Four Myths About Iran's Clerical Regime

Four Myths About Iran's Clerical Regime

By Saeed Rahnema
TheMarkNews.com
Published: January 7, 2011

Is Ahmadinejad an anti-imperialist, or really a deceptive populist? Let's address the illusions that lead people to support the Iranian president and his regime.

The Iranian Revolution of 1979, with its original demands for national independence, democracy, political freedom, and social justice, was one of the most important events of the 20th century.

It was initiated by secular intellectuals, men and women, writers, artists, academics, students, civil servants, and workers. Yet, paradoxically it gave rise to a repressive and religious obscurantist regime.

Years of suppression by the Shah’s regime had left a vacuum that was effectively used by the clergy. Khomeini’s rhetoric from exile fooled us into thinking that the clergy would be engaged only in religious and spiritual matters and that the democratic demands of the Iranian people would be respected. The takeover of the American Embassy by Khomeini’s followers and the Iraqi invasion created an illusion that the clerical oligarchy was progressive and anti-imperialist.

In the incredible and lengthy three decades of Islamist rule in Iran, the country regressed in all aspects of life – the political, the social, the cultural, and the economic – and the Islamic regime itself went through various phases of transformation.

Continued. . .