Fortress Of Freedom Board
Bringing The Mass Media To The Masses!
 
 FAQ  Search  Usergroups  Memberlist  Profile  Log in to check your private messages  Register  Log in
Into The Heart Of The Beast

 
Post new topic   This topic is locked: you cannot edit posts or make replies.    Fortress Of Freedom Board Forum Index -> Exclusive Reports From Fortressoffreedom.com
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
pops_fire



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 25

PostPosted: Wed Mar 17, 2004 6:18 pm    Post subject: Into The Heart Of The Beast Reply with quote

Into the Heart of the Beast
Living Through the Islamic Revolution


By M. Andre Moore, Journalist



It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.
James Gordon, M.D.


Nursing the Eggs of the Phoenix

I first met Kaveh (not his real name) in a sweatshop. It was 2 years ago when I saw him neck-deep in T-shirts, in the middle of a massive warehouse, trying to make a living for himself and his two children. For such a large factory, I remember being surprised at how quiet it was, quiet enough for us to sink into a heavy discussion about politics.

Kaveh was born into Persia’s middle-class. His father was a successful entrepreneur that, although he wasn’t rich, could afford to give his sons an American education. When he died there would be no final will and testament, no inheritance to soften their landing when they came out of the vacuum of childhood. This was his gift to them, to allow them to learn about the world in a free society.

While Kaveh was abroad, Iran was going through a metamorphosis. In the midst of the royal dynasty, the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, was steering his country’s foreign policy westward, implementing programs that would modernize the nation.

After a period of nationalization the oil industry was once again opened to the West at a profit margin much greater than other Middle East countries. Unprecedented wealth was generated by this deal, most of which stayed at the top. This was 1963, the launch of the White Revolution, an opaque curtain of mock reform that only looked good if you were on the outside looking in. It smothered the scars of poverty, gagged the voices of dissent, and blinded the wealthy from an ugly reality. The price of a barrel of crude jumped from $3.00 to $12.00 by 1974, creating economic fissures that spread throughout the countryside. While the royalists gorged themselves on extravagance, the crumbs they wiped from their tables barely reached the mouths of those beneath them. As anger gushed into the economic gap, the shah became more dependent on the Savak (secret police) to hush the opposition, often permanently.

Returning from their studies, Kaveh and other students, their bellies full with democracy, watched the space between the rich and poor widen into a terrific chasm.

“Actually, Saddam was very scared of (the Shah). Very afraid of him because we had a very good army in the region and we had a very good relationship with Israel. Part of our secret police was trained in Israel. We had a good relationship with China, with Russia, Europe, South Africa. (The Shah) was keeping the balance. He was very good outside. Inside it was terrible because the gap between the rich and the poor was so wide you couldn’t believe it.”

Armed with ideas of equality and healthy in numbers the students started to organize.

“Lower class people have more children. So the percentage of (the poor) that went to university was higher than the (upper classes).”

Organizations like the TPI (Tudeh or Mass Party of Iran), and the Organization of the Iranian People’s Fedaii Guerillas were already active before the students came calling but one group clearly dominated the opposition.

“They didn’t just come into it. They were into it. As a small layer of society (the mullahs) controlled a large portion. (They) were the power that was keeping society (passive). They needed their share.”

“If you go back through history, few organizations are experienced at managing large groups of people.”

Two such organizations, he told me, are the army and the clergy.

“There were no alternatives for the people. There were a lot of small groups: liberals, socialists, communists.”

From his exile in Paris, Ruhollah Mousavi, more commonly known as the Ayatollah Khomeini became the face of the opposition. Touted as more than a leader, his followers smuggled his messianic message into Iran, paving the road for his return. A mixture of propaganda and prophecy made an effective detergent for unclean thoughts. Brains were being washed, pre-shrunk to fit into a new mould.

“I remember (the clergy) would tell people that the Ayatollah’s face would appear on the surface of the moon on a certain day.”

Back in Iran, the Shah’s cruel dictatorship led to strikes, riots and mass demonstrations. To quell the unrest, he imposed martial law.

By now the spasms were uncontrollable as turmoil erupted around the country. A largely peaceful mass protest brings out the worst in the Shah’s regime. On September 8, 1978 the army opened fire on 20,000 protesters in the capital city, Tehran, killing hundreds and wounding thousands. Attacking the crowd of mostly students killed more than children, it murdered any moderate support for the Shah. The bloody day would go down in infamy as Black Friday, the beginning of a wave of strife that was about to wash the royalists out of office.

Revolution Now
Naked brutality, galvanized the opposition, mobilized a force that was quick to show solidarity with their fallen comrades. The table was set to be toppled.

“People just confiscated all the garrisons and all the police stations. And it was just-..wow!” He recalls of the assault on Station No. 6. “That was the only station to fight for a long time.”

“We had people surround the police station-the whole block! Just imagine? The cops couldn’t get (out) anywhere. So they had to fight. And people had guns from the garrison; they were soldiers, they were sergeants, they were officers.”

The assault lasted the worst part of day and afterward momentum was at the backs of the people as they began to take control of their destiny.

“Then they start(ed) to get other garrisons other cities. The whole thing started. I’ll never forget that. The whole thing took three days. I mean, from that day the we started until (total) victory.”

As they claimed the streets, Kaveh and his friends were spreading the face, the word of the Ayatollah.

“We’d stick (leaflets) in the washroom or wherever. He was so religious but I wasn’t religious. But you know? If it was against the shah we would help him.”

