ماندانا

Whoever she was

she was either executed or imprisoned by the beneficiaries of her glorious devolution, or is now wearing a monteau and lachak and is enjoying being a second class citizen.  Noosh-e jaan!

I have big doubts about authencity of this story.

As  stated in my first comment here:

The real story of Revolution and revolutionary can 0nly be told by real revolutionaries. 

Interestnigly enough, as the public discontent back home  with the criminal, corrupt, murdering  Islamic regime is reaching the heights never seen before, we see increasing number of blogs with a key message that "Revolution is bad"!

As for the motives behind this story, watch this video clip of the blogger, and be the judge.... 

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

Ahhh I didn't notice the Columbia part! So yes he's the same!

Then that leads me to believe more that this story is fiction, or at least like those movies that are "based on true story" but with "artistic licenses"! 

Everything is sacred

EA jaan: You are right!

As we all know, Amir Hossein Fetanat is a very common name. The chance of there being two Iranians, by this name, in Columbia, both being IC contributors, is HUGE! ;-)

El che guevara complex !

They had their 5 min of glory  and We had 33 years of hell because of their sillyness ! Nothing Heroic about them !

  Looks like a Commie to

Looks like a Commie to me or perhaps one of the newest member of the Mujahed who forgot that she must wear a Roosarry now, I am sure her new Brothers in Arms in the picture reminded her after the picture was taken….

No matter to what underground organization she belonged to then She must be really proud to see the fruit of her actions and the revolution she participated in, now that Iran is a pillar of stability and one of the strongest advocates of Human Rights in the World

We Shall Never Forget...

Ali jaan I don't think this Fetanat is the same Fetanat.

That other Fetanat seemed off and would go on forever.  This Fetanat has a profile on i.com and his other article seems ok.  Neither of his two articles are incoherent, though I could be wrong.

Now as far as Ms. Mandana, this could be a fiction.  Like that guy who was holding an American hostage and many claimed he was a young Ahmadinejad!  

In any event this woman and the 1979 revolution was another 70s nostalga, alongside 2500 years celebrations and Iran going to World Cup for the first time, we had people coming to the streets, eating hot beets during the winter of 79 in the streets of Tehran and taking over Arsenals! 

Everything is sacred

May 68's Caroline Bendern would be a more accurate parallel

mai68ppda_.jpg 

With the major difference that She didn't carry a Gun and that May 68 was probably what some IRanian Secular Democrats ( a minor few in fact: composed essentially of a mix of Jomhurykahs and Constitutionalists) at worst had in mind rather than a downright and straightforward revolution ( in order to "faire bouger le system") before in turn mindlessly shouting Marg Bar Shah and joining the vast and ever growing majority of Iranians gathering ranks behind the Ayatollah whom many ( including many educated Iranians, doctors, engineers, western educated housewives etc ) claimed they saw his face On the Moon  ...

Neil Armstrong RIP ...

Related : 

Related Blogs:

VOCAL MINORITY: Pro Shah and Pro Bakhtiar Demos amidst 1979 Revolution  

HISTORY FORUM: Bahram Moshiri's Take on The French Revolution and Why He Misses The Point ;0)

Iranian politics

Lost in faulty image repertoires and empty rhetoric.

چرا مونالیزا ؟

انتخاب عنوان مونالیزا به این عکس براساس نوشته ای در وبلاگ "مصائب آنا" بود.

//passionofanna.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/

ramintork Jan that should explain why Marianne covers her breast

;0)

Related Blog:

Marianne of Iran more like it!

Great real life story. Thanks for posting.

In the famous painting by Delacroix Liberty has been personified as a woman holding a flag in one hand and a gun in the other.
She should be called Marianne of Iran.

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Dela...

Other misuse of term is for 'the father of atomic bomb' often quoted by many Iranians as Einstein. It was Oppenheimer.

Reality-Bites

Excellent comment by Reality-Bites. I don't buy into many things about the Iranian Revolution either. The likes of Mandana helped Khomeini and gang come to power.

Reality Bites,

Unfortunately, for some IC politicos reality never bites enough. Ignoring the price that was paid, some of the Revolution’s idealist adjuncts – fittingly depicted by Mandana of the above picture - still refuse to admit that number matters: Khomeini had far too many more foot soldiers willing to die and kill for their cause, than the alternative ideologues could imagine having.

While most yesteryear Mandanas have found happiness in the mundane – raising a family – these politicos are frozen in their pre-Revolution mindset. To their chagrin Iranians living in Iran however have moved away from politics of the past – the Cold War is over, after all. Yet, for them sloganeering still sells for analysis.

