Farsinameh

Please refer to the full-text of Farsinameh for detailed discussions and arguments. This chronicled summary has been prepared to help the new generation of Iranians to wisely choose their next form of government, and not to fall into the historical traps that have plagued our past. This brief account also aims to point out the following sad facts and bitter truths, for the betterment of our future:

1.       Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! Even the ‘good’ Persian kings and the ‘saintly’ clergies have not been exempt and immune from that predicament. Young, optimistic and progressive kings and idealists who have gained the absolute power, have routinely turned into bitter, forceful and brutal tyrants. Passage of years and the accumulation of pride and perversions; make it impossible for an all powerful man or group to avoid corruption and degeneration.

2.       Democracy is an awful form of government, until you compare it with the rest! Only a government that is regularly elected by the free vote of the free people has historically been able to come close to representing the will of people, releasing their energies and postponing degeneration and decay. All the ‘closed’ forms of government need to forcefully hold power within an elite group of leadership, which degenerates with time and detaches from the will and interest of people, and even the reality of the outside world.

3.       Freedom is the most elusive social form; as by definition it is individualistic, divisive and competitive! Only the most advanced forms of civilization have been able to maintain a free society, without falling into anarchy and then dictatorship. Freedom has only survived when the free have cooperated and competed at the same time; struggling to win and lead, but accepting when defeated and led.

4.       Most people are capable of doing the worst and the best! Demonic or angelic behaviour has not been in the monopoly of any one nation. As humanity is a mixture of affectionate and destructive instincts, which are both needed for our survival, so are all the civilizations, nations and races on this Earth. Mutual understanding, seeing through other peoples eyes, and interracial empathy have historically reduced misunderstanding, hatred and war.

5.       Self-centered views and ideologies (racial, national or religious) build walls and wars. Domineering and forceful attitude towards other people, has historically been justified by distinguishing others as the ‘lesser’ race, the ‘satanic’ nation or the ‘filthy’ religion. Once initiated, those walls and wars become self-perpetuating and self-amplifying.

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Unfortunately, Khatami’s capitulation only strengthened Hezbollah’s resolve to regain all aspects of the ‘elected’ political power in Iran, including the city councils, the Majles and finally the presidency; all through shameless purging of the candidate lists and blatant vote rigging. The unelected (assigned) half of the government (judiciary, armed forces and supreme councils) as always are ruled by the "supreme" leader’s henchmen. Consequently in early 2008, all levels of government in Iran are completely dominated by the fanatical Hezbollah, who are preparing for their next battle with the ‘infidel’ world. Incredibly, the new president is often caught day-dreaming about their genocidal hallucinations of the return of Mahdi; who is called upon to re-emerge and exterminate most of the earth’s population!

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The culmination of 20 years of murder and mayhem in Iran resulted in a surprise vote during the presidential elections of 1997. A junior liberal-minded clergy (Khatami) won the election with 70% of the vote, over a senior ayatollah (Nategh-Nouri) who was the Majles leader! In response, the concerned Hezbollah unleashed their death-squads in Iran, and started a massive campaign of vicious assassinations, in order to nullify any opposition attempt at utilizing Khatami’s victory. That carnage resulted in a ‘string of murders’ which created a power struggle between Khatami’s protesting supporters and the hardliners, who soon solidified around the absolute leader (Khamenei). When the struggle came to a head, following a vicious Hezbollah attack on students’ dormitory in Tehran, Khatami was forced to back-off and turn into a powerless figure-head for the rest of his presidency.

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The Khamenei-Rafsanjani diumvirate ruled over an exceedingly corrupt government, whose key players after Khomeini’s decade of war and blood, now concentrated on looting and pillaging the country’s wealth and resources. On the foreign policy stage, during the 1980’s and 1990’s the Islamic Republic actively pursed a doctrine of ‘exporting the revolution’ and hunting their overseas dissidents. That ‘export’ translated into supporting fundamentalist terrorist groups in the Middle East; and this ‘hunt’ resulted in the brutal murder of many prominent Iranians oversees, most notably the last pre-Islamic Prime Minister (Dr. Shahpor Bakhtiar). In their execution of Dr. Bakhtiar and others in Europe, Hezbollah not only used their typical brute-force tactics, but also abused their victims in such a horrific manner (multiple stabbings and mutilations) to send a message to all the other opposition activists overseas. Of course, that method was completely in line with Khomeini’s teachings, who as early as in the 1940’s had advocated the ‘cutting of tongues and heads’ of the ‘apostates and infidels’ who would dare talk or write against Islam! Consequently, that savage behaviour completely isolated Iran in the world arena, despite desperate efforts by some moderate officials.

