Women, Life, Liberty: Story of a Social Movement

October 22nd, 2022, was the day that Berlin witnessed around eighty thousand protesters who marched to show their support for the most expansive uprising against the Islamic government that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution (DW 2022). More than 43 years ago, Iranians overthrew a modern westernized autocracy, and 2500 years of Persian monarchy began with the Achaemenid Empire and Ended with the Pahlavi Dynasty. Since protests broke out on September 16th in Tehran — after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman was arrested by the police because of her improper hijab and brutally murdered while in custody — many Iranians have joined the uprising in different cities inside the country. From that day forward, many individuals, including public figures, have shown their support and empathy worldwide. Among those are Iranian and non-Iranian artists, scientists, politicians, human rights activists, and millions of Iranians who had no alternative but to leave the country after the Islamic Revolution. As a result of the intensity and persistency of the events, the uprising gave birth to a revolutionary movement. Women, Life, Liberty is the signature of this innovative movement with unique features centered on human dignity, individual freedoms, and women's rights.

Social movements occur when there are underlying social problems, such that it becomes the widespread belief that the existing condition is harmful. De Fronzo (2019) defines a social movement as a continuous and organized effort involving the mobilization of large groups of individuals that cooperate to bring about what they believe to be beneficial social change or resist or reverse what they believe to be harmful social change. Sociologists have various theories about why social movements begin, but the most widespread one is the deprivation theory. Deprivation theory has two forms. Absolute deprivation is associated mainly with physical needs and when people cannot obtain adequate food, shelter, and so on, while relative deprivation results from comparison and inequality. Revolutionary movements seem to develop not just because of deprivation or inequality but because of expectations and moral beliefs about justice and fairness (De Fronzo 2019). Therefore, when a considerable number of individuals feel some degree of dissatisfaction with various aspects of their day-to-day lives, when minor uprisings initiate, more people become convinced that change is necessary and feasible. Hence, they will be motivated to join the protesters. As the participation advance and persist, if there are clear objectives in the words and minds of the protesters, their actions will shape a movement.

Although the origins of a revolution may be rational, the reasons should invoke emotions (Le Bon 1913). Motivations are closely related to emotions and form human behavior. There are multiple theories about human motivation, and nearly all psychologists believe that human motivation is deeply rooted in their needs. A well-known theory is Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow (1943), people are motivated by five categories of needs, placed in an order in which a person aims to satisfy them. Those include physiological, safety and security, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. People's motivations in social movements can vary on personal levels based on Mazlow's theory. As many people encounter hardship in satisfying their physiological needs because of economic factors, corruption, and mismanagement, they become motivated to make a change. For oppressed groups such as women, LGBTQs, racial minorities, and the like, motivation develops to satisfy their needs for safety, self-esteem, human dignity, and even for some leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, self-actualization. Another prominent theory is Victor Vroom's expectancy theory which explains that an individual's motivation depends on three factors. If a person's efforts lead to high performance, the performance leads to an outcome, and if that outcome is desirable (Vroom 1964). When goals, plans, and strategies are defined, and the majority find them worthy, acceptable, and achievable, their motivation boosts. As a result, the probability of success significantly grows.

In addition to the significance of the role of emotion and motivation in social movements, they can appear in different forms concerning their approach to social change. An innovative or liberal movement attempts to propose a cultural shift and alter traditional values and rules. As Melucci (1988) notes, new social movements try to oppose the intrusion of the state and the market into social life, reclaiming individual rights to define their identities and to determine their private and affective lives against the comprehensive manipulation of the system. On the contrary, a conservative movement tries to maintain things the way they are and resist change. Finally, reactionary movements aim to rebuild cultural elements and bring back the good old days.

