THE TRIPOLI POST: “In a world where no moral and ethical rules seem to prevent the strong and the powerful from devouring the rights of the weak, realism teaches us that only the strong and well prepared can survive.”
In 1979, the Islamic movement in Iran became the first movement in modem times to achieve a remarkable and significant success.
The details of how this success was achieved offer fascinating insights into the wisdom and courage of leadership that established an Islamic government in a country that was the hub of the CIA's espionage activities, and where a ruthless secret police particularly targeted those who wished to establish Islam. But that was thirty years ago.
A whole new generation of Iranians has matured since that transforming year, and today Iran faces a new set of internal and external challenges that must be recognized by the Islamic leadership of that country as well as Muslim leaders elsewhere.
Here, we can only highlight elements of the experience in Iran that are particularly important for the broader Islamic movement, rather than providing a detailed outline and analyses of the challenges that now confront Jomhuri-ye Islāmi-ye Irān.
Today, 70 percent of Iran's 70 million people are less than 35 years of age. 22.5 million Iranians (or 33 percent of the population) are between the ages of 15 and 29. This means that most Iranians have grown up without any experience or memory of pre-revolutionary times.
These young Iranians have no idea of the horrible conditions their parents and grandparents faced, nor of the tremendous sacrifices that were made to establish the Islamic state. These young men and women have no doubt heard about the Revolution, but the Revolution is not part of their own personal experience. They cannot really be expected to share the revolutionary fervour of their parents' generation.
This becomes clear as one walks through the streets of Iran's major cities and meets these young men and women. They are not really all that interested in a by-gone revolution, and perhaps have heard too much about it. As is the case with young people everywhere, they are more interested in the future--especially their own futures- than in the past.
Of course, there is still a generation of Iranian Muslims who took part in the Revolution and who remember what Iran was like before 1979, and this generation is able to guide many institutions of contemporary Iran, but this situation is changing. As the new generation takes over, the spirit of the Revolution diminishes. >>> By B Y Muhammad | Friday, February 20, 2009
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