Blog #12

Iran Documentary

In class the other day we watched a group of videos that showed Iranian history through the course of rule by Muhammad Reza Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini. While Muhammad Reza Shah took the throne after his fathers death, he was a very weak ruler, and acted as a puppet for the US government. Ayatollah Khomeini was a strong ruler who rose through the popularity of the people in favor of a much more stringent religious, Islamic government. On January 16th, 1979, Muhammad Reza Shah left Iran on what he claimed to be an "Extended Vacation." The population was on a tremendous uproar as Khomeini arrived out of exile on February 1st of that year. He was welcomed by an enormous crowd, as we saw in the documentary, Khomeini actually had to be evacuated by a helicopter as people from the crowd were jumping on and impeding the progress of his motorcade. While Muhammad Reza Shah died in Egypt one year later, Khomeini had to start from the beginning as the state, army, and international security forces had disintegrated. In addition to this, the economy had collapsed, and multiple parties ranging form the political Left ro the Far Right had begun campaigning for power. Through these tumultous years, one overpowering theme was constant...Cleveland states this thread as, "The common thread running through these early years of turmoil was the conflict over the furure orientation of Iranian society: Was it to come under the control of the religious establish ment and become an Islamic thocracy, or was it to emerge as a constitutional regime under moderate reformers of the Barzargan mold?" (Cleveland, 431)