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Iranian Revolution Ethicalmun IV Crisis EthicalMUN IV Iranian Revolution Chairs: Ben Greer and Lucas Saidenberg Crisis Directors: Josh Sacca, Oliver Polksy, and Alex Power EthicalMUN IV Dear Delegates, We are delighted to welcome you to EthicalMUN IV, and we look forward to two full and exciting days of debate. The topic of the committee is the Iranian Julie Johnson Revolution, and we look forward to seeing your innovative resolutions and ideas to Co-Secretary General solve this crisis. We hope that this topic will stimulate your creativity and make for an amazing weekend. We have five experienced chairs and crisis directors who are Olivia Pollack eagerly anticipating the conference. Please take the time to thoroughly read the Co-Secretary General background guide and conduct research of your own so that you can have the best position papers possible. This background guide is simply a starting point for your Aleksi Sefanov research, and more research is necessary to prepare for this committee. For those of Chief of Staff you who are new to Model UN, this committee is a crisis committee, meaning that Ben Greer there will constantly be new problems (provided by our lovely crisis directors: Josh Chief of Staff Sacca, Alex Power, and Oliver Polsky) that you must solve. We want every delegate to fully represent their positions while working together to come up with a solution Brian Phillips for this Crisis. This committee will start in January of 1978 when tensions began to Under Secretary- boil over, and thousands of students took to the streets in protest against the Shah. General of Committees Anything before this is set in stone, but anything after is all up to you. Emphasis will be placed on not copying exactly what occurred in real life, as we want you to come Sara Snyder up with interesting and creative solutions on your own. Please do not try to copy Under Secretary- what actually occurred in committee, as the wonderful crisis staff will be introducing General of Committees new crises often, many of which did not historically occur. We are very excited to Gavin Kelly hear your solutions and ideas on the complicated issues we will be dealing with over Chief Crisis Director this conference. We fully welcome any questions you have, and we look forward to seeing you in May! Thomas Vernarde Chief Crisis Director Feel free to contact with any queries, Amani Creamer Director of Outreach Your Chairs Ben Greer ([email protected]) and Lucas Saidenberg ([email protected]) Iranian Revolution EthicalMUN IV Crisis Committee Procedure minute moderated caucus passes, the Like most crisis committees, perpetual moderated caucus will be the parliamentary procedure will be suspended, and the committee will slightly different from General enter the five-minute moderated Assemblies and Specialized caucus. If there are no points or Committees. The parliamentary motions on the floor, the chair will procedure used in this committee is revert to the perpetual moderated optimized for the relatively few caucus. people in our committee and the quick Relevant Points and Motions: responses needed for crises. • Point of Inquiry • Point of Information Perpetual Moderated Caucus: • Point of Personal Privilege Unlike GA or Specialized • Point of Order Committees, Crisis Committees will • Motion to Open Debate not have a speakers list, and will • Motion for a Moderated operate under a perpetual moderated Caucus caucus. A perpetual moderated caucus • Motion for an Unmoderated is a never-ending moderated caucus Caucus that runs for the entirety of the • Motion for a Round Table committee with no set topic. For this • Motion to Introduce All Papers committee, the perpetual moderated on the Dais caucus will have a 30 second • Motion to Introduce an speaking time. This perpetual Amendment moderated caucus will be suspended • Motion to divide the Question when a delegate proposes a motion. • Motion to Enter Voting For example, if a motion for a five- Procedure 1 Iranian Revolution Crisis EthicalMUN IV • Motion to Adjourn Debate inform or misinform the public according to the desires of the Written Papers committee. They will have the same Crisis Notes: Crisis notes are notes sponsor and signatory rules as used to take personal action from a directives. delegate, without the need for committee approval. A character's Like all committees, collaborating portfolio powers, therefore, binds with other delegates is strongly crisis notes. Please ensure to sign your recommended. However, in a crisis character’s name at the end of your committee, it is also encouraged that crisis note and address it to CRISIS one stays in character and acts in on the front of your folded note. accordance with their character’s motivations. Directives: Like general assemblies Historical Background and specialized committees, crisis The seeds of the 1979 committees have documents that take revolution were sown more than 50 committee action concerning the years previously when the Pahlavi issues at hand. In crisis committees, dynasty came to power in 1925. After this document is called a directive. much