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May 25, 2013
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 Will the Egyptian Revolution Also Devour Its Young?Posted on Feb 18, 2011
By Barry Lando Egypt in February 2011 is not Iran in January 1979, and those darkly predicting that Egypt’s revolution is fated to turn into another Islamic dictatorship are ignoring the many stark differences between the two situations. But as Egypt enters an unknown course, I am reminded of the fate of Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, once Iran’s foreign minister, ultimately destroyed by the man and movement he devoted his life to bring to power. I first met him in October 1976 in Paris when I was a producer at “60 Minutes” teamed up with Mike Wallace. I was investigating the activities outside Iran of the shah’s feared secret police, the Savak. The most remarkable story came from Ghotbzadeh, then a 37-year-old Iranian dissident, active with one of the many exile groups in the French capital. A handsome, impeccably dressed Iranian, he spoke fluent English and French and had been working against the shah since his university days in the United States. He introduced us to a stocky 67-year-old Armenian by the name of Jules Khan Pira—his would-be assassin. In heavily accented French, Khan Pira recounted how, under threat of a complex blackmail scheme by the Savak, he had been ordered to assassinate several opposition leaders. At the top of the list was Ghotbzadeh. This led to one of the most unlikely interviews we had ever filmed: a large suite at the George V, a dapper Ghotbzadeh in dark blazer and tie, and sitting next to him, the shabbily dressed Khan Pira, the two revolvers that Khan Pira said he had received from a Savak agent sitting on a table between them. Improbable as it seemed, Khan Pira’s tale checked out both in France and the U.S. But what is most revealing in retrospect is that nowhere in the “60 Minutes” report did we feel the need to mention specifically what Ghotbzadeh was up to in Paris. He was the major representative in Western Europe and America of an elderly, bearded, Iranian cleric, who was then exiled in Iraq and hardly known in the West, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. At the time, in fact, Khomeini seemed to be a very discardable footnote to our story. Advertisement Most intriguing of all to me was the key role that Muslim clerics and their leaders such as Khomeini were playing in all of this, even from exile. There was an underground network among the theological centers of learning and the mosques across Iran. There were clandestine newspapers and an elaborate system of circulating Khomeini’s revolutionary speeches via audiocassettes throughout the country. Very little of this had been noticed by the Western press, which was the major reason I was unable to persuade “60 Minutes” to do a report. Finally, in October 1978, with introductions arranged by Ghotbzadeh, I flew to Tehran and was plugged into the clandestine network of the Islamic movement. It was a curious mixture of professors and students of all ages, Muslim clerics from ragged villages in the countryside to the holy city of Qom, wealthy shopkeepers from Tehran’s sprawling Bazaar and middle-class professionals. Many of them, like Ghotbzadeh, had been educated in the U.S. or Western Europe. I was impressed by their fervor, but also by the fact that, when pressed, none seemed to be able to define precisely what an Islamic revolution was all about. One evening I met with a group of about 10 young men and women in Tehran, many of them university students and teachers. After a lengthy discussion of the ongoing revolt, I suddenly asked what an Islamic government would actually look like. Well for one thing, said one young man in a dark turtleneck, “Women would have to cover their hair.” The women in the room seemed to agree. “But what if a woman didn’t want to cover her hair?” I asked. “Then her brother or her husband would take her aside and try to convince her,” said another man, with a soft smile. “And what if she still didn’t want to?” “We would keep trying to convince her,” said the man, still smiling. “And, if after all that, she finally still refused?” “That would be her right,” said one of the women. “No,” said a man, “in that case, she would not be allowed to go out.” “And if she still insisted?” “We might have to put her in prison,” said the man in the turtleneck. His words seemed to surprise several in the room. “For now such questions are secondary,” one of the teachers said. “The immediate work at hand is to bring down the shah. Defining the new government will come later through democratic elections.” The revolution was now gaining momentum, with weekly marches and weekly martyrs. The shah seemed totally unable to deal with the situation. Back in Paris, Ghotbzadeh told me he was heading to Iraq to see Khomeini. “Look,” I said, “if I can get you a small film camera would you take pictures of him for us?” He was delighted with the idea, he said, since it would also give him a chance to get some film footage of Khomeini to circulate in Iran for his own purposes. Up till then, he had none.
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By gerard, February 21, 2011 at 3:17 pm Link to this comment
After Ming the Merciless it’s hard to pull the covers off your head and get up and face another day.
Report thisNevertheless, after a strong cup of coffee it is necessary to get to work here again:
According to articles in Forbes and on Counterpunch website, before the uprising a number of young people went to Serbia to study nonviolent principles and strategies at an institute in Serbia, taught by people with experience in ousting Melosovic. Nonviolence was deliberately advocated and used throughout the Egyptian demonstration. Further, the communal good nature and natural mutual helpfulness of the Egyptian themselves was largely responsible for success so far. Bloggers from the site described things frequently using words like “brilliant” and “uplifting as ever” and the words “peaceful, peaceful” were often heard.
Nothing is certain. Every day is new territory.
But it’s worth hoping, after all the weapons-makers’ inducements to kill and maim, human beings can find other more effective ways to maintain their right to live in peace. (Google nonviolence or nonviolent resistance for much more. See “Politics of Nonviolence” website.))
By Ming the Merciless, February 19, 2011 at 11:16 pm Link to this comment
The troubles in Egypt are a careful take over by the Ikhwan(al qaeda) and it is the same thing in Venezuela.
The baboon Chavez is practically a Jihadi and is turning his country over to the Salafis:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/October/Chavez-Drug-Cartels-and-Terrorism-Funding/
The leftard’s stupidity is indeed monumental!!!
I will see that treasonous buffoon Obama swing in the breeze!
