Iran's last queen still hopes for fairy-tale ending

Miami Herald ^ | 6/18/2009 | Glenn Garvin

[Saint Reagan]

Watching Iran's fierce anti-government demonstrations on TV this week, Farah Pahlavi has marveled at how familiar it all seems, and yet how different. The young protesters are the same age as those who drove her husband Reza Pahlavi from power and chant some of the same slogans -- but there's one obvious difference. She hasn't seen a single demonstrator with a long beard, the trademark of the Islamic fundamentalists who seized power in Iran in 1979.

''Look at the faces of the young people in the streets, and compare them to the people who were demonstrating against us,'' says the last queen of Iran. ``These people are all clean-shaven. They don't have the long beards. After 30 years of this fanatical religious regime, they are turning away from it. They want freedom.''

When Queen Farah and the shah left Tehran in 1979, after months of protest led by supporters of the fundamentalist Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's 2,500-year-old monarchy ended.

Now Queen Farah, hoping that the tables can be turned, is sending messages of support to anti-government forces in Tehran via e-mail and her website, farahpahlavi.org. She's not the only one -- demonstrators have been making so much use of the Internet that the Iranian government has tried to shut down sites like Twitter and Facebook. Queen Farah is dryly amused at the irony: Khomeini's supporters relied on the cutting-edge technology of another generation, cassette tapes, to circulate sermons calling for the overthrow of her husband.

''My son always said that these people came in on cassette tapes, and they'll go out on the Internet,'' she says.

[Saint Reagan]

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
You tell me that it's evolution,
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.

[bannie]

Funny that that old leftie song of Lennon’s has come around to the right.

[Clintonfatigued]

ping

[fish hawk]

Too bad no one ask her what she thought of Jimmy Carter.

[Gay State Conservative]

But if you go carryin’ pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow

[nuconvert]

Thanks for the ping

[boatbums]

I watched the documentary “The Queen and I” by an Iranian woman film maker just the other night. It is a great story and really gives clarity to what is going on now. The film maker was part of the communist revolution against the Shah in 1979, but in talking to the Queen, she comes to a better point in her mind.

One thing Ms. Shah said that struck a chord was about when you are twenty years old communism sounds great, but if you are still a communist in your thirties, you are a fool.

Ahhh...the wisdom of age.

[hoosiermama]

O Paddy dear, and did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground!
No more Saint Patrick’s Day we’ll keep, his color can’t be seen
For there’s a cruel law ag’in the Wearin’ o’ the Green.”
I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand
And he said, “How’s poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?”
“She’s the most distressful country that ever yet was seen
For they’re hanging men and women there for the Wearin’ o’ the Green.”

“So if the color we must wear be England’s cruel red
Let it remind us of the blood that Irishmen have shed
And pull the shamrock from your hat, and throw it on the sod
But never fear, ‘twill take root there, though underfoot ‘tis trod.

When laws can stop the blades of grass from growin’ as they grow
And when the leaves in summer-time their color dare not show
Then I will change the color too I wear in my caubeen
But till that day, please God, I’ll stick to the Wearin’ o’ the Green.

[La Lydia]

That was a song that made fund of "revolutionaries," a very anti-revolution song.

You say you want a revolution

Well, you know We all want to change the world

You tell me that it's evolution

Well, you know We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction

Don't you know that you can count me out

Don't you know it's gonna be all right..

You say you got a real solution

Well, you know We'd all love to see the plan

You ask me for a contribution

Well, you know

We're doing what we can

But when you want money

for people with minds that hate

All I can tell is brother you have to wait...

You say you'll change the constitution

Well, you know We all want to change your head

Well, you know

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao

You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow...

[bannie]

You’re right. We can change some of the words.
;-)

[Cincinna]

COPY TO *** FRENCH POLITICS AND CULTURE PING LIST *** FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT TO JOIN ***

Is there an Iran Ping List?

Farah Pahlavi, nee Farah Diba is a remarkable woman. Her book is a memorable story of an intelligent, educated young Persian woman, who, as an architecture student in Paris, met and fell in love with the Shah of Iran.

She is a lovely, gracious woman who has always spoken out for freedom and democracy in Iran. She has lived in Paris since the death of her husband.

Her correct title is Shabanu or Empress. Her son, Reza Pahlavi has lived with his wife and children in the Washington DC area for many year. He is American educated, and a beacon for freedom in the Iranian exile community.

Farah Diba’s biography is well worth reading, especially in the light of the events unfolding in Teheran.

An Enduring Love: My Life with the Shah: A Memoir
by Empress Farah Pahlavi

http://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Love-Life-Shah-Memoir/dp/140135209X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245641446&sr=1-1

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

http://www.rezapahlavi.org I’m posting this link & hope it works ... RP along with his Mummy are only a small part of the Iranian diaspora of 30yrs , tho, they have a lot of publicity.
Doesn’t look like RP is setting up housekeeping in Iran anytime soon from he’s most recently posted; Mummy will stay in Paris.

[Bi-ped Carbon Unit]

One thing Ms. Shah said that struck a chord was about when you are twenty years old communism sounds great, but if you are still a communist in your thirties, you are a fool.

“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.” Winston Churchill

[pray4liberty]

It may take a while, but God is just, and vindication is His.

[Cincinna]

Thank you for posting the site.

Here is the biography of REZA PAHLAVI

He has been living in exile in the US, and will return to Iran when the murderous thugs in power are brought down once and for all.

Since the establishment of the clerical regime in Iran, and the passing of his father, the late Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi has been a leading and vocal advocate of the principles of freedom, democracy and human rights for his countrymen.

In 1978, Reza Pahlavi, then Crown Prince of Iran, left his homeland to complete his higher education in the United States. An accomplished jet fighter pilot, Reza Pahlavi completed the United States Air Force Training Program at the former Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. He is a graduate of Williams College, and holds an advanced degree in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

Reza Pahlavi has lived in Morocco, Egypt and, since 1984, the United States. He married Yasmine Etemad Amini on June 12, 1986. Yasmine is a graduate of George Washington University School of Law. Together with his wife and three daughters, Noor (April 3, 1992), Iman (September 12, 1993) and Farah (January 17, 2004), they reside in the state of Maryland.

Born on October 31, 1960, in Tehran, Iran, Reza Pahlavi is the eldest of four. Since the tragic passing of the late Leila Pahlavi (March 27, 1970 - June 10, 2001), Reza Pahlavi's siblings include Farahnaz (March 12, 1963), a brother Ali Reza (April 28, 1966), as well as a half-sister, Shahnaz (October 27, 1940).

[StilettoRaksha]

Ping

[M. Espinola]

This thing .....

...is responsible for selling out the Shah, in favour of fanatically anti-Western, 7th century-minded, Shi'ite terrorists, who have viciously enslaved Iran since early 1979.

[StilettoRaksha]

And Obama is tacitly following in his foot steps.

[Mila]

Farah Diba Pahlavi and her late daughter, Leila