Iranian Revolution of 1979 from Western intellectuals - Revision history

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	The '''Iranian Revolution of 1979''' attracted significant attention from Western intellectuals, some of whom expressed admiration for [[Ruhollah Khomeini\|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] and the movement that overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. This phenomenon was most pronounced among Left-wing politics\|left-wing and Postmodernism/postmodern European thinkers, who viewed the revolution as a form of anti-imperialist resistance and a novel "political spirituality" that offered an alternative to both Western liberal democracy and Soviet-type system/Soviet Marxism (Afary & Anderson, 2005, pp. 9-12). However, most of these early endorsements were later reassessed or retracted as the Islamic Republic of Iran\|theocratic nature]] of the new regime became apparent ("Trusting Khomeini," 2026).		The '''Iranian Revolution of 1979''' attracted significant attention from Western intellectuals, some of whom expressed admiration for [[Ruhollah Khomeini\|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] and the movement that overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. This phenomenon was most pronounced among Left-wing politics\|left-wing and Postmodernism/postmodern European thinkers, who viewed the revolution as a form of anti-imperialist resistance and a novel "political spirituality" that offered an alternative to both Western liberal democracy and Soviet-type system/Soviet Marxism (Afary & Anderson, 2005, pp. 9-12). However, most of these early endorsements were later reassessed or retracted as the Islamic Republic of Iran/theocratic nature of the new regime became apparent ("Trusting Khomeini," 2026).

	== Michel Foucault and "Political Spirituality" ==		== Michel Foucault and "Political Spirituality" ==

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	The '''Iranian Revolution of 1979''' attracted significant attention from Western [[intellectuals]], some of whom expressed admiration for [[Ruhollah Khomeini\|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] and the movement that overthrew [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], the [[Shah of Iran]]. This phenomenon was most pronounced among [[Left-wing politics\|left-wing]] and [[Postmodernism\|postmodern]] European thinkers, who viewed the revolution as a form of anti-imperialist resistance and a novel "political spirituality" that offered an alternative to both Western [[liberal democracy]] and [[Soviet-type system\|Soviet Marxism]] (Afary & Anderson, 2005, pp. 9-12). However, most of these early endorsements were later reassessed or retracted as the [[Islamic Republic of Iran\|theocratic nature]] of the new regime became apparent ("Trusting Khomeini," 2026).		The '''Iranian Revolution of 1979''' attracted significant attention from Western intellectuals, some of whom expressed admiration for [[Ruhollah Khomeini\|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] and the movement that overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. This phenomenon was most pronounced among Left-wing politics\|left-wing and Postmodernism/postmodern European thinkers, who viewed the revolution as a form of anti-imperialist resistance and a novel "political spirituality" that offered an alternative to both Western liberal democracy and Soviet-type system/Soviet Marxism (Afary & Anderson, 2005, pp. 9-12). However, most of these early endorsements were later reassessed or retracted as the Islamic Republic of Iran\|theocratic nature]] of the new regime became apparent ("Trusting Khomeini," 2026).

	== Michel Foucault and "Political Spirituality" ==		== Michel Foucault and "Political Spirituality" ==

	The most prominent Western intellectual to engage with the Iranian Revolution was the French philosopher [[Michel Foucault]]. Between September 1978 and April 1979, Foucault worked as a special correspondent for the Italian newspaper ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' and the French journal ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur]]'', traveling to Iran and writing a series of firsthand reports (Library of Congress, n.d.).		The most prominent Western intellectual to engage with the Iranian Revolution was the French philosopher Michel Foucault. Between September 1978 and April 1979, Foucault worked as a special correspondent for the Italian newspaper ''Corriere della Sera'' and the French journal ''Le Nouvel Observateur'', traveling to Iran and writing a series of firsthand reports (Library of Congress, n.d.).

	=== Concept of Political Spirituality ===		=== Concept of Political Spirituality ===

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The '''Iranian Revolution of 1979''' attracted significant attention from Western [[intellectuals]], some of whom expressed admiration for [[Ruhollah Khomeini|Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini]] and the movement that overthrew [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], the [[Shah of Iran]]. This phenomenon was most pronounced among [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] and [[Postmodernism|postmodern]] European thinkers, who viewed the revolution as a form of anti-imperialist resistance and a novel "political spirituality" that offered an alternative to both Western [[liberal democracy]] and [[Soviet-type system|Soviet Marxism]].<ref name="AfaryAnderson">{{cite book |last1=Afary |first1=Janet |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin B. |title=Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism |date=2005 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226007854 |pages=9-12}}</ref> However, most of these early endorsements were later reassessed or retracted as the [[Islamic Republic of Iran|theocratic nature]] of the new regime became apparent.<ref name="TimesofIndia">{{cite news |title=Trusting Khomeini: Old NYT article praising former Supreme Leader surfaces amid Iran protests |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/trusting-khomeini-old-nyt-article-praising-former-supreme-leader-surfaces-amid-iran-protests/articleshow/126434937.cms |access-date=2026-06-06 |work=The Times of India |date=2026-01-08}}</ref>

