#Iranian Revolution

[shootfighting]

"Someone's crime was dancing with her hair in the wind. Someone's crime was that he or she was brave and criticized... 44 years of your government. It's the year of failure." Toomaj Salehi, "Faal"

Toomaj Salehi has been condemned to death for criticising the Iranian regime, please be his voice before it is too late! If you have twitter use the tags #FreeToomaj and #ToomajSalehi

[srldesigns6277]

In the wake of the election this advice is crucial. The woman she is talking about survived the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War.

Find joy through hardships, take the time to find ways to escape if you need too. Read, Write, Be as Creative ad possible.

Women are stronger when we work together. Make connections and create spaces where we can learn from one another. In Afghanistan women are not allowed to meet or be together making it ten times harder to work together

And Tell Your Stories. Share and express what you go through since everyone's experiences are crucial in surviving.

You are important, you are loved, you need to survive and be you as much as you can. ❤️

[phobic-human]

Propaganda poster art promoting the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas (OIPFG), a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement in Iran.

It was one of the most prominent armed groups during the Iranian Revolution.

[guerillas-of-history]

IRAN. Tehran. 1979. Iranian armed rebels during the Islamic revolution.

Photograph: Unknown

[animatejournal]

Persepolis Directors: Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud France/Iran, 2007

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Of its many failures, social media is let down by the speed of its news cycle, and the fickleness of its followers.

We’ve all seen it happen…

A flash-in-the-pan story blows up overnight, catches fire, and captures the eyes and ears of the online world.

A groundswell arrives, ‘this is it’ you hear, whispered, and then as fast as it arrived… it’s gone. Nothing changes.

All that knee-taking, and placard waving.

All that chest beating, and fist shaking.

All those buckets of icy water dumped on heads, and black squares slapped onto Instagram feeds.

The endless clapping, and clattering of pans on doorsteps.

After all of it; the performative grandstanding and slack-tivism… and nothing.

So we look around, blinkered, confused and deflated, shuffling home like a washed-out trip head, coming down from last night’s high.

The words we yelled are a rapidly fading dream, to be wound up, stored away and cringed over, in years to come.

The party is packed down, but don’t worry, the next ‘this is it’ moment is right around the corner.

Two years ago, we saw scenes of historic bravery and sacrifice in Iran, we saw strength, unity and heartbreaking loss.

We saw the familiar response from social media, and heard the same promises made, as they always are.

And again, nothing.

But Iran never stopped, and the revolution rolls on, quieter now, and away from the watchful eyes of the world.

The ‘women-lead revolution’ and the colossal sacrifice it’s built upon, falls on the deaf ears of fair-weather activism, too busy indulging in its next great battle.

But we cannot afford for Iran, and the thousands killed, to be consigned to the history books, or forgotten about, as tomorrow’s chip paper.

Because the violence continues none the less, and the deaths stack up.

So why is nobody talking about Iran?

And does it need our help now, more than ever?

-

Annual Report: https://iranhr.net/media/files/Iran_Human_Rights-Annual_Report_2023.pdf

Iran: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202405032382

==

I've often thought about Iran and the - qualified, frequently rejecting the notion it has anything to do with Islam - Western support for the protesters in their fight against the regime, especially in comparison to the present-day Western support for the regime and their Hamas agents in Gaza.

But inevitably come away feeling guilty I couldn't find out much of what's going on. I suppose I imagined it died out, just as the coverage did. It's impressive that they've kept going but distressing that the barbarism of the regime is actively being ignored by the Western news cycle, given how calculated and malevolent the executions are.

[loneranger0369]

Hi....

This News came out at the end of November, but I couldn't share it with you guys (due to Laziness. I'm sorry)....

News

Farideh Moradkhani, the niece of Islamic Republic’s "Supreme" Leader, calls on international community to support Iranians. She compares her uncle to Hitler and Mussolini. She says Iranians will overthrow the Islamic Republic.

She was then arrested.

It checks out. She is indeed a Niece of Khamenei.

I have shared the (link to the youtube) Video here...

Edit- The Morality Police did not get disbanded. It was just Propaganda by the West, that s*cks Khamenei D*ck....

