Cultural Revolution (Iran)

As a cultural revolution ( Persian انقلاب فرهنگی enghelab-e farhangi ) isan ongoing political campaignin Iran that was triggeredby Khomeini in 1980 to Islamize the Iranian education system. Today's goal isto strengthenthe influence of religion in society and to consolidate the results of the Cultural Revolution that have been achieved so far. Its three-year starting phase was characterized by the dismissal of over 700 university professors, the forced de-registration of thousands of students, the destruction of cultural monuments, excessive restrictions on the activities of cultural workers and students as well as their murder. Targeted murders of cultural workers ( chain murders) are still part of the campaign today. Asecond phase of the Cultural Revolution was initiated in 2006under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad .

Concept and concept

The term and concept of a Cultural Revolution has been known since the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution , which was proclaimed and initiated by Mao Zedong in 1966. In the Chinese cultural revolution, Mao Zedong made use of the easily mobilized and manipulable youth (especially the descendants of the functionaries), who had been sworn back to "Chairman Mao" since 1963/64 and who were incited from 1966 to counter the class struggle to lead the suspected enemy within. This was first of all the Chinese culture itself and thus its carriers, above all the educated and learned, as well as the cultural goods and ways of life of the country.

For Khomeini, nationalism and individualism were terms closely related to the idea of colonialism . He spoke of the “brotherhood of the international community of believers (ummat) ” instead of nation (mellat) and individual.

At first, Khomeini used fedayeen-e Islam to create a network of Islamic terror. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution , he used the Hezbollah movement , which had its own militia, the Hezbollah militia, from which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) and the Basij-e Mostaz'afin later developed. The Hezbollahi had been sworn in on "the supreme leader Khomeini" and were incited to lead the struggle for "spiritual independence through Islam". The aim was to fight both the Western culture and the pre-Islamic-Persian culture . At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, the universities of Iran were the focus of the Cultural Revolution. Secularization and modernization , like all teaching content associated with Western culture, should disappear from universities. Student life should be based on Islamic forms.

Attacks on the universities

On April 18, 1980, during the Friday sermon, Ayatollah Khomeini harshly criticized the Iranian universities, which, in his opinion, followed the Western model and endangered the Islamic revolution. Khomeini stated:

“We are not afraid of economic sanctions or military intervention. What we are afraid of are Western-oriented universities that want to manipulate our youth with false values for their own Western interests! "

That same evening, the teachers' college in Tehran was attacked by Hezbollahis. A student was slain and, according to a British journalist, the college looked like a battlefield after the militia withdrew. The following day the university in Shiraz was attacked and the students were beaten. 300 students then had to be treated as inpatients in the hospital. The universities in Mashhad and Isfahan were also attacked by Hezbollah militias that day. Attacks on the universities in Ahwas and Rasht followed on April 21, 1980 . Over 20 students lost their lives in these attacks on the universities. After April 21, 1980, all universities were closed.

Establishment of the Central Institution for the Cultural Revolution

On June 12, 1980, Khomeini issued a decree:

“It became clear a long time ago that we need a cultural revolution that has Islam as its theme in order to meet the needs of the nation of Muslims. So far, however, nothing has been done in this area to meet the needs of the nation of Muslims. The devoted and devout students are concerned about the machinations of the conspirators, which are visible then as now. The nation of Muslims is also concerned that whatever God forbids the opportunity will be missed, nothing done, and that the culture will remain exactly as it was under the corrupt regime. During this time, the culturally estranged civil servants had made these important centers available to the colonialists. If this catastrophe continues, which unfortunately is the goal of some of these foreign-influenced groups, it would be a severe blow to the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic Republic. Any indifference to this very important issue would be a betrayal of Islam and the Islamic country. ... That's why I instruct Mr. Mohammad Javad Bahonar , Mehdi Rabbani Amlashi, Hassan Habibi, Abdolkarim Soroush, Shams Al Ahmad, Jalaledin Farsi and Ali Shariatmadari to create a Central Institution for Cultural Revolution. "

The task of this central facility was, among other things:

To train professors and select scholars who could teach appropriate courses in universities.
Select the students.
Islamize the universities and modify the curricula to "serve the nation".

For this purpose, a committee for the Islamization of universities was founded.

Islamization of the universities

First, courses that conveyed so-called pseudo- knowledge were eliminated from all curricula . Then entire courses of study, e.g. B. in the field of music, deleted. Positions in the university administration were filled and an “Islamic atmosphere” was created at the universities. Professors and students have been subjected to a rigorous selection process to find enemies of Islam . Those who were deemed “unsuitable” by the selection committee were dismissed.

After the universities reopened, students were encouraged to “practice Islam and be loyal to the new state concept of Velayat-e faqih ” . Christians and Zoroastrians should not behave "provocatively" towards Muslims . In addition, they were initially excluded from all courses with the exception of accounting and foreign languages.

At the same time as the universities, all other previous cultural institutions were either closed or purged of the enemies of Islam . Radio and television programming was limited to religious broadcasts or official announcements.

