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Survey comments February 11, 1999 The following are comments from respondents to a survey sent to members of The Iranian mailing on January 30th, 1999. The comments have been posted unedited. Each comment is from a different individual whose name and email has been withheld. For survey results, click here. (click here for more comments on page 2) * Demand for democracy The goal for a revolution in a country like Iran in the past as well as now days should be: a. To remove the dictatorial regime b. Keep up with demand for freedom and democracy. 20 years ago we the people of Iran had been angry with the regime and we did not think about what will happen when Shah left. This was a revolution with a single goal of: Revenge. This time we need to keep the pressure for freedom and democracy all the way to the end. We shall not rest until we reach our final goal. * Inevitable but... Last question isn't a good one! I think revolutions are inevitable under certain conditions (mass psychology overwhelms individual preferences), but could have good outcomes. * Revolution: Fear of change The revolution was the rape of Iran.....it was a fear of change and freedom, today we have to suffer because of a handful of religious inadepts... I was 4 when we left Iran and today am part of a whole generation of Iranians who have lost their country, we are the innocent victims and have been exiled from a country which is by all righs ours but which we barely know....... JAVID SHAH! ZENDEBAD IRAN EH AZAD!!!!! * Are you better off? Both Ron Reagan and Bill Clinton asked for votes by presenting Americans with the same question when they were up for re election- America, are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? I wish to ask Iranians the same question- Iran, are you better off now than you were 20 years ago? * Allegiance to high powers The lesson learned from this revolution is that any leadership with allegiances to higher powers, be it God (religious) or masses (secular) or 'national interest' (National Socialism), and does not base its mandates on pluralism and democracy, will inevitably lead to an elitist and despotic system of governance. While we had the lesson learned from the Bolsheviks, National Socialists and others already, this in my belief was the confirmation that a religious version will have the same fate. * Just wanted to read a book To me revolution 20 years ago started by demanding the army to lift the Marshall law, that was it, I did not know Khomeni at the time, I just wanted to be able to read a book or read a magazine freely, I did not want anything else!!!! * Violence by regime, not people On Question 1: One should note that the Iranian revolution did not involve violence perpetuated by the people, but rather by the opposing side. Even during the last days of the monarchy the revolution's leadership was looking for non-violent means to bring about a transition. The people steadfastly refused to resort to violence till the last minute literally when no other option was left and the spectre of a coup was hanging over the affairs. On Question 2: This question is a bit vague. Does it mean would I vote for an Islamic Republic? Yes. Does it mean Islam and democracy are incompatible? No. In the evolutionary development of Iranian society, an "Islamic" republic in 1978 was a necessity, and at the right time. We were not ready for democracy. However we were ready to test, once and for all, the meaning of an Islamic government, based on a religion 98% of Iranians identified strongly with. What percentage of Iranians even knew the fundamentals of democratic government at the time? * Big beelaakh I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THIS TO QUESTION NUMBER 2: LEAVE THE COUNTRY WITH ALL THE MONEY WE HAD AND GIVE A BIG "BEELAAKH" TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED THE MOLLAS:-) * Changing ignorance to knowledge What Iran needs today as much as it needed 20 years or even before that is a way to transform ignorant prejudiced to knowledgable people so that no one with or without foriegn intervention/support be able to take advantage of finaticism(emotional commitment to ignorance) of many sorts that exist in our country. And this event under whatever title, will be seen in the future as the catalyst for that transformation and in many ways will burn away the not needed elements or the pollutants that exist in Iran for ever and it is just matter of time. Iran is destined to be the envy of the world and again it is just matter of time. * Support more democratic forces I think the past has passed and what we should all think about is the future of our beloved country. Are most Iranians satisfied with the result of the revolution? the answer is obviously NO, but that's not important. The important thing is that what we should do now to make it better? another revolution???? I personally don't think another revolution is positive. Unfortunately almost all revolutions are bloody. I think we need to support the more democratic party of the current government and slowly slowly get closer to the perfect democracy. I can say one thing for sure though, FUTURE OF IRAN IS BRIGHT! * Awful replacement, too Those who lived under the Pahlavi's repression, corruption, SAVAK, etc. know well that the revolution was inevitable. Unfortunately, what replaced that regime is awful too. * Systematic violation of the constitution I still maintain that the main cause of the revolution, that led to tremendous number of excesses, maitakes, crimes, etc. during