On revolution's anniversary, Iranians ask: Is this what we were promised?
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| Tehran, Iran
The聽Iranian聽children gathered on a small stage on Revolution Avenue,聽around waist-high columns of silver-painted plastic foam and pots of glue,聽wearing surgical masks and hairnets like technicians. Above them, a banner read: 鈥淣uclear scientists of the next generation.鈥澛燣arge pictures of four assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists completed the scene.
It was聽a competition to build聽centrifuges聽to honor the anniversary of the 1979 revolution. When the models were done,聽the announcer tested each child鈥檚 ability to say 鈥渃en-tri-fuge,鈥 with mixed results. The winner took home a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah聽Ali聽Khamenei.聽
鈥淚 will be a good scientist,鈥 says Mahdiyar, 12, when the competition is over.聽
鈥淚 brought my kids to show them how we got here,鈥 says his father, Hamidreza, a government worker who gave only his first name. 鈥淔rom the beginning of the revolution we have been sanctioned, but the people did not abandon the regime, they supported it. This is a sign of exaltation.鈥
At regime rallies, such messages are as common as flag burning. But from the corridors of power to the dining rooms of Iranians, one endless topic for years has been the upheaval of the revolution and the merits of its aftermath.
鈥淢aybe we have not reached 100 percent鈥 with the revolution, says Hamidreza, but Iranians should 鈥渂ear it and hard times will pass.鈥澛
Define 'success'
Iranians marked the 35th聽anniversary of the Islamic revolution today with mass rallies聽trumpeting聽satellite launches and nuclear advances 鈥 and a virulent anti-Americanism that has defined the Islamic Republic from the start.
From face-painted children building model centrifuges to bearded volunteers handing out signs that read, 鈥淲e are ready for the great battle,鈥 Iranians聽are still glorifying the event that forever changed their world 鈥 but also trying to understand it.聽
In 1979, the unimaginable happened: the close US ally and pro-West Shah was toppled and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the revolution, returned from exile. He told Iranians not to be satisfied 鈥渏ust鈥 with a new home and free utilities and bus rides. 鈥淲e aim to improve the quality of your spiritual life as well,鈥 Khomeini vowed. 鈥淲e will exalt your souls.鈥
But has the revolution fulfilled its promise of social justice and religious enlightenment?
The answer depends upon whom you ask and how they measure progress. Many on the streets today, the true believers, praised the results.聽
鈥淥ur children should get acquainted with the victory of the revolution,鈥 says Hamidreza Ansari, pushing a stroller with his infant, as his wife leads their 6-year-old daughter by the hand. 鈥淚f we hadn鈥檛 reached [exaltation], we would not see so many people here every year.鈥
America the oppressor
Yet a top lawmaker last week said the list of 鈥渨hat has not been done鈥 was longer than the 鈥渓ong" list of achievements.
鈥淭he demands that are not met by the regime are also a long list,鈥 said deputy parliament speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar.
Conservative politician Hamidreza Taraghi says the revolution proved that religious rule and technical advancement can coexist, and that superpowers could be let go. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been 35 years since we have not been following in the steps of the US and Russia,鈥 he says.
Though President Hassan Rouhani has declared an 鈥渆nd to extremism,鈥 negotiated an interim nuclear deal with world powers, and overseen unprecedented direct contact with the US, many in the heavily conservative crowd took a harder line.聽
鈥淲e came here today because America oppresses all the countries,鈥 said Darvish-Ali Nankali, an elderly laborer with a yellow 鈥済reat battle鈥 flag on a stick over his shoulder. 鈥淲e came here to march against the US, the UK, and Israel 鈥撀爃opefully God will uproot them.鈥
From the podium, Mr. Rouhani echoed complaints about the US phrase 鈥渁ll options are on the table,鈥 which implies that the US is keeping open the possibility of a military strike on Iran. 鈥淚 say explicitly to those delusional people who say the military option is on the table, that they should change their glasses鈥. Our nation regards the language of threat as rude and offensive,鈥 he said.
At the rallies, there was much belittling. Dart games featured President Barack Obama painted like the sinister Joker, along with Israeli leaders, or President Obama portrayed as an 鈥淎merican clown鈥 with a red nose, an "enemy that can be made fun of by children." One poster showed a US aircraft carrier superimposed with flames: 鈥淚f they misbehave in any way鈥 the US fleet would be destroyed 鈥渋n the blink of an eye,鈥 it boasted.聽
Not everyone wants to be 'exalted'
To some, the revolution's tumultuous history 鈥 an 8-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, the aftermath of fraud-tainted elections in 2009, punishing sanctions 鈥撀爌roves the resilience of the Islamic Republic. But Iran also faces persistent economic inequality聽and deep social divisions.
鈥淲e have taken good steps exalting the souls of the people,鈥 says Mr. Taraghi, citing a ten-fold growth in religious capacity, with larger shrines and mosques and better-attended religious events. But it is still not enough, he says.
Taraghi recognizes that such work is not welcome by more secular Iranians.聽鈥淥ur duty is to create the infrastructure that will allow people to [improve their souls], but we can鈥檛 force those who want to go a different way,鈥澛爃e says.聽
But聽more聽liberal, Westernized Iranians, who largely back Rouhani, have chafed under Iran鈥檚 social restrictions and hardline ideology. They helped him win a first-round victory over a slate of conservative rivals in June, celebrating the end of the 8-year era of arch-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.聽
Some said they came聽to the rally聽to聽help support reforms, 鈥渋nvited鈥 to do so by Rouhani and the reformist former President Mohammad Khatami,聽who remains popular nationwide but is despised by conservative factions.聽One female student, bare-armed and wearing red lipstick and designer sunglasses, said she聽was聽there as a 鈥減atriot."
Soheil, a young man whose聽girlfriend聽stood out in a bright headscarf, lipstick, and nail polish the colors of the Iranian flag, looked from an overpass at those filling the wide Enghelab [Revolution] Avenue below, among them the Islamic Republic鈥檚 most conservative and loyalist citizens.
鈥淭here are a lot of people,鈥 said Soheil,聽of the hundreds of thousands 鈥 official media said "millions" 鈥 who turned out today in Tehran and across the country.聽鈥淏ut if it was the opposition coming to the street, it would be in bigger numbers.鈥
But the day belonged to regime supporters, and their narrative of triumphing over the enemy.
鈥淭he US says 鈥榓ll options are on the table,鈥 but they are lying because Iranian military might is so strong they will not dare [to attack],鈥 says Setareh Pahlavan-Moghaddam, a school counselor. Iranians will 鈥渘ever back down."
鈥淲e did the revolution for independence and freedom for our country, and not to give us cheap chicken or meat," she says.