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My Writings
Shah of Iran – efforts
towards democracy and modernism
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Year
1979 Iran was shaken and
destroyed by a west-made Islamic-communistic revolution. An imperial Iran was transformed into
a fundamental Islamic Iran and the world was set
off for a gloomy epoch consisting of future threats, terror, murder and fear.
Before the revolution Iran was guided by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – the Shah of
Iran – and the country was on its way toward industrialism, modernism and
most important of all, democracy.
A charismatic
leader
October
26, 1919 a boy was born with the faith to lead a primitive country toward
modernism, democracy and industrialism. The boy was none other than Mohammad
Reza and the nation was none other than Iran. Mohammad Reza became
Iran’s formal crown prince
in December 1925. Sixteen years later that is year 1941, in spite of the
sabotage of the imperialist powers, but by the request of the Iranian people,
he became Iran’s new Shah after his
father Reza Shah Pahlavi the Great. Reza Shah the Great had abdicated after
pressure and compulsion from the allied occupants during the Second World
War.
When Mohammad Reza took over
after his father, Iran was in a very trying
situation when it came to both the policy as well as the economy in the
country. The north part of the country was occupied by the Soviet Union, which was trying to
separate the Iranian Azarbaijan and Kurdistan. The south part of
the country was occupied by the British, who controlled the Persian Gulf and Iran’s oil. As a true,
faithful and loyal father, the Shah faced the problems and solved them one by
one and liberated Iran from the hands of the occupants through active
diplomacy and strong leadership, even though being very young. At the same
time, his support rose day by day among the Iranian people, who were longing
for better social circumstances and independence.
The Shah’s leadership can be
summarised in two main points: nationalism and modernism. By strengthening
the Iranian nationalism and give the Iranian people their self-confidence and self-assurance
back, he wanted to modernise and democratise his country, which had during a
long time been oppressed by foreign occupation forces. It’s important to
underline that the Iranian nationalism has nothing to do with racism,
xenophobia and chauvinism. The Iranian nationalism has always consisted of
hospitality and respect for other cultures and countries.
Reform toward
modernism and democracy
In order to guide his country
toward modernism, the Shah started encouraging the Majles, the Iranian
parliament, to start off different reforms. The most famous reforms, which
were started on the Shah’s initiative, were the reforms which were part of
the so called “White Revolution” and began during the 60s. The result of the
White Revolution was, if you conclude it in seven simple words, increased
democracy and modernism for the Iranians.
The revolution led among other
things to that woman received the right to vote, even though facing huge
resistance and sabotage from the Islamists and this is something which can be
compared to the situation for women in today’s’ Saudi-Arabia where the women
still don’t have the right to vote. The fact that women received the right to
vote during the 60s, might not be regarded as anything special for those who
have been born or raised in the Western World and have had this right for
some time now. However, in Iran this was a huge event
considering the religion, Islam, which was practised in the country. This was
one of many the great steps toward not only democracy, but also equality and
modernism.
The result of the revolution
meant also a decrease in illiteracy and nobody can deny that there is a
strong genuine connection between decreased illiteracy and increased
democratisation. Decreased
illiteracy leads to an increased society knowledge, which in turn results in
equality, democracy and a secular political system. The revolution also
abolished the injustice and inhuman feudal system in Iran and the farmers were
set free from the tyranny caused by the feudal lord. The workers were also
set free from slavery and abuse. These mentioned points were also examples of
huge steps toward democracy and modernism.
Iran vs.
the Western World
During the Shah’s golden time the
Iranian economy was radically flourishing and the country had seriously
started industrialising. Year 1960 OPEC was established on the Shah’s
initiative and Iran, together with the other member countries, started
controlling their own oil, which decreased the “Seven Sisters” – at that time
the worlds’ seven most biggest oil companies, including British Petroleum –
dominance in the oil market. Year 1973/74 OPEC, once again on the Shah’s
initiative, increased the oil prices from 4 dollars per drum of oil to 12
dollars and Iran’s income from oil and thereby Iran’s prosperity, increased
greatly. It’s important here to know that the “Seven Sisters” had because of
their strong economy a great political power and influence. For example, the
oil company Exxon, which was part of the “Seven Sisters”, had year 1984 a
gross selling that was about the same as Sweden’s GDP the same
year.
Iran’s economy had grown
so strong that the unemployment in the country had reached zero during the
70s, the illiteracy had decreased drastically, the health of the Iranian
people had improved greatly, the material welfare had increased and the
poverty had decreased. Year 1975 a new law about social safety network came,
which covered more than 6 000 000 individuals. The government’s goal was
that this new law would cover the whole population before year 1983. The
country also started producing petrochemical products, machines, cars
etcetera. Iran was a new Japan. Even better than Japan. This was something
that without any doubt frightened many countries, especially those in West. Iran had also become the
police of the Middle East with its fifth strongest
non-nuclear army. Jimmy Carter, ex-president of USA and the Iranian
people’s enemy number one, claimed that Iran during the leadership
of the Shah was “an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of
the world”.
The countries in the West,
especially the US and UK, could not tolerate Iran’s development and
therefore they started sabotaging Iran’s development.
Because of that a conflict between the West and Iran was started.
According to the West Iran’s flourishing economy and
political force threatened the Western World’s security. However, the British
researcher Barry Buzan, professor in international relations at London School
of Economics and Political Science, claims that a countries security can be
split into three parts: the state’s physical base, the state’s idea and the
state’s institutions. If one of these three parts is under threat, then the
rest will also be under threat and domestic political problems will be
created. OPEC’s control over the oil threatened the West’s physical base. The
increase of the oil price in the beginning of the 70s led to an unexpected
high inflation, unemployment and other economical crises in the West and by
those means the West’s institutions and values were under threat. The
conflict got so serious that the US and UK planned the Shah’s
downfall and applied it. The product
of this conflict was a “bastard” called the Islamic republic, the “mother”
was the UK, the “father” was the
US, the “brothers” were France and Germany and the “sisters” was
Libya, Syria and Palestine.
Iranians left in
sorrow
January 16, 1979 the father of Iran left the country with
tears in his eyes. July 27, 1980 he closed his eyes
forever in Egypt and left the Iranians
in great sorrow. Today, after about 28 years with the Islamic republic in
power the Shah of Iran is missed more than ever, something which continues
growing for each day that passes by. Iranians youths look back at Iran during his time and
ask themselves with tears in their eyes, “where were we then and where are we
heading now?”. That’s a question many people ask themselves and each other
today. A respected and rich nation has been transformed into a nation know
for its creation and support of international terrorism, torture, execution
and imprisonment.
Arvin Khoshnood
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