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With ayatollah Montazeri removed from the successor position and all the other senior Marja clergies either against or unsympathetic towards the Islamic Republic’s policies, Khomeini did not have a Marja successor. Therefore, it became necessary for the governing clerical establishment to not only change Khomeini’s political will and testament, but also change the whole constitution in a hurry! Essentially, the emphasis on the religious requirements for the leader mullah (Velayat Faghieh) was removed from the constitution, so that a lesser clergy (Khamenei) could occupy the top position. However, to placate the other strong-man of the state (Rafsanjani), the office of prime minister was dissolved and almost all the executive power was transferred to the president Rafsanjani (1989-1997).

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The cruel treatment of political prisoners and Hezbollah’s inhuman regime of torture and terror angered many clergies too. But upon protest, even a high ranking Shia Marja (ayatollah Shariatmadari) was condemned and perished under house-arrest. Similarly ayatollah Montazeri who was for years Khomeini’s heir-apparent, was tormented and banished, when he compared Khomeini’s Savak to that of the Shah and even worse. Khomeini’s answers to all that criticism with regards to tortures and blatant human rights violations, was that ‘the nameless soldiers of the 12^th Imam’ were doing god’s work in the prisons, and moreover, those criminal dissidents were not human to have any rights! Therefore, after the humiliating defeat in toppling the Baath regime in Iraq and before succumbing to cancer, Khomeini ordered the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners across the country. That demonic action is estimated to have killed about 5,000 Iranian youths in a week, which was more than the total number who had perished during the 37 years of Shah’s regime!

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With absolute power in their hands, the Khomeini Hezbollah set their aim at the messianic goal of defeating the enemies of Islam, one by one from Iraq to Israel and America, in order to prepare the world for the return of the Shia messiah, Mahdi the Imam of Time! For the next six years, the whole country became a helpless source of material and human resources for Hezbollah’s incredibly ambitious and fanatically idealistic world-domination experiment. But even the first step of toppling the Baath regime in Iraq proved an insurmountable task for them. All despite the fact that as early as in 1983, the rich Arab countries of the Persian gulf had agreed to provide a $70 billion reconstruction fund to Iran, if Khomeini were to accept the United Nations truce resolution! When Khomeini refused, similar funds and more were instead made available to the Iraqi regime to pay for modern jets, tanks and chemical weapons, in order to stop the tsunami waves of the Iranian zealots. Finally, Khomeini was forced by an Arab-American coalition to give up his 12^th Imam hallucinations and drink the ‘poison of peace’ in 1988. But he only relented after overseeing the mass annihilation of about one million Iranians and Iraqi’s and $400 billion damage to the economy of both countries!

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By 1983, ayatollah Khomeini and his gang of clergies had gained the absolute power over all the Iranian political, financial, judicial, parliamentary, military and cultural affairs. All the governmental offices of presidency, premiership and ministries were occupied by the mullahs and the Hezbollah. All the lucrative industries, banks and major companies had been nationalized and controlled by the clerical organizations (Bonyads). All the secular judges and attorneys had been expelled from the judiciary system, or had been reduced to the level of executive assistants to the incoming mullahs. All the candidates for the Majles were routinely investigated and disqualified, if they dared to show the slightest disinterest to the clerical rule (Velayat Faghieh). The Iranian military was made subjugated to the constant oversight and scrutiny of the Revolutionary Guards and the newly formed ‘political-ideological’ corps. All the school teachers were investigated and purged based on their active obedience of the Shia Islam and adherence to Khomeini’s edicts. Entire universities had been closed for up to three years, in order to purge the secular professors and ‘unbelieving’ students. All the school and university curriculum were re-written to include and emphasize the Islamic traditions and the Shia theology. All the radio and television programs were reorganized and scripted to constantly instil the revolutionary slogans, repetitive religious citations and tedious sermons into every hour of every day. In short, a dark cloud of fundamentalist Islam had descended over Iran, much like the overbearing and inhuman dictatorships of the Soviet Russia, Maoist China and Communist North Korea!

