Iran’s Fourth Grassroots Uprising since 1979 is still in progress

The 80 million strong nation of Iran is undergoing its fourth grassroots civil disobedience since 1979. This time the popular revolt was triggered after the government, in reaction to the most crippling set of sanctions, tripled the gasoline price (still among the cheapest subsidised rates worldwide – a gallon went up from 33 cents to $1).

Consequently, this has prompted the government to mobilize its military and shadowy forces, including the revolutionary guards and plain clothes security/counter riot agents, African/Yemenite mercenaries and Shiite mercenaries shipped over from Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. However, the establishment and their cronies may only delay their own ultimate demise. In the meantime the fiery wrath of the nation will triumph one day, as it did back in 1979.

While the media and internet was stalled for a few days, protesters, spectators, foreign eyewitnesses and tourists captured and transmitted tens of thousands of video-clips from over 125 major cities. On frequent occasions, foreign mercenaries turned snipers were killing at close range. The confirmed number of dead stands at many hundreds, the injured at many thousands, and those who have since disappeared or are being tortured in the tens of thousands.

In retrospect, the seeds of the 1979 uprising were sowed by covert actions sponsored by the American CIA and the British MI6 back in 1953 (according to now declassified intelligence reports). They orchestrated the rapid overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mosadegh in Iran. Dr Mosadegh had successfully defended Iran in the International Court and nationalised the oil/gas from the yoke of Anglo-American Consortium, a prelude towards gaining independence from (neo-) colonialists and the nationalisation of their natural resources and oil by a great many countries worldwide. So, when the US/UK forced the return of the crowned Monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the Persian Peacock Throne, he reciprocated by trampling over the otherwise very progressive secular Constitution of 1906 and subserviently served the geopolitical and economic interests of the US/UK.

The US has since led overt/covert interferences operations and engaged in the overthrow of governments in several dozen countries. What is even more ironic is that US taxpayers, who cover the cost of such adventures, barely see the dividends. ‘
As for the 1979 uprising, initially intended to advance socio-economic and political reforms in Iran, was hijacked at the 11th hour. The Shiite clergy rode on the regime change wave and immediately went after the elimination of the seculars, reformists, and technocrats, followed by eradication of the socialists and communists. They exploited and extended the unjust war imposed upon Iran by Iraq. The war was instigated by the Americans and paid for by Wahhabi ultra-nationalists.

In essence, waging this war was revenge for the humiliation borne by the Americans as a result of the so-called “Iranian student radicals” taking their diplomats hostage for 444 days. The Saudis, fearful of the Shiite rise, also provided 24-7 surveillance information to the Iraqis, while the new theocratic regime in Iran further bolstered its grip on power. Khomeini called for keeping the tanoor jang dagh, i.e., “oven of the bread of war” hot (so his regime could grow deep tentacles into Iran and the surrounding region).

A prosperous and Westernised Iran took a giant step backwards in 1979. The short-lived transformation of an absolute feudal monarchy into a lawful constitutional monarchy took the nation into a much deeper hole than ever before.

In the past 40 years, Iran has lost at least 1.35 trillion dollars, alongside the exhaustive depletion, mismanagement and belligerent theft of its natural resources. It has lost one million dead and two million injured in the no win war of the 80’s, five million in the mass exodus of the diaspora – skilled and affluent Iranians – including over one million who left for North America alone. There has been a near collapse of the nation’s economy, not only due to sanctions but far more crucially due to deliberate mismanagement by the elites, the confiscation and transfer of two-thirds of the nation’s assets and economy to the inner circles. The imprisonment and torture of tens of thousands of political prisoners and the summary executions and mysterious disappearances of an additional tens of thousands since 1979. 80% of the population lives under the poverty line and the economy puts two-thirds of the nation under its own poverty line; this comprises 40% unemployed and 40% underemployed and only the 20% Khodi/inner circle members are taken care – they funnel hundreds of billions of our national wealth to Canada, Europe, Oceania, Asia, and even the Americas to maintain their multiple citizenships. These are just a few of the catastrophic outcomes of the Islamic regime in Iran.

How to proceed towards the much yearned wishes of the nation of Iran? One principle has remained unwaveringly clear: the nation’s yearning to organically transform through self-resilience, self-perseverance and self-reliance and by acquiring education, knowledge and know-how in order to achieve self-empowerment. Only the 80 million Iranians can and should propel Iran into a sovereign, secure, secular, dignified and prosperous country that is anchored on the rule of law, democratic principles, equality, transparency, self-reliance, humility, suitability, accountability, justice and peace, and above all an adherence to the overarching principle of safeguarding humanity and Mother Nature!

We recognise the people taking their own destiny into their own hands. The same yearning by smaller countries has in the past 100 years been trampled over by reactionary forces from within and also by multinationals, conglomerates and neocolonialist governments from without. The proud historic nation of Iran must set its ideals high and strive on all fronts to fulfil them. After all, history shows that no foster parent shedding crocodile tears can ever act as a more compassionate protector than one’s own biological mother. And why doesn’t the US shift back its current failed foreign policy and instead revert to a plan of investment and mutual benefit by partnering with a great country such as Iran?

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This post was written by Freeman Ure