A Revolutionary Timeline

TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1963. The theologian issues a declaration denouncing Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, ’s ruling monarch, listing the various ways in which the Shah has violated the Iranian constitution. Khomeini condemns the spread of moral corruption in the country and accuses the Shah of submission to the United States and Israel. He decrees that the Nowruz celebrations (the festival of the New Year) for the Iranian year 1342 (March 21, 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1963 (ASHURA, THE TENTH DAY OF THE MUSLIM CALENDAR). Khomeini delivers a speech in which he denounces the Shah as a “wretched, miserable man” and warns him that if he does not change his ways the day will come when the people will offer up thanks for his departure from the country. In an estimated one hundred thousand Khomeini supporters march past the Shah’s palace, chanting, “Death to the Dictator! Death to the Dictator! God save you, Khomeini! Death to the bloodthirsty enemy!”

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1963. Khomeini is arrested in Qom and imprisoned in Tehran. This sets the stage for a massive xii WHISPER TAPES uprising referred to as the “15 Khordad” incident, in which dem- onstrators attacked police stations, offices, and government build- ings, including the ministries. The government declares martial law and a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Khomeini is released on Tuesday, April 7, 1964, and returned to Qom.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1964. Khomeini is forci- bly exiled from Iran. He settles in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1978. Cinema Rex in Abadan is burned down by arsonists. The regime and the opposition blame each other.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1978 (EID AL-FITR, THE END OF RAMADAN, MONTH OF FASTING). Hundreds of thousands march in support of Khomeini.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1978 (). Demonstrations in Tehran. Iranian military use tanks, helicopters, and troops to fire at twenty thousand protestors in Tehran’s Jaleh Square, leaving “a carnage of destruction,” according to the Guardian. Western media report fifteen thousand dead and wounded. The French philosopher and journalist Michel Foucault reports four thousand dead at Jaleh Square. The Shah declares martial law and appoints a military government. Schools and uni- versities are closed, newspapers are suspended, and gatherings of over three people are prohibited in Tehran.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1978. Khomeini moves his residence from Iraq to France.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1978. Millions weep as they see Khomeini’s face in the moon.

SUNDAY–MONDAY, DECEMBER 10–11, 1978 ( TASU’A AND ASHURA, NINTH AND TENTH DAYS OF THE MUSLIM CALENDAR). Seventeen million people A REVOLUTIONARY TIMELINE xiii join in demonstrations against the Shah, declaring Khomeini the leader of the .

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1978. The Shah chooses the longtime opposition leader, Shahpur Bakhtiar, as prime minister.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1979. Khomeini appoints a secret Council of the Islamic Revolution to issue regulations per- taining to the period of transition.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1979. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi leaves Iran.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1979. In an interview with Khomeini’s aide, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, in the national conservative newspaper, Kayhan, Ghotbzadeh is quoted declaring the complete equality of men and women.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1979. Mehrabad Airport is taken over by the army. Khomeini declares (on January 25) that he will return to Iran as soon as the airport is reopened.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1979. Millions of people march in Tehran for the return of Khomeini.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1979. Khomeini returns to Iran.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1979. Khomeini declares Mehdi Bazargan prime minister of the interim government.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1979. The conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan quotes a talk given by Khomeini’s aide, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, to workers at the oil refinery on February 5 in Rey, now part of the metropolitan area: “Women are free in Islam.”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1979. Kayhan announces xiv WHISPER TAPES

March 8 celebration of International Women’s Day in honor of female laborers and freedom fighters around the world, Ferdows Auditorium, Tehran University.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1979. Kayhan announces the return of millions of students to school after the revolution.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1979. Khomeini moves his permanent home to Qom. The women’s group known as the Jamiyat-e zanan-e mobarez announces its formation as a demo- cratic entity, noting the participation of women in the insurrec- tion. It welcomes all women regardless of their ideological lean- ings to join. Jamiyat-e zanan likewise announces that International Women’s Day is March 8, not January 7, as it would have been celebrated this year under the Shah.

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1979. Kayhan reports on an open letter written in support of Khomeini by the “Group of Women Lawyers.” The letter asks the Bazargan government to acknowl- edge the great contribution of women in the insurrection against the Shah. The group also asks the government to guard the civil rights of women from the theologians.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 1979. Khomeini speaks to a women’s group in Qom, encouraging them to participate in “the business of the nation.” The talk is published in Kayhan on March 6.

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1979. Kate Millett and Sophie Keir arrive at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. Millett has been invited to speak at the International Women’s Day celebrations of March 8 by members of a committee organized by the Iranian feminist Kateh Vafadari and later named the Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights.

