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Persia's Little Prince
08-Jan-2011
Iranians, it was once said, are afflicted by a unique strain of melancholy: Those who live in Iran dream of leaving, while those who were exiled dream of going back.
When 44-year-old Alireza Pahlavi, the youngest son of the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, took his life on Tuesday, it was undeniably attributable in part to a demoralizing malady, chronic depression, which he may have inherited from his father. But it was also an undeniable aftershock of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, whose reverberations are still being felt today.
A country like Iran that has repeatedly been subjected to public heartbreak over the last few decades -- most notably the loss of over 200,000 native sons in the ruinous eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq -- naturally confronts the self-inflicted death of a child of privilege with mixed feelings.
As is often the case, however, Alireza Pahlavi's great privileges were coupled with equally profound misfortune. Until he was 12, he had experienced a fairy-tale childhood as a scion of one of the world's richest and most powerful monarchs. By 13, he had abruptly fled his homeland and experienced the painful and public humiliation of his family's legacy, as well as the death of his father from cancer.
Later, he would lose the person closest to him when his younger sister Leila, age 31, killed herself in a London hotel room in 2001.
For those, like myself, who were born outside Iran or left at a very young age, the term "exiles" was never an appropriate fit. We were second-generation immigrants, and we took it for granted that we would adopt new cultures and languages. We had few if any memories of or claims over what had been lost, only romanticized stories from elders about the verdant Caspian Sea region (shomal), the majestic Alborz Mountains, and the luscious Persian lamb whose fat was miraculously concentrated in the tail -- the original "junk in the trunk."
Alireza Pahlavi's generation of uprooted Iranians -- young adolescents at the time of the revolution -- were often affected more profoundly than those who were too young to remember, or old enough to cope. Three decades later, many still struggle to find their bearings. They negotiate what Brazilians would refer to as saudade, a deep longing for something that is unattainable. Their lack of rootedness has often prevented them from forging stable emotional relationships and fulfilling their professional potential.
I sometimes wondered why Alireza, a serious student who had cut short his Ph.D. studies at Harvard in ancient Iranian studies, remained silent all these years. Although the Pahlavi family's experience as exiles was no doubt softened by significant (though significantly exaggerated) wealth, it was made more difficult by the scorn of many of their exiled compatriots who held them partially if not entirely accountable for their collective plight.
Consumed with his own demons, Alireza perhaps concluded that he had been dealt a hand that he could not win. If he remained on the sidelines he would be excoriated by some for not speaking out. And if he became active and outspoken, others would excoriate him for having Ahmed Chalabi-like aspirations, as they have his older brother Reza.
So he chose to remain in his Boston home, surrounded by his books, with the shades always pulled down.
As a student of history, Alireza was perhaps puzzled by the discipline's relationship to his father. While Hafez al-Assad, the ruthless Syrian dictator who massacred some 20,000 civilians in the city of Hama in 1982, is most commonly remembered as a "shrewd tactician," it has become impossible to maintain intellectual credibility while writing about the Pahlavi era without referring to the Shah as a "blood-soaked," "imperialist puppet."
(It is one of the brutal realities of power and statecraft that today Assad's son Bashar, president of Syria, is feted by visiting U.S. politicians and analysts extolling his shrewdness and moderation, while Alireza's obituary writers render him the forgotten son of a two-bit dictator.)
Meanwhile, longtime inhabitants of the Islamic Republic have developed a more nuanced take on their recent past. Of course, Iranians acknowledge that the rampant corruption and political repression that was endemic in Pahlavi's Iran sowed the seeds of its own demise.
Still, a former senior Islamic Republic Foreign Ministry official, an ambassador in Asia and Europe, once confided to me over dinner in Paris that as "naive" young revolutionaries, he and his friends had grossly underestimated how difficult it would be to govern Iran and satisfy its fickle population. "We didn't appreciate at the time," I was surprised to hear him say, "the enormous challenges the Shah had to deal with."
Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent revolutionary activist and one of the key strategists of the reform movement, recently said that before the revolution, Iranians enjoyed all types of freedoms save for political freedom, which the revolution was supposed to rectify. After the revolution, not only did they not attain political freedom, but they lost other freedoms in the process.
There is no doubt that in its 32 years, the Islamic Republic has made significant forward progress, most notably in rural development and female education (in part because after the revolution traditional families were more apt to send their children to newly gender-segregated schools).
But those statistics are rendered meaningless by an observation evident to those who have spent long periods in today's Islamic Republic: Iran's younger generations are desperate to leave their homeland.
Even if they manage to leave, however, Iran -- or perhaps the myth of an idealized Iran that never actually existed -- rarely leaves them.
Any culture that, like Iran, manages to sustain itself over several millennia, emerging whole from countless invasions, engenders powerful attachments among its claimants.
In a 2001 poll conducted by the World Values Survey, Iranians ranked No. 1 in the world when it came to nationalism, with 92 percent of Iranians claiming they are "very proud" of their nationality (for point of comparison, 72 percent of Americans and less than 50 percent of the British and French felt "very proud").
It is precisely this national pride and sense of civilization inheritance that renders Iran's current reality so distressing to many people.
Two-thousand, five hundred years ago there was a grand Persian Empire led by a magnanimous ruler, Cyrus the Great, who was thought to have authored the world's first bill of human rights. Today there is a theocracy that makes headlines when its rulers sentence women to be stoned to death for adultery or question the veracity of the Holocaust.
Some amateur observers of Iran have confused Alireza Pahlavi's death as a loss lamented only by "a handful of monarchists living a gilded lifestyle in Los Angeles," as the cliché goes. The reality is a bit more complex.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, spent several years in prison in the 1970s for revolting against the Shah and experienced such horrific torture that he has difficulty walking without pain today. He told me that he has been so overcome with sadness after the death of Alireza Pahlavi that he cannot sleep. Others who were staunch supporters of deposed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, including my own father, feel the same.
But why?
Perhaps his death represents nostalgia for a time in which Iran's name wasn't synonymous with terrorism and religious intolerance, a time in which Iranians could get visas to visit foreign countries and would not be fingerprinted upon entering them, a time when Iranian scholars were peppered with questions about Omar Khayyam and Ferdowsi, rather than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and enriched uranium.
When historians look back at Iran a century from now, they may well conclude that the 1979 Islamic revolution and its aftermath were a painful but necessary step in the country's political maturation. Whereas elsewhere in the Middle East radical political Islam is still romanticized, Iranians have learned the hard way the perils of joining mosque and state.
This is of little consolation to those Iranians who live in the here and now, and long to be reconnected with the homeland they once knew. They have no aspirations to be gilded monarchists or imperialist lackeys or agents of the CIA. They are merely expressing their natural longing to reconnect once again with the ancient culture of the land in which they were born.
With his suicide, Alireza Pahlavi offered a sobering reminder that those hopes are, for the moment, a distant dream. His final wish was that his ashes be scattered in the Caspian Sea.
First published in ForeignPolicy.org
AUTHOR
Karim Sadjadpour is an associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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lol!
by Parham on Wed Jan 26, 2011 03:41 AM PST...
Pahlavi Respects All. Milani is a two-faced conartist
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Tue Jan 25, 2011 08:13 PM PSTHaven't you figured it out yet? Reza Pahlavi respects all -- foe and friend. However, the likes of Dabashi, Milani, etc -- old communist foes are still at it - still spreading poison about the Pahlavi Monarchy. Both are pseudoscholars and mercenaries. If you read Milani's bio of Shah, Pahlavi did not grant him an interview. Why? because Milani is a mullahzadeh British communist - a subversive spy.
