Pejman Akbarzadeh *

anglo..........

Sir thank you for the unbiased input.

shakhsan seen many of them in 1978 including CIS (confedration bunches.......).

what talents and FUNDS been wasted on them .......

Maziar

تفاوت قبیله آپاچی و عشایر قشقایی

نمی‌ دانم وقتی‌ بعضی‌ دوستان کم سوادی خودرا در پوشش طنز مخفی‌ میکنند آیا باید خندید یا گریست؟ به هر حال توصیه من به این دوستان کم سواد این است که پیش از آنکه موجب خود رسوائی بیشتر از این گردند قدری خودرا با تاریخ ایران و همچنین با ظرائف زبان فارسی‌-انگلیسی‌ آشنا کنند.

If Iran was a totalitarian State they wouldn't let you out

If the Shah made a mistake it was to let these clowns in ...

LOL

Not only he let them in but offered them the best jobs and opportunities that many European students could only dream of.

Oh and by the way Rastakhiz was founded partly thanks to Anwar El Sadat's suggestion.

So when we are criticizing the shortcomings of Iran's society might as well ask ourselves based on what Standards ... The West or Iran's ? ...

If it's according to the West then might as well ask ourselves why the same west offered Anwar Sadat the Nobel Peace Prize but dubbed the Shah a dictator merely for having established a One Party System upon the suggestion of the Man everyone hailed as the Enlightened Pharaoh of Egypt ? ...

All the more that None of the regimes in the region at the time were any more pluralistic  not even Turkey so creating a One Party system in a country which had a fairly small population at the time ( 36 Million) was not such a big deal nor in contradiction with what other neighbouring countries were practicing.

In retrospect is comes as a mistake but I am not even certain that the roots of the revolution or it's success are rooted in even that. So many neighbouring countries actually survived such political shortcomings up until the current Arab Spring so why didn't Iran ?

Precisely because Iranians were Free, the dichotomy between all the social freedoms and a political sclerosis was what doomed the Shah's Autocratic system and not the so called lack of freedoms or democratic shortcomings which existed but which were nothing compared to the totalitarian neighbors of IRan be it the USSR or Saddam's Iraq or all the East European Countries of the time.

Far from that ... 

Iran was not a dictatorship like what one could see in all these South American ones in the 1970's. It was an authocracy in a country which offered all the minimum comforts and opportunities to anyone who wanted to full fill their professional and private life.

Where as in the the West the Oil Crisis was giving the first signs of recession and unemployement.

In contrast in Iran Anyone could hope to achieve at least that as long as they didn't get involved in the major political decisions that concerned the country.

Aghar Adam besho boody you could end up a truly happy and satisfied person, otherwise you would end up like these frustrated ANN TELECTUALS like Hamid Dabashi seeking international justice for the Oppressed Palestinians. And if you were violent you would probably end up like Golesorkhi be put on trial and quite honestly the fellow asked for it. Adam Besho nabood ! He was Brave but Suicidingly stubborn.

Otherwise there was no reason to arrest or control anyone. People were not under permanent scrutiny by SAVAK as so many opposition figures claimed. If you had been seriously involved in violent actions or started spreading propaganda material yes you could end up being investigated probably intimidated or admonished or reminded that there are some red lines no to cross. But overall you truly needed to look for trouble if you wished to be in trouble. Nothing of the like of what you see is practiced in Iran today.

Even reading subversive books was not truly subject to intimidation as long as you didn't get into some kind of subversive behavior or activity which linked you to terrorist groups like the Fedayeen or the MKO.

Anyone who claims they lived in Fear of the SAVAK is lying. Again If you knew a minimum of red lines you had nothing to fear. If you chose to ignore them deliberately and create chaos or provoke the authorities then that was another story. Abbas Milani or Sarnush Parsipur for example fell in that category. They got arrested but never tortured. Even when one says people were tortured they tend to confuse brutal interrogations which existed and execution of people which also existed particularly if they had commited bomb attempts or took up violent struggles against the regime. You could then indeed risk your life. But not if you were merely an intellectual with deemed crazy or revolutionary ideas.

In short you needed to look for trouble to be in trouble. Life in IRan was no worse than what Tunisia was under Ben Ali or Mubarak in Egypt. To boil these regimes to the worst totalitarian systems in the world is as exagerated as it is to compare Tunisia's Ben Ali to Libya's Gaddafi or Egypt's Mobarak to Assad in Syria.

As Zamin beh Asseman ! 

Meegham these folks didn't understand politics and well they were not entirely to blame. The country certainly was moving forward at a far too fast rate but at least the future held promises which no regime in the region was offering it's citizens be it yesterday, even less today.

Creating the Rastakhiz was aimed at achieving the necessary reforms more quickly than with the far more democratic ( in theory more than in practice) previous two party system.

