FLASHBACK

How could this happen?

How could a whole nation unite and create a very well organized movement and systematically go forward and supposedly take out a well armed and well established regime backed by the largest western powers of the world? If your answer is "That's impossible!" you are right. It IS impossible! LOL (that is not what happened!)

FYI/Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar Interview (Uncensored Edition)

Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar Interview (Uncensored Edition)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWJc5bSSyUg

Imam Khomeini arrival

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

Q

and now the same beautiful people u talk about are dead killed mimed tortured imprisoned silenced raped exiled arrested veiled executed beaten drugged hit prostituted stoned rounded up knived floged or neutralized.
yes the were and STILL ARE beautiful but the ugly monsters have taken over the beautiful people
stop justifying the monsters
or " the wolves among us"

iranian.com/main/blog/david-et/may-day-may-day

general sense of many Iranians looking at these photos are:
- we were lied to
- chi fekr mikradim chi shod
and
- cheh goohi khordim

Exiles can't judge the truth

A bunch of Westernized Iranian sitting in Exile are in no position to judge the revolution. You were the losers, not the winners. The average Iranian now lives longer, is better educated, has better access to healthcare and electricity and clean water than ever before. Who are you to complain from the comfort of Beverly Hills or Zafaraniyeh?

IN AKHONDA KEY MIRAN

I really like to know that for how long more Iranian should suffer from this Barbaric regime,are they popular for the majority of Iranian,if not why they are still there and what should we do as Iranian,s,i like to know that IN AKHONDA KEY MIRAN?

Mixed feelings

Seeing these crowds heading towards a most uncertain future (aren`t the future always uncertain??) - and in this moment we are looking from the future to the past.... it is always easy to judge.

It could unfortunately happen again tomorrow - it might happen invisibly in this moment right in your place?? Sometimes it is difficult to see who is really in charge, dominating your life? Are you sure?

According to Iran it is uttermost visible - and some of those who participated sure feels regrets. They have left abroad if the chance was there - a high price for many leaving family, and youth behind.The "burnt" generation. (Not all participating)

Living with memories from a distant past. That hurts - because the environment still exist - it is there but out of reach.

Others benefit from the changes - they got what they wanted, having the ability to demonstrate their power through "beleive"..

Some does`nt feel anything, there is not much room left for sensitivity, so life is just letting one day take another.

Some shares,I guess, the same feelings as the Germans after WW2,being seduced or threatened to do things that never even existed in the mind before.. Guilt and shame.

Let us hope that it won`t happen again in more countries and spread further - the risk is high :( 

Let us hope that the crowds would gather again for a new direction, and not only in Iran - I also have Afghanistan - Pakistan - Palestine - Tibet and all suppressed countries in mind!!

Just my 2 cents - KitGilas

If I may add, at the risk of being an echo

If there were strong democratic institutions in place as some claim, they would have served as dams to the deluge of the Islamic Republic.  The mosque was the only political establishment that had not been systemically squashed where the youth found a voice and an ear.  As a result it was the strongest, most organized and prevailed.

Some blame the Jebhe Melli or other similar groups for not having been strong enough, how could they have been strong?  They had been banned for years before the revolution what kind of organization could they have had in place?  

The suppression of democratic impulses and organizations prior to the revolution, in a large measure, handed the country over to the Islamic Republic. 

to The Prince

dear I believe Islam and mullahs will always remain in Iran and will also interfere in Iranian politics no matter what. In fact, they must have the right to do so like all other Iranians with different political beliefs and religions.

The best we could hope for is complete abolition of religion-based state or the theocracy ruling over Iran now but I am not hopeful it will happen in our lifetime.

I See These Pictures

and I end up wishing there were a time machine so I could go back and slap some sense into these people.

The saying "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" was never more appropriately fitting than it is here.

P.S. Q, your comment can only be described as disgusting.

My two cents

I agree. they are not 100% to blame, but, then again, they were a big factor. Bottom line is that this is OUR Dark Ages, where the mosque rules with all its brutality and superstitious. What we need is a renassence. The bright side of all this is that after these monsters are gone, there will never be a sign of a single akhoond for all eternety!! No one, even the strogest opposers and enemies of Islam, could have damaged and destroyed the religion the way these lowlives have done.

They Fall Into Two Buckets

Bucket #1, Regretful. The more responsible ones are apologestic to their children because of the adverse consequences of their actions.They also believe their own lives were wasted. All my uncles and aunts fall into this category. You can't balme them, they were naive and just went with the flow. Their motivation was to create a more equal and just society. Hence their regret today.

