Shirzadegan

Gozinesh

Shirzadegan: your example is quite wrong as most Iranians know quite a lot about the principles of gozinesh. Gozinesh has been mentioned in Zend Avesta. These principles even softened Islam with the kind words of Molana and Hafez to teach Iranians love and choice. You are trying to build a political argument out of what is a beautiful culture. The problems are there for other reasons.

@alimostofi
FB: astrologer.alimostofi

Re: The illiteracy argument

"It is very arrogant to assume that Iranians are illiterate and so have to be treated like savages" Alimostofi 

Dear Mr. Mostofi,

Last year, I have had this discussion with user name (Arj.) and user name (hoshang tar-gol) at some length.

The question of democracy starts from our family and from our childhood. How many times did your father asked you your opinion when he decided to do something for the family? How about the mother? did her opinion count? Family was the first institute we experienced in our childhood. Now, let's move to secondary institute which is school system. There was a Mobsar in the class room with piece of wood in his hands. How many times he asked your opinion when he was making decision about sitting arrangement.? How many times we share our decision and respect each other opinion as a grown up person? How about team playing? are we a good team player as the westerners? This is a basic concept of democracy.

To make a long story short, almost the answer to all these hypothetical situations are "None". We grow up in the society that was one man show. It started from our family all the way to the place we work as a grown person.

Mr. Arj once was arguing that even though Khomainie was democratic in his speech there was a mob who carried out dictatorship.  That is the socio-formation of Iranian system. Our family and our society structured based on one person as a decision maker. Mr. Arj. further confirmed that in progressive societies such as U.K it is the people who respect each other opinion or apply the notion of the democracy, not the government. I agree. It is people who make the society, not the administration.

Sincerely,

Siavash

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Thanks Shemirani for the informative links and video.    

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What was  the context of Iran in 1924 when Reza Shah was accused of bein an infidel or a Bahai by Akhoonds & co ....

Mojezeh Sakhakhane va Major Robert Imbrie killed by a fanatical mob (the consequence of the ugly incident for Iran was in fact the cancellation of talks  with American oil company sinclair (who benefits of the crime ? uk of course ! ) Listen to the history of events by M.Shamshiri (3hours) (***)

//vimeo.com/34395682

The Illiteracy Argument

Shirzadegan: It is very arrogant to assume that Iranians are illiterate and so have to be treated like savages. That argument shows no respect to human dignity. It is the job of the learned to bestow trust and create enthusiasm to create the interest in the people instead of fear. Such argument was used in the 60s and 70s and resulted in IRI. Everybody in Iran is very cultured. They might not be PHD calibre but your average Iranian going back a hundred years ago was more advanced culturally that most other societies. You just need to look at the art of those days. Switzerland never produced buildings like the ones Shah Abbas's engineers built. So please do not say such things.

@alimostofi
FB: astrologer.alimostofi

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Yeki az khadamat Bozorge Reza Shah ke kamtar azash gofte mishe Kootahkardan dast akhoonda !  Listen to Mehdi Shamshiri telling the whole story of what happenned those days   ( it's a two hours audio file , so you must be a history lover otherwise it will be boring for you ) 

 Shooresh Ghom #1 Akhoonda (va sandis khora an zaman) zede Ghanoon Sarbazi ejbari ke movafagh nashodand (1hour file) (***)

//vimeo.com/32233158

Shooresh Ghom #2 : vaghti Rasme ya sonat "Bast neshini" mamnooe shod Norooz 1307 (1928) ! (From 00:14) (***)

//vimeo.com/29867542

(ps: i was looking for the story of " Mojezhe saghakhane va ghatl major Imbrie" (an American lynched by the mob) which is even more interessant i didn't find the right link ! but i will share it when i find it )

To : Sohrab Ferdows

Dear Sohrab,

After reading your articles from 2 years ago "All the shah's men" I realized that your knowledge of Iran's history is wide open and more comprehensive and accurate than this writer. I encourage you to make it a booklet in Farsi so people can enjoy reading it and become familiar with true Iran's history. 

