me from week 6 reading that at first, Marji did not agree with overthrowing the Shah because she was under the impression that God sent him to lead but her father corrected her by saying that was not right. She was also a little girl at the time and didn’t know better. I think the book and film of Persepolis give good perspectives on how people lived their daily lives during the Iranian revolution. But overall thank you for the clear presentation and giving me more information on the topic.
Hi Kristen,
Thank you for providing insight on the Iranian Revolution and the stems of polotics surrounding it. Before this I didn’t quite understand the politics of Iran as a whole but it makes sense now it is just like other differing view points except there is a lack of expression due to the republic being set up to oversee what people do. Most importantly though, the presentation made sense and taught me something. Good job!