A Revolutionaly Change

THE CENTURION CHRONICLE
Special Issue – June 2009

A REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE
(….blowing in the wind)

As so often in human history, there comes a point when authoritarian rule becomes so unbearably oppressive revolutionary change begins blowing in the wind, as the mass of the people react against it – violently so – much like a volcano blowing its top.

And nowhere do such pressures become more explosive than where an otherwise highly evolved and sophisticated society, with a long, long history of being wide-open and free-wheeling in its ways, has been kept in the strangling grip of a theocratic regime for years.

Such is Iran today. Ironically, the theocrats who’ve ruled Iran for the past thirty years now face the same generational spirit of revolt against the same pattern of oppression as under the autocracy of the former Shah. A pattern of oppression by which both regimes employed the same methods to retain and stay in power. That is, arbitrary arrest, torture, and judicial murder, to eliminate any kind of opposition. The only difference between the former Shah’s secret police - SAVAK- and that of the Ayatollahs is the name. One might even consider the probability that many of the former SAVAK psychopaths operating under the Shah were simply re-cycled, given new uniforms, and put to work to continue with their former practices, but now in the name of an Islamic Republic….and God.

It’s a situation that has been brewing for a long time. The Ayatollahs’ regime has proven to be just as corrupt, and just as oppressive as that of the Shah. Thus, living daily in fear of being accused of deviation from restrictive rules of conduct is a particularly strong motivation for rebellion by any society’s youth. And Iran’s youth is particularly restive because, thanks to modern technology, it is able to see how other parts of the world are enjoying lifestyles forbidden to it. At the same time, that technology also provides it with an easier way to strike back against the oppression of its clerical elders.

The real question, however, is whether such revolutionary impulses might result in a relatively non-violent and progressive change in Iran; or, will such impulses, once unleashed, spin out of control and go off the tracks only to end up with some other form of oppression and tyranny?