Iran’s revolution at 40: From theocracy to ‘normality’
In February 1979, Tehran was in chaos. A cancer-stricken Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Westernbacked autocrat, had gone into exile in mid-January, leaving behind a rickety regency council. On Feb. 1, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the godfather of the revolution, returned from exile in Paris. And in the Iranian version of “Ten Days That Shook the World,” street demonstrations raged until the government collapsed on Feb. 11.
Ecstatic Iranians danced in the streets, playing cat and mouse with soldiers as lingering pro-government sharpshooters fired from the rooftops. Families joined in mass protests, as vigilantes ransacked liquor stores and people kissed the foreheads of turbaned clerics leading the revolution.
Forty years ago, Iranians swelled with pride, hope and the expectation of a better future. Dreams of freedom and independence from the United States fired up the revolutionaries. But great, rapid change can leave deep and lasting wounds. There were lashings, hangings, amputations and mass imprisonment. Thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands left the country, some fleeing for their lives, never to return.
What materialized after those first bloody years was truly revolutionary: an Islamic republic, a theocracy built on ideological choices inspired to a great extent by Khomeini.
New rules were implemented to forbid anything that might prevent people from ascending to a heavenly afterlife: strict controls on the media, which isolated Iranians from Western influences; an absolute segregation of the sexes in public places; compulsory headscarves for women; bans on alcohol and musical instruments on television; rules forbidding women from riding bicycles. It went on and on, zealously and sometimes brutally enforced by the morality police and the paramilitary basij forces.
But over the years, as the early revolutionary fervor gave way to a yearning for a more normal existence, the rules became negotiable. While the political system is basically the same as those early years, society has changed slowly, at times almost imperceptibly. Those changes have been enormous, and Iran today is closer than most outsiders generally appreciate to being that “normal” country Iranians want.
It took time for the cumulative changes to reach a critical mass. But as the years progressed, the changes began to creep outdoors and become more noticeable. It is not all that unusual to spot a woman with pink hair flowing under her headscarf. Women now race through traffic riding bicycles, once seen as improper. They can even be seen riding motorcycles.
While state television still refuses to show musical instruments, there are buskers on the streets of Tehran. At times the state would fight back, making a few arrests in fitful efforts to roll back the changes, but never for long. At times, it seemed as if they had simply given up.
Connections to the outside world — the internet, of course, but particularly satellite TV broadcasts that broke the veil of isolation — were critical drivers of change. Police have largely given up that fight, too. There are just too many dishes around. Iranians can now watch over 200 Persian-language channels operating from abroad, showing everything from Keeping Up With the Kardashians to unfiltered news and Hollywood movies.
There were days when people would turn and stare at the sight of a boy and girl walking hand in hand on the streets. Public displays of affection were not appreciated, especially between unmarried couples. Today they hang out in parks together, smooching in the shadows.
Now, with Valentine’s Day approaching, young men are anxiously deliberating what to get their girlfriends. They can be seen running around with heart-shaped balloons or gigantic teddy bears, falling on their knees for their girlfriends in public spaces, and then posting the whole spectacle on social media.
Instagram, which is not blocked in Iran, has revolutionized the way Iranians view themselves. The photo-sharing app has been a major driver of change in a country where everything was hidden.