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After winning a bloody civil war, fought in all major Iranian cities, the Hezbollah turned its attention towards recapturing the Kurdistan province from the rebels, and defeating the Iraqi army. For several months in 1980, the Iraqi invasion had united most Iranians of all creeds and beliefs, who selflessly volunteered to stop Saddam’s aggression. Even the Kurdistan fighting had subsided and the leftists were actively assisting the army. However, with the 1981/82 civil war, Iran’s Kurdistan soon became a bloody killing field that destroyed tens of thousands of lives and ruined entire towns and villages! After that victory, wave after wave of naïve religious youth were thrown at the Iraqi fronts in the captured Iranian territories, with no regard to casualties. That ‘human wave’ tactic which was reminiscent of the North Korean methods against the better armed Americans in the 1950’s, expelled the Saddam army from almost all Iranian territories, by the end of 1982.

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The dominant Shia clergy still believes that without their absolute oversight, the laypeople are incapable of even washing their hands in the proper Islamic manner, let alone running an office, a factory or an army. In their view, leadership is a god-given privilege of the twelve Shia Imams, which now is temporarily trusted to their loyal deputies, the mullahs! This dogma is the cornerstone of governance in Islamic Iran, which originated as a religious tenet from Khomeini’s musings and writings. Hence, the first Europe-educated president of Iran faced a losing battle against the militant Hezbollah, who soon learnt to win their battles through forceful numerical advantage and utilization of massive waves of the brute illiterate ‘believers’. The Banisadr versus Hezbollah fight came to a bloody climax in the summer of 1981. Most Muslim groups were forced to take sides with either the liberal-technocrat front (Banisadr and Peoples Mujahidin) or the repressive puritans of Hezbollah (the Islamic Republic Party and the Revolutionary Guards). The ensuing battle devolved into a bloody civil war, with the Hezbollah and Khomeini finally emerging as the undisputed victors by 1982. By that time, the prisons were filled with tens of thousands of the opposition activists, leftists and liberals, who were routinely tortured and murdered in a gruesome fashion that made the Shah’s Savak look relatively innocent!

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Since revolution, the Iranian army had been weakened by several waves of bloody purges. Nevertheless, the army was still not trusted by the governing clergy, as they were well aware of the anti-mullah sentiments among the rank-and-file. However, the newly formed Revolutionary Guards were also unprepared to take on the well-equipped Iraqi army. Hence, two competing approaches emerged among the Iranian leadership, with president Banisadr advocating a systematic technical upgrade of the army, and the Hezbollah pushing for massive lightly-armed volunteer (Basiej) forces to push back the Iraqi’s. A similar dispute raged through all aspects of government, with the president supporting the technocratic core (Motekhassesin) to lead the ministries and industries. But the Hezbollah was pushing for a widespread purging of all the ‘non-believers’ and replacing them with a massive infusion of the real Muslims (Motehahedin). At the core of this dispute was the utter disdain of the Shia clergy and the ‘true believers’ for anyone that was not conforming to their version of Islam.

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Saddam Hussein had always hated the arrogant Persians! Shah’s regime was a close ally of the deposed Iraqi monarchy and a constant source of harassment to the new Iraqi Baath party, which was almost toppled by a Savak coup d’état in 1971. For years, Shah’s army had activity provided arms, logistical support and even artillery coverage to the Iraqi Kurdish uprising that was controlling the northern quarter of that country. Until 1975, when Saddam bowed to Shah’s demands regarding the border disputes and a truce was signed in Algeria. However, after the revolution, the religious zealots in Tehran started an active recruiting campaign of the massive Shia population in Southern Iraq, in order to create another Islamic Republic in Baghdad. That of course did not sit well with the megalomaniac leader of Iraq, who had ambitions of his own to ‘liberate’ the Arabic-speaking Khuzestan and teach another Qadessieh-type lesson to the Persians! Iraq’s surprise attack on the western Iranian plains in the autumn of 1980 stunned an unprepared nation and a disheartened army.