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1979. Ettela’at, the oldest daily A REVOLUTIONARY TIMELINE xv newspaper in Iran, announces that all coeducational schools in Tehran will be dissolved at the beginning of the next school year.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1979. The conservative newspa- per Ettela’at announces Khomeini’s March 6 decree on the veiling of women. The French newspaper Libération reports on the first appearance of the chant Ya roosai, ya toosari, “Cover your head, or be smacked in the head,” on the streets of Tehran on this day. Women’s groups are activated in resistance to Khomeini’s decree, and it is agreed that they will take their protests to the streets the next day. Ettela’at and Kayhan and the liberal newspaper Ayanden- gan each write a short piece on the history of International Wom- en’s Day. That evening, Iranian television announces that all women participating in the “imperialist and foreign” celebration of Women’s Day will be regarded as un-Islamic. The announce- ment is made by a much-loved television announcer, Maryam Riyazi, who appears fully veiled on Iranian television for the first time that evening. The Tudeh (communist party) rally is held at 3 p.m. at Tehran Polytechnic. The organizers withdraw their prom- ise to invite Millett and other female speakers to the stage to address the crowd. Outraged, women walk out in protest. (For video, scan QR code.)

THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1979 (INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY). In Tehran, women in the tens of thousands demonstrate against Khomeini’s decree on mandatory veiling. A group of women arrive at the prime minister’s office and find out that three thousand women have already traveled to Qom to pro- test the decree in Khomeini's city. At Tehran University, women gather to participate in the celebration of International Women’s Day at Ferdows Auditorium. Students engage in heated debates on the campus that afternoon. They climb the locked gates of Tehran University to join street demonstrations and march to the

QR Television announcer, Maryam Riyazi. https://youtu.be/Efk5nOqaH5M xvi WHISPER TAPES

Ministry of Justice and the central komiteh. That evening Millett speaks at the Reza Shah Kabir High School.

FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1979. Women gather at Tehran Uni- versity. After much debate, they agree to march toward the head- quarters of the liberal national newspaper, Ayandegan.

SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1979. Women gather at Tehran University and at the Ministry of Justice. High school girls from Marjan, Hasht-roodi, and other northern high schools in Tehran engage in protests on campus and join other women in street demonstrations toward Tehran University. They join women at the Ministry of Justice at a sit-in and rally. The grand hall of the Ministry of Justice is filled to the brim with women, including university students, nurses, women judges, women from the wood and paper industry, women workers from the gas company, women from the nursing school, women working in education, women working in building and urban development, women working for IBM, women working for the oil industry, police- women, women working for the Tehran electrical company, women working in telecommunications, women working at Ira- nian Airlines, and high school students from Azar, Anooshiravan, Kharazmi, Jean d’Arc, Chista, and Toos.

SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 1979. Demonstrations occur at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Millett holds her first press conference at the Hotel InterContinental. Iran’s interim government retracts mandatory veiling. The liberal national newspaper Ayandega’s headline on the retraction reads, “There is no compulsion. And it’s not about the chador.” The paper reports on violent attacks on four women during Saturday’s street demonstrations to the Minis- try of Justice.

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1979. Women gather at Tehran University. Debates ensue. Great march to Azadi Square. At 4 p.m. a few women head toward National Iranian Radio and A REVOLUTIONARY TIMELINE xvii

Television (NIRT), where there has been no coverage of the wom- en’s protests since they started. Khomeini’s supporters attack the headquarters of the newspaper Ayandegan. At 8 p.m. Iranian radio announces an attack on the director of NIRT, Sadegh Ghotbza- deh, by women demonstrators. Ghotbzadeh denies these attacks a few weeks after the end of the women’s demonstrations and deems the retraction of the news story irrelevant.

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1979 (CHAHAR SHANBE SOORI). Demonstrations occur at National Iranian Radio and Television.

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1979. The deputy prime minis- ter of the Iranian interim government, Abbas Amir-Entezam, holds a press conference in which Ralph Schoenman’s deportation is announced. Amir-Entezam confirms that Kate Millett will also be deported. The Comité International du Droit des Femmes holds a press conference in Paris announcing the departure of a women’s delegation to Iran.

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1979. Millett holds a second press conference outside the Hotel InterContinental.

SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1979. The Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights in Iran establishes its first offices in Tehran and drafts its first constitution.

MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1979. Millett and Keir are expelled from Iran. A delegation of eighteen women from the Comité International du Droit des Femmes leaves Paris at 1 a.m. and arrives in Tehran in solidarity with Iranian women.

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1979. A delegation from the Comité International du Droit des Femmes is granted an audi- ence with Khomeini. The group arrives at the Feyzieh Seminary in Qom for a meeting the next day. xviii WHISPER TAPES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1979. Nowruz, the festival of the Persian New Year.

FRIDAY–SATURDAY, MARCH 30–31, 1979. A national referendum is held on the question of whether Iran should become an “Islamic Republic.”

SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 1979. Of the national votes that are tallied, 98.2 percent are in favor of an Islamic Republic.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1979. The liberal national newspa- per, Ayandegan, is declared counterrevolutionary and is banned.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1979. Sixty-six Americans are taken hostage at the American embassy in Tehran.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1979. President Jimmy Carter’s delegation arrives in Iran to negotiate the freeing of the hostages. Khomeini refuses to meet the delegation. WHISPER TAPES This page intentionally left blank