I heard the man who quoted Milani and I was shocked that he dared mention this asshole's name at the memorial. Shakespeare is good for British Kings. We have shahnameh and other stories for our kings. This is another example of the ignorance of Milani about Iran. He still fabricates lies when he doesn't have data. What government position did he have during Pahlavi Monarchy? none. Under the pretext of being a professor, he began his subversive activities to overthrow the Pahlavi Monarchy and install Ayatollah Khomeini and his murderes. Then Mr. Milani, the revolutionary, worked for the mullahs for 7 years before embarking for the states to worm his way into Stanford. Look who is backing him? islamic republic! Even here in America, anyone who is plotting to overthrow the government is arrested for sedition and espionage. Mr. Milani was arrested for espionage.
Shame on you people for buying into this charalatan's stories.
As far as 2-party or one party system - there was a good reason the party was disbanded by the King. These British Tudeh communist party was extremely distructive and its actions were undermining the government.
read Milani's memoir -
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Tue Jan 25, 2011 08:01 PM PSTRead his memoir: Tale of Two Cities
sos, i'm not sure if it's a
by hamsade ghadimi on Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:25 AM PSTsos, i'm not sure if it's a good idea for you to hear the truth. first, watch this short clip, and if by the end of it you still want to hear it, then read the rest of this comment: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM
my references were to a one-party system (a la communism) in iran. the party was called rastakhiz. if you ask your elders, they'll tell you about it. if they think you're still to young to know, google it (just don't tell them about it :).
my reference to abbas milani was in the initial speech given in alireza's memorial in bethesda. the first speaker quoted the eminent iranian historian abbas milani. you don't believe it? go to dk's blog on the subject matter and just roll the tape (in his blog's case, you might have to go through quite a few to find it; i won't tell you which one ;).
i have to clarify my reference on children stuffing ballot boxes. i can easily see how you might not have understood that sentence. by child, i mean those who are under 18. i said as young as 10, but then again, they could've been younger. ten is the youngest i personally know. by stuffing ballot boxes, i mean filling out numerous ballots in names of supposed voters (sometimes supposedly from other cities depending on the vakil) for hours. you don't believe it? next time there's a reunion where some of these kids (who are now adults) get together, i'll call your parents and ask permission to let you come. only if you can handle the truth. and promise not to call them liars because they might beat the crap out of you. just kidding. :))))) many of these kids didn't know the gravity (means seriousness) of what they were doing. they were just regular kids doing what they were told.
did i leave anything else out? please do let me know.
SOS
by vildemose on Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:49 AM PSTMilani whose family flew him on British Airways at the age of 16 to United States where he received training as a subversive
Please provide a link?????????
hamsade ghadimi - you distort the truth about the Pahlavi Era
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:03 AM PSTMr. Milani is no friend of the Pahlavi Monarchy or Iranian people. This man was a hired mercenary whose family flew him on British Airways at the age of 16 to United States where he received training as a subversive. This man is a two-faced liar. This Milani conflates the truth about the Pahlavi by blurring the lines. The difference between the two is like black and white.
Did you know that this Shirin Ebadi was anti-Pahlavi yet she was elected/nominated as a Judge? Did you know that this Milani who was a communist was still allowed to become a professor in Iran? What do you call this? political freedom to believe what you want and still pursue your area of interest.
Where do you get these lies from? children stuffing ballot boxes? This is true in isalmic republic. Are you confusing the Islamic Republic with Iran during Pahlavi Era?
These are the falsehoods that are still keeping us in the dark about the Pahlavi Era and keeping us divided.
Discard these falsehoods. Look at your sources for it? Who is it? Mr. Kazemzadeh? the arch enemy of the Pahlavi? Mr. Milani? Have you read Mr. Milani's memoires "Tale of Two Cities"? Read it - and you will see this pseudoscholar who has wasted and misguided Iranian youths.
