Iranian bloggers mark 30th anniversary
Updated on 10 February 2009
Channel 4 News online looked at how some Iranian bloggers were marking the 30th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution.
The Iranian blogosphere is one of the most vibrant in the world, with an estimated 700,000 bloggers.
The relative freedom of expression allowed on blogs, compared with other more regulated forms of communication in Iran, has helped underpin this popularity.
The majority of domestic blogs are written in Persian, but many are also written in English, especially those penned by expatriates.
The 1979 revolution forced Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi from power and saw Ayatollah Khomeini become the country's leader.
Iran is observing the anniversary with a ten-day celebration which began last Saturday. These blogs are a random selection of writers and should not be seen as definitive reflection of current opinion.
Adventures of Mr. Behi
"I was only one when Iran revolted in hope for change. Now I look back and wonder about those who made it happen. I can't put myself in their shoes though as my world is very different from theirs. Chanting 'No East, No West' is no longer valid for me.
"I am neither ready to change my life for an ideology. If they wanted Iran to change the world with revolution, I now want it to embrace the world with open arms."Adventures of Mr. Behi
"I am neither ready to change my life for an ideology. If they wanted Iran to change the world with revolution, I now want it to embrace the world with open arms.
"I was one when my people had a dream and went for it fiercely. They paddled hard in hope for a better place but reached an island of isolation.
"It was a land after all but they always threw messages in bottles and cried to get out and never to actually live there. It came out to be very different from the dream, yet after thirty years, people still dream about change.
"Some dream about making this a better Island, some about leaving or even sinking it and no one seem to really know why and how. We are Iranians and we dream. We write poetry, sing sad songs and dream, each in our own individual island."
Mohammad Ali Abtahi
"This year is the 30th memorial of the Islamic revolution. At the time of revolution's victory, three main slogans named independence, freedom and Islamic republic filled the entire of country.
"The three slogans were objectives of the revolution's generation which fathers today's active generation in the country's politics. The purpose of independence was returning the power of decision making about a country's destiny from outside, to inside the borders.
"It is incredible for today's generation that the opinions of USA and British ambassador, even the Israelis, were more effective in the king's decisions than ministers and his main councillors.
"If reliable memories like memory of USA, British ambassadors or minister of court had not been published, today's generation of Iran could not believe that how foreigners were able to do anything in the favour of their interests in Iran. Those days generation saw this bitter reality and knew it as the biggest insult to itself and Iran's history."
Anon
"I think you mean 30th anniversary of the British backed Islamic revolution in Iran which destroyed a happy nation, so that the British economy under Thatcher could come out of a recession.
"Just research it; how much of Iran's oil money has been pouring into Europe since that revolution and how many of the educated Iranians are now employed outside Iran?
"While you're at it try to find out the archives of BBC Persian broadcasts into Iran in months before the revolution.
"See what Amnesty International used to say about The Shah, and how they have kept almost quiet in the past 30 years.
"The source of the 1979 regime change was not the Iranian nation but the super powers who have been benefitting from it ever since they turned a peaceful, prosperous nation into a wild, scared nation.
"I hope there is a judgment day in the next life..... though I doubt it."
Liberal Iranian
"I don't mark this 30th anniversary of the 1979 revolution in any particular way except for a deep sigh. Having lived outside Iran for a while, I am relieved not to be bombarded by a constant stream of deafening propaganda on TV, radio, work, school and elsewhere in the public.
"I just hope that the unrealistic world views and the intellectual clutter 30-some years ago that led to all of this now, and the yoke of theocracy, go away soon and my countrymen can one day live freely."Liberal Iranian
"The sigh then is one of relief as well as sadness. Sadness for those who perished in the years leading to the revolution. For those whose idealistic hopes were dashed by the Islamic Republic, including the ones of those who actually supported it back then.
"For those who were executed, jailed or forced into exile by the Islamic Republic since its inception. And for those whose lives in Iran today consist mostly of a seemingly futile struggle to lead what is considered a basic, normal life in the free world.
"I just hope that the unrealistic world views and the intellectual clutter 30-some years ago that led to all of this now, and the yoke of theocracy, go away soon and my countrymen can one day live freely."
RSS Iran
"Every year, we Iranians abroad, get sickened to the teeth, as we see images of the madness that overwhelmed our country in 1979. People cannot believe, how a cunning fanatic pushed on a soft nerve in the Iranian psyche, and propelled Iranians towards a fake salvation.
"We are given a carefully manicured list of all the things the Shah of Iran did that was wrong. We are told that that was the cause for the need for change then. Like Obama's mesmerising speeches for Americans, the people of Iran then thought that money will be better distributed, and it is payback time for the super rich in Iran.
"I was not born in a super rich family, but even in our own family, the ones who were not there like my dad was, very close to the instruments of power, told us, 'you had it real good, now it is our turn'. No matter what we told them; that we should be united against this Tsunami that is about to hit us, our own cousins ignored us.
"So a moral high ground was lost. The very culture of being an Iranian was being threatened, and ultimately was removed from the public face. The name of Iran was changed. The flag was changed. The military who were supposed to be above politics had switched sides. The Shah had left and the Royal Institution was in disarray.
"Rudderless and left to float on this turbulent oceans of delusion, The Royal Institution of Iran, that for thousands and thousands of years had been the sacred cultural bastion against known external enemies, had been abandoned."
Additional research provided by Hamid Tehrani, Iran editor for Global Voices
