There is wide ptead agIc 'mciit that Khomeini's death will touch off a new struggle for power. There is no obvious suc- cessor or plausible alternative to this 81-year-old man. Ayatollah Beheshti might have had the ability to carry on, but even that was not entirely certain. There arc no established in- stitutional structures or ongoing programs in the government. Khomeini can leave a last will and testament, but it is far from evident whether it will he carried out after he is gdne. At this point, one can imagine three possibilities for post- Khomeini Iran. First, Khomeini could successfully transfer sufficient authority to the l.R.P. to enable the revolution to muddle throtich on the brink of chaos for several more years. Second, a military coup could occur, with or without a civil war, that would restore a moderate civilian govern- ment resembling that of Bakhtiar. Such a government would be conservative in social and economic policy and follow a pro-/Vestern foreign policy. Third, democratic forces could gather enough strength within the military and the clergy to emerge victorious after a struggle that would likely plunge Iran into a period of civil war. Only this third option would preserve and extend the gains of the Iranian revolution. Despite the failures of Kho- meini's leadership, the revolution has maintained its anti- monarchist and anti-imperialist character, in addition, Kho- meini's own words, if not the deeds of his regime, lend an aura of !e cy to hi opponents' democratic dcmands. Even if the Bani-Sadr/Rajavi forces take power, there re- mains considerable doubt that their alliance could hold together. There is also the question of whether outside powers would stand idly by while the revolution was being put back on a progressive track. It must be understood that the ease with which Khomeini and the Islamic Republican Party achieved a monopoly of power in Iran was greatly facilitated by the failure of the various democratic elements to form a broadly based coali- tion that supported concrete proposals for social and economic change. During the crucial year of 1979, while the ut ?. clerics, relying on the mantle of Khomeini's un- disputed leadership, were building a nationwide organiza- tion, a dominant propaganda machine and an extensive patronage system, the main democratic personalities and groups were often involved in factional maneuvering to gain Khomeini's temporary support in the ongoing battle for power inside Iran. Khomeini exploited the rivalries among the democratic elements and eventually eliminated them altogether. If a coalition of democratic forces similar to the National Coun- cil of Resistance formed in Paris by Rajavi and Bani-Sadr a few months ago had existed in the early months of 1979, Khomeini and the 1.R.P. might not have been able to side- track the revolution—certainly not with such apparent ease. It remains, of course, to be discovered whether the demo- cratic elements of the iranian revolution have learned this essential lesson from the tragic turn of events over the last several months. One thing, though, is clear: without-a solid organizational structure and a coherent and carefully spelled- out program, the democratic forces have no realistic pros- pect of achieving their objectives. Quite possibly, a second January30, 1982 failure on their part would demoralize the democratic con- stituency in iran for a long time to come. Let us hope that Khomeini's own words of late December 1978 will come back to haunt him: “Whenever repression is intensified to an eNtraordi- k nary degree, the natural and inevitable result will be an explosion. Hence the revolutionary movement, which will continue until the Shah's regime is destroyed.” Now, of course, the “revolutionary movement” has turned against Khomeini's regime. 0 APPEAL FROM EXILE Khomeini's Reign Of Terror MANSOUR FARHANG J'uman liberation in one part of the world is ultimately inseparable from liberation in other parts. Thus, all people who support the cau* of freedom are morally obliged to speak out in defense of the rights and the humanity of the Iranian peo- plc, whose peaceful and popula& revolution his beeti transformed into religious fascism. On behalf of President Aboihassan Bani . .Sadr, I wish to appeal to the conscience of the world, to all men and women supporting the cause of human freedom, to break their silence and condemn the crimes of Ayatollah Khomeini's regime. No government in recent decades has established such totalitarian and barbaric political order as the present government of Iran. During a four-month period last year, more than 3,000 innocent people were executed without public hearings. The regime intrudes upon the most in- timate aspects of daily life. Homes are entered and their occupants seized not only for political reasons but also on the mere suspicion that they have violated the dictates of the state in the conduct of their private aftairs. There are currently about 50,000 political prisoners in Iranian jails, where torture is routinely practiced. it has also been estimated that another 50,000 dissidents have been driven underground. Hundreds of people have been killed or im- prisoned for giving shelter to critics of the regime. It is a tragedy that these hideous crimes are being committed Mansour Farhang was Iran s U.N. representative from December 1979 until June 1980, when he resigned in protest o r'er Ayatollah Khomeini's stand on the resolution of the hostage situation. He then served as senior foreign policy adviser to President Aboihussan Bani-Sadr until he was forced into exile in August 198). A senior fellow at the In- slitute for World Order, he is the author of U.S. Im- perialism: From the Spanish-American War to the Iranian Revolution (Soul/i End Press) and is currently at work on a book about the politics of the Iranian revolution. __________ -_________ TheNation. — .- ..- . - BP00059 1 1