Shame on them.

Well. Shame on me.

Fool me once, shame on me......

Please share.

Please reblog.

Freedom for Iran.

Women. Life. Freedom

[deadpresidents]

Since these questions were sent at about the same time, I'm going to answer them together in the same post.

There's actually a great book that came out in 2020 about the geopolitical rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran that really heated up following the Islamic Revolution in Iran that overthrew the Shah in 1979 in favor of the theocracy of the Ayatollah Khomeini: Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East by Kim Ghattas (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO). It's one of the better books that I've read in the past few years and the ideal book to pick up if you're interested in the two most powerful Islamic nations of the Middle East.

Another good book that focuses on both countries is Andrew Scott Cooper's 2012 book The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO).

SAUDI ARABIA (I've read A LOT of books about Saudi Arabia over the past few years, so I could go on-and-on, but I'll try to limit myself to just a few recommendations!) •The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa'ud by Robert Lacey (BOOK | AUDIO) •Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia by Robert Lacey (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Ibn Saud: The Desert Warrior Who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by Barbara Bray and Michael Darlow (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Siege of Mecca: The 1979 Uprising at Islam's Holiest Shrine by Yaroslav Trofimov (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Saudi Arabia in the Nineteenth Century by R. Bayly Winder •King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times by Alexei Vassiliev (BOOK | KINDLE) •Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States Since FDR by Bruce Riedel (BOOK | KINDLE)

IRAN •The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran by Andrew Scott Cooper (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present by John Ghazvinian (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Iran-Iraq War by Pierre Razoux (BOOK | KINDLE) •A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind by Michael Axworthy (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •Iran: A Modern History by Abbas Amanat (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer (BOOK | KINDLE) •Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam by Mark Bowden (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) •The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran by David Crist (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

I'll stop there for now. I could list scores of books because I'm fascinated by the history of both countries, their place in the world, and their relations with one another and with the United States. I probably read a lot more about Saudi Arabia and Iran -- and their leaders -- than most people would expect. So I have even more suggestions if you need them...but hopefully this is a good start!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ellen Ioanes at Vox:

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died Sunday in a helicopter crash, a shocking turn of events that immediately raised questions about the Islamic Republic’s future.  In the short term, Raisi’s passing is unlikely to alter the direction of Iran’s politics. But it does remove one possible successor to 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the long term, Raisi’s unexpected death may prove more consequential. The question of Khamenei’s succession is increasingly urgent because of his advanced age. Though Iran’s president can be influential in setting policy, the Supreme Leader is the real seat of power, controlling the judiciary, foreign policy, and elections. Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s helicopter made a hard landing sometime on Sunday in Iran’s mountainous northwest, where weather conditions made travel difficult and dangerous. Iranian state media announced the deaths of the two politicians and six others onboard, including three crew members, on Monday after rescue teams finally reached the crash site. The deaths of both Raisi and Amirabdollahian come at a time of internal and external challenges for the Iranian regime. A harsh crackdown after the widespread protests of 2022 and significant economic problems domestically have eroded the regime’s credibility with the Iranian people. Internationally, Iran is embroiled in a bitter regional conflict with Israel as well as a protracted fight with the US over its nuclear program.

In the near term, the first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, will be the acting president as the country prepares to hold elections within the next 50 days as dictated by its constitution. (The Iranian government includes vice presidencies overseeing different government agencies, similar to US Cabinet-level secretaries; the first vice president is roughly equivalent to the US vice president.) Raisi was considered a potential successor to Khamenei, having already been vetted by the ruling clerics during his 2021 presidential run and having been committed to the regime’s conservative policies. With his death, amid one of the regime’s most challenging periods, Iran’s long-term future is a little less certain.

Within Iran, succession is the biggest question 

A hardline conservative cleric, Raisi always wore a black turban symbolizing his descent from the prophet Muhammad. His close relationship with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fueled speculation that he could succeed Khamenei. The paramilitary force exerts significant sway over internal politics and also wields influence throughout the broader region through aligned groups and proxy forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza.  Raisi was initially elected in 2021 with 62 percent of the vote, though turnout was only 49 percent — the lowest ever in the history of the Islamic Republic, evidence of the crisis of legitimacy in which the government increasingly finds itself. “People don’t want to legitimate the government by participating in what they consider either fraudulent or just non-representative political outcomes,” Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, Walter H. Annenberg professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, told Vox. 

