Pictures of Iran before the Islamic revolution in 70s

[Kuntantee]

This thread shows the sheer ignorance of "western" posters. Iranians are still same.

[Adam Jensen]

People often forget that the first victims of militant Islam are Muslims. I think these pics serve to remind us of this.

I'll file this in my folder of Things Hammerfest Said That I Actually Agree With.

[Piglord]

A shining example of why religious fundamentalism is not a path that any nation should pursue.

Because let's be clear; Iran was an Islamic nation, before the revolution. This was not a case of a non-Islamic nation being taken over by Muslims, this was a case of fundamentalism vs. secularism. The faith behind that shift really doesn't matter.

I thought religious discussion was forbidden here. Being brought up by a moderator at that. Oh wait, it's Endus. Nevermind

[Reeve]

I thought religious discussion was forbidden here. Being brought up by a moderator at that. Oh wait, it's Endus. Nevermind

That was a discussion of government policy (fundamentalist vs. secularist), not religion.

[Wilian]

Reminds me of images from Palestinian region from late 1800s to early 1900s where jews and palestinians lived well together prior to the mass immigrations happened.

[ringpriest]

Let's not forget what else was happening in Iran in the 70s - Time Magazine, "SAVAK: Like the CIA" (Monday, Feb. 19, 1979):

The 5,000-member Iranian secret police force SAVAK (a contraction of the Farsi words for security and information organization) has long been Iran's most hated and feared institution. With virtually unlimited powers to arrest and interrogate, SAVAK has tortured and murdered thousands of the Shah's opponents.

And, from the Federation of American Scientists (via the Wayback Machine): "Ministry of Security SAVAK",

SAVAK increasingly to symbolized the Shah's rule from 1963-79, a period of corruption in the royal family, one-party rule, the torture and execution of thousands of political prisoners, suppression of dissent, and alienation of the religious masses. The United States reinforced its position as the Shah's protector and supporter, sowing the seeds of the anti-Americanism that later manifested itself in the revolution against the monarchy.

...

Founded to round up members of the outlawed Tudeh, SAVAK expanded its activities to include gathering intelligence and neutralizing the regime's opponents. An elaborate system was created to monitor all facets of political life. For example, a censorship office was established to monitor journalists, literary figures, and academics throughout the country; it took appropriate measures against those who fell out of line. Universities, labor unions, and peasant organizations, among others, were all subjected to intense surveillance by SAVAK agents and paid informants. The agency was also active abroad, especially in monitoring Iranian students who publicly opposed Pahlavi rule.

SAVAK paid Rockwell International to implement a large communications monitoring system called IBEX. The Stanford Technology Corp. [STC, owned by Hakim] had a $5.5 million contract to supply the CIA-promoted IBEX project. STC had another $7.5 million contract with Iran's air force for a telephone monitoring system, operated by SAVAK, to enable the Shah to track his top commanders' communications.

Over the years, SAVAK became a law unto itself, having legal authority to arrest and detain suspected persons indefinitely. SAVAK operated its own prisons in Tehran (the Komiteh and Evin facilities) and, many suspected, throughout the country as well. SAVAK's torture methods included electric shock, whipping, beating, inserting brokon glass and pouring boiling water into the rectum, tying weights to the testicles, and the extraction of teeth and nails. Many of these activities were carried out without any institutional checks.

The vast majority of Iranians, then and now, are just people like everywhere else (as Reeve's image makes quite clear). That they still live under a (different) oppressive regime is not entirely a choice of their own making, nor is their dislike for our government here in the US without cause. If we treat Iranians as anything other than people, we're just going to give them more reasons to dislike us down the road.

