Ideas - Lessons from the women of Iran's 1979 'stolen' revolution

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

At a time when the future of Iran is uncertain, we revisit an IDEAS documentary about the history of women’s resistance in Iran — women who in 1979 harboured dreams of freedom and democracy. After ousting the Shah, and mere weeks after Ayatollah Khomeini took power, Iranian women marched to show their fury at the revolution. Forty years after their protest, documentary maker Donya Ziaee spoke to three Iranian women who were there, fighting to turn the tide of history. *This episode originally aired on March 8, 2019.

What's the last book you read that you absolutely loved? If you're anything like me, you could probably talk about it for hours. You might be wondering what went into the story or why the author made the choices they did. And on my podcast bookends, I can help you find those answers. Every week, I sit down with authors to get the inside scoop behind your favorite books, like how Louise Penny got through five years of writer's block, or how R.F. Kwong feels about Taylor Swift. Check out bookends with Mateo Roach, wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. I'm Nala Ayat and this is Ideas.

In March 1979, tens of thousands of women around Iran took to the streets. Just weeks after the revolution which overthrew the monarch Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. They're chanting, we didn't have a revolution to go backwards. It all began on day one as soon as Islamic forces declared victory in the revolution that overthrew the Shah. And that struggle was led in 1979 in large part by women who themselves participated in the revolution. They wanted the Shah overthrown, but they refused to let their revolution be overtaken by regressive forces that now wanted to deny them their basic rights. It was March 8, 1979, International Women's Day. Ayatollah Khomeini had just issued a new decree making the veiling of women mandatory.

So women flooded the streets for six days straight where they were met with violence and branded as traitors, counter-revolutionaries, bourgeois, pro-imperialist stooges, or even prostitutes. But they succeeded in forcing the religious leadership to retreat from their position on the veil, even if their victory would be short-lived. So on the 40th anniversary of the revolution, I spoke to three women who were part of those protests and who really lit the torch that has continued to be carried for all of these decades. As the future of Iran remains unclear, we put a lens on the dreams and aspirations of those who had hoped to build a better future for the country and whose dreams were dashed. Lessons from their experiences have resonance today.

Donya's documentary is called The Stolen Revolution, Iranian-Rowulf. woman of 1979. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Iran before moving to Canada with my family. Growing up, I'd heard so many stories about women and the revolution, how they'd fought on the streets against Shaw, shoulder to shoulder with the men, or even trained in the mountains as guerrilla fighters. And if I'm honest, I romanticized it. The women of my mother's generation got to be a part of something massive and meaningful.

On the other hand, it outraged me that the outcome of their revolution didn't seem to reflect any of the values they'd been fighting for. Meanwhile, the fact that women had led the first collective resistance after the revolution against the Islamic Republic has also been, for the most part, a hidden history. It's completely excluded from the official narrative of the revolution. I wanted to know what drove these women to resist and how they feel about their revolution now. 40 years later. I started by talking to Minu Jaloli. I'm Minu Jalali.

I'm Iranian National, living in London. Back in the summer of 1978, Minu was studying in England to become a lawyer. And when opposition to the Shah was starting to heat up, Minu and her husband decided to return to Iran. I asked Minu to take me back to the streets with her and describe what those early days of the revolution were like. Those days were very exciting.

Because we could see the possibilities of having a better country, because we could see that things are changing. I mean, around the university, it was packed until late night. And there were groups of people discussing. There were arguments. There were disagreements. Heated discussions. That was fantastic because this is something that we were deprived of for many, many years.

there was a defiance in the air, which was beautiful. What do you think it was that united all of you? A better future. A fight for getting rid of the dictatorship. And that solidarity every day was growing stronger and stronger and was giving you a strength. Each time you came to the streets and, yes, you were facing danger. you could be arrested, you could be shot at, but you were really powerful in a sense that you knew that you were not alone.

And that gives a great strength. But what a lot of people might struggle to understand is, you know, the Shah's rule had brought these huge advances for women in their legal status and their education and their employment. You know, it helped you go abroad to study. As a woman, why would you still oppose him? What were your reasons? Yes, there were some reforms, but you know, the reforms only touched very few people. I mean, yes, women were given the right to vote. It would have been lovely if we had a free election and women could vote

along the men, of course, but there was no free election as such. And yes, there were rights of education, but there were many women who had no access to universities because of being poor. So, yes, there were some reforms, but these reforms were from above. And they did have some effect, some positive effect. One should not deny that, but it was not enough. So as the revolution was heating up, can you take me to that moment when you really felt that, you know, the hope was at its most powerful for you? It's very difficult to define it, but I remember there was a big demonstration. I think it was in September, south of Tehran, and it was the first time that the army aimed at demonstrators.