the past 20 years, was the systematic violation of the 1907 "progressive" Constitution by the Shah's family and his nepetism toward certain other close familiies. Had the previous regime not overlooked this important fact, a revolution of such kind, leading to tremendous misuse and abuse and waste of intellectual and material rresources, would have not probably haapened in the first place. It is so prepelexing to recal having had tremendous problem memorzing the "Enghelab-e-Sephid" book in grade 9 in spite of one's 1st rank in my school, while at the same time if someone had the "Touzih-ol-massael" of Khomeini, an archaic book copied over and over again )copyright violation!) form the orginial by Koleini during the Safavid Dynasty nearly 400 years ago, that (s)he was sent to prison for three to five years! In retrospect, wouldn't it have been more suited for the Shah to have allowed schools to teach the latter book in religious classes, thereby enabling people to thoroughly understand their religion!? while he himself would have abided by the former Constituion and respecting the people's culture and will? The magnitude of damage to Iranian people's religion within the past 20 years will have a historical imapct that will menifest itself in the millenium! * Must support what we have Revolutions can be a good thing. If you look at the USA, their revolution to break away from England has been proven by history to be a good thing (this can obviuosly be debated but they are now the only super power and the US's world influence is beyond belief. The US standard of living is one of the highest in the world so yeah, they done pretty well). Unfortunately, I'm not sure ours has been. It opened the doors for an insane dictator (Hussein) to wage war on us, our economy crumbled in comparison to what it was and our own brothers and sissters were killing each other in the streets over politics. Maybe I'm naive but a peaceful solution had to have been possible. Obviously the religous leaders had the will and ear of the people. The Shah could not have effectively goverened very much longer under those circumstances (not to mention he was dying from cancer). For the mere matter of the existence of his rule, things would have had to change. Slow moderate change would have kept the infrastructure of the country strong (economy, military, industry, etc.) while the moral welfare of the country would have improved with increased religous influence in the country's day-today affairs. Many skilled technicians and professionals would not have left the country and people in the arts would have continued to display their talents. Just as importantly, we would have continued to have world support in politics, commmerce and trade (countries have difficulty supporting revolutionary gov'ts for good reason. who is in charge today may not be in charge tommorrow) Yes, it is hard to believe that the Shah would have been willing to concede any power of any sort to the Mullahs but time would have forced him to. We can't undo what has been done, so now we must support what we have. Strengthen what we do well and change what isn't working. We have had strong leaders in Rafsanjani and Khatemi. Hopefully the trend will continue and our country will return to its previous glory. * Each of us is a hostage I expect to write some remarks on the 20th anniversary of hostages and the fact that each of us is a hostage who cannot return to our own homeland. This is not over yet. Perhaps we will be vindicated someday, and get the respect which we deserve for our contributions throughout the world. By we, I mean all Iranian professionals. * Price was too high I think of Iran revolution was a fashion at the time. All of a sudden it became fashionable to be revolutionary, and we Iranians being so impressionable and so naive thought it is just another fashionable thing like Elvis, Blue Jeans and Dariush. I could see that people really wanted an adventure and what is better than a real life adventure? I believe we took everything too seriously, to the extend that I remember my father, took numereous trips to cities around Tehran to carry Blood for the injured, during the martial law hours. (As if he couldn't do it during the day.) I do not mean to devaluate his and and others self sacrifice, but it lacked wisdom and long-term vision as he later confessed. But what can you do, as our English speaking friends say: "It takes one to know one". In spite of all this, I believe that in the long term, the revolution had positive effects on the society as a whole. It tought us to be wiser and less impressionable. I believe we Iranians have a much more realistic picture of the world around us, than we would have, if there was no revolution. Unfortunately, the price paid was TOO HIGH. * We are the cause I think we are the cause of destruction of our reputation as civilized nation. * Worship of individuals It is a lesson of our country's history that the worship of individuals and the personification of ideals and beliefs are highly dangerous. In the final analysis we have learned that no one person is indispensible for a country's success. * Strongly favor gradual change This survey was a little too fundamental in my opinion, but avoiding complexity is understandable due to the difficulty of such an undertaking. I think a revolution, especially our '79 revolution, turns everything upside-down: society, politics, economics, etc. That is why I strongly favor gradual change, so that the ordinary people don't get walked over and there is at least the minimum amount of stability