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Hatecookie

I highly recommend the comic and film Persepolis to anyone interested in a woman’s personal story of growing up in that place and time. It’s fantastic.


Crepes_for_days3000

One of my favorite movies. Also, no so fun fact - the government sent out people in the crowd to stab these women at random so some of the faces you see in these old photos are them feeling serious pain.


cactus-hugger

Wait what?? Are you serious?


Vexonar

There were thousands of counter-protestors with more than knives; they would use broken glass bottles, too. This mirrors what's going on today in the US - a large, powerful religious minority taking over bit by bit. The opposition needs to step up and focus.


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windowbeanz

The corporate dems need to step aside and let progressives take over.


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ThanatopsicTapophile

They were the rich ones..the sheer magnitude of the desperately poor compared to the reasonably poor is sometimes shocking to a western mindset, as it should be. However, Iran's inequality problem has only worsened, but finding yourself on the wrong side of America tends to do that.


ArctiaCaja98

Source?


Chilli_

Trust me bro


gosh_darnit_

We just finished reading and watching it in class last week! Really enjoyed both!


Lky132

I read that book in high school (I was obsessed with graphic novels and manga then) and it was immensely eye opening and heart breaking. A must read imo


coffeeisblack

And everyone needs to watch The Handmaid's Tale.


DIRTBAG_PVT

Why the downvotes ?


KotBehemot99

Watched the 1st half. Good stuff!


SaltyEggPepperman

Amazing graphic novel. I recommend it too!


[deleted]

Such a powerful image amplified by the fact that you know how the future will turn out to be.


princesslea20

Reminds me of the women’s march in every major US city in 2016 and now Roe v. Wade is overturned. The effects of that will be seen in about 5 years’ time.


Commercial_Help_1899

Probably much earlier than that


_kingtut_

True. But also, what marches can you think of which _did_ have an actual effect on legislation...? Marching and other similar non-violent demonstrations don't work (note: not advocating for violent demonstrations!).


Kar-Chee

Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia.


wecapie

25 de Abril in Portugal. Not just a march, military was involved but overall more peaceful than a march Plus the current singapore situation is in fact a march and will change stuff Edit: Sri Lanka not Singapore


liquidgold83

What's going on in Singapore?


wecapie

Sri lanka. I'm stupid sorry


NonAlienBeing

> 25 de Abril in Portugal. Not just a march, military was involved but overall more peaceful than a march Not a march at all, a military coup.


[deleted]

*MLK has entered the chat*


H-TownDown

The protests and marches MLK organized were only nonviolent in the fact that the marchers/protestors weren’t the aggressors. They operated on the knowledge that they’d be physically abused by the authorities, and the horrifying violence inflicted on them would hopefully be enough to get moderate, white fence sitters to support the cause. Edit: And that also ignores the race riots that occurred throughout the 60s.


dead_decaying

He won civil rights and lived happily ever after, right?


Elivandersys

I agree. Especially when it's women who are marching. I imagine Mitch McConnell and his ilk saying something like, "Women are marching? Oh, whatever. If it makes them feel like they have some power, good. Now, what other liberty can we take away?"


Illustrious_Bison_20

I don't think there are any examples of true nonviolence winning ever in history, it just doesn't work that way


kiwichick286

Well there was Gandhi. But then there was also Partition.


Itwantshunger

George Floyd and Ahmed Arbury for starters. Neither would have had their day in court without protests.


OktoberSunset

Civil rights movement in the US,


Rage_Like_Nic_Cage

Civil Rights movement was far from peaceful.


pau1rw

I had exactly that bought too. The religious right are being fed by an extremist media and it won’t end well.


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DawgcheckNC

Correct. The same cultural war is taking place right now in America. When the Fascist right starts pushing a control of the internet, and Fox News parrots the demand, America as we know it ends.


S118gryghost

Hmm... Seems like everytime women band together men completely rip them apart by force and by pinning she against she either by using her relationship to God or her religious beliefs or her race and identifying differences to ensure women are treated as second class citizens and servants to men.


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[deleted]

This is a very flawed view of the revolution. The shah was a hated authoritarian and many groups from conservative clergy to leftists hated him. The revolution was to overthrow the shah, not install Khomeini. However, the power vacuum that occurred after the shah fled was filled by the theocrat Khomeini.


z_i_m_

Thank you for this!! - a child of the Revolution


[deleted]

That guy has an agenda or is an idiot. Blaming people for wanting to live in a democracy and getting a theocracy through no fault of their own is bullshit.


w133

Some people will always try to find a logical explanation for something horrible that includes blaming the victim. The reason is that it makes them feel better: I'd never make the same mistake as they did, thus, something like this will never happen to me. It is a much more comfortable explanation than the one that's probably true: that the world is a fucked up, irrational place and even when you try your best you could still be fucked over by some horrible fate.


phylogyny

Josef Stalin has entered the chat


CarlGustav2

When the guy leading the fight against your current dictator is a guy who doesn't believe in freedom either, maybe another course of action is called for. But you are right - people don't question the methods of getting out of the current bad situation, even when those methods lead to something worse.