Throughout his judicial career, Raisi is alleged to be responsible for or implicated in some of the government’s most brutal repression and human rights abuses since the 1979 revolution, including serving on the so-called Death Committee, which was tasked with carrying out thousands of extrajudicial executions of political prisoners in the 1980s. During and after the Iran-Iraq war, there were a number of groups opposed to the regime, as well as supporters of the Iraqi position and even an attempt to attack Iran from Iraq. In order to preserve the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered a sweeping purge of the opposition; many of the dissidents who were arrested were chosen for execution arbitrarily.

Following the disputed 2009 election — which birthed the Green Movement, the most significant threat to the regime in decades — Raisi, then a high-level member of the judiciary, called for the punishment and even execution of people involved in the movement. And as president, he helped oversee the violent backlash to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement that erupted following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly. Raisi’s unpopularity due to his repressive past and worsening living standards for ordinary Iranians had helped further erode the government’s legitimacy, which may affect the upcoming presidential contest.

With the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi via a plane crash, it could have long-term effects, as Ayatollah Ali Khameini could be nearing the doorstep of death and succession plans to succeed him have been thrown into chaos.

[azural83]

The way the news about the morality police being shut down was simply the government's way of distracting people to make them stop paying attention but some people just believed it without doing any sort of research💀-

I thought we already got over the "don't believe everything you read on the Internet"

Especially not something related to human rights violations

[workersolidarity]

🇮🇷 U.S.-MADE IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT REFUELING IN MID-AIR

(In case any viewers are unfamiliar with this history, when Iran had its revolution in 1978-1979, a full force of American-made fighter jets, armored vehicles and other military assets were inhereted by the new government and the planes incorporated into its air force.)

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[haykhighland]

My father’s last photo of his bedroom in Tehran, prior to fleeing after the revolution.

remnants pt 1

[intensepokerface]

The world is seriously so fucked up that every time I even attempt to write something about Iran, I feel embarrassed. Like I wanna write about how Iranians are protesting when just kilometers away, in Afghanistan, girls aren’t allowed to go to school. When they’re getting raped and murdered by ISIS. I wanna write but then I remeber that Afghans are literally dying of hunger, when I remember that Syria is under fire, when I remember that Russia is still attacking Ukraine, when I remember that Palestinians are dying everyday and no one gives a shit.

But you know what? You know what’s really fucking interesting? The fact that all these events have something in common. And no it’s not the US (not saying they’re not involved or anything) and no it’s not Britain; it’s the fucking IRI.

The Islamic government of Iran has, for decades, been fucking things up in the middle east. And sure they have help from the US and Russia because what they’re doing benefits everybody at the top. They fuck up and all those big guys get a piece of the pie.

They have been funding ISIS and Taliban and at the same time sending troops to Syria and Palestine “to help end terrorism”.

They are killing their own people, supporting Putin and Russia and meddling in the politics of every country in the Middle East.

IRI isn’t just a problem for Iranians. Countries and their politics affect eachother. There is no fucked up nation that is not also ruining the lives of people in other countries. IRI is a problem for the entire world and with their demise so many other problems will also probably die down or become a lot less severe.

The big powers in the world don’t want Iran to be rid of this regime, it’s not good for them. Financially or in any other way. News will get warped, there will be no reports, there will be no help, they will keep on selling them weapons and ammo.

If you’re wondering about the Middle East and why there’s always something bad going on there, if you’re so used to hearing about Middle Easterns dying or being at war, it’s because it’s good for so many people that this be the way things are there. It’s not the natural order of things. No it’s beneficial. It helps the economy of so many other countries and politicians, even those in the fucking Middle East.

No government is going to put an end to this. To anything that’s going on there. It would be stupid of them. It’s only people who can help.

Only people. Normal people who can see clearly that what is happening is not right. People who genuinely have empathy and care. And it’s by people being informed and knowing about things that are happening and demanding action from their governments and the UN, that things will change. And they will.

