A year ago, on September 16^th 2022, the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody began a year of turbulent protest in Iran. Firouze’ Banisadr traces its roots to the original spirit of the 1979 revolution.

The characteristics of the Mahsa movement make it unique and unmatched in the history of Iran, that of Islamic civilization and the history of humanity.

Mahsa, a young woman, became the symbol of the movement, a symbol of oppression and daily violence that tyranny has bestowed upon the Iranian people, especially on women. It is a movement in defence of women’s rights, including freedom to choose what – and what not – to wear. The movement is characterised by the widespread and pioneering presence of women and the accompaniment and support of men and by unprecedented solidarity and support from across the world.

Iranian women have a long history  of involvement in political uprisings, dating back to the tobacco boycott movement in 1890. Women from different walks of life, from peasant farmers, tribal and nomadic women, to those of the court, had an active and influential presence in the victory of these public uprisings. In the constitutional revolution, women supported the demands of the revolution, and some advanced demands regarding women’s rights and fought for the right of girls’ to education.

During the period of the nationalisation of the oil industry, following the increase in the number of educated women and students, they entered the scene of political struggle through active involvement in political parties. In the same period, along with the struggles of women in Europe for  the right to vote, Iranian women were demanding the same. 

In the 1979 revolution, all people, women and men, old and young, from the north to the south, from the east to the west of the country, from the rich to the poor, from the educated to peasant farmers, were all present. Although such a level of women’s participation was unprecedented in the history of Iranian people’s struggles, the demands regarding women’s rights and the presence of women at the leadership level were very weak. At that time, women were convinced that the defence of freedom and independence was for all citizens and therefore transcended gender. They had trusted Mr. Khomeini’s commitment, as a political authority and leader, before the public opinion of the world, in Paris, that women would be free and could even become president.

In the history of societies, the spring of revolutions are rare periods when, according to Michelet, the historian of the French Revolution, people are in unprecedented unity, with an indescribable love, in the dream of creating a new society and a new human being. The generation of the 1979 revolution remembers well that the revolution drew the outlines of a world in which human relations can be different. Everything seemed possible; it is as if all the divisions and boundaries have been removed, the dominant relations in society have been dissolved and all the members of society have joined hands, creating a different present and future. According to Louise Michel, one of the leading women of the Paris Commune movement in 1871, revolution is the flowering of humanity as love is the flowering of the heart.

The emergence of independent personal identity 

Revolution occurs when a person realises that they are condemned to remain imprisoned in an identity and a place that tyranny draws for them and imposes on them. In the dynamics of the transformation of tyranny into absolute tyranny, the smallest space for the growth and flourishing of personal identity is removed from people. During the Pahlavi period, all classes of people were condemned to absolute obedience to the tyranny, and the only remaining ‘action’ was to engage in increasing corruption.

The educated class, in the environment of severe censorship and intimidation, did not have the possibility to develop and present their personal identity; the working class, with the corruption of the consumption-oriented economy, were deprived of growth in the production-oriented economy and condemned to watch the decline of the ruling class in its wealth and corruption. The system was so broken that even those involved in the court and bureaucracy did not have the courage to express their existence, for fear of the king’s wrath; and every day, more and more, they had to play the role of a slave. In the case of women, becoming ‘beautiful and charming’ was the ‘highest role’ that the Shah considered for them. All of them should obey the king and the system by denying their personal identity.

The revolution was an enchanting experience of liberation that was available to everyone. The participation and active presence of people in the revolution, especially women and the working class whose identity was not counted, took them from nothingness to existence and made history. With active presence, the people of the society would gain self-awareness and become a person with an identity. In this process, most of the women who, until the revolution of 1979, were in positions assigned to them by society, that is, being in charge of housekeeping, child rearing and being deprived of activities outside the home, entered the revolution on a large scale. It was a revolution that, like all great social movements, suspended the everyday, and women and men, especially the youth, entered the field of struggle day and night and experienced unique and profound moments.

In the time of revolution, parents lost control over the activities of their young people, particularly the entry of girls into the public arena. For the first time, women could spend hours outside without permission. This atmosphere of revolution brings people closer together and favours the conditions for the emergence of love and romantic relationships.

The revolution and the struggle for independence, freedom and for the emergence of a new society and humanity were not possible without addressing the role and responsibility of human beings in their own destiny and identity. The right to choose and cultivate political identity was recognised as a part of personal identity. Additionally, the free atmosphere of the revolution also had another effect: emotions, love and belief found their role and place in women’s lives, and daughters considered themselves the owners of the right to decide for themselves. Therefore, the change that occurred after the revolution was that from then on most women became accountable and responsible for their own lives and destiny.

Reconstruction of tyranny and imposition of a single identity for the public, especially women

It didn’t take long before some people tried to rebuild the former power structures. Tyranny was reconstructed  by arguing that for defence of the revolution, of Islam, of the leader, of freedom, of unity, of the working class, etc., the  revolutionaries had to sacrifice their personal identity for the ideals of the struggle. Just as absolute love demands non-discrimination, love for Islam, revolution, demands the complete, unlimited, unconditional and unchanging loyalty of the revolutionaries. Erasing the personal identity showed the level of love and belief.