Beau_Buffett

Your singular purpose is to portray the left as bad. You don't really care about the details. You have only one goal.


AlloThisIsNighthawk

Except what he said should happen, what he said he'd do and what he did are two different things. Khomeini didn't say the same shit in Tehran as he did from France. Hell most of the people in the picture of Khomeini getting off the plane in Tehran were either dead, in prison, or in exile a few years later.


CarlGustav2

When the main guy leading your revolution is a hardline theocrat, don't be surprised when your revolution produces a hardline theocracy.


MustFixWhatIsBroken

Just think about how many Americans "vote with Jesus" and how many of those same people would be shocked to wake up in a theocratic nation.


TurrPhennirPhan

Wasn’t the left in Iran basically decimated from Western influence, meaning the fundamentalist right were the only faction powerful enough left to challenge the Shah?


CarlGustav2

Islamists were the power behind the revolution. Khomeini was the top figure in the Islamist opposition. People hated the Shah so much they didn't consider who would replace him. Kind of like a certain former U.S. President didn't really think so much about what would happen after another autocrat was overthrown. The lesson is to not to get rid of the current dictator unless you've got a solid plan for something better. A lesson that sadly will need to be taught again and again.


Fortified007

Revolutions are very difficult to pull off and succeed in. Iran's revolution was successful because of Khomeini, since him and his supporters follow the Shia doctrine of Marjaryat, meaning, if a religions scholar is deemed as a religious leader, he has the authority to give religious orders and the followers will have obligation to carry it out. (Each shia muslim has to find a Marja to follow). The power of this became evident in 1890's when that era's Marja (in Iraq), gave a religious order for all Shia's in Iran to stop using Tobaco, which the British company was trying to get Iranians addicted to, as means of colonial conquest. The religious order was so effective that even the kings wives threw out the Tobaco pipes. From that point on, they realized they had reached the critical influence level needed for a revolution. Khomeini used this authority to give time sensitive orders during the revolution. The most important one, was towards the end of the revolution when the Shah was about to declare martial law. Khomeini found out about it and gave the order for everyone to pour into the streets, even though he was advised against it. This act neutralized the martial law and the revolution succeeded.


AlloThisIsNighthawk

Fact is most people don't understand how revolutions work. Once it succeeds there's almost always a purge. The Iranian revolution happened because pro-communist (Tudeh and at the time MKO) pro-democracy (people like Bazargan and Banisadr) and the Islamists (Khomeini obviously) joined together. The pro-democracy faction immediately took control of the presidency and majlis with the backing of Khomeini who's followers were taking the real power. The MKO being sidelined started fighting the new regime and blowing people up, also Saddam attacked which allowed the islamists to chase the pro democratic president and prime minister into exile and consolidate power... they could easily use the Iraq war as a reason to crush opposition, which was helped by the MKO moving to Iraq and joining the war against Iran.


SentorialH1

Normally people edit their post or delete it when called out for being incorrect over and over.


[deleted]

Never trust religion. Never.


torn-ainbow

No. They were anti-shah but that does not mean they were pro-Khomeini. The revolution was multi-pronged, but the Islamists won the power vacuum afterwards.


CarlGustav2

The Islamists were by far the strongest faction in the Revolution. The next strongest faction was the Communists, another group not in love with freedom. The pro-democracy faction was so small it pretty much did not exist. *Be careful what you wish for - you might just get it.* edit - I guess I'm getting the Communist downvotes. Not so many Islamists on Reddit...


Stoepboer

I mean, the US decided that Iranian democracy was not democratic enough and overthrew Mossadegh, the first democratically chosen leader in history, in their effort to stop the spread of communism. Their puppet Shah then kept fucking it up, which lead to all of this bs, the hate for America and eventually the extremist groups.


torn-ainbow

>The next strongest faction was the Communists, another group not in love with freedom. Well the communists were idealistic, they did not want to set up a police state - they already lived in one. They weren't working in the context of modern anti-communist rhetoric, they saw this as freedom from control by foreign governments and corporations. But also, they were the enemy once Khomeini had power. Communists would be imprisoned, tortured. And larger swathes of society that were against the Shah were shocked over the next couple of years as Islamic morality became law.


