Iran Faces Brutal Crackdown Amid Protests as History Shows Undemocratic Regimes Rely On Oppression |
The extraordinary brutality with which the Iranian regime is crushing its own citizens has shaken the world’s conscience. Donald Trump, as is his wont, made himself the centre of attention first by declaring that he would attack Iran if executions of protesters did not stop and then retreating by finding an off-ramp, claiming that the Iranian regime stopped executions because of his threat. The pain and suffering the freedom-loving Iranian people are enduring are real and far more important, and the shenanigans of Trump should not deflect global attention from the tragedy enveloping a proud nation with a long history and civilisation.
By the 6th century BC, the Persian Empire was a mighty global force. The Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, ended finally with Alexander’s triumph against Darius. It was this conquest of Persia that made Alexander invincible in his quest for creating the largest empire known to man until that time. With the fall of the Sassanian Empire in 651 CE, Islamisation and severe persecution forced Zoroastrians to migrate to India. Over centuries, Parsis migrated to India, and the Indian society embraced them with great warmth. The Parsis in turn are fully integrated with the Indian society and are among the most successful and respected ethnic groups in India.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, the Persian Empire had been weakened by internal strife and had become a pawn in the hands of Britain and Russia during the colonial era. In 1921, Reza Shah ended the Qajar dynasty in a coup and was elected monarch by the Iranian Parliament (Majlis), establishing the Pahlavi dynasty. He began modernising Iran. In 1941, the Allied forces of Britain and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied neutral Iran and forced Reza Shah to........