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A review by allisonnoelle
Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by Shirin Ebadi
4.0
An interesting, well-written account of Shirin Ebadi's life and the concurrent political changes taking place in Iran. She starts the book on August 19, 1953, when Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh— a leader beloved by many who recently nationalized Iran's oil— was toppled by a coup backed by the US and led by the shah. It was during this time that Ebadi attended post-secondary education and developed a political consciousness. Along with many other women, she protested the shah's corrupt regime. These protests eventually culminated in the 1979 revolution, in which the shah was overthrown and replaced by Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini transformed Iran from a secular democracy to an Islamic Republic.
Unfortunately, Khomeini's regime also implemented discriminatory laws against women (e.g., stating that a woman's life was worth half of a man's). Ebadi and some of her friends were demoted from judges to clerks. Opposition to the regime was violently subdued at this time.
On September 22, 1980, Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Iran. The Iraq-Iran war lasted from 1980-1988, and during this time resistance to the Khomeini administration was placed on the back burner by most. A revolutionary group which opposed Khomeini called MKO fought alongside Iraq against Iran in hopes of gaining power, but this decision was not popular among the public. Ebadi recounts how many people decided to leave Iran after a few years of war.
After the war, the morality police became more belligerent than ever, but Ebadi was able to return to work as a lawyer. She and other women were allowed a greater role in the workplace because Iran's economy suffered without their contributions. As a pro-bono lawyer, Ebadi advocated for a more progressive interpretation of the Koran on behalf of women, poor people, and children. In 1997, a reformist named Mohammed Khatami was elected president of Iran. There was more freedom of speech at first under this new regime, but soon repression regressed to its old ways. In the end of the book, Ebadi discusses the moment she found out she won the Nobel Prize and how hopeful she felt by the majority-female crowd celebrating upon her return to Iran.
While I enjoyed the book, I was a little bit uncomfortable with the way that Ebadi went to so much effort to distinguish herself from "criminals" and sex workers when she was spending time in jail as a political prisoner. Rather than seeing incarcerated people and sex workers as fellow oppressed members of Iranian society, she rejected any sort of solidarity with them. Further, I wish she would have talked a little bit more about other oppressed groups, such as religious minorities and queer/trans people.
One other quarrel I have with the book is Ebadi's complete dismissal of the Iranian / broader Middle Eastern diaspora's activism. I certainly agree that her decision to stay on the ground in Iran allowed her greater opportunity to do certain sorts of political activism, but I don't think she should have dismissed the potential of Middle Eastern people around the world to make a change, especially when they would meet certain death in Iran for protesting in some circumstances. Like I mentioned in the above paragraph, I think her political thinking would benefit from solidarity with people with different identities and living in different geographical locations.
Unfortunately, Khomeini's regime also implemented discriminatory laws against women (e.g., stating that a woman's life was worth half of a man's). Ebadi and some of her friends were demoted from judges to clerks. Opposition to the regime was violently subdued at this time.
On September 22, 1980, Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Iran. The Iraq-Iran war lasted from 1980-1988, and during this time resistance to the Khomeini administration was placed on the back burner by most. A revolutionary group which opposed Khomeini called MKO fought alongside Iraq against Iran in hopes of gaining power, but this decision was not popular among the public. Ebadi recounts how many people decided to leave Iran after a few years of war.
After the war, the morality police became more belligerent than ever, but Ebadi was able to return to work as a lawyer. She and other women were allowed a greater role in the workplace because Iran's economy suffered without their contributions. As a pro-bono lawyer, Ebadi advocated for a more progressive interpretation of the Koran on behalf of women, poor people, and children. In 1997, a reformist named Mohammed Khatami was elected president of Iran. There was more freedom of speech at first under this new regime, but soon repression regressed to its old ways. In the end of the book, Ebadi discusses the moment she found out she won the Nobel Prize and how hopeful she felt by the majority-female crowd celebrating upon her return to Iran.
While I enjoyed the book, I was a little bit uncomfortable with the way that Ebadi went to so much effort to distinguish herself from "criminals" and sex workers when she was spending time in jail as a political prisoner. Rather than seeing incarcerated people and sex workers as fellow oppressed members of Iranian society, she rejected any sort of solidarity with them. Further, I wish she would have talked a little bit more about other oppressed groups, such as religious minorities and queer/trans people.
One other quarrel I have with the book is Ebadi's complete dismissal of the Iranian / broader Middle Eastern diaspora's activism. I certainly agree that her decision to stay on the ground in Iran allowed her greater opportunity to do certain sorts of political activism, but I don't think she should have dismissed the potential of Middle Eastern people around the world to make a change, especially when they would meet certain death in Iran for protesting in some circumstances. Like I mentioned in the above paragraph, I think her political thinking would benefit from solidarity with people with different identities and living in different geographical locations.