in the society for it to function without being in shock. I strongly believe that if we go forward from here with the hope that we can gradually change our country for the better - together - we can both help our society grow, and provide our country for the first time a government that has no special interest agendas for itself. * Like sheep Iranian people, that includes me, are like sheep, we follow the lead sheep. That is our history and it will change by education and political maturity of the people. I know that is saying to much for today's education in Iran. Several generation after us will learn to differentiate between sheep and the wolves. * West changed revolution's course Most of us Iranians have in some way or another had an encounter with the so called "Islamic republic". Most of us talk about the majestic Iran of the late Shah era, when the oil was well priced, the population was half as much as now, and the economy was booming. Perhaps our parents did have a cause for revolting against Shah's regime, perhaps what they were seeking was a democratic Iran, a better Iran. But things turned around. I personally am a firm believer of the "conspiracy theories". I believe that the very skillful hands of the western puppet masters were right behind the change of the course of revolution in Iran, however we cannot ignore the role we (our parents included) played in establishing the Islamic government. We were mostly tricked into it. People were so high on ecstacy of overthrowing the shah that they created a statue of liberty out of a monster. I'm going to stop mummbling just by saying: AZ MAST KEH BAR MAST. * Better standard of living I was hopping the revolution would create a better standard of living for the people. Unfortunately it made it miserable! * Better understanding As is the case in the majority of surveys, it's unrealistic to limit the state-of-the-affairs in few choices. Here, too, we may believe that gradual changes and institutional reforms are far better than a bloody revolution (Question 1); but what if the present government does not tolerate any change and reform, let alone jailing and torturing the reformists? Nevertheless, I personally appreciate your survey inasmuch as it helps better understand the public view about the most determinant socio-historical phenomenon in the history of Iran over the past half-a-century. It also helps us, to some extent, to identify our very own sub-consciousness. After all, it was Iranians who did the revolution even though we simplistically believe in Conspiracy Theory to the effect that we were just some means to an invisible hand. * People determine the rulers Political and social awareness of people is very important. People are the ones who determine who rules them and how they are being ruled. In Iran people made Mr. Khomeini an Imam, more powerful than Shah, and made the Islamic Republic, a dictatorship, worse than before. * Never trust mollahs Big mistake, should never trust the mollahs or left wing groups, we are paying for our fatal mistake. I blame Shah for his weakness and his brainless generals & gopheras. * Malicious ofrces stole revolution The Revolution was a proud moment in Iranian history (at first) when Iranians united to replace a monarchy with a legitimate democratic government that would be a true representation of the Iranian people. Sadly malicious and hypocratic individuals with the help of their brainwashed masses stole the revolution from the Iranian nation to establish their own dictatorship while killing innocent Iranians, destroying the nation, the tarnishing the image of Iran and Islam. However, the Iranian nation will laugh last since we believe in God and God will punish those who commit crimes against humanity. The most important 'accomplishments' of the regime has been: 1. Turning a nation with the potential to have a first world status into another Pakestan! 2. Getting 1.5 million Muslims to kill each other during the Iran-Iraq war! * Ultimate shame The past 20 years have led to a suffocation of the persian culture by a barbaric arab regime rooted in the 7th century. Even our scientific endeavors are aimed at developing nuclear and biological weapons instead of medicine, means of transport, architecture, etc. Our nation is hell bent on killing in the name of God, this is the ultimate shame. * Only when people are involved Revolutions are of necessity nature and are successful if and only if people are involved and maintain the involvement rather than looking for others to lead and/or help them. * Change would have occured naturally I think the change would have occured naturally without the overthrow of the Shah ; he was dying of cancer and the radical changes, the alienation of Iran from the rest of the world would not have been so drastic, it has put Iran back 50 years. * Give this regime more time So far i think they have done many good progress and same time there are some unaccepted process. I think we have to give this regime more time and wait and see the results. hopefully are in favour of people. * Problem with "Islamic" revolution I have a problem when people call the revolution Islamic. I think we owe it to the people to call it the Iranian Revolution, and conclude that it was in first hand conducted by the people. Later, fundamentalists would eventually gain power and start to opress people. It was NOT an event where everyone rushed on the streets ready to sacrifice themselves as if it was Karbala (written in "Islam" by Esposito). It was a popular uprising against a dictator with a spiritual leader