Establishment of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution

On December 9, 1984, at the suggestion of then Prime Minister Ali Khamenei , Khomeini passed another decree:

“To get rid of the corrupt Western culture and to introduce the beneficial Islamic, national and revolutionary culture to all levels of society and throughout the country, a great effort is required. To achieve this goal, it will take years of painful effort to leave the deeply ingrained culture completely. "

A Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution was founded which, in addition to the previous members of the Central Institution of the Cultural Revolution, consists of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education, two students from the Jihad University and Ali Schariatmadari, Ahmad Ahmadi, Abdolkarim Sorusch and Mostafa Moin , the other members Hodschatoleslam Chamenei, Ardebili and Rafsanjani as well as Hodschatoleslam Mahdavi-Kani , Seid Kazem Akrami Reza Devri, Nasrollah Purjavadi and Mohammad-Reza Haschem. This Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution was to replace the previous Central Institution for the Cultural Revolution.

On December 4, 1996, the Supreme Cultural Council was expanded to 33 members. The following members have belonged to it since 2006: Mahmud Ahmadinejad , Seyed Mahmud Haschemi Schahrudi , Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel , Mohammad-Reza Mochber Dezfuli, Mohammad-Ali Kayneschad, Ahmed Madsched-Jamei , Ja'far Tovfighi Darban, Masud Pezeschkian, Morteza Hadschi Hamid Reza Baradaran Schraka, Seyed Ezatolah Zarghami, Seyed Mehdi Cham Uschi, Mohsen Ghomee, Ali Montazeri Moghaddam, Munireh Nobacht, Abdolah Ja'far Ali Dschasbi, Emad Afroogh, Ali Abbaspur Tehrani, Omidvar Mirghaed, Ahmad Jannati , Ali Larijani , Ali -Akbar Raschad, Ahmad Ahmadi, Ali-Reza Sadr Hoseini, Hasan-Ebrahim Habibi, Ali Akbar Velayati , Iradsch Fazel, Ali Schariatmadari, Hasan Rahimpour Azghadi, Mehdi Golschani, Mir Hossein Mousawi , Mohammad Reza Aref , Sadegh Vaez-Zadeh.

In October 2001, the Council ordered that privately owned companies that offer Internet access fall under state control. Since then, Internet access providers have had to use extensive filter software to block access to pages specified by the government.

New phase of the cultural revolution

On November 27, 2005, Ayatollah Abbas-Ali Amid Zanjani was appointed rector of the University of Tehran by the science minister of the Ahmadinejad cabinet . Zanjani was probably the only rector of a university in the world who did not have a degree. In February 2008, Zanjani was replaced by Farhad Rahbar.

In a speech to students, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that “the secular education system needs to change. 150 years are enough. ” With this he alluded to the establishment of Dar-ol Fonun 150 years ago by Amir Kabir , the then Prime Minister of Nāser ad-Din Shah . Dar-ol Fonun was the first university to offer scientific and technical training based on the model of western universities. Until the University of Tehran was founded by Reza Shah in 1935, it was the only higher educational institution. After the university was founded, it was continued as a grammar school.

That Ahmadinejad called for a second phase of the Cultural Revolution indicated that the outcome of the Cultural Revolution that has been taking place in Iran for thirty years has not been as expected. Mohammad Ali Chadsche-Piri, director of the Center for the Development and Dissemination of Koranic Activities, calls for a “Koranization of hearts”. Because, in the opinion of the Ministry of Religions , there are too few Hafezans , who know the Koran by heart , in the Iranian provinces , one is now thinking of creating a specially designated Ministry, a Ministry of the Koran. And further:

“So that people do not start learning without meaning and understanding, the new ministry should lovingly take care of the attraction of educated Hafezan who are able to fathom the deeper spirituality of the Koran. … The gentle hand of the Ministry shows the hearts of believers the right path. And if you don't understand that, there are other means for you. "

At the end of October 2009, a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture announced that the revision of twelve “westernized” human sciences disciplines was imminent, including courses in cultural management, political science and sociology, which should be brought into line with the teachings of the Koran. Amir Scheichzadegan, sociologist at the University of Freiburg , explained that this new campaign is being carried out on two fronts: “On the one hand, the introduction of these subjects at universities is made dependent on approval. This is trying to prevent the further expansion of such subjects. On the other hand, they want to redesign the existing subjects in such a way that they do not pose a threat to the regime in terms of content or personnel. It cannot be ruled out that students will soon be asked to take an oath of loyalty when they enroll. ”The philosopher and publicist Mohammad-Reza Nikfar speaks of a“ fourth wave of filtering ”in the country's academic system. In the early phase of the revolution, liberal and Marxist professors were initially removed. At the beginning of the nineties, the regime then targeted advocates of a historicizing-hermeneutic Koran exegesis such as Abdolkarim Sorusch. When Ahmadinejad came to power, there was a third wave in which dozen liberal professors were given early retirement. What we are currently experiencing goes far beyond that. It is a "systematic attack on the humanities".

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press, 2008, p. 811.

↑ Shaul Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs . Basic Books, 1984, p. 122.

↑ ^a ^b Brief History of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution ( Memento of the original dated December 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/scrc.htm
↑ Shaul Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs . Basic Books, 1984, p. 226.
↑ Keddie: Modern Iran. 2003, p. 290.
↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/scrc.htm
↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ Alessandro Toppa: Attack on free thinking . Neue Zürcher Zeitung , November 12, 2010.

[1] Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press, 2008, p. 811.

[2] Shaul Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs . Basic Books, 1984, p. 122.