Reading and Misreading the Iranian Revolution
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Why did the Iranian Revolution catch so many in US and UK Governments by surprise in 1978-79? Why were so many enthusiastic about the fall of the Shah? Why did so many Western observers - including Michel Foucault, Fred Halliday, and Edward Said, misread Ayatollah Khomeini?
This lecture examines readings and mis-readings of the Iranian Revolution in Europe and the United States from the perspective of today’s uprising in Iran. Are we repeating the analytical mistakes of the past?
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Reading and Misreading the Iranian Revolution
Dr Roham Alvandi
14 November 2023
The Fall of the Shah
A Counter-Factual History
- The nature of the Islamic Republic that replaced the Pahlavi monarchy
- The Tehran Hostage Crisis and the presidency of Jimmy Carter
- Iran-Iraq War
- Gulf War of 1991
Why did we misread the Revolution in Europe and the United States?
- Why were American and British decision-makers so reluctant to see that the fall of the Shah was coming?
- Why were some intellectuals celebrating the fall of the Shah?
- Why were other intellectuals so reluctant to acknowledge that they had gotten the Revolution wrong?
The American Misreading
- US support for the 1953 coup that made the Shah an absolute monarch
- Shah’s autonomy from the United States in the 1970s
- Failure to support Iranian reformists
Jimmy Carter and the Shah
- The end of uncritical support for the Shah under Jimmy Carter
- The myth that Carter abandoned the Shah
- The Shah’s refusal to use force to hold on to power
The British Misreading
Britain and Iran after Empire
- Britain had lost its oil monopoly in Iran in 1951 and never recovered
- Popular perception of Britain as all powerful versus reality of a declining power
- Focus on commercial contracts and ignorance of social and political dynamics
The Labour Party and the Iranian Revolution
- Growing criticism of the Shah in Britain itself amongst the Left and Amnesty
- Failure of Whitehall and Labour ministers to understand the fragility of Shah’s regime
- BBC Persian’s role in the Revolution
- Browne Report commissioned by Lord Owen.
The Intellectuals’ Misreading
Contacts with the Iranian opposition in the West
- Shah’s visit to Berlin in 1967
- Confederation of Iranian Students in Europe and the United States
- Radicalization of Iranian student groups: speaking of armed struggle and Westoxification in Persian and of human rights in English, German and French
- Failure of the Western Left to understand the significance of the Shah reforms or the anti-liberal authoritarianism of the Iranian opposition
Foucault and the Iranian Revolution
- Michael Foucault’s critique of modernity and his attraction to Khomeini
- Foucault and the seductions of Islamism
- Foucault, unlike much of the Left, was correct that the Iranian Revolution was anti-modern
- Foucault ignored the danger of clerical rule for democracy, women’s rights and minority rights
The Triumph of an ‘Anti-Imperialist’ Revolution
Revolutionary Terror
- Executions of the Shah’s generals and officials (15 February 1979)
- International Women’s Day (8 March 1979)
- Execution of Hoveyda (7 April 1979)
- Closure of Ayandegan (8 August 1979)
An ‘Anti-Imperialism of Fools’?
- Richard Falk, Andrew Young, and the celebration of Khomeini
- Fred Halliday and ‘Islam with a fascist face’
- Edward Said and America’s Islamophobia
Misreading ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ in 2023
Context of Iran’s 2022 uprising
- Women: secularism vs. Islamism
- Life: prosperity vs. corruption
- Freedom: liberalism vs. authoritarianism
Our ‘culture wars’ and Iran’s enqelab
- Anti-Americanism and the reluctance of the Left to criticism the Islamic Republic
- Islamophobia in the West and the issue of mandatory veiling
- Making it about us: Feminism and Kurdish rights
© Dr Roham Alvandi 2023
References and Further Reading
Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (London: I. B. Tauris, 1993).
Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson, Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (Chicago: The University Press of Chicago, 2005).
Roham Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)
Roham Alvandi (ed.), The Age of Aryamehr (London: Gingko Library, 2018)
Ali M. Ansari, The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Nicholas Browne, ‘British Policy in Iran, 1974-1978’, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1979. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foi-release-report-on-british-policy-on-iran-1974-1978.
David Greason, ‘Embracing Death: The Western Left and the Iranian Revolution, 1978-83,’ Economy and Society, 34/1 (2005), pp. 105-140.
Robert Jervis, Why Intelligence Fails: lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010)
Arian Khameneh, ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ Tablet, 10 August 2023, available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-scholars-war-on-reality.
Negin Nabavi, Intellectuals and the State in Iran: politics, discourse and dilemma of authenticity (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).
Edward Posnett, ‘Treating His Imperial Majesty’s Warts: British Policy towards Iran 1977-1979,’ Iranian Studies, 45/1 (2012), pp. 119-137.
George L. Simpson, ‘Seeking Gandhi, Finding Khomeini: How America Failed to Understand the Nature of the Religious Opposition of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the Iranian Revolution,’ The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 8/3 (2017), pp. 233-255.
Graeme Wood, ‘Whose Afraid of Masih Alinejad,’ The Atlantic, 22 November 2022, available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/masih-alinejad-iran-hijab-protests/672204/.
David Zarnett, ‘Edward Said and the Iranian Revolution,’ Democratiya, 9 (2007), pp. 43-53, available at: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1390333455d9Zarnett.pdf.
© Dr Roham Alvandi 2023
Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (London: I. B. Tauris, 1993).
Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson, Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (Chicago: The University Press of Chicago, 2005).
Roham Alvandi, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)
Roham Alvandi (ed.), The Age of Aryamehr (London: Gingko Library, 2018)
Ali M. Ansari, The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Nicholas Browne, ‘British Policy in Iran, 1974-1978’, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1979. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foi-release-report-on-british-policy-on-iran-1974-1978.
David Greason, ‘Embracing Death: The Western Left and the Iranian Revolution, 1978-83,’ Economy and Society, 34/1 (2005), pp. 105-140.
Robert Jervis, Why Intelligence Fails: lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010)
Arian Khameneh, ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ Tablet, 10 August 2023, available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-scholars-war-on-reality.
Negin Nabavi, Intellectuals and the State in Iran: politics, discourse and dilemma of authenticity (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).
Edward Posnett, ‘Treating His Imperial Majesty’s Warts: British Policy towards Iran 1977-1979,’ Iranian Studies, 45/1 (2012), pp. 119-137.
George L. Simpson, ‘Seeking Gandhi, Finding Khomeini: How America Failed to Understand the Nature of the Religious Opposition of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the Iranian Revolution,’ The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, 8/3 (2017), pp. 233-255.
Graeme Wood, ‘Whose Afraid of Masih Alinejad,’ The Atlantic, 22 November 2022, available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/11/masih-alinejad-iran-hijab-protests/672204/.
David Zarnett, ‘Edward Said and the Iranian Revolution,’ Democratiya, 9 (2007), pp. 43-53, available at: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1390333455d9Zarnett.pdf.
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This event was on Tue, 14 Nov 2023
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