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

Epilogue
From the Iranian Revolution to
Ra dical Islamist Politics since 1979
September 11, 2001
Radical Islamism is a diverse movement. This diversity is both ideological
and political. Ideologically, there is not only a divide between Sunnis and
Shi'ites, but also among various Sunni influences, from Wahabbism on the
Arabian Peninsula to the Deobandi School of South Asia. At a political level,
the Iranian Islamist regime almost went to war with the Afghanistan's Tal­
iban in 200l. Nonetheless, like fascism earlier, which had German, Italian,
Spanish, Romanian, and many other varieties, radical Islamism has enough
common features to discern it as general phenomenon. 1 Below we outline
very briefly some of the key elements in its development since it emerged as
a global phenomenon during the Iranian Revolution, up through September
11, 2001, and its immediate aftermath.
As we have seen, in Iran in 1979, the newly established regime of Ay­
atollah Khomeini moved quickly to repress feminists, ethnic and religious
minorities, liberals, and leftists-all in the name of Islam. 2 Moreover, Kho­
meini outflanked the anti-imperialist politics of the Iranian Left by encour­
aging his youthful followers to occupy and take hostages at the u.S. Embassy
in Tehran. This fourteen-month confrontation gave Iran's brand of radical
Islamism a surge of popularity throughout the Muslim world, easily crossing
the divide between Shi'ites and Sunnis. Khomeini's humiliation ofthe United
States also played a significant role in the election to the U.S. presidency in
November 1980 of the ultra-conservative Ronald Reagan, who promised to
make America strong again. By the end of his eight-year presidency, Reagan
had helped to realign global politics in several major ways. The new conser-
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