Unfortunately, a part of the society, including the youth, with an indescribable love and with complete honesty, believed that in order to create a new ideal and humane society, they should replace their personal identity and thoughts with a single identity. The new unique identity had to show itself inside and outside of humans. Before the regime made the hijab compulsory, the singleness of the veil had become common to demarcate political identities.

Totalitarianism despises and seeks to negate individual behaviours, beliefs and differences. In Iran, as the tyranny called ‘one leader’, ‘one organization’, one…’ gained strength, it claimed to destroy individuality. By connecting to violence and its practices, the denial and control of personal identity were accompanied by an attempt to permanently dominate all areas of people’s lives, including their private lives. In the name of religion, gender segregation was imposed in most public places and patrols were established to investigate the type of relationship between men and women.

The generation of the 1979 revolution experienced this evolution of tyranny both in the Velayat e-Faqih regime [the location of all political and religious authority in the clergy] and in several political organizations. Such a transformation is characteristic of all totalitarian dictatorships. We have had the negation of personal identity and the imposition of a collective identity with one colour and one shape during Reza Shah’s (Pahlavi dynasty) time.

In the name of modernity, Reza Shah imposed the 1927 Dress Law which made it a legal requirement for men to abandon their turbans and traditional garments in favour of hats and suits and banned the hijab for women. This provoked non-violent demonstrations which were brutally suppressed by the army, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 100 to 500 people (including women and children). In the regimes of Atatürk, Hitler, Stalin, Mao (especially during the Cultural Revolution) and Pol Pot in Cambodia, the same process was carried out, including by imposing a uniform type of dress. 

At the beginning of the 1979 revolution, women who were institutionalized in terms of traditional culture, which encouraged them to show patience and tolerance, sacrifice, negation and suppression of their personal identity, rights and demands in the name of all kinds of expediency, gave up on their demands. In the name of defending the revolution, and defending issues higher and more important for the future of the revolution than the issue of the hijab, women mostly surrendered their rights.

Parinoosh Saniei, in her novel “Sahme Man – My share”, has depicted the imposition of identity and status on women by society and their renouncing of their personal identity and rights in the period before and after the revolution. It tells the story of the life of a woman which was always determined by others, her father, brothers, husband and children, and how the society’s view of her was influenced by their identity. She describes the view of the identity and position of women in the culture of the society as follows: “Everybody’s contribution is already determined, they leave it aside, even if the sky comes to the earth, it will not change.”

The woman in the story gives up her identity and rights in the name of family happiness. These are the types of expediency that domination relations impose on humans, especially women. She finally asks herself: “I often think what was my share in life? Did I have a specific and independent contribution at all? Or was I a part of the share of men in my life who took me to the altar for their beliefs, ideals or goals?”

In this way, women increasingly realised that they had become the first victims of the tyrannical reconstruction, which, by resorting to terror, returned them to their position before the revolution, within the confines of the family and under the guardianship of father, husband and society. But the women who played an effective role in overthrowing the tyranny of the king and experienced the taste of freedom and independence in the process of the revolution and wanted to consider themselves the owners of their own destiny in the family and society, resisted the new tyranny!

They grew and developed their personal identity with remarkable effort and resistance. The unprecedented presence of such a large number of influential women in the fields of political struggle against tyranny, in the fields of science, art, sports, etc., in the fourth decade after the revolution, in the history of Iran and Islamic civilization, is the result of the revolution in guiding and transforming women’s thinking. it has transformed women from being passive and duty-oriented persons to active and rights-oriented persons. Such a transformation in personal identity necessarily makes submission to tyranny more difficult day by day and leads to efforts to create a collective identity on the level of freedom and independence.

As a result, having a personal identity is one of the inherent rights of a human being and it requires that a human being be free and independent. The great lesson learned from the 1979 revolution is that the invitation to take away one’s personal identity, sacrifice one’s individuality and seek unity in the name of defending freedom Islam, party and organization, unity, etc., is equal to giving up one’s rights. It’s a step into the restoration of tyranny.

The pioneering of women in resistance and struggle in the Mahsa movement, the demands of women’s rights, among other demands, are the result of the historical experience of our society after the 1979 revolution. It was an experience for which the generation of the revolution, especially women, whether under the rule of the Velayat e-Faqih regime or under the control of Opposition organizations, paid a heavy price.

According to my father, Abolhassan Banisadr (former president of Iran), one of the characteristics of rights is that every right does not conflict with another right, it is free of discrimination, it is not limited and does not limit, it is not destroyed and it does not destroy, it cannot be divided and it cannot be transferred. Having a free and independent personal identity and cultivating it is the inherent right of every human being, and anything that seeks to negate it is force, not a right.

Our movement will succeed in establishing a righteous government, when all are diligent in building and cultivating personal and collective identity based on the inherent human rights, which include the right to independence, the right to freedom and the right to justice.

May the phoenix of independence and freedom reach its destination!

Firouze’ Banisadr is a professor of infectious disease and a political activist. Her father was former President Abolhassan Banisadr of Iran.

Image: Iran protests. https://www.flickr.com/photos/taymazvalley/52383779726. Creator: Taymaz Valley. Licence: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)