One Man - One Desire - A Study of the Reasons of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and its Mobilization Process

Abstract: Iran, a country generally seen as abusing the laws of human rights in favour of the Islamic laws and where women is being punished if not wearing headscarves in public. However, the great opposition against this country's laws is probably not aware of the revolution in 1979 that formed the contemporary society of Iran. This study brings light to a revolution rarely mentioned nowadays. It analyzes the reasons possible for the making of the revolution and draws the conclusion that it was not because religion being put aside that made the revolution happen. With the concept of contentious politics is then the actual mobilization process analyzed to answer how such a broad mass of Iranians could support a revolution that had the rallying cry to, in a modern western view close the society and isolate it to the surrounding world. Through speeches and texts published by the front man of the revolution Ayatollah Khomeini has the mobilization been analyzed and concludes that the use of Marxist rhetoric and Islamic symbolism, especially the Shiite tradition of martyrdom attracted the people who risked their lives by protesting in the streets that eventually made the dictatorial Shah leave Iran in favour for the country's new supreme leader; Ayatollah Khomeini.