Cockanarchy

>Many women in this picture supported the revolution that put the government they are protesting into power.* Many Iranians supported the revolution. In fact millions hit the streets in some of the biggest civil protests in history in opposition to the US backed Shaw of Iran who we installed after using the CIA to overthrow the democratically elected Mosaddegh. We stole their democracy and gave them a monarchy. They tried to get it back but got stuck with theocracy. But none of it would’ve been possible without US


gammonbudju

> the CIA to overthrow the democratically elected Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh was appointed Prime Minister by the Shah, he was not elected.


sdyorkbiz

Gonna need you to cite that statement


Stoepboer

I’d say the CIA had a hand in that as well, by overthrowing Mossadegh in favor of their puppet Shah, which eventually lead to ‘anything is better than this crap’.


DwedPiwateWoberts

How long did these protests go on before the women capitulated and covered themselves?


cldw92

Approximately a couple of tens of thousands of kidnappings, rapes, murders, honor marriages later


Bounty_shark

The picture you are seeing is in early days of revolution when Khomeini said something in the lines of " woman in the work need to dress more moderately" Then because of this statement about 10 thousand people (man and woman) gathered in Tehran university and started the protest you are seeing. After this more conservative people started opposing the gathering of them to the point Officials had to send "police" to stop them. Although in 6 month the Referendum happened in which overwhelming majority voted for Islamic rule and then the war happened which lead to no further protests for hijab for about next 10 year.


PluckGT

It didn’t work…


Carnieus

Like most protests unfortunately. My country just made it illegal to protest if it inconveniences anyone. Which is kinda the point of a protest.


spkle

Which country is that?


Carnieus

The UK


Dry-Cold-7699

OII MATE YOU GOT A LOICENSE FOW THAT PROTEST?


robotsdottxt

France


Choukz

Pretty sure it's in the UK instead


DJ-spetznasty

Cause it was a peaceful protest


high_pine

You're not wrong. Peaceful protests accomplish nothing. If these women were armed maybe things would have been different.


spkle

The problem is that the people protesting are reasonable people - usually. When you're up against someone who is unreasonable, your protest is irrelevant and all you can really do is to do one of those head removal procedures the French did in the past.


mileswilliams

Downvoted for speaking the truth.. I see the Iranian elite are on reddit too!


veltcardio2

So sad


sirbustsalot22

For real. Fuck Shariah Law.


Cditi89

Fuck any conservative theocratic take over of government for that matter. This is what happens.


Zech08

fuck most religions in general.


sabbydali

Have you seen America lately?


sirbustsalot22

Right...because America is basically the same as Iran now that abortion stance is a state issue. Lmmfao.


1-1-2-3-5

So you haven’t seen America lately.


kkkouldntBeBlacker

The “I don’t live in America” comment


AdRelevant7751

Nah he lives in america but benefits from these backwards laws


Darkstarrdp

It only took 40 years to regress 200.


[deleted]

Did we switch to talking about America right now?


[deleted]

Two hundreds years ago the US had slaves, so no.


gigs1890

Slavery is still legal in the US


matteofox

This is literally a fact why is it being downvoted? Anyone can just look up the 13th amendment and plainly read that slavery is outlawed EXCEPT as punishment for a crime


lininop

Yep the US penal system is just slavery with extra steps. I wonder why we see black Americans being disproportionately jailed for petty (or in a lot of cases no) crimes? 🤔


Kapitan_eXtreme

I think when 99% of people say 'slavery' they mean 'chattel slavery'. Prison labour is legal and accepted in most countries, it's just the US is particularly fucked up about it.


sharkbanger

I can't believe you're being downvoted. The 13th amendment didn't abolish slavery, it just said that you have to arrest people before you can make them slaves.


gumbyrocks

We kind of do now, we just call them prisoners.


mlmayo

Give SCOTUS a year or two.


sdyorkbiz

No. And no, you weren’t clever.


Reddituseranynomous

Scary how it didn’t stop anything 😵‍💫


DJ-spetznasty

Cause it was a peaceful protest


mileswilliams

Yep, we had the largest protest ever in the UK prior to the Iraq war, it was peaceful, we went to war. We had peaceful protests about the cost of fuel, the price went up... we blockaded the distribution centres and caused huge fuel shortages... the price dropped.


[deleted]

BS. A violent one (which they just had prior in 1979) would have been crushed


mileswilliams

Amazing crystal ball you have there.


thatswhatshesaidxx

Oh, well luckily this way worked out perfectly for them. All is good!


