© the eyeranian

Anybody left to speak out for me?

"Saturn Devouring his Son" is the work of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, painted: 1819 - 1823

I'm not sure where exactly this originated from but a famous French proverb says 'a revolution eats its children'. This has certainly been the case with the Iranian revolution, and more. The process started almost immediately after Shah's statues were taken off the major squares in cities across the country, Ayatollah Khomeini returned home after close to a quarter of a century and still felt "nothing" (a famous moment in the history Iranian revolution was a single question asked of him on the plane heading to Tehran, where the interviewer asked what does he feel about returning to his homeland after the long exile and he replied "nothing, I feel nothing"!) and the stamp ink had not dried on the referendum ballots marked with a big YES to establish the form of government as an unknown entity called "Islamic Republic".

The first group of 'children' to be had were the original radicals. Primarily the Marxist and Maoist groups who paid the price despite being very active during the anti-Shah movement. With an all out war breaking out in Kurdistan, Baluchestan and Turkmen Sahara areas of Iran shortly after the revolution, many of them volunteered to join the opposition forces such as PDKI and Komala to fight regime's military or what had remained of it. While these guys were being slaughtered, most other left and left-leaning organizations in Iran were either silent or occasionally even cheered their demise. In fact, this became the normal routine of every wave of tyranny that followed from here on, with the future victims not supporting the current ones, time after time after time after time.

Next group was what may have been seen as some of the seemingly random (and mostly unknown) authorities of the new regime who were assassinated by a mysterious religious entity called Forghan (they are apparently back and even have a blog now). The list of victims included Col. Gharanei, head of the new armed forces and two prominent Ayatollahs; Mohammad Mofatteh and Morteza Mottaheri, the latter being the man Khomeini had called "fruit of his life endeavors" and a likely successor of his. Ayatollah Rafsanjani however survived the attempt on his life by Forghan inexplicably, and there are some unanswered questions still lingering about that incident. As Forghan was primarily an anti-clergy movement and religious figures remained their main targets, most of the leftist groups again chose to not speak against or condemn the assassinations.

It was only a matter of months after that when a bunch of hooligans climbed the walls of U.S. embassy in Tehran, kept 52 of the diplomats as hostages (women and African-Americans were released almost immediately) and derailed the course of the revolution forever. The only organized group to stand against the move was the original cabinet of the revolution who were immediately pushed aside (the government resigned in unison) and were jeered on by all the others whose turns were about to come. None of their members of that original cabinet was ever allowed near a position of power or influence again and some were/are jailed (example: Amir-Entezam was that cabinet's spokesperson) or even murdered (example: Darioush Forouhar was Minister of Labor).

Banisadr came next. The first president of the new Islamic Republic was fired from his elected seat and then came the big crackdown on yet another set of revolution's children; People's Mojahedin. This was perhaps the deadliest phase of them all with thousands killed after brief trials and immediate executions with thousands more suffering in harsh prisons and torture chambers. The onslaught quickly extended to many other leftist groups, people such as Fadaeian Marxist group, yet another active and vital part of the anti-Shah movement. Meanwhile, others who actively participated in this round of slaughter included the current "reformists" around President Khatami (including Behzad Nabavi and Armin's imitation "Mojahedin" group) as well as Iran's Communist Party, Tudeh. Just read this quote about MKO and other leftists from Kar (No. 132, Pg. 5, 1981), the newspaper of Tudeh's sister organization, Aksariyat: "the relentless onslaught of the political organizations who have set out to defeat the blood-spattered revolution of Iranian people is a fundamental pillar of defending this revolution. "

Needless to say, Tudeh, Aksariyat and their partners became the victims a short few years later. This time. many of the intellectuals, writers and others who always detested Tudeh Party going back to Mossadegh era and beyond, remained silent while these "children" were eaten by the rolling "revolution". The same writers, poets and journalists themselves filled the same prisons, were tied to the same torture beds and filled the same cemeteries next, while not many of today's supposed opposition was heard from.

During the same phase, Khomeini's appointed successor, Montazeri and others around him faced political eradication. Others including Khomeini's own son Ahmad, were not as lucky and died under mysterious circumstances later on and after dad has passed on. Of course the players suspected of managing the attack on intellectuals and extermination of Ahmad and others also found themselves committed to the same fate after they were thrown out of regime's intelligence apparatus, ending with yet another mysterious death, this time of their leader Saeed Emami.

This process has continued repeatedly and now another set of "revolution's children", this time the embassy wall climbers and those who were actively pursuing the demise of other activists are now being chased out of the parliament and are on the verge of political isolation.

Makes you wonder what may have happened had this progression been stopped at its infancy. What if we all had risen to condemn the Kurdish intrusion, then Forghan actions, Banisadr's replacement, etc. Would there even be a "Guardian Council" so powerful, it can write off an election with a single stroke? Wasn't it Martin Niemoeller who said about the Nazis:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me-- and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Isn't that exactly what the children of Iranian revolution did one group after another?

Posted by Pedram at February 4, 2004 09:37 PM