Bucket #2, Selfish. The more stubborn ones still come up with justifications as to why Iran needed a revolution. Funny they seem to all live comfortably outside of Iran and don't give a hoot about the injustice taking place in Iran now. Do they think they got the job done successfully? No, they are only irresponsible and in denial. The people who fall into this categrory are generally selfish. Their motivation arose from settling a personal grudge (ex. my friend became a minister and I wasn't promoted. I think I deserved it more) or thought they could acheive more with the next regime (why should Mr. x have ties to the Pahlavis and get govt contracts. I can do that with the next regime). I know a few of them and interesting when they travel to Iran now they come back saying how fun it was and that you could have groceries and "sabzi pak kardeh" and anything you dream of delivered to your house. They only consider themselves and not the fact that 95%+ of the population does not live that lifestyle and are struggling in every respect.

I am proud of Iran & it Great Revolution

No, it was not the Pahlavis, but the bastard Anglo-American thugs who pulled that heinous crime of toppling a true democrate and legitimate Prime Minister, Dr Mossadegh. Had he been able to continue his program, a truely independent Iran would have emerged, free from Western interference, with a representational governemnt fulfilling the wishes of the nation, and hence the Revolution would never have occured. The 1979 Revolution, may its glory be with us forever!, was necessay to sever the pilfering hands of the Western thugs, to terminate the existence of the Iranians who sold their meehan to the Western bastards & who took their instructions from the Brtish & Ameican embassies, to end 150 years of foreign dominance of our government whose sole purpose was to serve the Western thugs. Long Live the Revolution, it liberated us from the Western thugs. Now sovereign, Iran & Iranians will attain their inherent greatness & creative powers.

How do they feel now?

Like sh#t !!

They did not know

Because there was no way to know. Don't blame the people for all that happened afterwards. Even after the revolution, the war started and made things worse. That was not the people but our beloved US and rest of the Human Rights claiming countries. Please give the credit where credit is due.

Historically in the Middle East, all the political roads ended in Washington.

To The Prince

I pretty much agree with you!

but realize that none of those freedoms exist now under mullahs, people not only have ZILCH political freedom but also have lost all their social freedoms which they took for granted before the revolution. Everything is a 100 time much worse yet pretty much everybody in Iran is complacent and putting up with all that shit.

So you cannot say with hundred percent certainty that lack of freedom and/or Mossadegh's treatment by the Shah in Iran was the main factor leading to the revolution.

I believe OIL was the main factor, if not the only factor.

Not sure about "Them" but how do I feel?

The same way I felt 30 years ago too: horrified of what mob mentality does!
Most of those people were just being too emotional and irrational, otherwise they would have realized that Dr Bakhtiar was giving them a chance to a better life and a great political atmosphere in the country.

They ruined it...

IRANdokht

IRI, the legitimate child of the Pahlavis

If the Pahlavi regime had given the people a way to express themselves, this terrible nightmare would have not have happened.

If the Pahlavi regime had not killed and imprisoned any voice of dissent, people would have had other alternatives to turn to.

If the Pahlavi regime had listened to real heros of people, like Mossadegh, instead of sending them to exile, a heartless Indian bastard name Khomeini would not have hijacked the movement.

If the Pahlavi regime had created an enviroment where freedom can blossom, a parasite called Akhoond would not have grown to suck the blood out of people of Iran and the world.  

I wonder where # 4 are burried?

Most of these jubilant youth are dead  either physically or emotionally somewhere outside Iran.

...

So many "khale sooske"..

Tarseedam....No wonder this thing turned out so ugly...How do they feel? huh? Khaleh sooske= dumb! They just do what their haj-agha has told them to do...LOOOOOL

Mehrban

I am not sure. I think he is either a journalist or member of the National Front Party. He makes some Very bold comments against the Mullah's and the revolutionaries ( saying they had all studied abroad and lived a good life and now have all become anti West and speak of religious zeal). I would not be surprised that he may have been arrested afterwards or left the country cause he wouldn't have been able to say these things a year later with the begining of the repression and war.

I was quite surprised by the fact that most spoke a very fluent French particularly Sanjabi. I didn't realize it at the time except for Shahpour Bakhtiar who had studied in France that they were all so fluent in the language of Moliere ...

Sad to see that the people who could have run the country on a more moderate pace and style all became victimes of the Revolution one way or another.

The revolution ate its children !

Alas ... 