Khomeini, as a front figure for some of the participants. Far from everybody thought he was the perfect successor, especially when he showed his REAL side. However, it was the Fedaii guerilla OIPFG that started the armed struggle in 1971 with the strike in Siakal, and they together with other armed groups have been heavly marginalised in modern Iranian history. Again the winners write history. Unfortunately it is discrediting for the Iranian people to have the image of an "Islamic" revolution hanging over their heads. I think this survey and the questions is a really good initiative. I'm looking forward to see the results... * Irrelevant questions Questions are rather irrelevant, and poorly designed. A question for a survey should have the quality of giving the participent a clear point. Still, innovative, and a move toward educating our people, heaven knows we need that. * Why did they kill my uncle? My grandfather, Mahmoud Jafarian, served under the shah. Due to the unfortunate events that occured during the revolution, he was killed by the uprising regime. I never understood why anyone would go to such extremes. That's not all that bothers me. What's more is the fact they are so-called religous men. Is there any religion, Islam in particular, that allows the senseless murder of peaceful innocent people? And what was all the good that came out of the revolution? After it occured, Iran took a huge step back in every aspect. They seem to have just started to recollect their thoughts and actually start to run a country. Then there's always that saying, the mullahs can hold much more money in their turbans then the shah could ever hold in his coat pocket. I'm not against Theocracies, no, not at all. Maybe just against theocracies that break the rules they're fighting for. * Change is the only constant Change is the only constant; and I am naive enough to imagine that one day soon politics 101 will instill in each aspiring social and political leader the basic idea that gradual change is the way to go and that "a small revolution each day, is better than a big bloody one every few decades." * Shah left no option Considering the social stage Iran reached during late seventies, there was no other option but revolution. The revolution by itself was a step forward and it had to happen. However, it was the trust of people in religion - to be specific: Islam- which was mis-utilized and ended in removal of a shah from throne and installment of another one under a different name. This time with religious identity and supernatural tools. And the rest is only repeat of history cycles: people give all their trust and support to a static, non removable governing system, and that system inevitably stabs them in the back. The historic records of clergy did not show any positive points to be highlighted, nonetheles, people gave all their trust to them because of religion. No matter how good is a leader of revolution, if he stays in power for unlimited period - as hapened in Iran - the stagnant power will start stinking just like stagnant water. We should hope this time we shall chnage the status in a peacefull democratic way so the governing regime will be installed only for a limited period by people and will be responsible against people. * Negative role of religion The Iranians have make two big mistakes : 1- The alliance between diffrent forces and generally among the people was against something ( Shah) and not for a goal (like Democracy); 2- The Iranians they have also underestimated the negavie role of the religion at that moment and in their history including the Costitutional Revolution, Mossadegh period and 15 of Khordad. * Learn and move on There are as many fans of the revolution as there are those in favor of the monarchy, as there are those who remain indifferent. The best thing is to learn from the past, and move on. What happened is the natural course of nature. Governments come and go, and there is nothing left to be done. * Always a hidden agenda The premise of some of your questions above themselves are questionable. Nevertheless, politicians, especially religious leaders who become politicians, are the most un-trustworthy human beings. There almost always is a hidden agenda within their programs. The obvious lesson here is a threefold one: 1) don't mix religion and politics, 2) don't mix religion and politics, and most important, 3) don't mix religion and politics. My own secret desire is to have a final, and very brutal, revolution which I will personally derive satisfaction from knowing that the mollah/passdar at the end of my rifle barrel's getting ready to have his last meal of hot lead! * Not necessarily better The main point to remember is that just because there was revolution, that on its own does not mean that the replacement is any better. Eventhough I am not applying that argument to what happened in Iran as I strongly believe that Iranian's as a nation are so resilient that no matter what any government or dictator throws at them, they will spring back, proud, as a nation, but still two bad does not make a good. * We create great dictators It is the nature of Iranian culture that produces great dictators to rule the country. Our family structure, social behavior, political views, economical infrastructure and misunderstanding of a real democratic system have resulted in generation of so many dictators throughout the history of Iran. Only in the past couple of centuries, there have been several attempts to topple the dictatorship systems, some of them succeeded, but in every single case a new form of