Google 1970s Iran vs now. It’s an interesting contrast of how quickly societies can change; and some would argue, not towards the future but backwards.
Google 1970s Iran vs now. It’s an interesting contrast of how quickly societies can change; and some would argue, not towards the future but backwards.
The photo above was taken while Iran had a government that was friendly to the US.
The present day oppression of women is being done by the people that overthrew the US backed government. People chanting “Death to America” should be a clue that the oppressive government there today may not be on friendly terms with the US.
Missing from the photo are the millions of people being tortured by Saavik while the rich elites got to live like in the picture in Tehran. The US backed a reign of terror that led the people to a revolution and actually electing this current shitty government. The US overthrew democracy in Iran in 1953 to establish a king because they dared to want to nationalize the oil company and fund their own country and are very much responsible for the bad material conditions in Iran today.
None of that changes the fact that the present day Iranian government is oppressing women and supports the Triple-H of terrorism (Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis) which has resulted in a huge amount of suffering.
I like history and all but there’s not much use to it if we don’t learn anything from it. Using history as an excuse for present day bad actors doesn’t achieve any positive result. If the bad actions of the US had bad repercussions later, what should we assume the bad actions by Iran today will have in the future?
No one, certainly not me are making excuses for the Iranian government. I am a literal refugee and this is a history community. The photo title has an obvious bias to it as if the 70s were a time that they should return to and also suggests most women in Iran were living like this in the 70s. Neither are true. There are also women today who dress like this in Iran and don’t wear Hijabs, it isn’t as strict as the media makes it seem and rich people don’t follow laws anywhere in the world.
Saying “it’s all the fault of the US” is making excuses.
Mahsa Amini was born 22 years after the Iranian Revolution, 47 years after the US backed coup.
Mahsa Amini was beaten to death 44 years after the Iranian Revolution, 69 years after the US backed coup.
So how many more years need to go by before we can say “Iran is fucked up because they beat women to death for not wearing a Hijab” without someone making the excuse that “It’s not their fault because the US did some bad shit X years ago”? Like what the value for X here? 100 years before Iranians are responsible for their own actions without it being in some degree the fault of the US?
I think a country can’t have a lot of progress if it’s defaulting to scapegoating another country for all of their problems. Japan was literally nuked by the US and they don’t do that kind of shit. What’s done is done and wallowing in the past doesn’t move anything forward.