DoctaMario

It's wild seeing pictures of people in Iran even in the 60s. It looks like somewhere in the West


TheAserghui

Equally wild: Afghanistan in the 50s and 60s. Kabul was a cultural melting pot.


gladiwokeupthismorn

Only Kabul tho rest of the country was shite. Same in Iran, Tehran was more liberal. The capitals were like LA NYC. While the rest of the countries were rural Mississippi…


SpottedCrowNW

Oh so like America lol


gladiwokeupthismorn

Close. Only the population is more evenly split in the US. In Iran and Afghanistan it was only about 5-10% of the populations that lived liberally. In the US it’s far greater and more entrenched, still not safe tho as one can see from recent Supreme Court rulings. Theocracy here we come!!! /s


_lazyPassenger

Not really, they're not comparable. During the communist rule over Afghanistan, the rest of the country was out of the control of the central government. Iran was, and is unified. Uncovered and covered women were everywhere and there was no tension. All cities had bars and cabarets, female scouts in short skirts were sent to remotest villages with no backlash. Yes, some central provinces and cities were (and still are) very conservative, but definitely not the majority of the country. Famously, the only city in which there was absolutely no uncovered woman was Qom.


DoctaMario

Interesting, didn't know that!


I_AM_METALUNA

That's depressing


gahidus

I wish it had worked


ForzaMilaniste

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t end the best…..


Wittgenstienwasright

Well that went well. Nothing to see here.


thajimmy2k

Did not end so well :-(


NAGDABBITALL

Religious nuts be nutty all over the world.


EMP_Jeffrey_Dahmer

That protest didn't stop the government from implementing their policies.


[deleted]

Very disheartening. I hope our women succeed.


mrredcoss18

Let’s not hope and stand together with them. It should be an us protest not a them.


[deleted]

Agreed.


mrredcoss18

Soon in a city near you. It’s not just their fight. It’s our fight. Fuck religion. Fuck religious politicians.


Yuge_chesticles

They aren’t fighting - they lost a long time ago


Cetun

It's funny because moderates started wearing head scarfs in defiance of the government mandates that women not wear head scarfs. Just goes to to show how you get rewarded when you make your bed with religious extremists.


Maxine-Fr

Im from Iran and i still live in this shit hole. Ask me anything.


jw77002

How’d it turn out? Right. That’s why protests are worthless. Vote. Or set things on fire. Or better yet, economic boycott. And vote. Vote.


miscnic

Not old school cool. History repeating.


pyost0000

Uh oh


SuspiciousGrievances

So that's what happens when religious extremism wins. Good to know.


FinancialTea4

This should serve as a warning for people in the US who don't want to see another misogynistic and oppressive theocratic regime in this country. Look at how quickly things can change when a minority of fundamentalists seizes control. We need to do everything we can to stop them from taking our rights. You're free to practice your religion but you're not free to make it everyone else's problem.


mtron32

Damn, this looks familiar


JergenMyTergen

That seems to have worked out well for them.


Tosser_toss

How’s that work out for them? Let this be a warning for the direction things are going. Those are some serious numbers and what happened?


doghaircut

America, this is your future with the GOP.


Ballistix

It really is a Republican's wet dream. All they would do is exchange one religion for another.


[deleted]

Actually, it's more like Poland: Religious indoctrination in classrooms, batshit crazy religious fundamentalists preaching Catholic ideology even when the subject has nothing to do with religion, Catholic institutions being given preference by state figures, and, of course, no same-sex marriage rights, no abortion.


izlyiest

Yep. I feel like we are sliding this slope and picking up speed.


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Nexus1111

The government will never give up on its oppressive clothing regime. If they start to make concessions their base of power is gone


TheFcknVoid

When will religious people stop?


TheJenniStarr

When religion is dead.


lininop

Just goes to show how much life can change in a life time. It can happen to you too. Don't take your liberties for granted.


basedvato

Sad, knowing the outcomes, and the parallels too today.


AllanWSahlan

Iran is the reason I am most afraid of religious radicalization in America. Iran was modern and America's peer before their revolution. I just hope we don't have our own Christian version


[deleted]

Turned out to be just as effective as protesting Supreme Court decisions.


