It is hard to believe that four decades has passed since the Islamic revolution was forced upon the Iranian people and their freedom disappeared. Under the rule of these adherents of death, everything in Iran is deteriorating while Iran’s religious government is strong and has a great deal of control on everything. Too much control without independent checks and balances encourages corruption, nepotism and inefficiencies. As a result, the bulk of the nation’s profits goes to a few select individuals.
This is a wake-up call for Iran’s authorities and the international community. Although denied by many through the past four decades, Iran is literally a political, social and economic time bomb closing in on a colossal detonation.
While Iran continues to develop its missile program which is sharply criticized by the United States and Israel, they simultaneously seek to suppress people’s desire to participate in country’s wealth. Prosecution and imprisonment of innocent people and systematic and illegal abuse of detainees along with hundreds of gruesome acts have also been reported.
Iranians have witnessed several uprisings, in general, but they have become numb and unable to function and conduct a normal life. The battle against the Islamic regime remains arduous and long. The mullahs will not give up power easily, even if that means the complete destruction of Iran.
The people of Iran hoping this current uprising is not a repeat of 2009 when Obama threw a lifeline to the mullah’s regime by not supporting the Iranian people and in effect siding with the genocidal mullahs. These turbaned thugs were taking their final breath, completely broke, and the good old USA comes to the rescue, releasing billions of dollars at the end of Obama’s second term while easing other sanctions. Hard to understand!
With the election of President Trump, once again, the Iranian people are jubilant and hopeful. They are hopeful that President Trump will put pressure on the Islamic regime to make it change its behavior. The
Islamic Republic’s infamous record is replete with instances of child execution, restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, imprisonment of journalists, discrimination against women in general, and persecution of religious minorities (with a particular systematic program of genocide against the Baha’is and their religion). The regime has ruled over a peaceful people with an iron fist while committing the most heinous crimes against humanity.
A reminder, Iran has the youngest and brightest and the most educated population of any country at this time in history. Iranians, like many other nationalities, have been struggling to achieve the liberty, justice and freedom that are being enjoyed, mostly, in western countries.
The current revolt may not lead to the immediate downfall of the regime, but we are witnessing the death throes of the Islamic Republic. Even if the uprising ends today, it is but one step in a long struggle to achieve a more representative, democratic and popular government led by Reza Pahlavi who has been summoned by the Iranian people to return.
After 40 years, the prosperity envisioned by Khomeini’s followers has yet to materialize, leaving many Iranians disillusioned. The children of the revolution have entered adulthood to find a lack of jobs, limited freedom, and little hope for the future.
What we are observing in Iran now should not be viewed as a selective outcry, but rather a work in progress, a hybrid momentum that started in 1999 and led by students who later became involved in the Green Movement. They are belatedly joining the current unrest, which is evolving to include new social classes of people who were not at the center of previous protests.
Young Iranians, particularly the urban educated, are among the most ardent believers in democracy in the world. Many view America as the country that holds the best hope for spreading and protecting the high ideals of democracy. In a sense, many Iranians feel a closer affinity with a democratic Israel than all the neighboring Arab Muslim dictatorships. Although Islam was imposed on Iran some 1400 years ago, Iranians deeply value their own ancient non-Arab identity and have never fully surrendered to the Arab culture.
During the bloodletting in the past war, initiated by the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against Iran, all Arab states sided with the Butcher of Baghdad against Iran. Yet, Israel was the only Middle Eastern country that remained neutral and in fact helped Iran in the struggle. We Iranians don’t forget our friends and we also remember our enemies.
Let me re-emphasize that the current protests in Iran are just as much against the Islamic Republic as they are about Shi’a Islam. In fact, much of it is against Islam itself. People have experienced what a primitive and defective system of belief Islam is and aim to abandon it for good. Many will still hang on to it to some extent for some time.
Time has arrived to end the Mullahs reign of terror. We Iranians and Iranian-Americans in spirit—free people of the world–greatly cherish individual liberty and freedom, where the mind is imbued with enlightenment, and every individual by virtue of being born human is afforded measured freedom. It is within the open expanse of liberty that each and every person can be at his or her best. And when the individual person is at his best, humanity is as well.
© 2018 Amil Imani – All Rights Reserved
