{"id":301170,"date":"2023-02-09T23:02:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T22:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=301170"},"modified":"2023-03-01T14:25:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T13:25:03","slug":"iran-1979-anti-monarchical-revolution-never-ended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/iran-1979-anti-monarchical-revolution-never-ended\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran 1979 Anti-monarchical Revolution Never Ended"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Iran
Iranians taking down Shah’s statue in 1979 (R) Iran Revolution 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 11 marks the anniversary of Iran\u2019s anti-monarchical revolution<\/a>. Less than half a century later, there is another revolution in the making in Iran, with people rejecting any form of dictatorship.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Millions of Iranians took to the streets, calling out Pahlavi\u2019s dictatorship. They were deeming democracy and freedom. Sadly, Ruhollah Khomeini hijacked the 1979 revolution and began a reign of terror by suppressing those who shed blood and tears for the revolution. Khomeini was Shah\u2019s true heir<\/a> and the inevitable result of a one-party system that had imprisoned, tortured and executed political dissidents with democratic aspirations. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ascended to the throne with the help of foreign powers who removed his father, Reza Khan<\/a> (called Reza the bully by the Iranian people), from power for cozying up with Nazi Germany. Mohammad Reza, also known as Shah, took power while ensuring the economic interests of world powers, mainly Britain at the time, which controlled Iran\u2019s vast oil and gas resources.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign occupation fueled Iranian nationalism, leading to strong protests against the country\u2019s national wealth being monopolized. Under public opinion pressure, Shah was forced to choose Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh<\/a> as Prime Minister. Once in office, the great nationalist leader launched a domestic and later an international legal struggle against unjust foreign occupation and managed to nationalize Iran\u2019s oil.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1952, Shah removed Mosaddegh from power, only to face an unprecedented uprising in Tehran and other cities, which forced him to flee the country. Once he returned, he was forced to nominate Dr. Mosaddegh as PM. However, a year later, in an American-led coup-d\u2019\u00e9tat supported and implemented by religious fanatics such as Ayatollah Abolghasem Kashani and Khomeini, Shah removed Mossadegh from power.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shah fulfilled his so-called \u201cWhite Revolution,\u201d claiming that he would distribute land among farmers. Yet, the plan supplanted the ruling class elites and landlords into a new, more powerful group of commercial farmers, with the Pahlavi family having the lion\u2019s share. Unlike Shah\u2019s claim, this reform, in fact, decreased Iran\u2019s agricultural exports. From 1972 to 1973, Iran, which used to export agricultural goods, imported as much as a one-billion-dollar worth of agricultural products.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1972, the American embassy reported that Iranians were suffering from high inflation. While prices had increased, wages stayed low. But then the 1973 Arab-Israeli War happened, causing the oil prices to jump. Iran\u2019s oil revenue experienced an unprecedented rise. Since the country had no real infrastructure, and Pahlavi\u2019s dictatorship was bereft of any meaningful plan to use this wealth, it squandered on building the army and importing goods, therefore, increasing the unemployment rate and decreasing national production. The injection of the oil revenue into the market also increased liquidity, and given the low production and high unemployment rates, inflation further increased. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Asadollah
Asadollah Alam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amir Assadollah Alam, Shah\u2019s Prime Minister, writes in his memories: \u201cWe claim we have helped Iran reach the gates of a glorious civilization, but the country constantly grapples with electricity shortage. We can\u2019t even provide water and electricity in the capital.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the oil prices dropped in 1975, the country\u2019s wealth rapidly declined, while the financial calamities continued to increase. In a nutshell, despite the bogus claims by the deposed monarchy\u2019s remnants, the Pahlavi dictatorship achieved nothing but misery for average Iranians. The only people that benefited from Shah\u2019s \u201creforms\u201d were the ruling elites.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shah quashed any form of dissent, dissolved all political parties, despite their loyalty to his regime, and banned any political activities or critical thinking. Soon after the \u201cWhite Revolution,\u201d he formed his Shah created the Rastakhiz (Resurgence) Party, announcing it as Iran\u2019s only political party, effectively turning the country into a one-party state. In other words, he closed any path of reform.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early 60s, opposition groups began to form. They were not seeking any reform and righteously considered the regime\u2019s downfall as the only solution to Iran\u2019s crises.\u00a0 Among them were the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK)<\/a> and the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pahlavi dictatorship faced a growing wave of dissent and later a rising trend of youth joining the ranks of the MEK and OIPFG. Thus, Shah\u2019s foremost goal was to establish a security apparatus to control people. In 1958, with the help of the U.S., Shah formed his notorious SAVAK secret police and began a ruthless crackdown on opposition movements, all the while raising the specter of radical Islamists such as Khomeini.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, real leaders of the Iranian people\u2019s revolution were either executed or imprisoned. The MEK founders, for instance, were executed, and the organization\u2019s leading officials – including Massoud Rajavi, who later became the Iranian Resistance leader in Khomeini\u2019s era- were in prison until the last days of the revolution.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, it was Ruhollah Khomeini and his network of clerics and fundamentalists who hijacked the revolution.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s ruling theocracy<\/b><\/h2>\n