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Hezbollah’s ‘victory’ would have been complete if it was not for a technicality (country of birth) that disqualified their candidate for the presidential elections. Inevitably, a liberal technocrat (Banisadr) who had western education but Islamic inspirations, became the first Iranian president. However, Banisadr was soon confronted with the massive Hezbollah efforts that blocked his every move in the newly elected Islamic Majles, and violently attacked his staff and followers in the streets. Hezbollah also hindered any development on the American hostage issues, in order to further weaken the new president and isolate Iran from any western influence. Meanwhile, after several months of humiliating torment, the American public and politicians were slowly gaining hope that, as promised by Khomeini, the new Majles would ratify a deal over the hostage matter, when suddenly a new maniac threw another wrench into the wicked Iranian political scene.

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The ‘first’ revolution of 1978 had dropped Iran from the ranks of internationally respected countries, but considering the critical importance of our oil fields, both the Americans and the Russians soon tried to normalize their relationship with the haphazard and unfriendly government of Tehran. However, the hostage taking of the American embassy rapidly dropped Iran from the ranks of the civilized nations, down to the level of a pariah state. At a tremendous cost to the country, the Hezbollah's goals were mostly achieved, as the liberal government of Bazaargan soon resigned; the fundamentalist students forcefully prevailed in the universities and even closed them for three years of purging (cultural revolution); and Khomeini was brought back from his isolation in Qom, to rule as the new absolute leader over the coronet of a defaced Tehran, in Jamaran!

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Seven months after the 1979 (Bahman) victory, the Hezbollah was determined to take over the entire government apparatus; expel the liberal technocrats from the ministries; crush the Kurdistan uprising; and reinvigorate the populace around their ideological banner. However, their repressive tactics had so far alienated most political activists, and their lack-lustre and fundamentalist slogans could not attract the vibrant young population. Since his arrival, ayatollah Khomeini had not helped their cause either, as his lectures were normally tedious and erratic. The Hezbollah ‘ideologues’ decided that a new wave of political radicalization was required to rescue the mantle of ‘anti-imperialist’ struggle from the leftist groups; topple the insufferably liberal government of Bazaargan; and establish their religious hegemony (Velayat Faghieh) within the new constitution. Shah’s trip to USA for emergency medical surgery, gave them a unique opportunity to attack the American embassy in Tehran and create what ayatollah Khomeini later called, ‘a second revolution greater than the first’!

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Most leftist groups considered the liberal-clergy alliance as a transitional phase, before the radicalization of the revolution would ultimately give them a chance to take over and turn the tide, as in the Russian October revolution of 1917. Therefore, they started a frantic recruiting drive among the students, workers and the ethnic and religious minorities, who were more susceptible to the leftist propaganda. Their efforts quickly paid off in the Sunni Kurdistan region, where many police stations and army garrisons were ransacked, and an autonomous district was established. The ensuing savage civil war between the Hezbollah and the Kurdistan leftists antagonized the clerical leadership and Khomeini, who issued an all out war edict against the ‘infidels’. However, the newly formed Revolutionary Guards were still too feeble to defeat the Kurdish resistance.

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With the collapse of Shah’s regime, similar to the other major revolutions, a frenzied rush to fill out the power vacuum started. Ayatollah Khomeini’s clerical alliance (the so called Hezbollah) quickly gained momentum and established itself both in the political arena (through the Islamic Republic Party) and the military front (through the Revolutionary Guards). However, the first provisional government was assigned to the liberal Muslims (led by Bazaargan) and the secular nationalists, who both had decades of anti-Shah resistance credentials, as well as technical and organizational experience. The numerous revolutionary leftist groups (most notably the Peoples Fedaiyan and Mujahidin) were not trusted with any role in the new government, and were even denounced as infidels and apostates, by the Hezbollah. The Hezbollah organizations also started a systematic persecution of the previous regime’s leaders and notables. Several hundred were executed, with thousands more jailed and tortured, and tens of thousands losing all their family wealth and properties. The savage behaviour of Hezbollah rapidly antagonized most of the educated middle class and the secular intellectuals, but invigorated the lower classes who enjoyed a measure of revenge, as well as some material benefit from the confiscations and the lootings.

