During the Thanksgiving I saw Argo, a movie from Ben Afflect. It is based on a true story of how 6 American citizens are rescued from Iran by a CIA agent. The movie doesn't focus too much about the revolution itself rather showing images of people tortured, hanged and burned, it mostly focuses on the American side of the story. However it made me think about the question of whether or not citizens of a country really conclude the best for them. The reason why we think the French Revolution was necessary is that it lead to a better country. Does the Islamic revolution leading to a better country? Did the Russian Revolution lead to a better country? Well there is no Soviet Union in the world map today. The Russian Revolution left countless dead men behind. No one knows who many Russians were killed because many historians argues that the government documents are bias.
Coming back to Iran, the revolution is the one of the most important revolutions of the history with more than %10 of the populations participation where both French Revolution and Russian Revolution has about %1-2 participation of their populations. People of Iran supported Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution, at every preach he gave. Many people followed his order no matter how brutal, how unfair they were. Many revolutionists killed their neighbors some of them even killed their families, streets were filled with people who were hanged from cranes to give the rest of the country the message to obey Khomeini’s rules. Iran revolution didn't turned out as many Persians wished. Women who actually supported the revolution then are now facing segregation. They are restricted to work at many job areas, they can face lapidation if they break the ethical codes designed by the government, like their attire. As an outsider I wonder how the Iran Revolutionists think about the revolution today, the new Iran that revolution caused. Just like in Russian Revolution there is not an official number for the deaths in Iran during the revolution. However most records show more than 50.000 deaths.
So here is my question, can human life have different values when judged in different events. Because when I look at the French Revolution I can see many people can come up with reasons that justifies the deaths. However Iran Revolution or Russian Revolution do not bring the same effect. Many of us feel like those deaths are not justified at all. However in both cases its human life. I can not come up with a right answer to this question and I'm not sure if there is one but still I wonder about it. That is the reason of my question: Can some revolutions justify it's deaths?
-If you want to know more about the Islamic Revolution there is an animated movie, Persepolis. It is one of the most important movies on the revolution.-
Duru,
ReplyDeleteI think you ask a interesting question about the deaths caused by revolutions. And I think when you said that some people justify death when it is the outcome of a revolution as successful as the French Revolution because people praise the new country and the new situation they led to, that you were exactly correct. I don't think that people truly accept death and killing as an okay thing really ever. Regardless of what the deaths of these millions of people brought, I, again, don't believe that anyone would ever argue that killing these people is okay. I think that when people see that the results of these deaths bettered the lives of so many million to come after, though, that they somehow argue that the deaths of those people were ultimately worth it, but not necessarily okay. This is the case of the French Revolution. Although millions of people died and maybe for reasons not everyone agrees with, the country of France and the government in place now is better overall and people will often say that the sacrifice made by all those people was worthwhile, because millions more will benefit from it for years to come. No one would argue that these deaths were good, and I think it is obvious that if the outcome could have been reached without the deaths of so many, everyone would be an advocate.
However, with situations like those in Iran, people are killed and subjected to violence, but for what? How has the situation improved based on the revolutionary work of the citizens of those countries? Clearly the revolution in Iran didn't bring about great changes for people like it may have in France. And I think that is why people find it hard to justify the deaths in those sort of situations. Because it seems these people have died for nothing. The change they wanted to see was not implemented. People are more torn when these sort of deaths occur it seems.
This is not something I can say I personally believe completely, but it seems that this is often how people respond in general. People see death as a bad thing regardless. No one wants human lives to be taken, but if they do in the name of a great cause that turns out to be successful in the end, people find it easier to accept those deaths.