In first part of my blog I explained some of the Reza shah the Great accomplishements. His authoritarian personality was missing in my write up. Therefore, I wrote this blog in hope  to give the reader the feeling of trure Reza khan's character. In fact his authorative personality made him to overcome so many obstacles in the process of Iran's modernization. He was able to defeat the resistance of clergies who were against modernization. He was able to defeat Qajar corrupted prince and princess who owned half of the lands in Iran. Ayatollah Modares was one of opponents in the process of Iran's progress, Modernization was not an easy task,but Reza Khan was able to overcome all those resistances.  His attitude and his authorative character which worked very well for betterment of the country. This aspect of his personality was my main objective in writing this blog. when I was a little kid, I heard most of these information through people who lived in that era. It was a mouth to mouth information which described the events. The informations were registered in my mind for many years.

Thanks for intelligent input,

Siavash  

I was reminded of my grand

I was reminded
of my grand father.

He had few poem
that always would repeat. I guess there was a news paper that called
Reza Khan “Pedare mellat” (father of people). He would be very
angry and would recall the poem:

“Pedare in bi
pedaran, agar in be pedar ast,

Pedare in bi
pedaran, agar in be pedar ast,

bar sare ghabre
pedare in bi pedaran,

bayad reed.”

Reza Shah was
influenced by British Empire for most part and as free and democratic
Iran was not in England's interest (still is not), and the cheap
Iranian Oil was paying for war machine and industrial Europe,so they
put him in charge and called him The King,

so they can
replace him any time they wanted, as they did.

He tried to follow Atatürk to separate the religion
from state and even get read of Arabic alphabet but for millions of
reason, World War II and his German connection, he was dismissed.

As far as Islam
goes he started a good deed but neither him or his son could finished
the job.

Mullahs are
still alive and kicking on the land of Ferdosi, Omar Khayyám, Hafez
Forough Farrokhzad, Parvin E'tesami and …

Shame on us.

Reza Shah The Great

Your writing on Reza Shah the Great is mostly based on rumors and unsubstantiated claims which have no base in reality. It is true that Reza Shah had authoritative attitude when it came to welfare of people and betterment of the country but such exaggerated views about violent behaviors were mostly made up by imaginative minds of his critiques and were spread in society by simple minded people. Reza Shah's presence in any place was definitely enough to force others to behave properly and refrain from unjustified treatment of others. He did not tolerate wrongdoings by the people who held higher positions in the government and society while never imposed himself on ordinary people. How can such person commit such actions as you brought up in your blog? Reza Shah rose from the bottom of society and was fully aware of the pain and suffering which was imposed by corrupt system and corrupt rulers on Iranian people. He was well aware of the depth of ignorance among general public and the influence of superstition on them which was used by clerical establishment against the interests of the people and the whole nation. He never ordered anyone to kill ordinary people for their ignorant behavior. This is just a lie made by mullahs who wanted to portray him as enemy of people's religion.

Reza Shah The Great was tough but he also was very intelligent and despite the fact that, as a child, he never had a chance to receive any education which was a privilege for wealthy class, he was better informed about the problems of the nation than many educated people who were not in touch with their own society. Please expand your research area to include documented materials and refrain from bringing unsubstantiated rumors as historical facts. Thank you.

Responses

Thanks everyone who took their time to read this blog.  

11mashty, no there is no sarcasm here. The next proposal will be in support of Shah Abbas the Great. Unlike Palestinians who have never had any country or even whole Arab world, We have rich culture and rich history which is intimated with history of Padeshahi. I am trying to remind everyone about this fact. Never make mistake our Great civilalization with those who had never been civilized.

Sean-K , Thanks for the link, but I think the number of causalties in Goharshd mosque has been a little exaggerated. Due to the fact that the writer refers to those idiots, who were against modernization of our country,  as "Martyred" makes it clear that the literature was written with bias and exaggeration.

vildemose, thanks - it is true that if those progess didn't happen our women won't be better that Saudi or Pakistan or Afghanistan women these days.  

Iranloves........Yes, Reza khan had a vision and he knew what would be happen to Iran if these Islamic monsters took power. We saw what happened during last 33 years. Even our educated people in 1979 didn't have any clue about mullahs as much as Reza shah the Great had 86 years ago.