ianuJry 30, 1982 lihe Nntion. in the name of Islam and the Shiite tradition. The condemnation of these continuing crimes in Iran by all concerned people will expose the true face of Khomeini's regime and provide hope and inspiration to the Iranian peo. pie, who are living under an unimaginable reign of terror. Before the revolutionary victory of February 1979, Iranians suffered under the political and economic oppression of the Shah. In the present struggle, we are opposing not only political and economic Oppression but also cultural and religious totalitarianism. It is important to note that the political siruggle in Iran today is not between the clerical and the nonclerical forces. Only a tiny minority of the mullahs have arrogated to themselves the divine right to govern Iran. A theologian as prominent as Sheik Au Tehrani is in prison. Young clerics like Ahmad Mohaddess, Amir Sharif.Razi, Yunes Baraij and Mohsen Aleesehaq—all with records of devotion in religion and resistance—were recently executed. Habib Ashouri, another distinguished theologian and scholar, was executed for criticizing the regime. Many high-ranking ayatollahs in Qum, Teheran, Isfahan and Mashhad are under virtual house arrest. Ayatollah Lahouti, who spent twelve years in the Shah's prisons and was an outspoken op- ponent of the present regime, died mysteriously. Ayatollah Golzadeh Chafouri, a popular theologian and political figure, was forced into seclusion after the execution of his son last year. Thus it is sheer deception for Khomeini to pre- sent himself as the only legitimate spokesman for the Iran- ian Shiite hierarchy. In fact, according to the teaching of Shia Islam, acceptance of religious authority is voluntary. Khomeini violates this tradition whcn, in thc riaiae of lsiasii, 109 he justifies execution or imprisonment as an appropriate punishment for refusal to follow his orders. Political opposition of any type is not tolerated in Iran to- day. Those who dare to speak out against the government are quickly—and often brutally—silenced. Dr. Shafiali, a well-known physician, and his wife were executed for sup- porting the People's Mujahecleen in Isfahan. Abolfazl Ghassemi, a 67-year-old National Front leader who was elected to Parliament from his native city of Darch-Gaz, was sentenced to life imprisonment for criticizing the regime, and just last week, another prominent National Front leader, Shokrollah Pakneczad, was executed, Incidents such as the killing of Mujahedeen members Rahman Rahnama and Jamshid Jalilpour in Tabriz prison are so commonplace that they are not even announced to the public. The Iranian regime has a special hatred for artists, writers and intellectuals. 1-lussain Navab, a young and talented journalist, was executed simply because he was a popular editorial writer for Engelab-e Islarni, the newspaper of Bani- Sadr's supporters and the largest-circulatjo daily until the government shut it down last June. Rashid Sadroihefazi, an engineer and political activist, and Manouchehr Massoudi, a prominent lawyer who spent time in the Shah's prison and defended many political prisoners of the Shah's regime, were executed because they had worked in Bani- Sadr's offices. Saud Soltanpour and Abdol-Reza Chaf- fouri, progressive writers affiliated with the Fedayeen Khalq, the Marxist guerrilla organization, were executed without public trial. The Iranian regime pretends not to care what others think of its repressive actions. For example, Amnesty Interna- -k..--
The Ntit•ion. January 30, 1982 ‘ tional's request to investigate charges of political executions was rejected by Khomeini as part of a conspiracy against the Islamic Republic. Needless to say, this seeming disregard for world opinion should not be taken seriously. No repressive government has ever admitted that it was influenced by in- ternational expressions of concern about its policies. The present Iranian regime is no exception. Silence is not a defensiblc Option. Those who support the cause of freedom and justice out of moral or humanistic conviction have no choice but to speak with greater urgency in the face of this repressive regime's total disregard of human values and the right of people to defend them. 0 Organizing Statement of the Emergency Committee for the Defense of Democracy and Human Rights in Iran We who sign this statement welcomed the Iranian rev- olution and considered its triumph a great victory of the Iranian people against a cruel monarchy and foreign domination. We were appalled by the coup against the constitu- tional order of han engineered by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1953, which began twenty-seven years of tyranny. We opposed the role of the C.LA.'in establish- ing the Savak and in guiding the policy of suppression of democratic rights and the exploitation of the population. We also opposed the weight of the American presence in Iran during the Shah's years, especially the sale of ad- vanced arms designed to dominate the region for American financial and geopolitical interests. Above all, we worked to expose the sustained viola- tions of human rights by the Shah's regime, the systematic torture and the wholesale suppression of political dissent. The Iranian revolution unfolded amidst universal demands in Iran for an end to censorship, for the release from prison of all dissidents irrespective