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators clashed with police and soldiers in the Iranian capital of Tehran today, only four hours after the government had imposed martial law. It was a turning point where the army attacked. An estimated 1,000 persons have died in such disturbances in the past eight months. And you could see that people were showing no fear. And it was really amazing to be there and see people trying to help each other if someone was wounded

even with being endangered themselves. So that was the day that I thought that it is possible. That's really hard for me to imagine this idea that people had no fear. Exactly, because we lived with fear so much during the Shah's regime, that people expressed that to stand up to the army and to be killed. It was on that day that I thought that it is possible. And the slogans had not yet turned into Islamic slogans.

Which, of course, takes us to December 78 when there were those protests in the month of Muharam. when millions of people took to the streets in support of Khomeini, who was still in exile then? The rally called for the removal of the Shah and the return of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Muslim leader now in exile in Paris. You mentioned the slogans. What are some of the slogans you remember from this new period? I can't remember exactly, but I remember that whenever we said, for example, freedom, democracy, we want democratic rights, we want freedom for women, they would, hush us. They would say that, no, no, no, let's have some other slogans. We want Islamic Republic, etc. And there were women in those organizations who were very organized, who would come to women who were not wearing hijab and offering hijab to them, not the full hijab, but a scalp.

in the pretext that let's be united. Today is that we all be united together. And you're talking about a head covering. Yes, yes. And I was offered many times, a rouseri, which is a scarf, and they were inviting me to join them. And I was saying that, but I am here. Why should I wear this scarf?

Even in the progressive atmosphere of the universities, girls exchanged their blue jeans for the traditional veil and prayed before going into the streets to battle the Shahzah. And is this one the slogan, independence, freedom, Islamic Republic came about? Absolutely. Estabal al-Azadid, Jamborei Islami. And this is really the moment where we're really seeing the rise in Khomeini's popularity. Yes. You know, in his interviews,

in exile, he had said he had no political ambitions and anyways, Islamic rule would respect women's freedom. What do you remember about some of the promises he was making back then? Yeah, the promises he was saying that he was an spiritual leader and he wants to deal with religious teaching, etc. There was no hint of him being in power and also So Iran, with the reform of the Shah, having a very sophisticated infrastructure, having a very sophisticated, educated force, etc., nobody believed that the clergy could rule. So people could not see the danger. And that was our naivety. That was a historic naivety of the young who did not have the knowledge.

I had a grandmother who every day would remind me and the others of the danger of the clergy and saying that don't be fooled by them. She was adamant. She was not political at all. She would say that you do not know the clergy. You haven't lived under the rule because they had lived under that. They had seen great upheavals and the influence of clergy and their opposition to girls' education, etc. So they all could remember that.

And did you believe her when she would say these things? Yes, yes. I believed what she said. But we thought that we were strong enough to avoid that. And the left in Iran, the idea of left, what I could see around me, I thought that would strong enough to build up a platform around the democratic rights. Of course, we were fearful of America because we thought that America would not leave a country. like ours with oil to be free and to have democratic rights.

We were old enough to remember the 1950s when there was a democratic prime minister and it was a coup d'etatat by the CIA, which brought back the Shah to power. So we were fearful. and we knew that it would not be easy. But I was hopeful that if the revolutionary move continues, and if we get some freedom, we will build up an atmosphere and demands around the political and civil rights. This was my wish.

The King of Kings leaves the peacock throne in Iran. By his departure today, he has almost certainly brought to a end, the two and a half thousand year history of the Persian Iranian monarchy. Well, in January 1979, a lot of people got their wish, which was for the shot to leave. He fled, he got in a plane, that he piloted himself, and he left. What do you remember about that day? There was euphoria. People were extremely happy, and there were celebration all around, and it was unbelievable.

we felt we were so high with joy and thinking that we have done it. But I think by then there were signs also that the danger is there. Because then there was a discussion was that what kind of government we want. What is the next step after Shah? Well, two weeks after that, Khomeini came back from exile. He was greeted by these huge crowds. This capital hasn't seen anything like it in living memory. It was a genuine people's welcome.