At the time that history is repeating itself in the so-called Arab Spring – replacing secular dictators with Islamists – it is regrettable that our own Bad Losers Society has very little to offer in the way of advice.

Accidental revolutionaries!

Come to think of it, a significant number of the people who stormed military barracks, prisons and government buildings were in general, ordinary people who would've been going about their daily business a few month back. But when a regime is hated by its own people, there would be no force preventing the public outrage that has been radicalized and desensitized by prevalence of routine violence.

Same goes for all despotic regimes like those of Mobarak, Ghaddafi... and nowadays, Bashar Assad, not to mention Khamenei in the very near future. Unfortunately, these despots never learn from the fate of other dictators, but rather distinguish themselves as exception to the rule right up to the very end! Even more sadly, when they realize that they've been wrong all along, it's too late and their meagre concessions fall too little to late!

Indeed, the longer these despots hang on to power, the more radicalized the populace would become, as is the case with Bashar Assad in Syria. If the post-Mobarak Egypt was able to manage a presidential election in the span of a year, chances are, it will take mcuh longer after Assad in Syria, for armed groups and radicals seem to take the upper hand among the opposition by the day! How it will turn out when the radical sunnies take over the post-Assad Syria is anyone's guess. But the question is; has he left any alternative!

Mr. Fetanat

The author appeared on IC, in a video clip shot by our very own JJ, and spoke briefly about himself.

What I was curious to know, is his status and take, on the former regime, in the late 70's.

According to one story- and I could be wrong- he was once a leftist revolutionary, and part of Golesorkhi group, turning on his comrades later, becoming an informant for SAVAK, with no regrets. And then, here, he talks about his activities on Bahman 22nd, 1979.

Again, the story I read could be false.

I know he has been working on a memoir.

Without giving it all away, it would be interesting if he could talk about his journey through ideology, history, politics, and life.

حالا ژاندارک میگفتید یه چیزی

هرچند اشرف دهقانی اون‌وقت قهر میکرد. ولی‌ از این تشبیه سازی‌های بی‌ معنی گذشته بد نبود اگر ماندانا (یا خود آقای فطانت) می‌گفتند هنوز هم از خاطره پادگان عشرت آباد دلخوشند؟

فقط در ایران :

مونا لیزا انقلاب کرد، ولی ملاها حکمفرمایی میکنند

Thank you for sharing this

But I wonder if in the past 33 years Mandana khanoom and many others like her have spent time reflecting on what they helped to bring to Iran and the end result of their revolt: i.e. how they managed to get Iran out of the frying pan and straight into the fire!

Roozbeh jaan, it's not often that I disagree with you but I'm afraid I do this time, because I simply do not buy the "how Islamists hijacked the revolution" point of view. The revolution was never anyone else's, other than Khomeini and his gang's, for it to be hijacked by them.

All those who supported the revolution - which meant they supported Khomeini as its leader - from Jebhe Melli, to other nationalist groups to MKO to almost the entire spectrum of the left from Tudeh to Fadaayoon to other socialist groups and even to all the non-political individuals, should have known what kind of a character they were dealing with in Ruhollah Khomeini. Anyone with even a modicum of knowledge on Iran's recent history should've been aware of Khomeini's nature and his unbending, backward and fanatical religious mentality, which had been on full display since the 1963 revolt.

To think all these revolutionary groups, many with supposedly high degree of knowledge of Iran's political scene, bought into Khomeini's promise to stay out of politics and allow freedom and democracy to flourish in Iran, after Shah's fall, must be considered not only a cruel joke, but among the dumbest things witnessed in Iran's story.

No my friend, the revolution was never hijacked by the Islamists; because they owned it from the very start and somehow managed to fool millions into doing most, if not all, of the hard work for them,...people like the writer of the piece and our "Mona Lisa" khanoom.

Alireza: Not everyone "left" after the Revolution.

Many stayed and fought for the revolution. Fought to prevent it being hijacked by te islamist fascists. They were defeated and paid the highest price for it, with their lives. They were murdered by islamist regime during 1980's. in summer of 1989 alone, Khomeini decided to "solve the problem of left in iran forever". So he ordered the execution of tens of tousands of leftist political prisoners. These martyrs are burried in secret mass graves in almost every town in Iran,,,

But the struggle goes on and intensifying. Right now, as we speak, The regime's jails are full to bursting point  of young folks who follow the ideals of those martyrs of 1989. that is Liberty, democracy, rule of law  and social justice.

Just focusing on the symbolism of the picture, For us here, the best thing to do, is to be the voice of struggle of our people back home, instead of sharing the same contempt that khomeini had for a young iranian woman, taking up arms to gain her liberty....  