Things will change, and they will get better. We just all have to take part. Nothing happens if people don’t care.

[jloisse]

Des cérémonies ont eu lieu partout en Iran pour commémorer le 45e anniversaire de la Révolution islamique

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Douglas Murray

Published: May 21, 2024

THE President of Iran died at the weekend in a helicopter accident – news that the BBC marked with the headline “President Ebrahim Raisi’s mixed legacy in Iran”.

“Mixed legacy” is an interesting way to sum up the life of someone better known as the “Butcher of Tehran”.

Raisi rose through the ranks of the revolutionary Islamic Government that overthrew the Shah in 1979.

And he made his name in the usual revolutionary Islamic way.

By killing his political opponents — including the leftists who the regime rounded up, imprisoned and murdered by the thousands in their jails.

Some of the obituaries have noted that Raisi helped speed up the backlog of trials in Iran.

That is true. He did it in the same way Stalin did — by killing his opponents fast.

The United Nations noted his passing in its own unique way.

At the Security Council, the member States were invited to stand and observe a minute’s silence for Raisi.

Those taking part shamefully included our own deputy ambassador to the UN, James Kariuki.

At the same time, Iranians were letting off fireworks and handing out sweets in their own streets.

There has been more mourning at the United Nations than there has been in Iran.

Perhaps that is because the Iranian people are the first ones who have had to suffer under the cruel rule of President Raisi.

It was on his watch that students and others who have protested against his regime have been abducted, tortured and killed.

It is Raisi’s regime which has overseen the harshest rule of Islamic law — which includes the hanging of women who have been raped.

That’s right. If you are a woman who has been raped in Iran, you are the culprit.

And you will be the one that is hanged.

Are the women who suffered that horror worth a minute’s silence at the UN? I would have said so.

Is their hangman? I’d have said not. Yet the UN and others continued with this gross spectacle.

Today, the organisation flew its flags at half-mast at its HQ in New York.

How morally sick can an organisation be?

We seem to have come to the stage where international bodies, as well as some sick people at home, will love anyone so long as that person hates us.

And Raisi and his foreign minister, who died with him, certainly did hate us.

Theirs is a regime which has, for 44 years, called for “Death to America” and “Death to the UK”.

It is a regime which has caused a numberless loss of lives inside Iran and in the wider region.

It is a regime which has been trying to expand its power in its own region and whose assassins have made it as far as New York and London.

Only last month, a member of the Iranian opposition was stabbed outside his house in London.

Almost certainly by assassins sent to the UK by the government in Iran.

All the time, Raisi and his friends have tried to make their regime invincible by gaining a nuclear weapon.

So far they have had that project delayed many times.

But they still seek the bomb and are one of the very few regimes on Earth that has said they would like to use it.

We should take them at their word.

It is the regime in Iran that has, for years, funded and trained terrorists across the region and indeed the world.

‘Mass slaughter’

In October last year, when Hamas terrorists broke into Israel and carried out the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, it was Iran which backed them.

It is Iran that has funded Hamas. It is Iran that has trained Hamas. And it is Iran that has armed Hamas.

Just as they have also trained, funded and armed their other terrorist groups.

Notably in Yemen. Where Iran’s Houthi friends have fired missiles and attacked British ships.

But also in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, where Iran’s weapons have killed British and American soldiers.

And that is before even getting on to the 150,000 missiles Iran has helped Hezbollah store up in southern Lebanon.

Or the drones and other munitions it has been giving to Vladimir Putin’s Russia as he tries to overrun Ukraine.

All of his foul life, Raisi hoped to start and win a massive regional war.

Why should the man who oversaw all this and very much more be given any respect?

You might say it makes political sense to keep doors open — as most of our Foreign Office seems to think.

But it is quite another thing to mourn, or lament, the passing of this man.

The BBC, Foreign Office and United Nations may not know what a tyrant is. But the Iranian people do.

If only we could show that we are on their side.

We could start by showing that we are also on our own.

==

Good fucking riddance. The Earth is a better place with him as a splatter stain upon it.

The absolute moral confusion that has infected our institutions is truly dire.