of their political persuasion and for the realization of full democratic rights of political groups to organize, meet, publish and to present their views and programs to the nation. Whatever our own political persuasions, we were united in the belief that a free polity in which all might exercise their rights was inseparable from the quest for a just order expressed by all participants in the Iranian revolution itself. This fundamental promise of the revolution has not been kept.. The government which has emerged in Iran has established a one-party state and resistance to its role has been met with repression. Nationalists, socialists, na- tional minorities and dissenting individuals have been prevented from exercising their democratic rights. Political parties have been outlawed, newspapers closed, meetings forbidden and a monopoly of both the political process and the means of communication allocated to one faction of the religious movement. Religion has served not merely as a source of ideas or guiding principles for those who subscribe to them, but rather as a rigid prescriptive imposed on all and made an inseparable part of the State. This theocratic develop- ment never was part of the Iranian revolution, nor of the Islamic faith itself. Arbitrary executions have been widespread and thousands have been arrested without charges, right of defense or the protection of a judicial process. Indeed, prominent among the victims of this repression have been numerous ii dividuals who played courageous roles in the struggle against the Shah, including many who spent years in the Shah's prisons. The national minor- ities, whose aspirations for autonomy and the expres- sion of their culture placed them in the front ranks of the long struggle against the Pahlevi tyranny, have found their just demands treated as ruthlessly by the present government. As in the past, we oppose injustice in Iran. We de- fended the Iranian revolution then and we defend it to.. day. It is precisely because of these convictions that we join together again to calt br the renewal ot the promise of the Iranian revolution: for the right of all those who fought against the Shah to exercise their democratic rights in Iran, for an end to autocratic rule, imprison- ment of opponents, arbitrary execution and the use of terror against those who appeal to the Iranian people for a different course of action than that decreed by the new rulers of Iran. We support no particular political tendency in Iran, save that of the sacred rights of the Iranian people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural future free from outside interference of any kind. Pointing to the failures of the current Iranian leaders provides no pretext for outside intervention, especially by the two superpowers. Our pledge is to speak Out on behalf of Iranian na- tional and human rights and to inform the American people as accurately as possible about unfolding developments in Iran. —Mary Anderson, American Friends Service Commit- tee; Rev. William Sloan Coffin, Riverside Church, New York City; David Dellinger, author; Prof. Wi/lam Dot- man, california Slate University at Sacramento; Prof. Richard Falk, Princeton University; Jack Levine, lawyer; Don Luce, Southeast Asia Resource Center; Prof. Everest Mendelson, Harvard University; Prof. Saul Mendlovilz, Rutgers University; Prof. To,,, Ricks, Georgetown University; Prof. Edward Said, Columbia University; Ralph Schoeninan, author; George Wald and Ruth Weld, scientists; Prof. Burns Weston. Iowa Univer- sity; C. Dale While, Methodist Bishop.
LETTERS. IRANIAN HAHAIS N.E. Vienna. Va. Mansour Farhang writes it his article on Iran [ “Khomeini's Rc gn of Terror,” The Na- lion, Jan. 30J that “human liberation in one part of the world is ultimately inseparable from liberation in other parts.'' iarhang's interview on The MacNeil -i e/zrer Report three years ago gave the impression that he did not believe in liberation for Bahajs. Has he changed his mind? Has he the courage to denounce the persecution of the Bahais in Iran, including the recern execution of the members of the Bahai Natioiial Assembly and the Bahai assembly o Teheran? Does he advocate amending the Iranian Constitution so that it protects Bahais as well as Moslems, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians? Does he believe that Bahais should be left in peace and given freedom like everyone else? If Farhang fails to respond, many of us will know what to think about the fine words of his article. John Huddleston FARHANG REPLIES Prince,'on, N.J. I have never made an extensive study of the treatment of Bahais in Iran, nor have I writ- ten about it. My unfortunately phrased remarks to which Huddleston alludes have been interpreted to mean something other than what I believe. The execution of more than 4,000 Iranians during the past seven months demonstrates beyond doubt that Khomeini has set out to eliminate anyone he arbitrarily defines as a threat to his rule. Among the victims of this shocking assault, the Iranian Bahais are the only people whose persecution, which includes confiscation and destruction of property, as well as summary arrests and executions, is motivated solely by fascistic aggression without any provocation whatsoever. For the Bahais in Iran pose no threat at all to the regime. The truth is that not only have the Bahais been persecuted for more than a century but they have also been the most vulnerable of all the religious minorities in the country. This has been the case regardless of what ideological or political orientation happens to be in power. Shaykh Mohammed Taghi Falsafi, an anti-Baha