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Persepolis is a book written by Marjane Satrapi who was a descendant of the last Iranian emperor. This book has been subdivided into two volumes titled, “Persepolis The story of a child” and “Persepolis The story of a return” respectively. Each volume delves into its own separate set of topics, issues and phases of life, with the only similarity being the protagonist’s world view along with the struggles faced during this time, or the Iranian revolution in this case.

The book follows the young childhood of Marjane and in a sense can be viewed as her own autobiography where she explains the various situations, she had been through in life. From smuggling music and posters as a kid to growing up and talking about her relationships and experiences in a foreign land.

Marjane makes all of these tough times seem entertaining and joyful by representing the story in a form of a graphic novel where we think of the whole situation as a cartoonish representation of the original events, forming a contrast and even contradiction between what really happened and the story that’s being told.

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In Persia, the principal religion was Shia Islam and the Qajars were the monarchical rulers. The ulemas (Muslim clergy) also had a very strong role in governing the country. In 1906 the first major Iranian Revolution took place which forced them to adopt a constitution to govern the welfare of people. A parliament was created and the power of the king was reduced. Shia Islam remained as the state religion but, it also focused on the minorities in Persia. However, it failed as the shah was against it and also because the Russians and British wanted Persia to remain weak so that they could have ultimate control over the region.

Oil was discovered post WW1 which attracted many European rivalries among which the British succeeded in creating the Anglo Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). They helped to support Reza Khan in his coup d’état in 1921 to overthrow the Qajars in return for oil and concessions. Reza Khan ascended to monarchical power and became Reza Shah and renamed Persia to Iran, in hopes of making it a western-style country.

However, his staunch repression caused the clergy to go against him and force him to abdicate his throne. After WWII His son, Mohammed Reza shah became the leader.

During this time the British allowed more Iranians to participate in governmental roles and this led to the success of the Tudeh communist party. Mohammed Mosaddegh became prime Minister in 1951 and tried to remove religious and British power over the land by trying to remove the AIOC.

The British along with the CIA arranged another coup and demonstrations of violence -led by the ulemas were shown against him, causing him to flee in 1953, causing Mohammed Reza Shah to gain power once again. In 1963, the shah started the White Revolution which was a period of rapid urbanization of Iran, leading to economic growth and higher rates of education.

However, the clergy- specifically Ayatollah Khomeini was against it, because it granted the liberalization of women and stated that it was against Islamic views. People also supported him because as time progressed, there was an employment crisis, and neglect towards the poor, causing people to view the government as corrupt and that Khomeini was the true leader.

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Policies and political mistakes of the Shah:
His strong policy of Westernization and close identification with a Western power (the United States) despite the resulting clash with Iran's Shi'a Muslim identity. This included his original installation by the Allied Powers and assistance from the CIA in 1953 to restore him to the throne, the use of large numbers of US military advisers and technicians, and the capitulation or granting of diplomatic immunity from prosecution to them, all of which led nationalistic Iranians, both religious and secular to consider him a puppet of the West.

Failure of his overly ambitious 1974 economic program to meet expectations raised by the oil revenue windfall. A short, sharp period of economic contraction and decline in 1977–78 following a considerable period of economic growth, created disappointment much greater than if people had been left in poverty all along.

Failures and successes of other Iranian political or cultural forces: Overconfidence of the secularists and modernist Muslims, of liberals and leftists, in their power and ability to control the revolution, a belief that the clergy would not be capable of governing the state and would have to hand over power to others so that even the opponents of the Islamists accepted their leadership of the revolution at first, and failure to anticipate Khomeini's total domination of the Iranian revolution by studying his writings and try to understand what his true goals were.

Failures and successes of foreign forces:
Policies of the American government- long term policies created an image of the Shah as an American "puppet" with their high profile and the 1953 subversion of the government on his behalf while short-term policies proved as a catalyst to the revolution by pressuring the Shah to liberalise, and then finally the possible heightening of the radicalism of the revolution by failing to read its nature accurately (particularly the goals of Khomeini), or to clearly respond to it.