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In the autumn of 1978, everything started to fall apart. The rebellion spread to universities, then schools and finally into factories, offices and even the oil industry. Widespread strikes paralyzed most government functions and large-scale desertions weakened the armed forces. In secret, Shah was terminally ill, but would not relinquished any real power to his hand picked government or even the army generals. During the past 15 years of his despotic reign, every decision and action was so directly dictated by him, that the whole country fell into a state of paralysis, as he was being debilitated by an incurable cancer and an implacable enemy. Khomeini’s resolve was unrelenting, even as his moderate aides were recommending a compromise to save the country from collapse. His single minded utterance set the target: ‘Shah must go’! In early 1979, after Shah left the country for an extended ‘vacation’, neither his secular new prime minister (Shahpor Bakhtiar) who had also served under Mosaddeg; nor his army generals who were being coached by the Americans, could withstand Khomeini’s return and the tsunami wave of a popular uprising.

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The 1978 demonstrations quickly united the Iranian opposition around a simple set of declarations and demands: that Shah was a demonic traitor who was ordering the brutal suppression of the people, and that he should relinquish the government for it to achieve ‘freedom and independence’. Not much thought was given to a replacement government, but an Islamic Republic was frequently mentioned and implicitly accepted, where the ideals of religion and democracy would rule together. Toppling the much feared Shah’s regime seemed such a remote possibility that the opposition could not readily perceive a future system. The silly general sentiment among the resentful intellectuals was that ‘anything would be better than the Shah’! The first half of 1978 was filled with sporadic violent riots in major Iranian cities, which were often brutally suppressed, resulting in several hundred causalities. However, most observers still believed that the regime could weather the disturbances, and that the Shah’s carrot and stick policy would save the day. The Shah’s regime provided several incentives, including the cancellation of ‘imperial’ calendar; the dissolution of Rastakheez party; and dismissal of the notorious chief of Savak (Nasiri) and a handful of other villainous characters. Indeed during the summer, the rioting abated, until a disastrous calamity in Abadan reignited the powder keg. The Cinema Rex torching, which has since been blamed on different groups, was squarely attributed to the Shah’s Savak. Overnight, there was a tenfold increase in widespread demonstrations. In response, Shah ordered a brutal crack down of the Tehran’s protests on the Black Friday, which effectively removed any hope for a peaceful compromise.

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A striking instance of the Shah/people alienation, came to fore in an outrageously insulting article, written under a direct royal command, against ayatollah Khomeini. Shah’s deranged mental condition may have contributed to the ordering of such a carelessly vulgar public denunciation of a leading Shia Marjah. In autumn of 1977, Khomeini’s son had died under suspicious circumstances, while under exile in Iraq. Iran’s secret police, which had previously assassinated general Bakhtiar (first head of Savak) and even some Baath officials, was suspected of the deed. The religious community in Iran was upset enough to hold several mourning congregations in the major cities, with a few of them leading to small-scale demonstrations. Shah apparently was so infuriated with those allegations and demonstrations that he directly ordered the preparation and publication of the inflammatory article, in a major national newspaper (Ettelaat). In the Ettelaat article, Khomeini was insulted and abused as an English spy from India, who was both a drug addict and a child molester, plotting to ruin His Majesty’s grand designs for Iran! That final folly triggered an endless cycle of religious and political riots that resulted in the demise of Pahlavi dynasty.

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On the cultural side, Shah’s government had set aside all pretences regarding any respect towards the religious and ethical sensitivities of the 95% Muslim population. The state-run television, the government-censured cinemas and the Pahlavi-sponsored Shiraz ‘art festival’ would routinely broadcast such explicit sexual content, which was insulting and demeaning to the general populace. In reaction, a large portion of the religious masses turned to their traditional congregations and mosques for spiritual support and guidance. This was particularly true in case of the migrant rural families who could not adjust to the fast, uncaring and align pace of life in the sprawling but characterless Tehran. The secular intellectuals were not any happier either, as their leaders were routinely jailed and tortured, and the slightest sign of descent would ignite a brutal police and Savak suppression. A sad consequence was that the modernized universities turned into effective breeding grounds for the underground guerrilla movements, as well as frequent demonstrations and strikes. Even most oversees students became mired in anti-Shah organizations (Confederations) instead of education. In the mid 1970’s, to most secular, liberal or religious intellectuals; Iran felt like a prosperous country, but under the militaristic occupation of a cruel and alien royalty!