It is precisely as a result of these lies about Pahlavi era that we are still divided.
sos-free-iran, you
by hamsade ghadimi on Tue Jan 25, 2011 04:21 AM PSTsos-free-iran, you mentioned similarities of iran and the west in being anti-communist. how about similarities of iran and soviet union in having a one-party system? is that a half-truth? did you know those 'vakils' in the 'majlis' were not voted in and were actually selected? did you know the children of those in power (as young as 10) were the ones stuffing the ballot boxes? is that the way it was done in the u.s.? is that the way it was done in the soviet union? did you know that abbas milani is respected by the royal family? did you know milani was quoted and referred to as the most eminent historian of the shah in alireza's memorial service in front of (and approved by) the royals themselves? are you willing to attack the royals for their thoughts?
i say, take that statement "before the revolution, Iranians enjoyed all types of freedoms save for political freedom" and run with it. it's the biggest compliment the royals and royalists can ever get. run with it before someone starts comparing the cornering of the country's economy by the 'hezar famil' to iri's 'sepah.'
Iranians and Americans had the same political freedoms in 50-70s
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Tue Jan 25, 2011 01:47 AM PSTSajadpour quotes: "Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent revolutionary activist and one of the key
strategists of the reform movement, recently said that before the
revolution, Iranians enjoyed all types of freedoms save for political
freedom, which the revolution was supposed to rectify."
THis is another half truth. Iranians had the same political freedoms during the Pahlavi Monarchy that Americans had in America during the Wilson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administration. There was a red scare and all communists were persona non-grata both in the US and in Iran and the rest of the free world. Don't believe these pseudoscholars who close their eyes to who had political freedom. Yes, communists were free to be communists in Russia and China. But in the free world, these maoists, socialst commies were hated and despised and arrested and harrased. Anyone who has read American History knows this - this is history 101 - you morons. These psuedo scholars like Milani, Dabashi, Kazemzadeh, and others who were members of the communist party and subversives -- are telling you a false story. They were hired mercenaries to make a revolution at all cost. They succeeded and continue to promote the false lies about Pahlavi Era. During the Pahlavi Dynasty, We had political freedom. We had free parliamentary elections. We had everything we needed. This British Islamic revolution was unnecessary and simple interference of the British into Iran's politics for the purposes of taking its oil. The Brits installed Mr. Khomeini, Moussavi, and his successors to exploit our country - to establish a neocolonial government. Read you morons - compare history. why rely on these mercenary mullahzadeh's like Dabashi, Milani, and others... Their minds are full of lies and distortions of the Pahlavi Era. Why haven't they committed suicide? because they live in true luxury, jetting around the world, publishing books galore, etc, brainwashing young students.
Shame on Sadjadour for repeating the same old lies again and again. Why don't you people think? These pseudoscholars have misguided us for 30 years and will continue to do so. Think...
Makhmalbaf is a criminal; hence his credibility is questionable
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Tue Jan 25, 2011 01:26 AM PSTWhy does he quote Mr. Makhmalbaf? A accomplice to an assassin? He writes "Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, spent several years
in prison in the 1970s for revolting against the Shah and experienced
such horrific torture that he has difficulty walking without pain
today. He told me that he has been so overcome with sadness after the
death of Alireza Pahlavi that he cannot sleep. Others who were staunch
supporters of deposed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, including my
own father, feel the same"
Mr. Makhmalbaf hired the assassin of Dr. Tabatabai in one of his films. This African-American hitman was given safe refuse in Iran after he completed his mission. He was given a house, a wife, several hundred thousand dollars, car, and protection. Shame on Mr. Makhmalbaf for making these false statements about the Pahlavi Kings. Why doesn't Mr. Makhmalbaf acknowledge that he learned to make films because of the film schools established by our Pahlavi Kings?