Arj. ...No dear, in Islamic countries the women are 2nd or even 3rd class citizen. They're still suffer from discrimination and oppression. No comparison between Iran progress under Pahlavi dynasty with those countries that you mentioned. Please take a look at this video and you will know what I am talking about.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFqWlCV_4kE

Maziyar jan, Reza shah the great faced so many resistance from shia clergies. Modernization was not simple. it took so much efforts to overcome those barriers. Ayatollah Modares was one of those opposition political figures. The corrupt and excessively wealthy Qajar with their ravenous lust for expanding their lands was one of the big barrier for Reza Khan.Farmanfarma, owned half of the country. Reza Khan siezed many lands and estates were owned by Qajar princes and fuedal landlords like Farmanfarma and his prolific family and their descendants. Aside from shia clergies, these people were all big challenge for Reza Khan.

Amirkabir4u... we have to be honest about our history and write exactly what happened with bias.

Alimostofi.... According to Dr. Shoja e din Shafa the rate of our illetracy was 99% at the turn of the century. That means only 1% of our people could read or write. The way you describe the situation seems we were living in a country like Switzerland which celeberated 400 years of it's university establishment not long ago. We shouldn't look at historical event with our modern eyes in 21 century. It is like saying to inform all bakers in Hamedan by emails  to avoid hoarding wheat. !!  

Mardom M... Yes dear. the education is much better than anything else. I agree. Please read my response to Alimostofi.

Sincerely,

Siavash

A very intelligent comment !

Education is better than Kahrizak! Intelligence is better than the H-bomb

So true !

Thanks Ali jaan for this wise comment.

French use to say that hell is paved with good intentions. I'd say that, in hell some good intentions are closer to the core of fire (like the ones of Khomenei) and, others are far from it (like those of Reza Shah)

Non-violence and Intelligence

In ancient Iranian philosophy killing is not allowed. Read the Zend Avesta.

Using your brains works better. Iran was named because its name means the land of nobles. You do not become noble by killing people.

So we have religious people doing their thing. The best way would have been to educate the people about the roots of Islam, and they will understand what it really is.

To stop bakers from driving up prices, you apply a law that prohibits monopolies, price fixing, or create a government subsidy.

These are intelligent non-violent ways of solving problems, without giving people excuses to dishonor Iran. Kartir did it. That only help to produce non-Iranian reactionaries, like Mazdak and Mani, and later Salman and then Islam.

Khomeini killed to preserve Islam.
Reza Shah killed to preserve Iran.

Both are wrong. Both were dumb bullies. But we all know better now, and peacefully not put the chador on, or go and try fix prices.

@alimostofi
FB: astrologer.alimostofi

.

.

Shirzadegan

I think a friend like you monarchists do not need an enemy.

Thank you for the blog.

un finished..........

The late Reza shah should out law or seperated (any) Religion from the state.

Maziar

Hejab and Islamic societies

This is not to challenge the blog's argument with regards to the use of iron fist in order to bring about social reforms (e.g. throwing bakers in an oven, for it speaks for itself), but to address the myths regarding Reza Shah's forcible ban on hejab in Iranian society.

For those who wonder where Iranian women would be if it weren't for Reza Shah's 'kashf-e hejab' antics, it would suffice to look around Iran at other Moslem societies such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, or even farther in North Africa to Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco... all of whom are ironically moslim countries in which hejab is not mandatory, women actively participate in social activities, and whose female athletes even participate in international athletic competitions without mandatory Islamic dress codes.

What do these countries have in common, one may ask?! They all resolved their hejab issues without a despot forcibly taking the chadors off their women in public in a humiliating manner! Yet, nearly a century on, Iran is the only country in which compulsory hejab laws are enforced (Saudi Arabia, in which hejab is an integral part of the social culture, notwithstanding)!

Social reforms will not result in positive changes if enforced in an oppressive fashion. It's called blowback, go figure!

God Bless Reza Shah!

We need men like him to eradicate mullahs and theri supporters for ever!

Shlomo is an advocate of SAVAK for democracy and freedom.

Imagine if he had not made

Imagine if he had not made unveiling mandatory...Where would Iranian women be right now??

All Oppression Creates a State of War--Simone De Beauvoir

Faghat yek nemooneh az nemooneh yahe beeshomar

//www.irdc.ir/en/calendar/252/default.aspx

Sarcasm?

You are using sarcasm; right?   I guess the next proposal will be in support Nader Shah as he killed many more people.  While we are at it, maybe one to honor Hitler and of course our current brand of 'leaders'.  I can see you are going to be quite busy.