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1977

January - July --> More and more power accumulates in the hands of the Shah and journalists, lawyers and political activists write articles and open letters criticizing him
October --> A 10-day poetry festival held in Tehran by the Iranian Writers Association attracts many participants as they have invited lecturers who criticize the government

1978

January 6  --> Popular exiled cleric Ayatollah Khomeini is disparaged on the front page of an Iranian newspaper, reportedly written at the request of the Shah
January 9 -->The main bazaar in Qom (the most popular city for bazaars) is closed to protest the defamation of Khomeini. Protestors kill several people associated with the monarchy and security forces kill at least 5 people
February 18 --> Mourning ceremonies held in memory of the Qom protestors who died
June 7 --> The Shah replaces the head of the secret police, SAVAK
August 9-10 --> The arrest of a cleric provokes riots in 6 towns, leading to 100 killed and the institution of martial law in the town of Isfahan
August 19 --> 477 Iranians die in a purposely set fire at a cinema. SAVAK were blamed at first but later on someone else confessed and they were prosecuted
September 7-8 --> The Shah declares martial law, and the morning after, at least 100 protesters were killed at Jaleh Square in Tehran. This is later known as Black Friday
November 6 --> The Shah approves the impending revolution by saying "As Shah of Iran as well as an Iranian citizen, I cannot but approve your revolution.”
December 10-11 --> Protests erupt all over the country demanding the removal of the Shah and replacement of him with Ayatollah Khomeini
December 29 --> Shapour Bakhtiar appointed as Prime Minister

1979

January 16 --> Shah and his family leave for a vacation they would never return from
February 11 --> Provisional government established and revolution begins

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On April 1st, Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic republic. The Family protection act of 1967 was declared void. Komītehs patrolled the streets enforcing Islamic codes of dress and behaviour and dispatching impromptu justice to perceived enemies of the revolution.

The militias and the clerics they supported made every effort to suppress Western cultural influence, and, facing persecution and violence, many of the Western-educated elite fled the country. This led to the U.S hostage crisis in Iran but worked in favour of the new Islamic government, ending the white revolution in the country.

The revolution confirmed the presence of an orthodox Islamic government in Iran, suppressing all democratic and liberal rights exercised under western influence.

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The graphic novel is based around the political state of Iran from the 1979 revolution onwards, exploring its effects on civilians through the eyes of the young protagonist Marjane Satrapi.

The novel itself opens on a group of young school children reacting negatively towards the new veil mandate, imposed by the new Islamic State.

As new mandates, laws, and social expectations are set by the Islamic state - such as the banning of Western culture, the novel explores the diversity in how the population chooses to deal and adapt with them. For example, some choose to continue with their life as before but secretly (the Satrapi family), and many neighbours change fundamentally in their actions and beliefs to align with the Islamic state.

As Marjane's family members are liberal activists, frequently participating in protests against the the King and then the Islamic State, Marjane is heavily exposed to Iranian politics and political ideologies from a young age. The reader is able to see how Iran's political instability affected the growth of the youth, and how the political beliefs of the people had to adapt to those of the government for their own survival.

The Satrapi family, having ancestral connection to the former royal family of Iran, deliver the unfiltered truth of how Reza Shah came to power. The author also aims to inform the reader about the true history of Iran and detach from common stereotypes and misconceptions - this presentation of the story of the Iranian Revolution also serves this purpose.

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https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/01/24/the-iranian-revolution-a-timeline-of-events/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_and_causes_of_the_Iranian_Revolution

Persepolis Book 1

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Iranian Revolution, popular uprising in Iran in 1978-79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on February 11, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic.

Prelude to revolution

The 1979 revolution, which brought together Iranians across many different social groups, has its roots in Iran's long history. These groups, which included clergy, landowners, intellectuals, and merchants, had previously come together in the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-11. Efforts toward satisfactory reform were continually stifled, however, amid reemerging social tensions as well as foreign intervention from Russia, the United Kingdom, and, later, the United States. The United Kingdom helped Reza Shah Pahlavi establish a monarchy in 1921. Along with Russia, the U.K. then pushed Reza Shah into exile in 1941, and his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took the throne. In 1953, amid a power struggle between Mohammed Reza Shah and Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.K. Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) orchestrated a coup against Mosaddegh's government.

Years later, Mohammad Reza Shah dismissed the parliament and launched the White Revolution-an aggressive modernization program that upended the wealth and influence of landowners and clerics, disrupted rural economies, led to rapid urbanization and Westernization, and prompted concerns over democracy and human rights. The program was economically successful, but the benefits were not distributed evenly, though the transformative effects on social norms and institutions were widely felt. Opposition to the shah's policies was accentuated in the 1970s, when world monetary instability and fluctuations in Western oil consumption seriously threatened the country's economy, still directed in large part toward high-cost projects and programs. A decade of extraordinary economic growth, heavy government spending, and a boom in oil prices led to high rates of inflation and the stagnation of Iranians' buying power and standard of living.