It was an error but I would not call it a mistake since, Iran was not doing what other neighbouring countries wouldn't.

My own father never joined the Rastakhiz Party and was never asked to leave Iran. And he was like many in his own generation a communist during his student years. It's when he left for america and pursued his takhassos that he realized all these political debates were a waste of time and begholeh khodeshoon "adam shod" ... And he was not alone. The Shah actually ended up giving jobs in his government to people who even tried to kill him. So labeling him a despot let alone a tyrant is ridiculous even in retrospect.

Merely observing the Arab Spring today gives an idea of the practical difficulty of achieving a peaceful and orderly transition towards democracy. And this at a time when no one is truly threatened by the Bi Polar policies which existed during the Cold War. So now imagine how difficult it was to achieve that DURING the Cold War.

As such if we want to objectively assess the shortcomings of a given era one has to project oneself in the context of the times.

Understanding history or trying to learn some useful lessons from it for future use has nothing to do with being Nostalgic but Objective.

Much of the literature published on the Pahlavi era of the past 3 decades has been precisely flawed because we tend to project the ideals or our current understanding of how  a genuine democracy operates in the West and then we Copy and Paste that "perfect" model into the political landscape of an entirely different society which Iran was by 1979.

The fact is much of these 'students' were naturally influenced by what they were exposed to in the West notably left wing ideologies which had become popular amongst a youth disillusioned by the Vietnam War and a consumer society where Sex, Drugs and Rock'n roll offered an alternative to their own parents generation deemed "rigid" upbringing.

If you were a young Iranian student coming from a traditional family and suddenly found youself on the most liberal campuses in Europe or the United States you would either be shocked by the spectacle of the hippie generation or try and taste to that forbidden fruit. The culture clash resulted in many of these students seeking their own ideal "democracy" which ultimately was a combination of Shriati's islam and Communist demagogy and we saw the result.

If anything these "kids" were not prepared to take the reigns of political power because they were either too immature or bluntly ignorant of the price the Western Societies paid to have the level of Freedoms which these folks wanted to obtain overnight.

Their impatience was a sign of immaturity more than a genuine knowledge on how to implement the conditions for democratic change not withstanding that they prefered to ignore or pretend to ignore that their country had gone through a great deal transformation in a very short time.

The very fact that this so called "educated" class was also the first to run away once they realized that their revolution was hurting their own future say's alot about their lack of genuine convictions in all these "revolutionary" slogans.

I personally recall people who came from very modest backgrounds for instance a gardner who used to come and cut the loan at my parents house who was against the revolution because his own living conditions had become better under the shah. He used to drive a bike to work by the Mid 70's but by the late 70's he was driving his own Peykan. He was hoping to see his own children go to University with government help and funds so he was just angry to see the Revolution break his dreams and chances of climbing the social ladder. He considered these Students shouting Marg Bar Shah as a bunch of spoiled brats.

He would have given everything to see his own son benefit from the same "bourse" to travel abroud and become a doctor or engineer when he himself was no more than a gardner.

It's always like this ... the class which most benefits from a given era wants more change and claims to speak on behalf of the masses when in Fact the so called "masses" would like to see them Shut the F@ck up !

BROKEN RECORD: Woman on IRI TV “We're Only good at shouting slogans since Shah Left”

That's the sad reality of our so called quest for "democracy" which was nothing glorious as the current reformists want to sell the young generation. It was in reality an immature outburst of a spoiled generation who thought "Democracy" was like an "Eidy" for Nowrooz. If you were not given it overnight then you had to shout your way in and take it regardless of the consequences and collateral damages one can inflict in the process.

The soviets and all eastern countries deprived of the most elementary needs deserved to revolt and demand more rights not these spoiled rats who were guaranteed a free education and full employement once they came back to the country.

But they thought that by merely immitating their Western Counterparts with Sex, Drugs and Rock'n roll that entitled them to the same rights.

Olagh boodan deegeh ...

The rest is history ...

My humble opinion,

DK

An Un apologetic Constitutional Monarchist

Paris, France

PS: Anyway Pejman jan thanks for the interesting historical photos as usual .