dictatorship replaced the old one, because democracy is an unfamiliar intruder that is threatening our culture. Iranians were upset with the Shah's regime and undemocratic practices of the post monarchy system, but they had no real understanding of a democratic society and they didn't have the right attitude to build such system. We could go through several more revolutions, but as long as we don't fully understand democracy and work hard to develop such a system, we would be dealing with more dictators. * Tend to repeat mistakes We Iranians have a short historical memory and tend to repeat our mistakes every few decades. We tend to blame others for our failures, shortcomings, and mistakes. This seems to be part of our upbringing which unfortunately persists with us even when we mature and become educated. This time, I hope, with all the documents available we can learn a lesson is evolution for our political, cultural, and economic development rather than revolution which is almost always destructive no matter who the leader is and what the circumstances may be. I hope we can pass this experience with reason and logic to future generations so they would not drown themselves in their emotions and bring about conditions that disappoints them a while later. * Politics and crime the same When I graduated from high school and packed my bags for achieving so called higher education it was October of 1977. The discos in Tehran were better than most I have ever seen in Ohio, or Michigan. The economical position of individuals surrounding me come to find out, the well to do ones, whom later on became famous to " taggoty," with a makeup of hard line religious ones with tremendous influence in the market place, doctors, engineers, senators, high ranking army personnel all existed together with respect and love. I must have been so naive to believe everything was so fine, and the system was governed by a constitution that had the voice of people by vote and everyone could reach the level of excellence by hard work and knowledge. Will it be possible in future of Iran, I don't know. The last time I have ever been back home was right around the week known as "Jomeh Khonien," which was just for summer vacation (1978). I have never been involved in any flag burning, Street walking, and breaking the front store glass to any merchant who did not display revolutionary slogan on their window or bus turning. I never supported any leftist or rightist political party of any kind, nor I ever voted for Islamic constitution, neither I took any weapon when the country needed me to defend it against aggression. I am nor pro east neither pro west. I believe in ebony and ivory, I believe in harmonizing and balancing. I guess I always been more wishful thinker than the others and believed in something that it never exists in most, people's power when they vote. But now, I know something for fact, politic, and crime are all the same word, just depends who is using the word or who is listening. I do believe a clergy of any religion has the right as a citizen run for any office and try to have a positive religious input in the society not manipulate the unwashed mass. I guess just like Dr. king "I have a Dream." * Evolution more than revolution I believe in cultural, social and political evolution more than the revolution in a society. In an ideal society bad leaders won't be reelected when their true face is revealed. * Right to be heard I feel that whenever the people of a nation decide that they are not happy with the current conditions they have the right to be heard. If the government does not respond then it is the right of the people to take control of the situation and change the situation themselves. It is important to remember that the leaders of a nation are in power to make the lives of the people better, not the lives of the leaders. It has been proven over the course of history that the rights of the people are Soveirgn, and anyone who tries to take those rights away will not succed. This is a lesson for the current gevernment, if they don't recognize the rights of the people they will rise up and seize power. History repeats itself unless we learn from it and this means understanding what caused the revolution and doing what we can to keep it from occuring again. Whenever other gevernments see a country that can't rule itself they take advantage if that. This is the case with how America has been manipulating our great country becuase we are fighting with ourselves. I call all the people of Iran and all Iranians to learn to cooperate in bringing our Country to the level of greatness was it was in the past. * Iran erased from civilized world The revolution in Iran was hijacked by the mullahs and the religious zealots. The intent of this revolutions was to form a democratic republic in Iran. The leaders of the revolution such as Mr. Bazargan, Mr. Amir Entezam and others like them were democratic minded educated people who planned to use the clergy to mobilized the public against the Shah's regime. Once they had achieved their goal of overthrowing the Shah's regime they intended to sideline the Mullah's. Unfortunately, the uneducated clergy turned out to be smarter than the democratic minded elements of the revolution. Today we have a country that has been defeated from within. The clerical regime has succeeded in erasing the name of Iran from the list of civilized countries. * Constitutional monarchy could have emerged Akin to the Native Americans that helped Cortez overthrow the Aztec, the Iranian populace could not imagine an evil