Story Category: People Mobilise
Street protests began in January 1978. If individuals were killed, the seventh and fortieth days became part of Shi’ite public mourning and renewed protests. The autumn of 1978 saw renewed vigour in public protest, escalating during Muharram, December 1978. While predominantly urban, the demonstrators came from all classes. Yet differences in style and political discourses were of course evident.
Muharram
Here is a cluster of religiously-inspired demonstrators, all wearing a kafan (shroud of the dead), signifying their own readiness to be martyred. The slogan reads: God is great, our movement is like Hussein, our leader is Khomeini. الله اکبر٬ نهضت ما حسینی٬ رهبر ما خمینی There are plenty of images of Khomeini. And women marched also, sometimes Read more…
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Carter’s Visit
In late December 1977 Jimmy Carter visited the Shah. On New Year’s Eve he made a speech in the Niavaran palace when he pronounced Iran “an island of stability in one of the most troubled areas of the world”. Here is another cluster of demonstrators who are focussed on his visit. They have constructed a Read more…
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Other Demonstrations
Yet another group are filling one of the wide boulevards of Tehran with huge banners declaiming against imperialism. Red flags and motifs of workers’ rights are also evident. State helicopters hover somewhat menacingly overhead, producing a wave of raised arms by the demonstrators. This is a secular leftist demo with very different slogans.
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