Makhmalbaf is a criminal; hence his credibility is questionable
by SOS-FREE-IRAN on Tue Jan 25, 2011 01:26 AM PSTWhy does he quote Mr. Makhmalbaf? A accomplice to an assassin? He writes "Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, spent several years
in prison in the 1970s for revolting against the Shah and experienced
such horrific torture that he has difficulty walking without pain
today. He told me that he has been so overcome with sadness after the
death of Alireza Pahlavi that he cannot sleep. Others who were staunch
supporters of deposed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, including my
own father, feel the same"
Mr. Makhmalbaf hired the assassin of Dr. Tabatabai in one of his films. This African-American hitman was given safe refuse in Iran after he completed his mission. He was given a house, a wife, several hundred thousand dollars, car, and protection. Shame on Mr. Makhmalbaf for making these false statements about the Pahlavi Kings. Why doesn't Mr. Makhmalbaf acknowledge that he learned to make films because of the film schools established by our Pahlavi Kings?
Great Article Karim
by afshinazad on Tue Jan 11, 2011 03:08 PM PSTThank you for great article which makes sense.
mahmoudg
by Cost-of-Progress on Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:04 PM PSTI've said this before, but even the very people who "oppose" the current theocracy mistakenly separate islam from this regime.
Unforunately, until we, as a nation and people, understand the fact that YOU MUST SEPARATE RELIGION FROM GOVERNANCE in order to prosper, we will have learned nothing from this bloody exercise we've come to know as islamic revolution.
What Iran need is her very own renaissance!
____________
IRAN FIRST
____________
The only positive side of the 1979 revolution
by mahmoudg on Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:50 AM PSTis exactly what the author tires but fails to put into exact words. The Iranians realizsed the grave mistake of the 1979 revultion, but it was necessasry to make it happen, so once and for all we come to this realization that Islam is a travesty. Islam is the cause of the ills that befelled Iran, after Yazdgerd III. I hope, sincerely, that Iranians realize what Islam has done to them. We all have realized the maladies that are synomymous with Islam. I can't find anything good that has come out of Islam.
I'll take issue with this claim
by Fesenjoon on Mon Jan 10, 2011 06:11 AM PST"Whereas elsewhere in the Middle East radical political Islam is still romanticized, Iranians have learned the hard way the perils of joining mosque and state."
Have they? Really?
Cuz each time I see things like this, I get the impression that people are still following the same leftist diatribe of the likes of Jalal al Ahmad, who savar bar the akhondist donkey led us to this stupid experiment called "the Islamic revolution".
The Pahlavis served Iran well. More than the akhonds ever have. Rest in Peace Alireza.
One of the best articles
by statira on Sun Jan 09, 2011 04:27 PM PSTI've read about Alireza Pahlavi. Karim Sadjadpour is one our best experts in Iranian Politics and society.
Two-thousand, five hundred years ago there was a grand Persian Empire led by a magnanimous ruler, Cyrus the Great, who was thought to have authored the world's first bill of human rights. Today there is a theocracy that makes headlines when its rulers sentence women to be stoned to death for adultery or question the veracity of the Holocaust.
This is very true. While Mohammad Reza shah tried to improve the image of Iranians in the world as one the most tolerant civilizations , the Islamic Rulers do anything to destroy that image. They were indeed successful. Just by reading all the comments for the topics that is related to Iran, you realize how hated we are in the world.
Parham, it was a Ferrari NOT a Porsche!
by Everybody Loves Somebody ... on Sun Jan 09, 2011 02:10 PM PSTAnd it wasn't a race in Princeton! It was a cross country race from LA to New Jersey! See for yourself!
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHqpDSL4tsg
When I was a student in the
by Parham on Sun Jan 09, 2011 12:47 PM PSTWhen I was a student in the US, trying hard to get money out of Iran and putting my pennies together every once in a while to be able to cope --which also coincides with the time Iran was in war with Iraq, where in one battle alone 200,000 soldiers of our age had been killed from both sides-- I remember very well an article in Esquire magazine talking about Alireza having organized a car race for him and his university friends in Princeton for which he had bought each of his friends a Porsche.
