Forty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini founded the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is little excitement left from those times; even pro-reform forces are exhausted, except for the women among them.
Sadegh Zibakalam is not expecting much from the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. “On the anniversary, politicians will hold speeches again. They will talk about exporting the Islamic Revolution, about the destruction of Israel and the war against the US. But what almost never appears in their speeches are the true aims of the revolution 40 years ago,” the political scientist from Tehran told DW. “The revolution promised us democracy, the rule of law and freedom of the press. It promised us the right to freedom of opinion, without being arrested and tortured.”
As a young student, Zibakalam had supported the revolution. During the regime of the Shah, he had spent two years in prison, but he is also aware of the repression taking place in Iran today. A winner of DW’s Freedom of Speech Award in 2018, he was, at first instance, sentenced to prison for 18 months. The reason: In an interview with DW, he had shown sympathy for the protesters in Iran. From December 2017 to January 2018, the country witnessed the biggest anti-government protests in a decade.
The Islamic republic — then and now
Among other things, Zibakalam said that many citizens in the country had expressed “wishes and demands that had been pent up for a long time” and had vented their “disappointment about the entire system.” In fact, there was even occasional praise for the former Shah Reza Pehlavi, who was overthrown by the revolution in 1979. At most, 30 percent of Iran’s citizens still believe in the Islamic republic, the political scientist said.
Things were different 40 years ago: At the time, 98 percent of Iranians had, through a referendum, agreed to the future reform of the state and declaration of an Islamic republic. Even if this number was “surely wrong,” German diplomats at the time reported that there was no doubt about the overwhelming support for Khomeini as the leader of the revolution and the country.
In this manner, he was able to implement the system of “guardianship or governance of the Islamic jurist,” as the core element of Iran’s constitution against the competing ideas of moderate and leftist forces. This was possible because of Khomeini’s popularity, but very soon, the “proven” methods of suppressing the free press and outfits like Hezbollah started rearing their heads.
After the heavy losses following the war with Iraq (1980-1988), the “system” (Nezam in Persian, based on conservative clerics and revolutionary guards) was able to consolidate its power. Nevertheless, there were phases when reform-oriented and liberal currents could assert themselves, but without resulting in any sustainable changes.
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