Khomeini began his killing spree soon after the 1979 revolution. Thousands were arrested and executed, and the 1980s marked the deadliest decade of brutal oppression by the regime. In the summer of 1988<\/a> alone, over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly MEK members, were executed. The clerical regime never stopped its crimes against humanity. Iran, under the clerical regime, is the world\u2019s top executioner per capita. During the November 2019 protests, security forces gunned down over 1500 protesters, and during the recent uprising, they killed over 750 citizens who were asking for their rights.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But the regime\u2019s crimes are not limited to human rights abuses. By squandering people\u2019s wealth on its terrorist activities and nuclear weapons program, and corruption, the Iranian regime has left one of the world\u2019s richest nations in absolute poverty. The official unemployment is 8.9%, but the real number hovers over 25%. The inflation rate constantly increases, with many experts considering it above 60%. The majority of Iranians are living under the poverty line. Meanwhile, the regime has wasted billions of dollars on its nuclear program. Women immensely suffer from the mullahs\u2019 misogynous rule, and ethnic and religious minorities have been brutally suppressed.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, decades of corruption and oppression have turned Iran\u2019s society into a powder keg. A few weeks before the current uprising erupted in Iran, the regime\u2019s Supreme National Defense University published two studies admitting that \u201cThree of four Iranians participate in protests\u201d<\/a> and how unstable the regime is.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of these studies, titled \u201cIran after [the Persian Year] 1400,\u201d counted various economic calamities and stressed that \u201cAll these factors have completely changed aspects of Iranian society, and along with the two protest waves of January 2018 and November 2019, the suspicion that Iranian society is on the threshold of political collapse has been strengthened.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 This research concludes by warning regime officials that they can never ignore the \u201cdanger of mass, unorganized, unpredictable, violent and leaderless rebellion\u201d in Iranian society.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the crimes of Shah\u2019s regime pale to those of the clerical regime, the pattern and system are the same: An authoritarian regime trying to hold its grip on power by every means. The situation in Iran is very similar to the one before the 1979 revolution. But there is one major difference: The presence of organized opposition.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MassoudRajavi\"
Massoud Rajavi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Khomeini began oppressing dissidents, particularly after he ordered IRGC to open fire on the MEK\u2019s protest in Tehran in June 1981, Massoud Rajavi formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of democratic Iranian opposition groups and prominent individuals, one month later in Tehran. The NCRI and the MEK have been incessantly fighting with the regime and paying the price of this struggle. The Iranian Resistance was the first to expose the regime\u2019s nuclear weapons program and its terrorist activities across the globe, as well as its human rights abuses. The MEK, through its Resistance Units network, has been playing a leading role in recent uprisings in Iran, spreading the message of hope and resistance against tyranny by having daily activities under the nose of the regime\u2019s covert and overt agents surveillance system. The Iranian Resistance has held numerous summits and events, attended by renowned politicians from both sides of the Atlantic, to raise awareness of the current situation in Iran and also mobilize the international community against Iran\u2019s terrorist regime. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, Tehran has tried to eliminate its viable alternative through terrorism and a vast demonizing campaign. In July 2018, an Iranian terrorist diploma<\/a>t, Assadollah Assadi, was arrested while attempting to bomb the NCRI\u2019s annual Free Iran World Summit near Paris.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parallel with its terrorist activities, the clerical regime has been pushing a massive demonization campaign against the MEK in western countries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent months, seeing their imminent downfall on the horizon, the mullahs have been trying to fabricate \u201calternatives\u201d in a bid to outflank the growing popularity of the NCRI and MEK inside Iran.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the main goals of the Iranian regime's four-decade demonization campaign against the #MEK<\/a> has been to spread the narrative that the MEK is a fringe group, a cult with no popular base inside Iran.#IranRevolution<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/TrV6YhGBBQ<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n