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MLS 610B-81
Spring 2003

WEEK 6: Monday, March 3.
The Iranian Revolution

Questions for Zoya’s Struggle: How has Zoya been personally impacted by the constant fighting in her country that has prevailed during her short lifetime?  How does she describe life in Afghanistan for women under the communist government of the 1980s, the mujahadeen government of the mid-1990s, and then subsequently under Taliban rule at the end of the decade?  How do Zoya and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) resist the oppression of women in Afghanistan?  Questions for “A Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States’ Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan” by Marc W. Herold: What is his methodology in counting the number of civilian casualties in the bombing campaign in Afghanistan, and, in your opinion, does he make a convincing case?  Why or why not?  How would you characterize the tone of the piece?

White Revolution:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Shah spent much of the country’s oil wealth in the early-mid 1970s on weapons, showing little concern for social welfare.  In the long run the White Revolution increased disparities between rich and poor in Iran, thereby undermining social stability.  By the early 1960s opposition to the Shah came primarily from religious fundamentalists, anti-secularists among the clergy (ulama).

“Ayatollah” =
 
 

Several factors leading to the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979:
 
 
 

Iranian Revolution:
 
 
 
 

The Ayatollah died in 1989 and was replaced by Ali Khamenei as religious leader of the country.   In the 1990s Iran’s secular leaders have again emerged with a strong voice, especially Seyed Mohammad Khatami, a moderate reformist and president since 1997 who won a convincing reelection in 2001.