AO Shahs Tyranny is a lie, Pejman Peace, Progress & Human Rights

Were continuously improving with the Shahs team, what you won't see through your narrative, pejman, are the important points regarding Iranians being thwarted from outside.  Shah telling people to leave if they don't want to join Rastakhiz reveals so much that you clearly are missing, it goes to show that in the field of communication the late Shah was a "foot in the mouth" leader when coping with stress, most intelligent people can see this easily because he never ever acted or asked anyone to act on those words.  You must be grown up enough to know that words mean little without actions.  What the statement shows about the shah and what him not doing anything in support of those words shows, is what many Iranians are completely missing out on, as a result of self-deception on who the shah was, much like AO's misinformed comment.  Not using of absolute power in any case removes any legitimate use of the
word dictator in describing the late shah, the simple use of a
dictionary would prove this to you.  But do Iranians use a dictionary? Or do Iranians and people in general wait for CNN and the BBC to teach them how to think and why, sadly to the benefit of the west?  That Iranians were deceived and
subject to mass propaganda and made big mistakes as a result of the
propaganda projected against the late Shah is something Iranians are finally
starting to realize, slowly albeit, as they watch the criminal policies and
actions of theUSA/UK/France.  Awakening is a process, it takes time.  Its good to start somewhere, when you read commets like
"Who can forget what SAVAK did to the people during his regime." by Iranians, that is
case and point a clear example of the consequences of the Propaganda unleashed on Iranian Society to thwart Iranians, because it was used by
the enemies of the late Shah and foreign media does not make it a Truth.

....................

Basically saying that : "because of what happenned  in Iran with the blood Revolution, People believes that under Shah everything was perfect " It's an insult to iranian Intelligence !!! another excuse to explain that this guys weren't that bad !!!

Before Iran's Revolution Iran wasn't perfect but very close to european standards ! saying it was hell on earth is a Big lie ! i remember those days a movie was shaking the world "Midnight express" based on true story of the tortures in turkey's jails ! Saying that Iran was like that It's a lie !!! and as far as i know turkish people didn't had a revolution to bring a mullah to make things better !!!

Can you tell us how European governement reacted with all this violent groups terrifying people with Guerrilla Urban methods (BaaderMeinhof in deutchland, Action directe in France, Brigate rosso in Italia), as far as we know they all were arrested and most died in jail....did europeans did a revolution because of it ?!!! of course not ! Any democrate  person knows this behaviour must be punish !

Carlos le chacal is still in jail,  do you hear about any demonstration to release him ? of course not !

So what we are saying is exactly what a majority of  european  are saying too : they had excactly what they deserved !!!

This iranian tendancy to make a heros of a pseudo warrior of freedom is STUPID and we payed the price of this sillyness with a bloody Revolution

Those darn Apaches!

It is becoming more clear now. Because at first I thought the funds originated from what Reza Shah Kabir inherited from his father in the village of Alasht in Savadkoh? The money then you are saying, came from "donations made by wealthy individuals from the business and industrial sectors." That is interesting because some sources I checked misinformed me that the bulk of the land and property that later was incorporated into the foundation were taken at gunpoint and confiscated. What these sources are talking about perhaps is the land and property taken over from the Apache "chieftains" you are referring to; or were they Iranian chieftains? So I am still not sure. Did the money and property in the foundation belong to the Iranian nation or Apaches or some other non-Iranians? And you are saying the money was misused and given to undeserving, ungrateful, independent-minded students? How awful!! These students, were they Apache too? In other wards, if I am getting you right, you are saying that the money was misused. God forbid, you are not telling me that they were misused by His Imperial Majesty and his family? So who could it have been who squandered the money? Oh I get it now, it was the Apaches! Those darn Apaches! John Wayne was trying to finish them all off, and they crossed the border into our idyllic Persia and created all these problems for us.

Wondering galore!

Where did it come from? Pahlavi foundation's wealth originated from the charitable donations by the wealthy individuals from the business and industrial sectors as well as the wealth confiscated from the oppresives land owners and fuedal tribal chieftains. Where did it go to? Among other things it was spent on educating tens of thousands of uselss lefty "students" abroad who served as the lackeys of the nascent Islamic regime before being ditched by the same regime back on the streets of the same places where they served their disloyal Islamic masters. Some luckier ones ended up in the war against Iraq and shed their blood for their Imam.

Wonderful isn't it :)) 

FACTS vs NOSTALIGIA

because of the very negative effect of Islamic Republic in our country, many Persians have forgotten that before 1979 revolution also political prisoners were in horrible situation in Persia.
Yes! now the situation is worse and Iran's economic, social and political condition was quite better on that time, but it does not mean that pre-Islamiv revolution Persia was a democratic state and Shah was an ideal leader.
Human rights situation on that time was in a critical situation as well. It was publicly announced that people should join the Rastakhiz Party and the rest should leave the country!

F**ing idiots!!

if any think khomeini gave them what they deserved.

I just feel sorry for the ganeration after them who have and still are paying for the errors of these morans in order to clean up their mess.

Where did Pahlavi Foundation money go to?

Did it fund Iranian youth to educate themselves overseas?

Keep wondering

Where did Pahlavi Foundation's money come from?

Just wondered! 

How many of them were funded by Pahlavi foundation?

Just wondered!

Great job they did!

They freed us from Shah's tyranny and brought us...wait a minute...