== Michel Foucault and "Political Spirituality" ==

The most prominent Western intellectual to engage with the Iranian Revolution was the French philosopher [[Michel Foucault]]. Between September 1978 and April 1979, Foucault worked as a special correspondent for the Italian newspaper ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' and the French journal ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur]]'', traveling to Iran and writing a series of firsthand reports.<ref name="LOCAfary">{{cite web |title=Publisher description for Foucault and the Iranian Revolution |url=https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0617/2004024383-d.html |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=2026-06-06}}</ref>

=== Concept of Political Spirituality ===

Foucault was captivated by what he called "political spirituality" (''spiritualité politique''). He argued that the Iranian people were engaged in a metaphysical uprising against the "spiritlessness" of modern global systems.<ref name="KCI">{{cite journal |last1=Jung |first1=H.Y. |title=Foucault's Iranian Effect |journal=KCI |date=2022 |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002815748 |access-date=2026-06-06}}</ref> Rejecting the [[Marxist]] view that "religion is the opium of the people," Foucault asserted that in [[Shia Islam|Shi'a Islam]], religion had historically served as "an instrument of political resistance."<ref name="GhamariTabrizi">{{cite book |last1=Ghamari-Tabrizi |first1=Behrooz |title=Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution and the Enlightenment |date=2016 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0816699483 |pages=65-72}}</ref>

In a March 1979 interview, Foucault explained the revolutionary consciousness he observed in Tehran:

{{blockquote|"In rising up, the Iranians said to themselves... 'we have to change ourselves. Our way of being, our relationship with others, with things, with eternity, with God, etc., must be completely changed, and there will only be a true revolution if this radical change in our experience takes place.'"<ref name="GhamariTabrizi" />}}

Foucault viewed Khomeini not as a reactionary cleric but as a symbolic figure representing the unified will of the Iranian people against the Shah's regime.<ref name="AfaryAnderson" />

=== Critical Reassessment ===

Foucault's writings on Iran have been extensively criticized by subsequent scholars. [[Janet Afary]] and [[Kevin B. Anderson]], in their 2005 book ''Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism'', argue that Foucault's [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] framework and his "search for political spirituality" blinded him to the [[Gender apartheid|gender-based violence]] and authoritarian tendencies of the emerging theocracy.<ref name="Carrette2006">{{cite journal |last1=Carrette |first1=Jeremy |title=Review: Foucault and the Iranian Revolution |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |date=June 2006 |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=531-533 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfj071}}</ref> Afary and Anderson suggest that his Iranian writings "express characteristic aspects of Foucault's worldview" and reflect a deeper problem within his intellectual project.<ref name="Carrette2006" /> Similarly, contemporary postcolonial critics have argued that Foucault's enthusiasm for the revolution represented a form of "revolutionary exoticism" that projected Western intellectual desires onto a non-Western movement he did not fully understand.<ref name="Zamani">{{cite web |last1=Zamani |first1=Bahar |title=Mapping Otherness: A Postcolonial Critique of Subjectivation Processes |url=https://www.akbild.ac.at/en/research/projects/research_grantees/2025/mapping-otherness-a-postcolonial-critique-of-subjectivation-processes-in-the-west-and-the-non-west |publisher=Academy of Fine Arts Vienna |access-date=2026-06-06}}</ref>

== Richard Falk and "Trusting Khomeini" ==

In the United States, [[Richard Falk]], then a professor of international law at [[Princeton University]], became a notable voice of support for the new Iranian leadership. On 16 February 1979, just days after Khomeini's return from exile, ''[[The New York Times]]'' published Falk's op-ed under the headline "Trusting Khomeini."<ref name="Stephens">{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Bret |title=Understanding the Muslim Brotherhood |url=https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/bret-stephens-understanding-the-muslim-brotherhood |access-date=2026-06-06 |work=The Wall Street Journal via History News Network |date=2011-02-14}}</ref>

