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Thursday
April 26, 2001

Reza Shah's achievements

In response to F.R letter about Reza Shah ["Apologetic"], for how long do we want to blame foreign powers for all our misfortunes? Why are the foreign powers responsible for the destruction of Afghanistan? Are Taliban Afghan or foreign? Taliban like Mujahedin before them and the Communists before them were all Afghanis. Just as the mollas in Iran and all their fanatic supporters are Iranians.

The main problem in our countries are not foreigners, but religious fanatics. This is exactly why we need a modern and secular ruler. Like Ataturk in Turkey and Reza Shah in Iran. While the Turks still admire Ataturk for bringing Turkey into the 20th century, our illiterate so-called intellectuals hate Reza Shah even more than the mollas. This is really beyond comprehension.

Reza shah fulfilled most of the wishes of the people who led the Constitutional Revolution. And they were saving the country from disintegration, reducing the mollas power and building a modern and secular society, modern education (especially for girls), modern armed forced, university, banking, railroad and most importantly emancipation of women.

If you look at Iran today you can see that it needed a great man to achieve all these things. The Iranian railroad is truly amazing achievement considering the conditions in those days, and without oil dollars. Reza shah completed the North-South railway quicker than what has already taken to build the Tehran underground.

If these are nothing, so what is something?

Coincidentally your friends, the reactionary mollas, were also opposed to all of Reza Shah's modernization efforts. There is no doubt that the British helped Reza Shah to power. Because at that time their policy was to build strong central governments around the Soviet Union. But if Reza Shah was only obedient to foreign powers as you claim, why did they have to send their armies in order to depose him?!

And please don't try and tell me that Reza shah was obedient to the Germans as the Germans were never an imperialist power in Iran.

Finally I would like to say something about Dr. Mossadegh and democracy in Iran. I have respect for Dr. Mossadegh as a modern and secular Iranian. Dr. Mossadegh was still alive at the time of Khordad 1342 uprising. Some of the reactionary National Front members like Bazargan asked him to support the uprising and say something in support of Khomeini, but he refused, because he rightly did not trust the reactionary mollas.

Iran has had several periods of democracy or semi-democracy! Since the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, unlike what some Mossadegh lovers claim. Dr. Mossadegh himself was a member of parliament several times at the time of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah. The parliament that voted for Mossadegh to become the prime minister and voted for nationalisation of Iranian oil was democratically elected. When Dr. Mossadegh became too powerful after 30th of Teer 1331, he dissolved the very same parliament because he could not tolerate any more criticism.

You should always judge people's democratic credentials when they have power otherwise everybody is a democrat when they have no power. Dr. Mossadegh only had power from 30th Teer 1331 to 28th Mordad 1332 and during this time he abused his power by dissolving the same parliament who had voted him into power.

I am not going to conclude that Dr. Mossadegh was a dictator and a bad man. No, by no means. But in politics, things are not black and white. All rulers can not be divided as good or evil. Shah and Reza Shah did some good and bad. Dr. Mossadegh also did some good and bad. They all made some mistakes. But they all wanted a modern and secular Iran, not a 7th century Molla Republic.

Babak Babakan

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