Where were you? Were you there? I was, but not to go welcome him, but we were all in the streets, yes. And we were discussing that, oh my goodness, what's going to happen now? I mean, I don't know what we were thinking at that time, really, because what we were feeling at the time mostly was joy, that you have reached to a goal, that was a big step. That is what many people, millions of us, have dreamed about that Shah not be there. So it was huge.

And the history was forming in front of our eyes. And it was not clear what would be the end of that. It was absolutely not clear. even at that stage. A sea of excited humanity and gulfed a white ranch wagon in which Ayatollah Hormany rode in the right front seat.

Several people were hurt or fainted in the rush to get close to the man regarded by many to be almost the saint. The wave of a crowd was unbelievable and it was a force that would make you think what's going to happen after this.

This was in the mind of every democratic person. What ended up happening within the first few weeks of Khomeini coming back to Iran. He immediately instituted all these changes that hugely affected women. He repealed the family protection law that the Shah had introduced. And this meant the rest of the reshue. restrictions on polygamy and temporary marriage were removed. The legal age for girls to get married was changed back to nine. And he also barred women from becoming judges.

I mean, as a lawyer, what was it like for you seeing all these changes happen? It was devastating. But we were somehow confident that they cannot materialize this. They cannot because there were a lot of resistance. against it. The judges could not believe themselves that this can be done. And from the beginning, women showed resistance. Well, when was the moment for you when you realized that maybe this revolution is actually going to leave women worse off? Not until 80s, really, because the power struggle, the class struggle and women struggle. And women struggle,

was going on. And yes, Khomeini came to power, but he didn't dare to do certain things at the beginning. He could see a wall of resistance

that he could not break down. I am of the belief that the outcome of the Iranian revolution was not written by February. I was

believing that the democratic forces were quite good in Iran. The idea of the left was strong, but the body of the left, the organization of the left, was very small. The Ayatollah condemned the young Marxists, who had helped him seize power as enemies of the revolution. The Fedaheen feel betrayed. Their guns and their fighting helped banish the shes. Shah and bring the Ayatollah home from exile.

But today the street fighters were reduced to shouting for reforms. I think Khomeini came directly as a result of Shah's dictatorship because no independent political organization existed, no free press existed. And the Shah's aim was to oppress the left. because he always thought the danger is from the left. And he did not really touch the clergy at the grassroots. If we had time, if the revolutionary period could linger on for a year or so, maybe we had a different scenario.

I don't know. But at that time, there were potential for, other possibilities. But unfortunately, we lost that opportunity and Iran lost a golden opportunity also. And we have gone back in the history. Minu, does it feel like the revolution, your revolution, was stolen from you? It was hijacked. Yes, it was hijacked. My revolution was hijacked by the conservative and anti-democratic forces and the clergy. Yes, I can say that. And I'm sorry for that.

And I regret it. And there is nothing that one can do except having faith in the Iranian people that their struggle, which has been shown over the last 40 years, especially women struggle, that that flame of resistance has never died out. It was like a kind of carnival. People had gone to many garrisons and bringing all sorts of weapons out, even to tanks that were brought to the Tehran University. Haydada Aragoi was a professor of literature at the time of the Iranian Revolution.

She now lives in Sweden. In the last days of the revolution, she joined thousands of other Iranians demonstrating on the streets. The scenes were amazing. And there would be cars passing by. There was a girl with half her body out of the window holding a gun. There was a woman in high heels conducting... the traffic because there were no policemen present. These were the people who are on the streets.

There are so much ammunition available, the sky is being used for target practice. And I remember a father actually explaining to his like eight-year-old son, how to make a Molotov cocktail. And the son was watching all ears, you know. Nothing was the way it was before. and everybody knew that the situation had changed. The Shah was gone, Khomeini had returned, and the future of the country was still uncertain.

It was a time of confusion and fear, especially for women. Good evening. Iran's brief civil war is over, and Islam is the victor. The country's powerful army gave up the struggle after 40 hours of street battles. Army leaders say they'll obey the will of the people. In February 1979, the Army finally declared its neutrality and the revolution was declared over.

For many women, the fall of the Shah meant the opportunity to organize freely for women's rights. Under the Shah, all independent women's organizations had been banned, and so were all celebrations of March 8th, International Women's Day. But several women's groups were determined to organize celebrations commemorating both Women's Day and their defiance of the Shah. Haida was one of those organizers. We were going to celebrate 8th of March freely and publicly for the first time in Iranian history.