Ajab adamyi darim!

who are these people that get ticked because of an essay! reading comments are making me speechless!

moving on, interesting story. 

a few questions remain:

1. What happened to that injured army personell?

2. Why have you given an analogy to a famous figure, I see no resmblance? You really didn't get to that.

3. Why you and this woman left Iran, if you were pro-revolution? What were people thinking when they break the door to an army center?

I am asking since I was 5 when revolution happened and I am intrested to know all you who left so quickly were part of this big revolution, then why you left? You over-thrown a government then what happened? ok, you have said, thanks we did our job, now it is somebody's else job to make things happen?

More Like Patty Hearst!

Reminds me of when I dressed up as Rambo for Halloween!

She doesn't have Mona Lisa's smile, but has Patty Hearst's pose.

//i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01471/...

Why Mona Lisa?!

Maybe you can use Delacroix's Liberty leading the people (maybe not).   

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Leading_the_P...

Given what we know now, I am sorry but hardly anyone should be impressed, specially knowing that this iconic image is nothong but a non-political person posing.   In some ways it is symbolic of what happened in Iran of 30 some years ago which may still prove to be the cause for its eventual demise as we know it. 

mersi

Mersi, âqâye Amir Hosein Fetanat, az inke tasviri az târix-e Iran ro bâ shehâdatetân rowshan kardid.

Dr Shodja Eddin Ziaian

...

فکر کنم ماندانا با همسرش در آمریکا بسر میبرد، در مورد نظامی مجروح، اگر زنده است خدا طول عمر بده و قوت، اگر در این دنیا نیست خدا بیامرزدش و خانواده اش در امان،
ولی میدونی امیر خان، هرلباس شخصی که جلوی پادگانی یا داخل آن به ضرب گلوله ای از پای درآمد امری طبیعی بود، هستش و خواهد بود، اگر ارتش ایران دارای صلابت و رائ بود این عاقبت ما نبود، ولی خود کرده  را خود بایستی چاره کرد، در ضمن ماندانا نه روشن فکر بود نه مونالیزا که چه مقیاس احمقانه ای، ولی تا زمانی که مردم ایران بخصوص آن دسته انقلابی که بعد از آن زدن به چاک و مسئولیت عواقب انقلابشان را به گردن نگیرن این خانه خراب خواهد ماند، که البته آن کمونیست هایی انقلابی که بنده میشناسم که البته با مدارک عالی، نرخ دلار و یورو براشون بیشتر ازاین ارزشهای ایدئولوژیک ارزش داره،  زندگی کلمبیا خیلی باید سخت باشه،

How very true..

You couldn't picture the mood and the character of all those "An-ghöllaabies" of the yester years. All opportunist and all prentenders.. like your Monalisa-ye ghollabi! You fucked up the country for the sake of two rotten G-3s!! Shame on you and all traitors like you! You and Mandana khanum will pay for this sooner than you know.

Khaaén-e kaseef! 

صحنه‌ای بسیار زیبا و حماسی...

صحنه‌ای بسیار زیبا و حماسی...

که بدون ذره‌ای شک، به زودی تکرار خواهد شد در سراسر خاک پاک میهن: یک زن انقلابی‌ ایرانی‌، اسلحه به دست، مشغول فرستادن رژم منفور، فاسد، دزد و آدمکش اسلامی به زباله دان تاریخ.

با سپاس از این معرفی‌. البته داستان انقلاب و انقلابیون راا فقط انقلابیون دانند!!!!

یاد آور دوران رویاهایی است که بر باد رفت.

Indeed............I could have never said it better............Never...

What a lovely piece you wrote..........

عبارت و کلمه سازی

تشبیه این عکس به مونالیزا من را بیاد خیلی از کلمات ترکیبی مثل اقتصاد توحیدی، ناتوی فرهنگی، سونامی فلان، اقتصاد مقاومتی، سوسیس و کالباس اسلامی و از همه با مزه تر جمهوری اسلامی، و هرچی که تشبیهی با هرچی دیگه را بتونه یه خورده عمق بهش بده، میندازه.

حالا من هم روز انقلاب یه عکس دارم با یک هفت تیر چوبی، خودم را بیام کلینت ایستوود انقلاب جا بزنم؟

راستی دادش از سرنوشت اون نظامی مجروح که تحویل کمیته طالقانی دادی بگو؟  رسید گرفتی؟  همگی در خدمت انقلاب و به خصوص کمیته ها به ریاست حاج آقا مهدوی کنی، تولیت "هاروارد بیزنس اسکول" در ایران.