Some lessons from the 47 year long Islamist dictatorship of Iran
(1) Leftist–Islamist alliance
Leftists ally themselves with, and romanticize, Islamists, and don’t care about the fact that they oppress a people so long as the Islamists hate Israel and the West. That’s why they lept out in support of Hamas a day after the 10/7 massacre of Israelis, but have either kept quiet about the oppression of Iranians, or have actively agitated for the Islamic Republic.
(2) Islam vs Islamism
When the Islamists took over with Leftist support, they took over a country that was almost entirely Muslim, albeit most were not conservative. Even the overthrown Shah was Muslim. But pre-revolution Iran was secular, largely free, and economically prospering. Islam didn’t do this to Iran. Islamism — just another variety of political fascism — did this.
(3) Theocracy backfires
Islamists are counterproductive even by their own lights. The Islamic Revolution amounted to a perfect test case of theocratic rule. Almost 50 years later and Iranians not only are barely Muslim, but despise Islam. And Islamists in Iran will soon be extinct — either having fled, or perished.
(4) Freedom is universal
Iranians tear a hole in the Western racist stereotype that those in the Muslim World — and Iran IS in the Muslim world, as much as Iranians hate the label — don’t appreciate freedom as those in the West do. …that they’re content to live under a dictatorship. Bollox — Iranians love freedom just as those in the West do, will rise up to take it, and will burn anything standing in their way, including their received religion.
(5) Iranians vs regimes
Peoples of the extended Middle East don’t hate the U.S. and Israel. Some do, but — then again — a large proportion of the West hates the U.S. and Israel. Iranians love the U.S., love Israel, and have had a long history of a Jewish presence.
(6) Theocracy is rare
Theocratic dictatorships like the Islamic Republic of Iran are rare in the Muslim world. Besides the Taliban in Afghanistan and it, there are no other examples. Just as in the Christian world — ahem, the West — the lion share of dictatorships have been secular.
(7) Revolution eats its allies
The monsters the Left allies themselves with often eats them. After securing power, the Islamists executed many of their Leftist “allies.”