preacher and a passionate sup- porter of the 1953 coup, is currently one of Khomeini's favoritemujlahs and a sery mi- portant person in his ruling circles. Further- more, the present government in Iran is heavily influenced by Anjoma n-e Hojjat i ‘yeh, an anti-Bahaj organization that was founded in the mid- 1950s. Even though Anjouian..e Hojjati'yeh never took part in prerevolu- tionary Opposition politics after the revolu- tionary victory of 1979, its nienibers joined the elements that formed the Islamic Republican Party. President Said-Alt Kliant- end and Foreign Minister Alt-Akbar Vaiayati have been active in Aitjonian-e Hojjati'yeh for years. Since the early rnoflth.s of the revolu- tionary victory and particularI - since the forced resignation of Prime Muti icr Mehdi Bazargan in November 1979 the Khomeini regime, just like the Shah's regime during the 1955-56 period of state-led persectititin of the Bahais, has increasingly repressed its pro- gressive political opponents anti used the Bahais as scapegoats, However there is no comparison between the brut ilitv itiflicted t ri dissidei it and l3ahais in I 9 5-56 and the present period. Khomeini is tat wore brutal than the Shah ever was. The Bahais and other religiou 5 Iltinorities in Iran are not, as in the past, merely faced wit Ii intolerance and opportuni ti ' exploita- tion of their vulnerability. They are, rather, confronted with a fascist totalitarian system whose ideology rejects diversity and cQex- istence. No protection could be gained by amending the Constitution, a fascist docu- ment that should be abolished rather than altered. Therefore, the sttuggle for religious freedom in Iran is inseparable from the struggle for the complete destruction of the regime Itselt. And it is imperative that the crimes and the repressive policies of the regime be exposed as widely as possible. Such a campaign should make a special ef- fort to reach the Islamic world and focus on the violation of the human and democratic rights of a/I Iranians. FEMINISTS ANI) PLATH Iortsour Farhong New York Civ I am disappointed that Kacha Pollitt, in her otherwise thoughtful and judicious con- sideration, and deserved celebration, of Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems [ “A Note of Triumph,” The Nation, Jan. 16J should have chosen to joust, however glancingly, with a homemade scarecrow called “the feminists.” There is no feminist party line on Plath, on motherhood or on any other issue, except the full' participation of women in human endeavors, Pollitt writes that''.,, the feminists, too, will have to come to terms with the tendernc s and purity of Plath's maternal feelings I don't see what “coming to terms” is necessary. The redemption of niotlierhood as valid adult ex perience and valid subject matter for poetry and fiction has long been d primary feminist concern, reflected in the work of Audre Lorde, Susan Griffin, Aba, Alice Walker, Marie Ponsot, Robin Morgan, Sharon Olds and myself, to name just a few self-identified feminists who have wi itten as mothers. Although if Plath's “maternal feelings'' as evinced in her work were limited to “teitdcriies.s and purity,” we would be deal- ing with a very different and less important poet. It is precisely the complexity of obser- vation and insight, the by-no-means pure emotional depth, of I'lath's poems on mothering and on her children, that make them of more than sentimental value to readet's,'feminists included. I know of no feminist cr11 /c who thinks, oc would “like to think,” that Platli was unknown at the time of her death. And I wonder how Pollitt knows what “many feminists would like to think.'' Even critics - who are not feminists have noted that Pl:itlt ‘s career, though not her work, was subsunted by that of Ted Hughes during their niarriac . I have the impression th it Pollitt, iii an ef- fort to be balanced and fair, felt obliged to take feminist critics to task because she had so aptly pointed out those male critics who diminish ot seiisajionaIj Pi oh's acl.ksc- ment because of her gender. But if Pollitt had seen fit to quote specific feminist critics, as she quotes Alvarez, Steiner, Spender, Howe et al., I might know at whom her rebuttal was lirected; and' a reader not familiar with feminist writing would not get the impression such writing was done by a Central Commit tee. Marilyn Hacker POLLFrT REPLIES New York City Good point. Katha Pot/itt TASSA WAYS NOT RECOMMENDED Washington, D. C'. The article on tampons [ Kathleen A. Wan- da, “Tampons Can Be Harmful to Health,” Jan. 2-9] was well done, and we are happy to see The Nation publicize this very important issue. However, there was one misstatement, which we ask you to correct. Woman Health International did not “recommend” Tassaways as an' alternative to tampons (we do not recommend any spe- cific product or devicej but merely reported what several doctors had said about it. What W.H.I. does recommend, first of all, is that all tampon boxes have warning labels on them to advise women of the danger of toxic shock syndrome. Other recommendations are: (1) Further labeling that would list fibers and additives present in tampons, and medical contraindicatiojis. (2) Immediate removal of superabsorbent additives, deodorants atid any known toxic substance from tampons. - (3) A research program to develop a safe, effective tampon or substitute device and a parallel investigation of the synergistic long- term effects of exposure to chemicals and fibers that have been used in tampons for more than forty-seven years. Charlotte Orwn Inj 'orrnalion Director, W. Ii. I. I 1 I e ‘/ U K)lh Iebrtiary 27, /98,? H