[Cyberowl]

Let's not forget what else was happening in Iran in the 70s - Time Magazine, "SAVAK: Like the CIA" (Monday, Feb. 19, 1979):


And, from the Federation of American Scientists (via the Wayback Machine): "Ministry of Security SAVAK",


The vast majority of Iranians, then and now, are just people like everywhere else (as Reeve's image makes quite clear). That they still live under a (different) oppressive regime is not entirely a choice of their own making, nor is their dislike for our government here in the US without cause. If we treat Iranians as anything other than people, we're just going to give them more reasons to dislike us down the road.

Well, their government surely is a trainwreck, but they are changing slowly. Once this global isolation is over both sides will get closer to each other. Iran has much to offer, no need to continue a conflict out of sheer stubbornness.

If you ever want Iran to change you don't isolate them. SA can shut up about Iran and Israel will have to deal with a new situation.

[Theinquisition]

I don't know what y'all are comparing these to in your minds. Google imaging Tehran today gets you stuff like this:

This is why I get frustrated when I hear some of the empty headed far lefties on this sight whine about "derp, you just shoot brown people derp"

It's like...dude if you take the beards off, they could pass for Italian easily.

[Trassk]

The 70s really were awesome times.

[Piglord]

That was a discussion of government policy (fundamentalist vs. secularist), not religion.

It's about religion dictating government policy. It would be like someone starting a thread saying the US should fall on Christian fundamentalism to be successful. It would be locked before the second page.

Iran isn't as bad as a lot of media portrays (as you know by the pictures you posted). It's one of the more moderate countries in that region. Iran's problem is not religious fundamentalism, but more war/decades long sanctions.

[I Push Buttons]

Iran is still far ahead of most nations in the Middle East. I don't think anyone has a problem with the Iranian people... They just have a problem the Iranian government. I bet most people wouldn't care about Iran getting fissile material if their government didn't deny the holocaust and talk about "wiping Israel off the map" every other day.

[Deleted]

Let's not forget what else was happening in Iran in the 70s - Time Magazine, "SAVAK: Like the CIA" (Monday, Feb. 19, 1979):


And, from the Federation of American Scientists (via the Wayback Machine): "Ministry of Security SAVAK",


The vast majority of Iranians, then and now, are just people like everywhere else (as Reeve's image makes quite clear). That they still live under a (different) oppressive regime is not entirely a choice of their own making, nor is their dislike for our government here in the US without cause. If we treat Iranians as anything other than people, we're just going to give them more reasons to dislike us down the road.

So when Iranian's hate the US for supporting their oppressors it's ok because they've suffered for a long time, it's justified.
When Eastern Europeans distrust Russia it's wrong because they need to get over themselves for the economic prosperity of the EU. Putin wants to push the reset button on relations and wonders why they resist.

[Mihalik]

Do you want to know what brought the Ayatollahs to power?

The removal of Mohammad Mosaddegh by the CIA. Mosaddegh was a democratically elected, reformist and secularist prime minister, who dared to nationalize the Iranian oil industry.

The Western knee-jerk reaction of toppling Mosaddegh and putting in place a notoriously ineffective and unpopular puppet dictator brought about the wave of public resentment which eventually lead to the alliance between the Iranian working class and Islamists who then proceeded to remove said dictator and install a theocracy.

Whenever we talk about Iran we for some inexplicable reason love to skip that all important event which set in motion the chain of events which lead to the Islamic revolution.

[Deleted]

If you want to know what brought the Ayatollahs to power?

The removal of Mohammad Mosaddegh by the CIA. Mosaddegh was a democratically elected, reformist and secularist prime minister, who dared to nationalize the Iranian oil industry.

The Western knee-jerk reaction of toppling Mosaddegh and putting in place a notoriously ineffective and unpopular puppet dictator brought about the wave of public resentment which eventually lead to the alliance between the Iranian working class and Islamists who then proceeded to remove said dictator and install a theocracy.

Whenever we talk about Iran we for some inexplicable reason love to skip that all important event which set in motion the chain of events which lead to the Islamic revolution.