worse than their current rulers. However, most were about to learn the truth in just a few months, when the clergies' opposition was brutally murdered and suppressed to consolidate their hold on power. Most revolutions are sparked by the need to free oneself of oppression; also, most revolutions lead a country towards a path of progress. Yes, some may point out the Bolshevik revolution in Russia or even Castro's Cuba. In the case of Russia, Stalin made a backward state into a world superpower; Castro has made a backward, illiterate society into an envy of developing nations in terms of literacy, health care, and sports. The Iranian revolution, however, made a dramatic leap back into the dark ages. By far, most of the population saw their freedoms severely restricted. Even among the most brutal dictatorships in the world, few would dare to challenge the way people dress, interact, and -aside from political activities- interfere in what its citizens do in their own home. The pundits will be quick to point out that in the past few years, writers and journalists have enjoyed significantly more freedom than they ever did in during the Shah's regime. However, that was twenty years ago. Since then, many dictatorships around the globe (Pinochet's Chile, Marcos' Phillipines, not to mention many Central American countries) have given way to democracies. It leaves me without a doubt that were the country been able to progress unmolested by the islamists, Iran would now be a constitutional monarchy. This would have been done without the disruption of lives or displacement of peoples. More importantly for Iran, however, this would mean a proud, wealthy, and industrious country with a significant prominence on the world stage. The reign of the Shah was evil, without a doubt; I am just not convinced that the alternative has been any better. * Iran undergoing real revolution Revoloutions are not necessarily violent. What is happening in IRAN today is a real revoloution which will sure have much better results, though I believe that the 1979 revoloution influenced the current one enormously or even caused it. * People must hold leaders accountable Revolutions are good if the people get involved in them. The people have to hold the leaders accountable.That can only happen if the people are ready to remain active. That means they need to be educated and have political experience. Experience in what it means to be able to express ones political opinions openly and freely. Perhaps, in our country the only time that ever existed was during the two years of 1950 to 1952. Anyway good try. Thank you. * I prefer reform In my opinion, absolute talking about revolutions is not correct. One can not say revolution is bad or good. It depends to many factors. However I prefer reform to revolution (i.e. changing gradually and step by step toward the target). * Bakhtiar a hero Twenty years ago, Iranians protested for change. Some were Islamic fundamentalists who wanted an Islamic government. Some other groups wanted a marxist country either one modeled after Moscow, i.e; Tudeh Party, or a a new form of Marxism, i.e; Fadayan and the Muhahedin wanted their version of Khmer Rouge in our land. However, in this national movement, overwhelming majority of people just wanted a more democratic and just government. They just wanted more say in the running of the country. They didn't desire the executions, the anarchy and definitely the war that followed. Unfortunately, revolutions are lead by radicals. Thus, the forces of Black and Red led the fervor. Tragically, our intellectuals handed them a green light. Bazargan, Foroohar, Sanjabi, and those others whom I barely know of, allowed Khomeini and his coalition of fundamentalists, communists and Mojahids swallow our country. Had they negotiated with the Shah and chosen Bakhtiar instead of the radical/reactionary forces, they would have saved the country from the tragedy that followed. Then, we could have had something to be proud of. Had those gentelman worked together with Mr. Bakhtiar in forming a government of technocrats and seculars, Iran would have had a true constitutional monarchy or even a secular republic but a republic that had come about as a result of amending the constitution not destroying it. I was only 7 years old in 1978, but I will always remember Mr. Bakhtiar as a hero who fought to save the Constitution, safe guard a new democracy and proceed with progress. Whereas Mr. Bazargan, Mr. Forouhar and Sanjabi allied themselves with their "Imam" and remained faithfull to a government of murder and war. May we all learn from our history. * A play conducted from outside In my opinion, 79 revolution was just a play conducted from outside and its results was nothing but a change in dictator and lots of difficulties for people. Albeit some people had profits in it who are mainly clergy men and businessmen. Theses two group made every effort to distort Islam in their favor. * Overnight change not possible Having lived through the midst of this revolution, I think I prefer gradual evloution to revolution! I also think that the majority of people should buy-in to this so-called evolution, so that you have a good foundation to build up. It is a mistake to think that we could change ourselves, and other people overnight. * What if Shah in power? Many people try to stay away from politics. They think that politics is bad and the work of the devil. I say to those people that the color of their skin, their accent, the creed and principle that they believe in is politics. How can one get away from