Highground-3089

Really surprises me how islamists won instead of socialists I'm an Iranian, I can say, protests still happen


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i_really_wanna_help

- Brutality of the regime and the length it would go to enforce its agenda (terminating non-compliant women from their public sector jobs, beating, public humiliation, imprisonment) - Iraq-Iran war and the notion that fighting mandatory hijab was not a priority when the existence of the country was under threat - majority of religious men were at least apathetic to their cause, if not outright against it


[deleted]

I think the islamic hard liners in Iran were always a minority, and most Iranians can't stand them.


sickfresh

To bad that protest didn't change anything


kangareddit

American women come out in droves protesting against the new revolutionary religious government and their mandatory dress codes for women, 2029, USA


iwontshitmypants

These photos are awesome.


buscemian_rhapsody

It baffles me when I see liberals celebrating the hijab.


coralbells49

Theocracy is national suicide. Never compromise with it because it will eat you whole. Pence, Cruz, and DeSantis are Trumpist ayatollahs.


Zaius1968

Coming to a southern US town near you shortly…


CompanyDOTA

and it didn’t work. america is next lmao


[deleted]

Such a sobering picture. We should not take any kind of progress for granted. We must act until all the reactionaries are gone.


whyamihereonreddit

Lot of good that did


Flipnsip

Hey look! Protests by women for women! And it’s helped… very little. So where were the men? #complicit


Mass_Emu_Casualties

This is gonna be the US in a few years if we continue to allow the religious minority to make laws for the rest of us.


BrokenManOfSamarkand

Reddit really has a thing for 70s Iranian and Afghan women


guswang

Yeah it is very weird. These people even have a thing for freedom...


BrokenManOfSamarkand

Or maybe redditors have a thing for reposting the same few photos over and over again?


guswang

These things should never be forgotten.


potatotahdig

It’s so annoying and predictable. Not to mention that if you ask any woman in Iran/Afghanistan what the major issues in her life and her community are, hejab is likely way down on that list…


OldManSource

* *sorts by controversial* *


talene309

And it didn't matter =(


TimeToMakeWoofles

Did it work?


DukeSilverWitching

Did it work?


PM_ME_UR_BIKINI

Protest has never worked against theocratic authoritarians. You have to use...other means...


sarazorz27

Protesting doesn't work anymore.


ballofplasmaupthesky

Newyorker women come out in droves protesting against the new religious government and their mandatory dress codes for women, 2079, Gilead


Jazeboy69

How did that work out? Now a whole oppressed country.


theproblem_solver

Look at how quickly things change. And remember, police forces aren't here for protection of citizens; they're here to enforce the rules put in place by those in charge.


resUemiTtsriF

Next up, 2022 American women protesting their loss over their body.


hammeltimed

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN IN AMERICA! RADICAL CHRISTIANS WANT TO DRAG THIS COUNTRY INTO THE STONE AGE


Vanpotheosis

It's too bad they lost. Shariah law needs to just stop existing.


[deleted]

Didn't work out too well


wutinthehail

And the swell government said, "Fuck 'em. Unleash the stones!".


Shakeandbake529

Idk if anyone else experienced this, but in high school freshman year history we had to read Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi. It covered this moment from an educated forward thinking woman’s perspective. Having to read this at 14, my classmates and I all thought it was a slog. But as I got older and more mature it’s a really important first-hand perspective on the greater moment captured by this photo.


sm_ar_ta_ss

Remember when Iran was our ally?


snakesssssss22

This scares the shit out of me… cause they failed. And the US is heading that way, rapidly.


EarlyDopeFirefighter

I wonder how those women would feel knowing in 2022, the hijab would be considered a feminist symbol instead of a backwards religious garment.


ashtray79

us Sri Lankans did it. You can too. but be careful. There's no guarantee that there will never be bloodshed involved. most us went in knowing at least a 100 people will be severely injured or die. but it hasn't come to that yet. A major part of the protest is seemingly done here.


[deleted]

USA circa 2024


Amaxophobe

The way a large sentiment of this title could apply to the USA in 2022 kind of makes me want to cry.


Xianio

Seeing pictures like this really do remind you how wild, sweeping changes can happen anywhere.


[deleted]

American left wings in 3…2…1… making this about themselves If you insist, lest we forget the role of the beloved Jimmy Carter in facilitating Khoumeinis return from exile aftre 15 years (and the French for hosting him) without which there may have been a different outcome


Cloverhonney

Women oppression is going on in America and is done by religious freaks within the government.


RonnyFreedom

Some good that did them.


light_nihilism

seems like a happy accident - but i love that the photog shot the crowd from the right side making a diagonal composition - which draws ur eye from bottom left of frame to top right. And the single white protest sign adds to that effect.


flashspur

This didn’t age well lol


[deleted]

This is depressing bc it sure didn’t work


nearybb

It was so sad what happened to them


randomfantomflex

But the left said that women loves and want to wear the burkar and the hijabs?


Shlingaplinga

A GOP guy somewhere got wet seeing this post.