I wonder if the person in the VOA video is one of those friends.
I also wonder whether Karim Sadjadpour knows/remembers how each of us coped with the ills of exile in those years, and that is not even counting those of us who were sent to battle against Iraq who lost their lives, a limb, or their sanity.
Everything is relative.
Well Written Article
by karoon1 on Sun Jan 09, 2011 09:20 AM PSTMr. Sadjadpour, I enjoy reading your articles, and watch you interviews any time I can. Keep up the great work. Iran and Iranians need people like you, to tell the rest of the World that majortiy of Iranins do not support IRR. Please remind people that these are mostly Arabs that are rulling Iran today.
Indeed a thoughtful article! Impact on you?
by Jonny Dollar on Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:23 PM PSTWell said as usual. But, did we learn anything from it? Are we going to look more inside ourseleves and treat each other differently?
"God is love!"
thanks esmal
by maziar 58 on Sat Jan 08, 2011 09:19 PM PSTI FEEL YOUR TAUGHTS. Maziar
karim is awesome....
by shushtari on Sat Jan 08, 2011 09:07 PM PSTI always enjoy reading his articles and watching his interviews
unlike the paid agents like parsi and reza aslan
......
by yolanda on Sat Jan 08, 2011 08:18 PM PSTLast night I read this awesome article half way On Foreign Policy Magazine's website.............I decided to post this article on IC even before I finished reading it......in 2009 I saw Karim on TV a lot talking about the post election protests, he was on ABC, CBS, CNN, and the Daily Show.......he is very knowledgeable......
He offered a comprehensive analysis in this article!
I can't believe he does not have a Ph.D!
Sobering!
by G. Rahmanian on Sat Jan 08, 2011 08:10 PM PSTAn objective and sobering piece.
Best article on the subject
by Masoud Kazemzadeh on Sat Jan 08, 2011 07:30 PM PSTExcellent article. Balanced, insightful, and well-written. By far the best article on the subject.
Well said
by esmal3kaleh on Sat Jan 08, 2011 07:54 PM PSTThank you Karim Sadjadpour for this balanced and nicely written article. I was born in 1965. Prince Alireza represented my generation. A generation of educated and worldly Iranians who was supposed to keep Iran in its well-deserved place on the world stage. Thousands of my so-called "burnt" generation, were killed in the war. Those who survived either fled the country, or are struggling to make a living in a system where everything from car tires, to cell-phones, to cars is managed by a "mafia"...
Thousands of kids a bit younger than me were sent to the front to step on land mines.
A member of three generations of Iranians who are victims of a revolutions they had no control over.
God bless his soul. My condolences.
Agha Karim, Afarin! One of the best articles on IC ever!
by Everybody Loves Somebody ... on Sat Jan 08, 2011 06:03 PM PSTIt's simply objective, fair, balanced, without any personal/group/party/tribal vendetta or agenda, and down right TRUE!
How ironic and funny, as I was telling my old mother this morning on the way to the dentist that this tragic event and many more and worse to come are the aftershock and direct side effect of the Islamic AN-Gholab of the 1979!
RIP Alireza Pahlavi!
Suicidal "spoiled brat"
by Tavana on Sat Jan 08, 2011 02:40 PM PSTAbove is only readable by Karim & by only 8 fans of a suicidal "spoiled brat" immersed in his dad's "plundered wealth of a nation" & in a lifetime alcohols/drugs addictions.
Very good read indeed.
by benross on Sat Jan 08, 2011 02:20 PM PSTVery good read indeed.
I have to echo DK comment
by Bavafa on Sat Jan 08, 2011 01:44 PM PSTIndeed a very balanced, fact full article which also honors the privacy and Pahlavi family during these hard times.
Mehrdad
Enjoy reading this.
by Princess on Sat Jan 08, 2011 02:06 PM PSTThank you. Finally a balanced piece on this tragedy. As a big fan of The Little Prince, I love your title, too.