And there were at least eight different things going on. We were going to have a meeting related to women's rights at the Ferdozzi Hall, which is the biggest venue at Tehran University. And because I was a professor, I had reserved that hall for our events. to very good friends who were first-year students at the Fine Arts Faculty. They had made a very, very beautiful poster of a woman turning her head. And in the front was barbed wire that the movement had broken. And the slogan was, women's freedom is a measure for freedom in society.

And we had planned with a group of women who were actually part of all left, groups that I cooperated with. And I was one of the speakers. There were other speakers. That was what we had planned. But these plans would change. On March 6th, newspapers announced that all co-ed schools in Tehran would be dissolved in the new school year. And then, on March 7th, just one day before the Women's Day celebrations,

Ayatollah Khomeini decreed that women now had to work. wear the veil in government offices, or in his own words, to not enter them, quote, naked. That same evening, the newly seized Iranian TV network announced that all participation in the, quote, imperialistic and foreign celebration of Women's Day is un-Islamic. What were meant to be celebrations of Women's Day were about to turn into massive protests. A large crowd of women and a small number of male sympathizers gathered outside the heavily guarded office of Prime Minister Medibaziga to demonstrate for equal rights under the new Iranian regime. Tens of thousands of women gathered in Tehran on the morning of March 8th outside

the new Prime Minister's office, while another 3,000 went to protest in the religious city of Qom, where Khomeini was saying. But it's clear that efforts to establish a permanent Islamic Republic have run into trouble on several fronts. And one of those is the women's rights movement. That same day, Haider and her colleagues held a meeting. You know, there were so many people who wanted to come in that we had to close the doors at a certain point.

All the seats were taken and all the standing up places were occupied. So we had to close the door. And I think I was the second or the third speaker. when I noticed the commotion at the entrance. And when I went there, these women, a lot of them, had pushed the door open. They were wet, they were cold, and they were very angry. And they said, you are holding a meeting here. Come out and see what they are doing to our march on the street.

That was the end of that meeting. Everybody, including myself, left that room. And we wanted to get out to see what they were doing to these people. They told us that they had attacked their demonstration. You know, on that day in Tehran, it was snowing, and the gutters, very wide ones, were filled with ice and snow. They had pushed them into the gutters. They had driven minibuses into their lines.

And some of them said that they had pushed them to Kul do Saek, you know, blind alleys, with their backs against the wall and they had taken out their penises and they had told them you want freedom, come and get it. Oh my God. We knew we have to go and join them, you know, join the demonstration.

When we came out, the main entrance of Tehran University is a big gate and there are two side entrances. They had locked these doors and this has Bollahi's these tags were standing there. I and I think another woman, we climbed the gate and I screamed at them. I said, is this the freedom for which we all demonstrated and suffered and paid?

Is this your understanding, your version of the freedom? And you know, not everybody at that particular moment was sold out to the regime. So they looked at each other and they opened the gates. and you have no idea how many people who were already there because all over the place they were discussing the question of women. We were for many, but now we are for freedom. Today's demonstrations brought to the surface around simmering post-revolutionary tensions. The question of women's rights, like all other democratic rights,

were not on the agenda of the left. There were very abstract slogans, but because we had lived under a dictatorship, we had never discussed these issues. But women almost by instinct know what this means. And they were the first group to protest. And some of the slogans that placards that went up the day after and the slogans that the women chanted showed that they were the most progressive and the most progressive and the most. conscious group of society. The most important one that applied far more to than just to the women was, Ma Inqqqqar did not make a revolution to go backwarded. We did not make a revolution to go backward. The other one that was very interesting because they were being accused

of helping the West was Azzadi, no Sharqist, not Qarbist, Jahan. freedom is neither from the west or from the east. It's universal. These slogans are still relevant in Iran. 40 years ago, they knew what they were saying. And a lot of this seemed to be really spontaneous, was it not? All these protests and these slogans, they came together sort of word of mouth? This was totally spontaneous.

It was not ordered or organized by any political group or even by the women themselves. They just came out on the streets in protest. The only people we could have any hopes of their leftist organizations. They were taken aback. They were taken by surprise. And they didn't know what to do with that phenomena. It was not written down in their pampherson. or in their party agendas.

