National Democratic Front (Iran)
The National Democratic Front ( Persian جبهه دموکراتیک ملی Jebhe Demokratie Melli ) of Iran is a party that wasfoundedby Hedayatollah Matin-Daftari in1979 during the Islamic revolution and belongs tothe left spectrum . Hedayatollah Matin-Daftari is the son of Ahmad Matin-Daftari and grandson of Mohammad Mossadegh . Shortly after it was founded, the National Democratic Front of Iran was banned by the new government.
History of origin
Before founding his own party, Hedayatollah Matin-Daftari was part of the political opposition to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as a human rights lawyer . The party was founded in March 1979, at a time when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had already left Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini had returned to Iran. The National Democratic Front of Iran was next to the National Front and the ... one of the three most important political bourgeois movements.
Political program
The National Democratic Front of Iran had spoken out against a theocratic system in Iran and with this political view stood against the IRP and Khomeini. It was thus seen as a collecting tank for all political forces that turned away from the National Front and its Prime Minister of the transition Mehdi Bāzargān , who was determined by Khomeini , and also turned against the policies of the communist Tudeh party , the Khomeini out of solidarity in the fight against the “imperialist West " supported.
Hedayatollah Matin-Daftari, a former member of the National Front, hoped by founding the National Democratic Front to build on the political legacy of Mohammad Mossadegh and to create a people's party that was eligible for the Iranian middle class and nationally-minded academics.
The NDF called for the power of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard , Islamic Revolutionary Courts and Revolutionary Committees to be curtailed. She advocated a policy of political and economic decentralization.
The NDF boycotted the referendum held on March 31, 1979, which gave Iran the form of an Islamic republic. On the other hand, they supported the demand for a parliamentary democracy with equal rights for women and men, respect for human rights and a limitation of the power of the president. Since the elections for the first parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran were not recognized by the NDF as free, they boycotted the elections.
The demonstrations organized by the NDF were massively disrupted by the Iranian Hezbollah movement. On August 12, 1979, after the closure of the Ayandegan newspaper , mass protests against the government broke out. The protesters were pelted with stones and attacked with sticks and chains by government supporters. Counselor Strenziok reported from Tehran on August 13, 1979:
“During confrontations with orthodox Islamic groups, who apparently attacked the demo participants with stones, knives, daggers and clubs, there were fights that lasted for hours. Newspapers reported 300 injuries, some seriously. ... Apart from spontaneous demonstrations against negative phenomena in post-revolutionary Iran (committee attacks, arbitrary acts by Revolutionary Guards, compulsory veils for women, treatment of minorities, unemployment, etc.) this was the first major organized demonstration. ... reactivated by the most recent blatant election manipulation. "
A little later, the building and the technical equipment of the Ayandegan newspaper were confiscated and the editors fired. The anti- government newspaper was converted into a government- friendly newspaper with new editors and republished under the name Sobh-e Azadegan . An arrest warrant has been issued for Hedayat Matin-Daftari. The reason given was "disturbance of public order".
After these events, the party continued as an underground movement. From then on, the NDF worked with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, founded by Abolhassan Banisadr , and the People's Mujahedin to overthrow the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran . After the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war , cooperation with the People's Mujahedin was terminated because they had sided with Saddam Hussein .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Baqer Moin: Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah . Thomas Dunne Books, New York 2001, ISBN 0-312-26490-9 , p. 218.
- ↑ a b Shaul Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs. Basic Books, New York 1984, ISBN 0-465-06887-1 , p. 68.
- ↑ Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs. 1984, p. 73.
- ↑ Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs. 1984, p. 77.
- ↑ Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs. 1984, p. 80.
- ↑ a b Moin: Khomeini . 2001, p. 219f.
- ↑ Michael Ploetz, Tim Szatkowski: Files on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany 1979 Vol. II: July 1 to December 31, 1979. R. Oldenbourg Verlag Munich, 2010, p. 1115.
- ↑ Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs. 1984, p. 88.
- ↑ Bakhash: The Reign of the Ayatollahs. 1984, p. 142.
- ↑ Nikki R. Keddie: Modern Iran . Yale Univ. Press, New Haven et al. 2006, ISBN 0-300-12105-9 , p. 253.