Considering Iran's modern history, we can name a handful of uprisings in Iran in the twentieth century, but only two of them graduated to movements and concluded in revolutions. The first and foremost was the Constitutional Revolution began in 1905. According to Amanat (2017), the movement started following the closure of the bazaar when the crowds gathered to protest the mistreatment of the city merchants by government officials. Consequently, a considerable size of the urban population, among them, Western-educated elites, requested for emerging the rules into a constitution and afterward became a movement contributing to the establishment of the first parliament in Iran in 1906 with a fundamental transformation in government policies, laws, and economy. Iranian revolutionists paid a high cost by sacrificing their lives with a strong belief and devotion to democracy and freedom. As a result, Iran in 1914 was entirely different from Iran in 1905 (Amanat 2017). The power of Qajar and religious institutions weakened, offering freedom for cultural and social change. In terms of changes, the Constitutional Revolution is classified as innovative since the objective was to modernize the country and construct a democratic society where everyone should obey the law.

The second revolution occurred after 70 years in 1979 and was different than the previous one. Although the Islamic Revolution had some similarities with the Constitutional Revolution, there was an essential dissimilarity between the two events. Though many believe the latter was the consequence of the former's failure. After the 1953 coup, the Shah tried to interfere in everything, such that the opposition claimed that he was preserving all the authority, violating the constitution, and hand-picking the prime minister, cabinet, and members of parliament. That was contrary to the ideal of the Constitutional Revolution. During the 25 years between the coup and the revolution, many politicians tried to convince him that a constitutional monarch should reign and not rule.

Although different groups with dissimilar principles and ideologies, like nationalists, constitutionalists, and Marxists, participated in the revolution, the Islamist groups led by clergy managed to achieve more power because they knew how to manipulate a large population and persuade them to sacrifice their lives in the name of Islam. A few months before the victory, Ayatullah Khomeini became the leader while living in Paris at the time. Khomeini proposed the idea of unity, and other strong players followed his lead, hoping he would eventually stay out of the game—as he promised—and deliver the power to whom people elect. Those elites forgot that Khomeini was the one who rallied against women's right to vote and land reform in 1963 (Milani 2011). Shahpour Bakhtiar—the opposition leader who became the last prime minister—was the only politician and one of the leaders of the national front warned about the danger of a religious dictatorship. In 37 days of his government, Bakhtiar managed to conduct comprehensive reforms in the regime though it was too late. Many people, who learned their lessons after the 1953 coup, had an absolute distrust of the Shah even though he publicly acknowledged the mistakes and promised to give them everything they requested. Later in exile, the Shah hoped Americans save his throne as they did in 1953. However, he soon realized he would no longer receive support from the west. Once the military declared neutrality, the Pahlavi dynasty collapsed. Ultimately, Khomeini took over the government as a supreme leader and put tremendous effort into excluding other parties from the beginning. Thus, a constitutional monarchy that gradually transformed into a pro-western autocracy very soon became a theocracy that was not only intolerant of any criticism but fundamentally altered the innovative and modern judiciary system. Subject to the classifications mentioned above, since the change was through reconstructing the traditions, the Islamic Revolution should be classified as a revolution based on reactionary movements.

Although there have been several attempts after the Constitutional Revolution and during the Pahlavi era to reform the system, they did not have considerable achievement in restricting the monarch and empowering the parliament. Since 1906, when Iran adopted a constitution and became a constitutional monarchy until the next revolution in 1979, activists tried to convince the government to obey the law. Despite that, only a few years during Ahmad Shah, people had an opportunity to enjoy some degree of democracy until the 1921 coup that eventually led to the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. After the overthrow of the Qajar dynasty, Reza Shah maintained a military dictatorship until the Anglo-Britain invasion of Iran in 1941, when the allied forced him to resign. However, they agreed that his 21-year-old son Mohamad Reza become the new king. During the first 12 years of Mohamad Reza Shah, he did not have absolute power due to many reasons, such as WWII, foreign countries' pressure on Iran, and the threat of Communism. The fact that the Shah did not have absolute power in those years does not mean people had much chance to have a voice. Only a few years before the 1953 coup managed by the British and American intelligence services that overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the Shah.

