Rstuff

Young leftist women in 1979, holding up a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini, calling for the modern-day version of the intifada. Here’s the difference. They won. At the time, women in Iran had unparalleled rights, beyond anywhere else in the Middle East. They had full suffrage, could hold high office, freedom of dress, and were present in parliament, courts, ministries, and diplomacy. They were widely educated and professionally active in law, medicine, engineering, academia, and the arts. In terms of civil and legal rights, they were equal to—and in some cases ahead of—western women in the 1970’s. Yet, it wasn’t enough. They wanted revolution. They had been seduced by the false promises. They wanted the Islamist figure who swore to free the oppressed from the oppressor and bring about heaven on earth, a utopia in Iran. We all know how this story ends. Lynchings, eye gauging, amputations, and mass graves. Now, westerners are falling about themselves in the same giddy delirium, hungry for a glimpse of the nightmare Iranians still haven’t woken up from. I guess that’s why they say those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.