politics. The emphasis should be on excercising correct and just politics. With that in mind, let me comment on the past 20 years. Revolutions happen and a country is fortunate if the leaders of the revolution get their act together and serve the very people whose shoulders were riding on in the time of the "struggle" - as we know revolutions are a mess and not really organized in detail. Iranians should ask themselves, what would have happened if the Shah was in power. Where would their country [not them alone] really have been had the revolution not taken place. And, based on what/whose values are they looking back? * Learning democracy in Sweden I have been in Sweden for long time. I have learned what a democratic country is and what it is about. I wished every iranian could live in Sweden for a while to learn about it. Human being couldn´t have same thinking. We are diffrent. What is difference between human being and animals if we don´t respect the other´s opinions. We "must" learn to listen what the other have to say. Maybe he/she has right. This is my opinion: When we have 5-iranian with 5-different opinion in the same rum and after 1-houres we can see them "alive" coming out of that rum, then we have hope for Iran and iranians. * Avoiding revolution if possible If we look at the other revolutions like France, Russia and China we can see result of violent action. Actually I think revolution is like last shot. If it is possible we must avoid it and think about it as the last chance. * Reminder: Iran is predominantly moslem I think the most important lesson of the Revolution was that we finally realized how the majority of Iranians think, not just some Tehranis! It also showed the power of religion and belief and faith. It also reminded us that Iran is a predominantly moslem nation, and that the evolution of the Iranian society will happen despite every attempt to prevent that or postpone it. But, above all it woke us up. We've now experienced death, war, dislocation and exile, all of which will in the long run make us see and experience life much more deeply, and to relate to other humans more humanistically. * Regime should be overthrown The revolution or should I say the uprising in Iran showed how the sacred and pure aspiration of a people can be turned into such an ugly and savage beast. All because a bunch of reactionary and back-warded murderers in absence of true and qualified leadership usurped it. After the initial elation and joy, the short spell of freedom and sense of victory, the mullahs showed their true intentions and mission and started eliminating anything and anybody which was not in their murderous mind "Islamic". No one was spared. 9 year old girls were raped before execution since Islam did not allow the execution of a virgin, 80 year old mothers and grand-mothers were not spared either. The country also suffered the same. No foreign enemy ever caused so much destruction and damage to Iran in it's entire history as much as mullahs have done in 20 years. The only people who seem to have benefited from the revolution are first of all the mullahs who looted everything in sight (from oil to people's properties) and then countries like Israel and USA for selling arms to the mullahs. But the people of Iran learnt at least on thing: this is Islam, anybody who claims that the mullahs do not represent "real Islam" is either a fool or an idiot. If ever they had a chance to choose their ideal form of government, Islam would not have any part in it. Now the same gang talks about freedom of individuals, after years of claiming Iran is the most democratic country in the world they are actually admitting that individuals have had no freedom at all, which is of course very true. Are we to forget what they have done to us for the past 20 years. No, this brutal regime should be overthrown, and while in essence I am not a violent person, I am of the opinion that the mullahs should be dealt with in the most violent and brutal way and these cancerous cells should be removed with no mercy what so ever. In the hope that we will not see the 21. anniversary of this dark episode, but to celebrate its conclusion and demise. * Thinking on our own We Iranians should learn how to think on our own. During the revolution even those who had no problems with Shah, joined the movement without knowing what they were doing. Nobody knew the consequences, they just wanted something to happen, maybe the were just bored. Political education is important, Shah kept politics out of media and everything was censored, he decided for all of us. The obvious thing is that nobody is satisfied with today's ruling regime. Changing the present regime demands even more blood than 1979 revolution. If the "leaders" on top keep destroying each other the way they do today, there will be no need to another revolution. Hopefully iranians will learn to keep religion out of politics. * Can not wait to see them hanged I can not see the Islamic Republic of Iran ruling Iran for much longer. In the past few months they appeared to have been digging their own graves which is ironic since they have been hiding their tracks so well for the past 20 years, shame some would say but as for me I can not wait to see them all hanged in public for their crimes and injustice and cruelty which has been taking place during their reign of terror.
* Another survey on the 1979 revolution (Feb
1998): * Revolution: 1979-1999 main index Got any interesting material regarding the
1979 revolution? Links * History
section
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