In addition to mounting economic difficulties, sociopolitical repression by the shah's regime increased in the 1970s. Outlets for political participation were minimal, and opposition parties such as the National Front (a loose coalition of nationalists, clerics, and noncommunist left-wing parties) and the pro-Soviet Tūdeh ("Masses") Party were marginalized or outlawed. Social and political protest was often met with censorship, surveillance, or harassment, and illegal detention and torture were common.

For the first time in more than half a century, the secular intellectuals-many of whom were fascinated by the populist appeal of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a former professor of philosophy in Qom who had been exiled in 1964 after speaking out harshly against the shah's recent reform program-abandoned their aim of reducing the authority and power of the Shiʿi ulama (religious scholars) and argued that, with the help of the ulama, the shah could be overthrown.

In this environment, members of the National Front, the Tūdeh Party, and their various splinter groups now joined the ulama in broad opposition to the shah's regime. Khomeini continued to preach in exile about the evils of the Pahlavi regime, accusing the shah of irreligion and subservience to foreign powers. Thousands of tapes and print copies of Khomeini's speeches were smuggled back into Iran during the 1970s as an increasing number of unemployed and working-poor Iranians-mostly new migrants from the countryside, who were disenchanted by the cultural vacuum of modern urban Iran-turned to the ulama for guidance. The shah's dependence on the United States, his close ties with Israel-then engaged in extended hostilities with the overwhelmingly Muslim Arab states-and his regime's ill-considered economic policies served to fuel the potency of dissident rhetoric with the masses.

Outwardly, with a swiftly expanding economy and a rapidly modernizing infrastructure, everything was going well in Iran. But in little more than a generation, Iran had changed from a traditional, conservative, and rural society to one that was industrial, modern, and urban. The sense that in both agriculture and industry too much had been attempted too soon and that the government, either through corruption or incompetence, had failed to deliver all that was promised was manifested in demonstrations against the regime in 1978.

Revolution

In January 1978, incensed by what they considered to be slanderous remarks made against Khomeini in Eṭṭelāʿāt, a Tehrān newspaper, thousands of young madrasah (religious school) students took to the streets. They were followed by thousands more Iranian youth-mostly unemployed recent immigrants from the countryside-who began protesting the regime's excesses. The shah, weakened by cancer and stunned by the sudden outpouring of hostility against him, vacillated between concession and repression, assuming the protests to be part of an international conspiracy against him. Many people were killed by government forces in anti-regime protests, serving only to fuel the violence in a Shiʿi country where martyrdom played a fundamental role in religious expression. Fatalities were followed by demonstrations to commemorate the customary 40-day milestone of mourning in Shiʿi tradition, and further casualties occurred at those protests, mortality and protest propelling one another forward. Thus, in spite of all government efforts, a cycle of violence began in which each death fueled further protest, and all protest-from the secular left and religious right-was subsumed under the cloak of Shiʿi Islam and crowned by the revolutionary rallying cry Allāhu akbar ("God is great"), which could be heard at protests and which issued from the rooftops in the evenings.

The violence and disorder continued to escalate. On September 8 the regime imposed martial law, and troops opened fire against demonstrators in Tehrān, killing dozens or hundreds. Weeks later, government workers began to strike. On October 31, oil workers also went on strike, bringing the oil industry to a halt. Demonstrations continued to grow; on December 10, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Tehrān alone.

During his exile, Khomeini coordinated this upsurge of opposition-first from Iraq and after 1978 from France-demanding the shah's abdication. In January 1979, in what was officially described as a "vacation," the shah and his family fled Iran. The Regency Council established to run the country during the shah's absence proved unable to function, and Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar, hastily appointed by the shah before his departure, was incapable of effecting compromise with either his former National Front colleagues or Khomeini. Crowds in excess of one million demonstrated in Tehrān, proving the wide appeal of Khomeini, who arrived in Iran amid wild rejoicing on February 1. Ten days later, on February 11, Iran's armed forces declared their neutrality, effectively ousting the shah's regime. Bakhtiar went into hiding, eventually to find exile in France.

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Iranian Revolution | Summary, Causes, Effects, & Facts

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Iranian Revolution, popular uprising in 1978-79 that resulted in the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty and the establishment of an Islamic republic. It came about as the culmination of decades of popular discontent mixed with economic turmoil and an increasingly repressive regime.