Tragedy or farce? Perhaps both
At the very beginning of The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Karl Marx wrote: “ Hegel remarks somewhere that all the great events and characters of world history occur, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce” [1]. That is because people make their history, but not under conditions of their own choosing. It is, therefore, equally possible to move from farce to tragedy or from tragedy to another tragedy. This is what seems to have happened in Iran in the last few days when the Islamic Republic of Iran commemorated the triumphant return of Ayotollah Khomeini on the 1st February 1979. Being exiled from Iran for 14 years, on that day, he returned to Iran like a Superman as is visible in these pictures. First, Khomeini is getting off the plane.
A lot could be said about this picture, especially three individuals in the right-hand corner: Mahallati, Ghotbzadeh, and Banisadr [half his face is obscure here], but let me show you another picture of Khomeini, from the same day, while being driven from the airport. One of the persons sitting on the top of the car was rumoured to be Mosa Khiabani, a young Majahedin-e Khalgh leader who later slipped down and sat on car’s hood, to protect khomeni from any potential snipers en route Tehran. Three years later, Mosa and about 20 of his comrades were murdered in their hideouts in Tehran, by the Islamic Guards and other security forces loyal to Khomeini. We will talk a little more about the other three named individuals later.
In the street, this is what Khomeini saw on that day upon arrival into Iran: BBC estimated that nearly five million people welcomed Khomeini [2]:
Let us look at another photograph taken a day after Khomeini’s arrival. He is giving a press conference, one sees Dr. Yazdi – on the left- and Mr Ghotbzadeh – on his right. At some point, inter alia; they were the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI):
Now, 33 years on, this historical event is commemorated in this fashion! Please note that this picture is copied from an official site, Mehr [3]:
None of the individuals are present. Instead of Air France plane, it is now Iran Air and instead of French crew of the plan- who had helped Khomeini originally on the step, the “paper Imam” is now being carried by two Iranian officers. There are two queues of officers, holding flowers welcoming the paper Imam into Iran! Is this serious, you may ask. I do not know and I am not sure that those who organised this farce, they themselves know either.
As to these aforementioned individuals:
Bani Sadr: He was the first elected President of the IRI, but soon to be dismissed by Majlis and spectacularly fled the country with Rajavi, the then leader of the Mojahedin-e Khalgh. He lived in exile in France rest of his life.
Ghotbzadeh: During the first two to three years of the IRI, occupied many powerful positions and even stood for the office of the President. He was later accused of a coup attempt, subsequently executed in September 1982. Not only he was a member of the Revolutionary Council, appointed by Khomeini, he was the foreign secretary too. At some point, he was also the head of National TV and Radio organisation.
Mahallati: He supported Bani Sadr for the President, was subsequently arrested and poisoned while in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran by the order of Lajvardi, known to many Iranians as “the Butcher of Evin Prison”. The official version was that he died of a heart attack while in jail, but the autopsy seemed to have revealed that he had poison in his stomach too.
Dr Ibrahim Yazdi: Like Ghotbzade, he was appointed to the Revolutionary Council and at one stage became the Foreign Secretary. In the last 30 years, on many occasions he was imprisoned, and currently, is perhaps the oldest political prisoner in Iran serving an eight years jail sentence for writing an open letter to an Islamic leader in Tunisia.
Why have they done this? Did not they know that it was a farce or was it a tragedy- take your pick?
I am aware that I am approaching a “conspiracy theory” of history here, but my reading is: it may have been a deliberate attempt to initiate a process of de-Khomeinisation in Iran. Majlis deputies started to criticise this [4], and Hashemi has also lent his voice to those who are unhappy about this [5]. I for one will not take Hashemi’s criticism seriously. I do not know the details, but about five years ago, Hashemi was at the centre of another resurrection of the ‘paper Imam’. He had a private meeting whit him too! Let me show you two pictures from this occasion. In one picture, Hashemi is sitting next to a paper Imam. In another, next to a paper but younger Hashemi, Khamene-ee and Beheshti as well. If Hashemi is to be taken seriously on this, he should explain that how come that using the same ‘paper Imam’ has now become so bad?
However, the paper Imam was taken to Refah School- it was the first place that Khomeini resided upon returning to Iran. First, let me show you a picture that appeared in an official site.[6]
I am an old-fashioned individual, but can anyone advise me on this. Can this be taken seriously! What is the government trying to achieve here? The individual sitting next to the ‘paper Imam’ is the current Education Minister in Ahmahinejad’s government. Since this farce, Iranian satirists had their honeymoon. [7]
For instance, in this version, the seated Khomeini says to officials next to him:
"Hi, guys. Very nice meeting you. But have you seen Akbar, by any chance? Hashemi?" Those sitting next to him pretend they have no idea who "Akbar" is and try to change the subject. “We don’t have any Akbar here. We have no Seyed Ahamd either [8]” They add: “We also don’t have [Mir Hossein Musavi] and [Mehdi Karrubi]. Let's change the topic. How are you?”
For the benefit of those who may not know a few lines for clarification:
Hashemi- until about two or three years ago was one of the most powerful men in the IRI, and since then, has been marginalized to the extent that he can not lead the Friday prayers. His official website has been recently removed by the security forces in Iran.
Musavi: Under Khomeini, he was the Prime Minister of the IRI for eight years, during Iraq-Iran war, and was one of his most favourite politicians. He together with his wife, Dr Rahnavard, has been under “house arrest” for more than a year now.
Karrubi: A close associate of Khomeini, appointed at the head of the Foundation for the Martyrs by Khomeini, and has also served as the Speaker of the House for two terms. He was also the Speaker in 6th Majlis and like Musavi, has been under arrest somewhere in Tehran for more than a year now.
Seyed Ahmad: Khomeini’s second son and his most favourite confidant. It is strongly rumoured in Iran that he has been murdered in 1995 as he started criticising the officials in the IRI.
Some may say that even “bad publicity” is good publicity, and hence, may not care. But I beg to differ. I have no doubt that in the past 33 years; no one succeeded in damaging Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran as much as this farcical episode did.
Most of my life I lived outside of Iran and have had no firsthand experience of the Islamic revolution or its aftermath. Perhaps I don't have the right to laugh at revolutionary ceremonies or even write about them. But I wonder if there is any coded message here! Does anyone know?
References:
[1]Marx: Surveys from Exile, Penguin books, 1977, p.146
[2]http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_2521000/2521003.stm
[3]http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1522844.
If you wish to see more pictures of this event, please check on this address.
[4]http://www.shafaf.ir/fa/news/97175/
[5]http://www.kaleme.com/1390/11/15/klm-89640/
[6]http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1523104
[7]http://www.rferl.org/content/khomeinis_cardboard_cutout_return_to_iran_from_exile/24470424.html
[8]Seyed Ahmad is a reference to Khomaini son, who is strongly rumoured to have murdered as he started criticising the officials in the IRI.
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After nearly 30 years of teaching, the author has retired in 2010 from his post at the University of Staffordshire. Currently he is teaching at Regent's College in London Email: |