They paid lip service to the equality of men and women. But they never know what it means in reality. There was no question in our mind that this is the first step to suppress and we should stand up to it. Both as women, as revolutionaries, as Iranians who wanted change. There was no doubt in our minds that we should stand up to it. that we should stand up to it. And they did stand up to it. Today, more than 10,000 women poured into the streets.

Some Iranian men, presumably male chauvinist pigs, attacked them and called them prostitutes. For six days straight, the women marched, despite the violence they'd faced on the streets. They occupied the Ministry of Justice, where they staged a sit-in and read out a decade. of their rights and demands. And in one of the biggest final protests,

almost 15,000 women gathered outside the national radio and television headquarters. And the women claimed that their protests have been virtually ignored by government-controlled broadcasting stations here. Iranian television stations showed no picture of this demonstration at the Justice Ministry on Saturday.

They were there to protest a man named Saddé, He'd been a close aid to Khomeini throughout the Aitola's years in exile, and he was by then the director of radio and television, where he'd been busy purging the airwaves of royalists, leftists, and women. We didn't hear about it at all from television. We didn't see any of the demonstration. Even in the newspapers, whatever we read this morning was exactly opposite we did yesterday.

When state television did report on women's protests, it accused them of being idolaters or prostitutes, showing pictures of women in fur coats and large sunglasses. And on the streets, women continued to be attacked by counter-protesters, or more accurately, chanting mobs. The attackers assaulted the women with knives, stones, bricks, and broken glass, while the regime's police did nothing. This women's march through downtown Tehran was watched with suspicion

and was blocked by a small but angry group of men who shouted The only thing protecting the women was a chain of male allies who had linked up arms to shield them. The protesters also found allies among feminists from other countries. United States feminist Kate Millett, author of sexual politics, branded the Ayatollah Khomeini, a chauvinist pig, and led the demonstration today that was 20,000 strong. Kate Millett had been invited to Tehran by student activists she'd met in the United States.

Well, I think it's wonderful. It's a spontaneous uprising of thousands and thousands of women, which would have been absolutely inconceivable in the West. They also had support from a militant French feminist collective called Psychoanalysis and Politics. The group produced a 12-minute film of what they saw. That short documentary, called Year Zero, remains the only existing film. film of that week's events.

You're listening to a documentary about the ideals of Iran's lost revolution, originally broadcast in 2019. This is Ideas. I'm Nala Ayyed. Hey, it's Anna Sala, a host of Death, Sex and Money, the show from Slate about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more. Many of us have something going on behind closed doors. Like a listener, we called Elizabeth. who told us she's a hoarder.

I see mess beyond probably what most people think of when they think of mess. We'll work through it all together on death, sex and money. Listen wherever you get podcasts. The Iranian Revolution took place in 1979, a year in which history failed to turn. Iranian women were at the forefront of the revolution. But after the Shah was deposed, and Ayatollah Khomeini returned. to the country. Everything that they'd been fighting for was threatened. And the story of the resistance has been written out of the official revolutionary narrative. That's why, back in 2019, on the 40th

anniversary of their protests, Donya Ziyai spoke with three women who were there on the streets of Tehran fighting to take back their revolution. As the future of Iran is unclear, we're revisiting this documentary called The Starry. Poland Revolution, Iranian women of 1979. The women's protests soon forced the regime to back down on the mandatory veil rule, at least for a while. It wasn't just the Iranian left that was taken by surprise, the male part of it anyway. It was also the Islamic Republic. They never expected something like that. So the newspapers started reflecting a lot of these people, not Khomeini himself, but other Mullahs, especially,

Taleghani, who was popular with the left, to come and say that there is no obligation for wearing the veil. They took it back. Ayatollah Talegani was a high-ranking theologian and one of the architects of the revolution. Just a few days after March 8, he said that Khomeini's statements about veiling had been misunderstood, that they were intended just as advice

the kind of father might give to his children. The hijab, Taleghani said, would not be imposed. And with that, the street protests started to fizzle out. The women's liberation movement has embarrassed Iranian officials. Why do you think that the religious forces back down at that point? You see, when a government has come to power on the shoulders of a revolution as big as the Iranian revolution, they had absolutely no instruments of control, because they did not have. have that, they took it back, but then they started in a creeping way by forcing women

under the threat of losing their jobs. So it took two years to enforce the veil. You know, when people talk about the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath, they don't often talk about women's protests and resistance in March 79 and after. Why do you think, it's important to remember. Because we should remember from our mistakes. We did not organize immediately afterwards. There was no organized opposition to bring them to their knees. That is what we should have recognized. That is what we should have done. We didn't do that. But there were some attempts by women to continue organizing in the days just after the revolution. Before the early 1980s, when the regimes cracked down on the opposition,

really got violent, there was a brief flourishing of women's associations in the workplace, women-specific committees and political organizations, and even autonomous women's organizations, independent of the government or any political parties. Shaheen Navoyi was one of those organizers. My name is Shahin Navajee. I live in Berlin, Germany. I'm an activist in the country. women's movement and a researcher in the field of entomology.

