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

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the leader of the National Front, had finally accepted the first point of the ayatollah's
declaration, to the effect that the shah's monarchy is illegitimate and
illegaL His abdication and departure had thus become a prerequisite for the
reconstitution of political life. By Friday evening, the monarch lacked even
indirect support anywhere among the opposition, leaving him without any
room to maneuver. For its part, the opposition was totally ready and organized.
2. The day before, the official Soviet press had termed the demand for an
Islamic government in Iran "dangerous." It was, on the one hand, a way of
signaling to the Americans that the USSR did not object to a solution, even
a "vigorous one, " that would block the way for an opposition movement
under Khomeini. It was also, on the other hand, a way of signaling to the
shah that in case of a long and violent struggle, the opposition would find no
support in the USSR, or in the arms-supplying people's democracies, 69 or in
those Middle Eastern governments sponsored by the Russians. Therefore, on
the international side, it was the shah who on Friday evening was completely
ready and armed, while the opposition was completely isolated.
The shah had only one card left to play. It consisted of getting these international
facts to play on the domestic stage.
The opportunity was given by a student riot. Whether it was provoked
and by whom will be a topic of discussion for a long time to come. Was it
provoked by gunfire from soldiers on Saturday, or by their retreat on Sunday?
The word "provocation" always bothers me, because there is no action that
is unprovoked.70 The problem is to know what makes someone susceptible
to provocation. Why did the students switch this weekend to a type of action
different from that of previous months, one that was probably not desired
by even the most radical leaders of the opposition? Maybe it was because of
the rivalry between the political and the religious groups. There was on everybody's
mind a sort of mutual challenge between revolutionary radicalism
and Islamic radicalism, neither of which wanted to seem more conciliatory
and less courageous than the other. For this reason and because of a situation
that had greatly evolved, the student milieu revealed itself as much more "explosive"
than the rest of the population, alongside whom these same students
had demonstrated a few weeks ago.
Now the army has occupied Tehran, and top military officers are running
the country. Is this the seizure of power by the military that some had predicted?
For the moment, it seems not.
Indeed, the generals, now government ministers, did not impose themselves
on the shah. They are the king's men, designated by him long ago to