As it is commonly known, history repeats itself, mainly when society responds inadequately to similar problems. Although more crucial than how people deal with their issues is the leaders' capability to hear people's voices before it is too late. When all the roads to reforming a system are blocked, and politicians don't show any flexibility, the only option left for society to form a social change would be a revolution. A revolution is a radical change in the social structure that usually involves violence, instability, and uncertainty. As long as reforms are achievable, extremism seems unnecessary. Beyond doubt, the government had numerous accomplishments during the Pahlavi era. Reza Shah put a lot of effort into constructing a modern state. Roads, factories, schools, allowing girls to join the community, and many other things thoroughly modernized the country in less than two decades. Mohamad Reza cared about the well-being of the nation like his father. When he became the king, Anglo-Russian forces invaded the country, and he was an immature and fearful king who had to negotiate with the imperialist powers that were eating the world at the time. Communists, nationalists, religious leaders, and aristocrats were all chasing power. When Mosaddeq became the prime minister, he was the only politician that dared to nationalize the oil and earned more popularity and strength. Society was bipolar at the time, such that on one side, it was the king and royalists, later joined by Ayatullah Kashani and his followers. On the other side, Mosaddeq, along with nationalists, was later supported by communist groups close to the Soviet Union—and there was a gap between people. Most historians believed that the majority was on Mosaddeq's side.

Finally, the Shah and his supporters worked closely with the US and Britain to overthrow Mosaddeq via a coup known as Operation Ajax. Mosaddeq and his associates and supporters were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. When Mossadeq heard about his three-year sentence, as the New York Times reported, he famously said, "I am extremely grateful you convicted me. Truly tonight, the Iranian nation understood the meaning of constitutionalism". In the next 25 years until the 1979 revolution, as the price of oil increased, many things improved in the country. Iran became one of the countries with the highest economic growth rate. Yet, the primary issue was that the authoritarian government made all nearly all decisions. Women gained almost equal rights with men, at least based on the laws and regulations. The Shah came up with a series of changes known as the White Revolution that was, in reality, not a revolution or social reform but a top-down model of reform that did not include the nation. In the end, many factors were involved in the birth of the reactionary movement in 1978. The oil boom and increase in inflation, waste and an accelerating gap between the rich and poor, the city and the country, along with foreign countries' pressure on Iran, the illness of the Shah, and many additional elements all contributed to a movement that overthrows 2500 years of monarchy in Iran. After all, the revolution had begun much longer before, when people realized the constitutional rights they fought for were no longer a matter of discussion.

With the collapse of the monarchy, many further pillars of society collapsed. Iranians realized they lost their freedom in considerable aspects of their lives, such as the right to choose their personal beliefs and practice religion. Women were now deprived of their rights and liberty since the earlier modern judiciary system changed to an outdated dogmatic way of interpreting the laws. Like before the 1979 revolution, people became voiceless a few months after the referendum in which they chose their form of government. In the 1997 and 2009 presidential elections, many Iranians became optimistic and had some degree of hope that change would be possible. Yet, despite many years of fighting against totalitarianism, namely over 100 years of efforts, for the third time in history since the beginning of the twentieth century, the Iranian people started an uprising that soon transformed into a revolutionary movement. Unlike previous ones, maybe for the first time in history, women are the initiators and leaders of this heroic act. Different from the reactionary movement of 1979, this one is an innovative movement that has built over identity, human rights, and women's rights. This movement is unique because the most vulnerable groups of society become the most fearless warriors against the most orthodox and prejudiced groups with the patriarchal mindset that has ruled over us for centuries. Marx once said they "have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win", and that is the wisdom of the motto, "Women, Life, and Liberty"!

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References

• Amanat, A. (2017). Iran: A Modern History. United Kingdom: Yale University Press.

• DeFronzo, J., Gill, J. (2019). Social Problems and Social Movements.

• Deutsche Welle. (2022, October 22). Iran rights protest in Berlin draws thousands.

• Le Bon, Gustave. (1913). The Psychology of Revolution. Batoche Books.

• Maslow, A.H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. In Psychological Review 430-437.

• Melucci, Alberto 1988: Getting Involved: Identity and Mobilization in Social Movements.

• Milani, A. (2011). The Shah. United States: St. Martin's Publishing Group.

• Vroom, V.H. (1964). Work and motivation. Wiley.