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The resilient Iranian people could have probably weathered the economical upheavals of the mid 1970’s, but they certainly did not tolerate the egomaniacally foolish royal decrees and manoeuvres. Intoxicated by the oil windfall and day-dreaming that he was the greatest king since Cyrus; Shah embarked on a range of idiotic measures that were almost designed to enrage the populace. His grandiose ‘imperial’ make over of Iran, started with a $200 million dollar gala to celebrate 2,500 years of monarchy in Iran. He then changed the Islamic calendar to a peculiar imperial one, which was never used before anywhere in the world. Finally in 1975, during a surprise televised speech, Shah ordered all the Iranians to either join his new imperial party (Rastakheez) or get their passports and leave ‘his’ country! At the same time, his secret police kept its torturous chokehold on the Iranian intellectuals, which led to the arrest, torture and early demise of many scholars and authors, including Dr. Shariati, a very popular Islamic free-thinker.

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During the great oil boom of the 1970’s, the irrational exuberance of the Iranian upper classes and the unquenchable greed of the royalty played havoc with the domestic economy. Concurrently, Shah’s pride aged into egomania and his anxiety escalated to paranoia. He now wanted to establish a truly Persian empire worthy of the Cyrus and the Darius; forcefully enlist all the populace in his grandiose schemes; and even torment the aloof western countries who apparently were not paying him enough respect! Despite the desperate appeals of his American allies, Shah’s aggressive stands in the OPEC effectively lead the oil surge following the 1973 Arab embargo, into a price explosion. That propelled the Iranian crude oil income from $800 million in 1970 to $18 billion (22 times higher) in 1975! Sadly, instead of creating a thoughtful long-term plan for all that windfall fortune, Shah channelled a third of it into massive military purchases and the rest into poorly planned grandiose projects, which could not be accommodated within the weak Iranian infrastructure. Soon, the soaring and unaccounted for demands on electricity, housing and transportation exploded into chronic blackouts, rent and real-estate inflation and serious port and delivery bottlenecks, leading to frequent food and goods shortages.

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As Shah was educated both at a Switzerland private school and in Tehran’s military college, he had two firm traits: western mindedness and militaristic ambitions. He could never quite grasp, let alone appreciate the subtleties of dealing with the colourful Persian and Islamic characters, and was always comparing ‘his’ country to the western standards. That alignation created a feeling of discontent and even constant shame in his proud psyche, which sought recognition and approval from the western media and leaders. Furthermore, Shah’s military background made him unappreciative and suspicious of politicians and most democratic discourse. He simply wanted to make ‘his’ army as strong and well equipped as possible, in order to prevail over all internal and external advesaries. Shah’s burning desire for hasty modernization of Iran and expensive upgrades for the army, created a number of economical and social dislocations in the country. His modernization projects, which were too hastily and too artificially fuelled by the soaring oil prices, played havoc with the fledging Iranian economy and infrastructure; creating cyclic booms and busts, deficiencies and speculations, inflation and hoarding.

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After the royal land and social reforms, Iran quickly progressed in all aspects of material and social achievements, but politically remained a repressive police-state. During the 1961-1977 period, the urban and industrial growth transformed Tehran and the other major cities from the dark ages, when people did not have clean drinking water, sanitation or electricity, to modern metropolitans with all the basic amenities, schools, hospitals, factories and universities. However, the rural condition did not improve significantly, as most of the newly freed Raieyat (serfs) did not have the required financial capability to make an efficient use of their small land plots. Moreover, the improved medical conditions in the rural areas created a population boom among the village families, who were used to having 5 or 6 children (with only 2 or 3 surviving) and were religiously averse to any birth control. The totally uneven urban/rural development created a massive migration of destitute village youths, who could not find meaningful employment in their backward environment, and sought a new chance in the sprawling city construction sites.

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