Report thisBy moonraven, February 18, 2011 at 8:52 pm Link to this comment
gerard, I agree.
Venezuela is an important example.
In 1992 Hugo Chavez led a failed coup against the corrupt and murderous government of Carlos Andres Perez (who recently died in the lap of luxury in Miami and whose assets were requested to be frozen).
Chavez spent 2 years in prison, was pardoned by Rafael Caldera and in 1998 was elected to the presidency. His government has been in power for 12 years during which time, despite numerous attempts at coups and assassination financed by YOUR tax dollars, poverty has been cut by more than half, illiteracy eliminated, the GINI coefficient has dopped from almost 0.50 (where the US and Mexico are now) to just over 0.40 and a long list of positive etceteras.
Report thisBy Barry Wiseamn, February 18, 2011 at 7:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I am a little amazed that poor Sadegh Ghotbzadeh did not know how the game of “leader, leader who wants to be leader” was being played as the CIA laid forth their plans to establish, not him, but their long time CIA asset the Ayatollah Khomeini in power. But then I can remember the Shah of Iran was just as duped when he was overthrown. I can remember him bitterly complaining about the CIA when he had finally learned that they had disposed of him just as they had Mohammad Mossedegh in 1953 when he was the democratically elected Premier of Iran. Ironically both the Shah and Mossedegh made the mistake of trying to force the British and the Rothschilds to give their people a break in their looting of their country’s oil, the former in 1951, the latter in 1980.
These coloured revolutions, Rose, Green, Saffron, or Orange or any other color that are spreading all across Eurasia and the Middle East are all American born and bred, despite what the naive students protesters may think, and anyone who does not know that now should be kindly advised to stop playing the game until they learn all its rules. The first rule being that the Americans are everywhere that there are riches to be stolen,the second that they follow no rules.
Report thisBy vote, February 18, 2011 at 5:15 pm Link to this comment
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to compare a non-violent revolution to other non-violent revolutions? Has anybody asked how what’s happening today compares to Canada gaining independence?
Report thisHow about the likelihood of a peaceful revolution in current times versus long ago?
Why is it that we think people in other countries couldn’t possibly do as good a job of running their countries as we do running their country for them?
My prediction: The result will not live up to the utopian expectations of people who confuse ideals as being a destination rather than a direction.
By gerard, February 18, 2011 at 4:32 pm Link to this comment
The widely general, habituated reluctance to place faith in the possible success of nonviolent change causes professional commentators to predict failure, just to be sure to be on the “right” side. However—nonviolence is more likely to succeed in establishing democratic governments than violence simply because by its very nature it is nonaggressive, nonpunitive, nondictatorial. There’s no guarantee, but there is room for hope.
Report thisBy JDmysticDJ, February 18, 2011 at 2:40 pm Link to this comment
“Egypt in February 2011 is not Iran in January 1979, and those darkly predicting that Egypt’s revolution is fated to turn into another Islamic dictatorship are ignoring the many stark differences between the two situations. But…”
But what, Ghobtzadeh? Mr. Lando will need Glen Beck’s chalkboard in order to make a comparison between Egypt in 2011, and Iran in 1979. Ghobtzadeh was the most moderate Iranian voice heard on ABC News’s nightly news program, “America Held Hostage, day 1 thru day whatever,” but even Ghobtzadeh was not as moderate as the Muslim Brothers in Egypt have become. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt represents a minority of Egypt’s population.
There can be no significant comparison between the Iranian Revolution and the Egyptian Revolution. BP, Frank Wisner’s father, and Eisenhower’s CIA did not have the democratically elected head of Egypt assassinated, and install a Shaw. Radical Egyptian students did not invade the U.S. Embassy, parade hostages around in blindfolds, and obtain CIA documents proving CIA complicity with an installed monarch. There is no Lenin like Ayatollah in waiting, who has been propagandizing the Egyptian people for decades. The former head of Egypt’s security police has not escaped to the West and written a book about the many perversities of Mubarak, and on and on…
The divide between Muslim culture and Western culture is an immense chasm. Some repressive Muslim cultures insist that women wear the burka, others insist that women keep their heads covered, while some Western cultures prohibit both, declaring those cultural practices to be inflammatory. Sexual promiscuity in Muslim cultures is severely punished, while in the West any teen with access to the internet can view the worst kinds of pornography. One could go on and on about the differences between the two cultures, but it seems clear that Egypt is headed towards a point somewhere between the two extremes of culture.
Hands off Egypt; let the Egyptian people decide. They want democracy, butt out, and let that democracy develope, regardless of how messy that development might be.
I’m not sure if Mr. Lando is warning us, or just trying to impress us with his prestigious, irrelevant, historical experience.
Report thisBy anonymous, February 18, 2011 at 12:18 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is so vague in its analysis of the contending parties in the Iranian revolution as to be practically useless. Revolutionary terror isn’t about gastronomy—will the young be devoured? From the outset the secular and left Islamic forces failed to recognize that Khomeini intended to suppress them under theocratic rule. He should have been stopped, not eaten.
The revolutionaries in Egypt face an utterly different situation at this time. After having gotten Mubarak out of the way, sections of the military and some factions in the economic elite are in a position to utilize the revolutionary movement to simply extend their own economic and political control. It is crucial that the revolutionaries disrupt the loyalty of lower ranking officers and troops to limit or nullify the army’s power. If they can do this, it is quite possible that a progressive government could form, especially in as much as Egypt faces no external pressure, a factor that was crucial in shaping the other revolutions—the French, the Russian—that seem to support the gastronomic silliness, and also played some role in the Iranian revolution, in as much as fears of the US and Iraq helped to rationalize centralizing force.
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