So, Shahin, when you look back to the protests that started on March 8, 1979, and the week that followed, what do you remember the most about participating in those protests with so many other women? What I think back to those days, I remember most of all, the people. When I think back to those days, I remember most of all, the passion and excitement of the women who came to the street for days and days, they were filled with energy to declare their opposition to the mandatory hijab. We thought that it was important that the regime temporarily backed down, but I didn't personally

have much hope that this was the end of the story. It was also a sad time for all of us, because we weren't getting much support from the political, literary or intellectual world in Iran at the time. There was, of course, some international support from other women, but that solidarity didn't have much impact inside Iran in those days. That's why the most important question facing us then was whether we should start doing the organizing ourselves, to try to continue our fight, to get more rights,

and to not allow the rights that we already did have. to get trampled on. You yourself had been sympathetic to the left and leftist organizations throughout the revolution and afterwards. What was the most common reaction that you heard from those on the left in relation to the women's protests? The dominant reaction was that they objected to women getting attacked in the protests. But they didn't clearly and explicitly support women's demands, although they didn't negate them either.

But our expectation in those days was for the whole political movement at that time to stand up firmly and decisively in support of women's demands. And sadly, that didn't happen. You decided with some others to found the National Union of Women, or the NUW, what was the turning point for you that prompted you to start this organization? Before March 8th, myself and some friends, who had actually met completely by chance,

had been preparing to establish an independent women's organization. We had prepared a statement to distribute on March 8th. But on that day, the crowds were so huge that we couldn't actually follow through. So we published that statement later in a newspaper and invited people to come. A huge group of people came to the hall we'd rented. They all expressed interest in the idea of an organization, but no one had any actual experience in organizing.

We decided anyway to try and get started, even at just a rudimentary level, because there was going to be a referendum then. People were voting on the Islamic Republic. And so we tried to establish our organization, the National Union of Women, as soon as possible, so that we could take our first official political position. We announced the group's establishment on March 28, 1979. And on April 1st, the same day as the national referendum,

we announced that we were against the referendum and that we were against the Islamic Republic. What were your fears about an Islamic Republic? The truth is we had no idea what the substance of it would be. Not just us, nobody did. They hadn't announced anything whatsoever about the content of it. But based on the news and political events of the past, it was clear to us that religious rule was coming.

And we weren't willing to be subjected to religious rule under any circumstances. Can you take me into those early days, one of those first meetings after you set up an office? We immediately rented an office near the University of Tehran. Anyone who's interested could come by. And from the first day onwards, we'd sit around and talk about how to organize ourselves. When we first opened our office, we didn't have any resources. We truly started out with nothing. And in all of our meetings, which lots of people would attend,

we'd all be sitting on the floor, and all we had was one desk and a few chairs. The National Union of Women may have started modestly, but their work was ambitious and their goals were huge. They supported women facing expulsion from work for refusing to wear the veil. They campaigned against proposed changes to regressive gender-lossed.

in the Constitution. They worked to oppose Sharia laws on retribution, and they launched literacy and awareness-raising campaigns in working-class neighborhoods and small towns. So what was it ultimately that led to the downfall of the National Union of Women? We were forced to close our office at our first location. This was eight months.

after the revolution, and there were attacks on various organizations. They'd also shut down a bunch of newspapers. And since we were in a very high-traffic area, we decided to relocate to a new neighborhood where our office would be more protected. We continued there for as long as it was possible to operate in a relatively open way. But after a while, it became risky,

and we decided to shut down our own. office. Unfortunately, to this day, the right conditions still don't exist for us. And what did you do with all of the connections you'd made, all of the women who had come forward and signed up to be a part of your group? What happened to all of that? A lot of people had approached us. We had so many members. And when things to started to feel unsafe, the sad thing was that we didn't have the ability to keep these lists somewhere secure. And since I was in charge of communications and kept all those lists, I had to burn all of them, one by one, overnight, in a safe location. These were membership cards, and they had

all the personal information, addresses, telephone numbers, of all the members of the National union of women and others who had shown an interest. And I had to destroy all of them. Because we were worried that even if one sheet of paper somehow got in the hands of the police, someone would get hurt. What did it feel like to do that? All I did was cry. It was so painful.