Dear Shahrokh

I am afraid I must inform you that you are still avoiding the main issue here and trying to skip responsibility. With regards to shah I must tell you that I do not think that everything that he did was right, however that was hardly an excuse for us to follow the first charlatan coming along and let our grid to get the best of us by believing any phoney promises. Of course there was many short comes at the time of Shah. However if you and I were brave enough to read a bit of history and learn about the state of Iran when Reza shah came to power and later after WW2 when his son came to power (no schools to roads to no modern hospitals, no TV , no Radio no electricity at all even in Tehran, no hygiene, no governmental structure no refinery no factories  a primitive agriculture the regime of Arbaab va Ra-yati ) and fair enough to compare it with the way it became by 1357 then any mature  fair mindedperson would conclude that we came a long way and achieved a lot during that short period.  

Now! Was it enough? Of course not!

Was it perfect? far from it!

Did we have problems with corruption and lack of democracy? You bet!  However you should remember that everything is proportional and relative. Compare to where we were in 1320 we came a long way. But of course we still had an even longer way to go in order to catch up with developed world. A long way that you and I should have participated in, but chose not to. Some of these problems were cultural and needed time to be tackled over time. They demanded a change of attitude on the part of all society but we always prefer to shift the responsibility to someone else. If as you say today under the dreadful conditions of IRI which are far worse than Shah era, and despite the fact that the IRI even failed  to maintain the state of statues-quo with regards to those achievements and most of the even was destroyed and deteriorated, still

“The children of Iran are making huge advances in all fields ...in spite of all the hardship that this retarted government is creating.”

Then why we could not do it at those times? Why did we choose to destroy what we had instead of trying to build on it?

Yes, there was a lot of short comes especially in our remote villages but one only needs to talk to people who were working at the time to find out about the efforts of Sepaah e Daanesh, Sepaah e Behdaasht and Sepaah e Tarvij va Abadani or all the efforts and achievements of Kanoon e Parvaresh e Fekri . But we chose to see empty half of the jar,and that was while these achievements were being made against a background of religious extremism and superstitions in the social fabric of a nation who resisted progress every step of the way.

I remember my self that at the time many families would not allow their daughters to go to school as it was declared as haraam by the clergy. Now you tell me how a person or system could fight against that.   The problem with us as a people is that we do not know enough about our past or all the facts of the time and even worse  we won’t accept that we do not know. We do not acknowledge our mistakes and always try to make excuses.

Now if you an I as two ordinary citizens refuse to acknowledge our mistake then how could we expect the Shah or for that mater Khamene-ee to accept theirs

Always Redeemer the first step toward correcting a mistake is to acknowledge that mistake in the first place.

It was a disaster. It was a bed mistake and we need to accept responsibility and learn from it. Period

Too painful .....

I was not there then …… but this is too painful to watch (now that we know the outcome)

Khalayegh har che layegh

Back then we wanted to be like Japan, South Korea, Europe and even America now we should be happy and grateful that we are not yet like Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan.

DK or anyone, who is

the man in the navy blue suit and pink shirt that speaks (again) at the very end of the Utube clip below?

They feel terrible,

...terrible, and they are sorry, most of them anyway.

FYI/First Drifts between Iranians after the Revolution (1979)

Critics against the overwhelming power of clerics appear amongst the most outspoken Iranians in the Intelligenstia but it will appear as being too late to stop the Ayatollah from taking over all sectors of society.

Below a Very Interesting French Report on the first divisions Before the National Referandum on the future nature of the Regime ( Democratic & Secular  or Islamic Republic ? )  between the revolutionary forces after the fall of the shah: (Pro Veil and Anti Veil Protests, Interviews of Ayatollah Shariatmadari, Sanjabi (head of the Iran's Secular National Front Party), Bazarghan ( first PM of the IRI ), Banisadre, Yazdi and other figures of the Revolution): 

History is valuable

We need to recognize it and learn from it. realize what we did and why, what went wrong and what was right so we can be a better society for the future.

The boys have been: 1.

The boys have been:
1. Executed or killed at war or
2. Ran for their lives or
3. Everyday kick their asses and ask themselves "why did do that"

The women have been:

1. All in favor of "mujahedeen" been executed or
2. Ran away from Islamic republic or
3. Ask them how miserable my life could be if I cannot even choose how to wear in public and must wrap myself in "chador"

There is also a part of Iranian who are like sheep and will follow whomever Sheppard them. Doesn't matter shah or Valie Fagheeh.

Q

I'm not asking this in any special sort of way (meaning there's no hidden meaning or sarcasm in my question, and I just want to know) -- How do you feel when you think of the same people having gotten betrayed a bit afterwards?