Once they seized the media, control of the government was complete.


The Aftermath

By January it is no longer safe for the shah and his family. They fled the country, leaving a power vacuum that would soon be filled by Khomeini and his followers. But before a referendum is called to transform Iran into an Islamic state there is a moment to reflect and celebrate.

“There was an interim government this was a liberal government. We were very happy of the victory.”

“The mullahs really took advantage of people’s happiness. People were drunk, they were zapped. Stoned from victory. I will never forget (when) my sister-in-law from Scotland, she wrote me a letter at that time saying “I wish I was Iranian and share in (the pride) of being Iranian.”

April Fools Day in 1979 the Islamic Republic of Iran is declared.

Jubilation turns sour after the Ayatollah is declared the ultimate leader or faqih and begins installing conservative clerics into key positions while removing “un-Islamic”elements from all cultural institutions. He begins to slaughter ruminants of the old regime and when he’s finished he turns on the competition. 1600 people were executed by 1981.

“They start(ed) to eliminate them one by one,” Kaveh says of the Ayatollah’s opponents. “Actually we’re not going ahead. We’re going backwards. That was their problem because this train is going this way but these people are so stupid they want to take the train the other way. So what they do is use (their) power to suppress people.”

With the base of power settled, the Ayatollah began to unravel the shah’s work, alienating America after militants took 52 hostages inside the US embassy. He begins to cleanse the nation of “westoxification”, exporting fear along with oil.

War with Iraq
Kaveh’s first job after the revolution was working as a researcher at a large paper mill that employed 3,500 to 5,000 people, in Khuzestan, which is where the original Gulf War began.

Iraq, where Khomeini was exiled before being expelled to Paris, had (and still has) a large Shiite population that supported the Ayatollah before the revolution became a reality. Fearful of Khomeini’s victory and sensing weakness Iran’s post-revolution army, Saddam Hussien invaded Iran’s western region, hoping to seize the oil fields.

News of the invasion spread quickly though the plant where Kaveh was employed but instead of fleeing the area, he was part of a committee that organized food and water for the front-line soldiers. The reception wasn’t always warm.

“We were told that we were stupid. “What are you doing here?” The soldiers asked when he appeared with supplies.” Unshaken by the carnage around him he was more concerned for his country than his own safety. “You are our country men,” He told the soldiers. “Were are going to help you.”
If the war started at 12:00 we had the committee ready by 6:00. The next day we were there dispersing canned food and everything. That’s when I met new friends that (thought) the same (as I did).”

As the war progressed, Kaveh and his friends continued their activities, falling under the scrutiny of the clergy.

“After four months (since the war began) there was an uprising in the factory against the management.”

Inadequate wages and conditions sparked the riot and when the lines were drawn, although Kaveh was a manager, he sided with the workers. His bosses, and subsequently the mullahs, took note.

“The same night the secret police invaded my home. They found grenades. We got it from the army (legitimately with the proper documentation).”

This placed him in jail for 3 months and terminated his position as commercial manager. The new secret police wasn’t through with Kaveh. He was arrested a 2nd time as part of a link in a chain that was smuggling one of the main resistance leaders out of the country. Because of his efforts the man escaped. Kaveh wasn’t so lucky.

“They kept me for fifteen months without any trial. No charge. After 15 months they convicted and sentenced me to 3 years.
After a year they brought me a letter and told me to say that I regret(ed) the things I’d done in the past. (If you confess) we’ll let you go. I said, no I will not sign such a letter.”

During his stay in prison he kept his spirits up by making crafts for his wife. Even though he missed her and his son he wasn’t about to reverse his beliefs.
By the end of it he had served nearly 5 years in prison not including 6 months probation. “When I came out of prison, after about 6 months the war was over.”

The Iran-Iraq War had divided the world. When two oil producing nations get hostile with each other developed countries, countries that depend heavily on fossil fuels take sides. Sources peg the death toll at around 1.5 million, not including injuries from the protracted death match-the conflict lasted 8 years. Arguably the Iranians suffered the worst. The Ayatollah, even after pushing the Iraqi army out of Iran’s borders shoved his way into enemy soil, feeding human waves into the jaws of the war machine. The massive bleeding could’be been stemmed 3 years after the war started but a bellicose Ayatollah wanted to do then what America would do years later: end Saddam’s rule.

Naturally, Iranians were agitated by the gross bloodletting that could've been averted. Questions were being raised that the mullahs didn’t want to hear.

“He started killing the prisoners to show people that “I mean it. I’ll kill you all if you move (against me)”. The point is, nobody in the world said “hey what are you doing?” Because they wanted the (reconstruction) contracts.”

To Kaveh, what the clerics did was worse than just the atrocities they were good at committing. The river of pain ran deep.

Whispers from the ashes

“The point is they damaged our culture. Fixing this damage, rectifying this damage takes time.”

“The worse thing about a nation is when it doesn’t know its history. If you don’t know your history you will make the same mistakes that your fathers made.”

“Fighting is not the solution. You want to say “don’t fight anymore with nobody”. Just try to make the changes without (violence) because the fighting will effect my house, your house. No matter who wins the whole thing is destroyed. A lot of times when I see something or remember something I start to cry. It really hurts me.”



Copyright 2004, Fortress Of Freedom Inc.


Comments And Discussion
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   This topic is locked: you cannot edit posts or make replies.    Fortress Of Freedom Board Forum Index -> Exclusive Reports From Fortressoffreedom.com All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

affiance theme by sparsely