Freedom of Speech

Shah of Iran

It was the mid 1970's when I was informed that my mathematics department was to host a visiting Iranian math educator who would spend about three weeks with us observing our program and our teachers.  This visit was part of a program to improve the Iranian education process and to foster closer relationships between the two countries.  Our guest was to live with one of my teachers who lived just a block away from our school.  As it turned our, our visitor was a member of the Iranian Education Administration.  He frequently reminded us that he was just a poor country teacher who was honored to have won promotions to this position.  It soon became evident that our visitor was finding it extremely difficult to adjust to our country.  When he visited in our home he marveled that we actually had carpet on our floors.  He said that we must be very rich to be able to afford carpet.  He had a very difficult time adjusting to news coverage in which people actually criticized the president and the government.  He couldn't believe that anyone would dare do that and this made him very uneasy during his entire stay.  Unfortunately, at a government reception in Washington, just prior to his visit with us, he got caught up in the meaningless light conversations.  And when somebody joked about not selling arms to Iran, he countered by saying if we didn't sell them arms they wouldn't sell us oil.  He quickly regretted having made that comment and from that day on he was sure that his remarks would get back to the Shah of Iran.  During his stay with us he lived in constant fear that upon his return to Iran he would be taken prisoner and that he would never see his family again.  We thought he was just imaging this, but at times he seemed like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.  On the day of the Shah's birthday he begged me to take him to a Western Union office so that he could send a birthday message to the Shah.  I finally found this small dark office in downtown Lancaster from where a telegraph message could be sent.  The location of the office and the entire experience were like something you would see in a spy movie. But the message was sent. Well his visit finally came to and end and he left with promises to communicate with all of us upon his return to Iran.  He never did.  And based on what happened in Iran we can't help but wonder if his fears actually came true.  Did he become a political prisoner?  Was his family taken from him?  According to official statistics, Iran had as many as 2,200 political prisoners in 1978, a number which multiplied rapidly as a result of the revolution.  A secular Muslim, the Shah gradually lost support from the Shi'a clergy of Iran, particularly due to his strong policy of modernization, secularization, conflict with the traditional class of merchants known as bazaari, and recognition of Israel. By 1979, political unrest had transformed into a revolution which in January of that year forced the Shah to leave Iran. Soon thereafter, the Iranian monarchy was formally abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic. Facing likely execution should he return to Iran, he died in exile in Egypt, whose President, Anwar Sadat, had granted him asylum.  So I guess I will never know what actually happened to our visitor.  But I did come to realize that most folks around the world don't begin to have the freedoms, especially the freedom of speech, that we have here.  And as I view the history of Iran I can begin to understand why our visitor was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of a casual comment made at a reception.  Could we also begin to lose these freedoms that we have taken for granted in this country?