I'm not trying to whitewash the crimes of the West here, but things aren't exactly better now. Their Islamic revolution simply turned them into international pariahs. Also let's not kid ourselves, Iran is far from innocent and it's currently pursuing its own geopolitical interests in the Middle East at the cost of others.
There is no innocent party here.

[Mihalik]

I'm not trying to whitewash the crimes of the West here, but things aren't exactly better now. Their Islamic revolution simply turned them into international pariahs. Also let's not kid ourselves, Iran is far from innocent and it's currently pursuing its own geopolitical interests in the Middle East at the cost of others.
There is no innocent party here.

That was mostly again the western reaction to having their puppet ruler removed. Iran's geopolitical interests are dictated by the experiences pre and post revolution.

Pre-revolution they got foreign encroachment on their sovereignty, post revolution the US proceeded to prop up Saddam Hussein in Iran, gearing, training, funding him and launching him into a proxy war against Iran. A war that lasted nearly 8 years and killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians.

Iran also happens to be surrounded by hostile Arab states. The Iranians are not Arabs. They are Persians. They also belong to a minority sectarian group, being Shia and surrounded by hostile Sunnis, funded and lead by Saudi Arabian Wahhabis (If you are unfamiliar with what Wahhabi Islam is I recommend you read up on it) Wahhabism is the ideology behind Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram etc.

It is utterly unsurprising that Iran today chooses to take a more active geopolitical stance. Their very survival literally depends on it.

[Foreboding]

Iran is still far ahead of most nations in the Middle East. I don't think anyone has a problem with the Iranian people... They just have a problem the Iranian government. I bet most people wouldn't care about Iran getting fissile material if their government didn't deny the holocaust and talk about "wiping Israel off the map" every other day.

1. Their government didn't deny the Holocaust, they asked questions challenging the Official Story.
2. The "wiped off the map" thing was a deliberate mistranslation. The idiom does not even exist in Farsi.

[I Push Buttons]

1. Their government didn't deny the Holocaust, they asked questions challenging the Official Story.
2. The "wiped off the map" thing was a deliberate mistranslation. The idiom does not even exist in Farsi.

That's nice, dear.

[Tierbook]

1. Their government didn't deny the Holocaust, they asked questions challenging the Official Story.
2. The "wiped off the map" thing was a deliberate mistranslation. The idiom does not even exist in Farsi.

Of course they don't deny the holocaust. If they did they wouldn't be able to have a national contest where they make fun of it with comedic cartoons. Should also be noted that Iran is not Iraq/Afghanistan.....

[Rennadrel]

Same was true for Afghanistan.

Quite certian some documentaries explain that the whole Islamic revolution happened because the USA and Saudi Arabia climbed in bed with eachother (USA being on the bottom).

The American government started sticking their fingers in the Middle East's pie so far back as the 40's and 50's. Heck, elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was deposed in 1953 by an Anglo-Soviet coup d'etat lead by the Americans, only two years after he was elected. The man pretty much was the guy who brought the oil industry to Iran, creating an actual economy in the process. Of course like the greedy pigs they are, the Americans deposed him and put in a puppet, the Shah who wound up being so bad as a leader that when the Ayatollah returned from his 14 year exile in 1979 after the start of the Islamic Revolution, he forced a theocratic constitution upon the people in a referendum in December of that year.

[Tierbook]

The American government started sticking their fingers in the Middle East's pie so far back as the 40's and 50's. Heck, elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was deposed in 1953 by an Anglo-Soviet coup d'etat lead by the Americans, only two years after he was elected. The man pretty much was the guy who brought the oil industry to Iran, creating an actual economy in the process. Of course like the greedy pigs they are, the Americans deposed him and put in a puppet, the Shah who wound up being so bad as a leader that when the Ayatollah returned from his 14 year exile in 1979 after the start of the Islamic Revolution, he forced a theocratic constitution upon the people in a referendum in December of that year.

I blame BP... considering it was Britain who asked for that to occur.