It's still so painful to this day when I think about it. That whole time I just carried this huge, sadness and tears in my eyes. We had no choice, and it was so agonizing. It symbolized all we'd done, day in and day out. These were all records and testimonies. And when I burnt them, I would just see right in front of my eyes the faces of each and every single one of my dear friends.

Shahin, when was the moment when you realized you have to leave Iran? It was when they attacked my home and raided my workplace. Luckily, I wasn't home, but I realized things were really serious now, and I was forced to live underground

in Iran for months. Underground It was really difficult. Under no circumstances could I visit my family. I had some distant friends who weren't connected to anything I was affiliated with, and I contacted them. And they took me in and let me live in their homes for a while. But these were very difficult months.

I would see my sister's husband once a week, and he'd give me some of the things I needed. He'd give me money or we'd exchange news. But other than that, I had absolutely no contact with any of my loved ones until I finally left Iran. Sadly, I never did manage to see my mother. Two years after I left Iran, my mother got very ill. And until the very end, we never had the chance to see each other and say goodbye.

And when you look now at what's happening inside Iran and at the status of women in Iran now, what goes through you? It's impossible to imagine Iran without the resistance of these women. Iran would be nothing more than a graveyard. In December 2017, a young woman by the name of Vida Mavahe, climbed on top of a utility box on one of Tehran's busiest streets. And she stood there, bareheaded, calmly waving her white scarf on a long stick. Her display of defiance went viral.

And photos soon started circulating of other Iranian women taking off their headscarves in public. Dozens were arrested, but these women were undeterred. Together, they became known as daughters of revolution. Minu yu yi'oehah Mian, Mewu'i and shan'n'hra'an to be heartening for them to see that the torch they lit 40 years ago

is still being carried by Iranian women of this generation. But I couldn't help but wonder. Looking back now at the 1979 revolution and seeing how women in Iran are living now, would they still have participated in the revolution? Against the Shah's regime? Yes. And going back, it doesn't mean that I want this regime. No, I want something better. But that doesn't mean that that revolution was wrong.

No, that revolution was inevitable. and we hope that we could steer it, we were wrong, and the clergy hijacked it, deceived us, and deceived many people. Participating in a revolution isn't a question of choice. Revolution is a truly unique moment. I think if another revolutionary moment were to transpire today, I would definitely approach it with much greater awareness. With what I know today, I'm not as naive as I once was.

As I record this in March 26, Iran is barely a week into an illegal military attack by the United States and Israel that has already claimed hundreds of lives. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, the architect of some of the regime's darkest atrocities, is dead. And all this has happened while the country was already reeling from a government crackdown in. January that killed thousands. It was the deadliest wave of violence in the country's modern history. These days, the voices of Shaheen, Minu, and Haida echo in my mind. The historical reverberations are impossible to ignore. I think of their warnings back in 1979 that legitimate rage against dictatorship could be hijacked by those with no commitment to their liberation. That fundamental rights and democratic principles were not luxuries to be deferred until after the revolution.

They were the essence of the revolution. Today, as bombs fall and Iran's regime trembles, their lessons carry new urgency. While Donald Trump boasts about bringing Iranians freedom, I know that these women would remind us that the downfall of a tyrant is not a guarantee of a just and democratic future. That it is the people themselves. who must shape that future. The women of 1979 remain my guide because history has shown us

they were right. Revolutions can be quickly stolen and we must protect the fragile promise of liberation. You were listening to the stolen revolution, Iranian women of 1979. The episode was produced by Donia Ziae and originally broadcast in 2019.

You can see images of the 1979 Women's Resistance in Iran on our website at cbc.ca.ca. slash ideas where you can always stream us. Special thanks to Tina Verma

for her voiceover help. Lisa Ayuso is the web producer for ideas. Technical production, Sam McNulty and Danielle Duval. Nikola Lukshic is the senior producer. The executive producer of ideas is Greg Kelly and I'm Nala Ayyad.

For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca slash podcasts.