instability in the country, The number of sponsors and specifically due to Soviet military signatories required on directives will presence, the first Shah, Reza “Shah” depend on the size of the committee. Pahlavi took power through a coup and made an agreement with the Press Releases: Press releases are Soviet Union. As part of the committee documents addressed to agreement, the Soviets withdrew their the public. They can be used to troops, which had threatened to take 2 Iranian Revolution EthicalMUN IV Crisis over Tehran, Iran’s capital. An British and Soviet invaders after being exception was made in the treaty so accused of collaborating with the that the Soviet Union would be Nazis. He was replaced by his son, allowed to reinvade if their national Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who interests ever required them to. reigned until his own eventual Reza Shah enacted many overthrow in 1979. Pahlavi continued reforms of modernity and similar policies of modernization and secularization and suppressed radical westernization that his father had set Islamism in favor of Western culture. up and continued to have difficult Many of his reforms introduced relations with the Shia clergy of Iran. Western law with an attempt to This growing resentment set in place forcibly secularize the population. His the building blocks for his eventual reforms pushed for increased gender deposition. However, his reign did not equality, and the Woman's go uninterrupted, and this is where the Awakening between 1936 and 1941 United States first became involved in was heavily reinforced by his policies Iranian affairs. of modernization, which pushed to get In 1951, pro-democratic rid of traditional customs such as the Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected Islamic veil and gender segregation. as prime minister of Iran. He enacted In response to these policies, Reza many progressive reforms to the Shah continued to have bitter relations country, such as social security, and with the Iranian clergy during his invested in public development. reign, with many acts of violence However, he was most renowned for perpetrated against Islamic supporters enforcing the nationalization of the oil who opposed the Shah’s policies. industry. Before the Pahlavi dynasty Reza Shah remained in power took power, Britain had already set up until 1941 when he was deposed by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company 3 Iranian Revolution EthicalMUN IV Crisis (APIC), which took much of Iran’s oil challenged by the two. The dichotomy to support the British economy. Due between the two began to grow to growing nationalism and much despite the Shah’s support of resentment to constant flight of capital Mossadegh’s initiative in (oil profits leaving the country), the nationalizing the oil industry. Iranian parliament voted on However, the United Kingdom, nationalizing the industry and elected with international support, Mossadegh right after, who on May implemented trade embargoes and 1st, 1951, brought the APIC under sanctions on Iran and cut off Iran’s state control. Despite the domestic ability to export its recently owned popularity of his actions, they brought oil, thus crippling Iran’s economy. outrage to the British, who asked the Resentment grew against Mossadegh United States for help in restoring the as a result, and the British and ownership of the oil fields through a Americans used this opportunity to regime change. Despite much stage a coup. During this crisis, disinterest from Trumann, newly Mossadegh dissolved parliament and elected Eisenhower was persuaded to increased his own powers, while assist Britain in overthrowing reducing the Shah’s. Mossadegh lost Mossadegh on the pretext that he was further support, allied with only the an ally of communism. Tudeh party, who were communists. Mossadegh meanwhile was Codenamed Operation Ajax, expanding parliamentary powers and the recently formed CIA with the help reducing that of the Shah’s. The Shah of the British MI6 began the process was not politically active until 1949 of overthrowing the elected after an assassination attempt, in Mohammed Mossadegh. They which he began to expand his power. persuaded the reluctant reigning Shah As a result, the balance of power was to join them, under the warning that 4 Iranian Revolution EthicalMUN IV Crisis he would be deposed too if he significantly increase the profits for refused. Using a campaign of the oil companies who held a stake in propaganda and paid protesters, they the oil industry. quickly destabilized the country until The cause for CIA’s the military joined the side of the participation in the 1953 coup was Shah and overthrew Mossadegh under predominantly the promise of a share the leadership of General Fazlollah in its oil, which it did receive. This Zahedi, who was working with the initiated American interest in Iran and CIA. The Shah, who fled during the its oil industry, and as a result, pushed coup due to fear of backlash, returned for better relations with a pro-Western and restored his powers while Prime Iran under the Shah.
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