foucault-and-the-iranian-revolution-janet-afary

110 Foucault's Writings on the Iranian Revolution
Already, Le Mande repoi1.ed on February 17, the Tehran University campus
had become "one of the rare places, perhaps the only one, where women
come alongside men and hold discussions with them as equals" (Balta
1979a) . On February 25, Ali Shaygan, a prominent National Front leader who
had been a close friend of Mossadeq, returned to Iran after years of exile in
France and the United States. Shaygan, who had also played a key role in coordinating
the anti-shah activities of the Confederation of Iranian Students
in the United States, was expected by many to become Iran's first president.
He expressed approval for some Islamist projects, such as the prohibition
of alcohol. But after his first meeting with Khomeini, Shaygan voiced strong
reservations about the direction of the revolution: "Iran cannot return to the
first century of Islam and must instead come up with a new government that
meets international standards" (Shaygan 1979).
On March 1, the left-leaning Association of Iranian Writers warned publicly
that the "democratic character of the revolution must be preserved." The
association complained that the provisional government had refused to recognize
the elected councils of workers and civil servants that had been instrumental
in the general strikes during the revolution. Censorship had returned,
and limits on freedom of expression were being reinstituted. Vigilantes intimidated
newspapers and targeted public demonstrations and lectures with
threats of violence. They "cleansed" library books, "abrogated the rights of
women, who had played an important role in the revolution, and in the
name of religious sentiments, eliminated discussion of Iran's [non-Islamic]
national festivals and rituals [such as Now Rouz] from textbooks" (Kanun-i
Nevisandegan-i Iran 1979).
On March 6, the secular leftist and nationalist parties were able to prove
their strength at a mass rally commemorating the anniversary of the Mossadeq's
death. As reported in Le Mande, the crowd that day, comprising hundreds
of thousands, was dominated by supporters of the Left. It included
many women, few of whom wore the chador. Slightly distancing himself
from Khomeini, Ayatollah Taleqani gave a major address calling for tolerance
and unity among the forces that had supported the revolution. Mossadeq's
grandson Hedayat Matin-Daftari gave the most dramatic speech, calling for
the founding of a new political group, the National Democratic Front. Evoking
principles from the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, he demanded a real
debate rather than the plebiscite that had been announced for March 30-31
on a single question, whether Iran should become an Islamic republic. Matin­
Daftari also advocated an end to censorship and to discrimination against
women, as well as cultural and political autonomy for Iran's minorities (Balta
1979b ) .