=== Arguments in the 1979 Article ===

Falk wrote that "The depiction of [Khomeini] as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false." He described Khomeini's close advisers as "uniformly composed of moderate, progressive individuals" and predicted that the Ayatollah would serve primarily as a moral guide—a "spiritual pope" rather than a day-to-day political ruler. Falk concluded that Iran "may yet provide us with a desperately needed model of humane governance for a third-world country."<ref name="Stephens" /><ref name="TimesofIndia" />

=== Later Revisions ===

In subsequent decades, Falk acknowledged that his predictions had been incorrect. He stated that the ''New York Times'' headline had not been his choice and that he had underestimated the speed and ruthlessness with which clerical authority would consolidate power. Falk later described Khomeini as having a "rigid, uncompromising vision" rather than functioning as a symbolic religious figure, conceding that expectations of political pluralism proved "misplaced."<ref name="TimesofIndia" />

== Sartre, de Beauvoir, and the French Left ==

[[Jean-Paul Sartre]], the leading figure of [[existentialism]], also supported the Iranian Revolution. He traveled to Tehran to express solidarity with the revolutionaries and used his publication ''[[Les Temps Modernes]]'' to legitimize the uprising against the Shah.<ref name="AfaryAnderson" />

[[Simone de Beauvoir]], Sartre's lifelong companion and a foundational figure in [[second-wave feminism]], initially supported the revolution's anti-imperialist objectives. According to the published collection of her feminist writings, de Beauvoir engaged in "activities in the services of causes like French divorce law reform and the rights of women in the Iranian Revolution."<ref name="Beauvoir">{{cite book |last1=Beauvoir |first1=Simone de |editor1-last=Simons |editor1-first=Margaret A. |editor2-last=Timmermann |editor2-first=Marybeth |title=Feminist Writings |date=2015 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0252039423 |page=xi}}</ref> However, as the regime's systematic [[Compulsory veiling|enforcement of veiling]] and suppression of women's rights became evident, de Beauvoir and other feminists quickly distanced themselves from the revolution's outcome.<ref name="AfaryAnderson" />

== Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" ==

In a reflection of the ambiguous Western reception of the revolution, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine named Khomeini its "[[Time Person of the Year|Man of the Year]]" for 1979. The magazine's profile acknowledged his controversial nature while noting the scale of his impact: "Rarely has so improbable a leader shaken the world," ''Time'' wrote.<ref name="Time2006">{{cite news |title=Ayatullah Khomeini: 1979 |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019712_2019694_2019594,00.html |access-date=2026-06-06 |work=Time Magazine |date=2006-12-16}}</ref> The accompanying piece noted Khomeini's interest in [[Greek philosophy]], particularly his admiration for [[Aristotle]], complicating Western narratives of the cleric as simply "fanatical" or "reactionary."<ref name="Time2006" />

== Scholarly Analysis and Legacy ==

Scholars have identified several factors that contributed to Western intellectual enthusiasm for the Iranian Revolution. The [[Cold War]] context, disillusionment with the [[Soviet Union]] following the suppression of the [[Prague Spring]], and the [[Vietnam War]]-era critique of American imperialism all created a climate in which anti-Western movements were often uncritically embraced by segments of the Western left.<ref name="AfaryAnderson" />

=== Critique of "Revolutionary Exoticism" ===

The phenomenon has been analyzed as an example of what some scholars call "revolutionary exoticism"—the tendency of Western intellectuals to romanticize political violence in non-Western societies as an authentic form of resistance untainted by Western materialism.<ref name="Zamani" /> [[Bahar Zamani]], a postcolonial scholar at the [[Academy of Fine Arts Vienna]], argues that Foucault's reading of the revolution, in particular, "failed to account for the deep-rooted historical and cultural complexities of Iranian resistance" and represents the "limitations of Western philosophical interpretations of non-Western uprisings."<ref name="Zamani" />

=== Contemporary Relevance ===

The revival of these early Western endorsements has periodically occurred during subsequent moments of Iranian political upheaval, including the [[2009 Iranian presidential election protests|2009 Green Movement]] and the [[Mahsa Amini protests]] beginning in 2022. During the 2022–2024 protests, the 1979 "Trusting Khomeini" article resurfaced online as a cautionary example of how "opposition to an authoritarian regime does not automatically produce a more open or plural system."<ref name="TimesofIndia" />

== See also ==

* [[Foreign relations of Iran]]
* [[Iran hostage crisis]]
* [[Iran–United States relations]]
* [[Western perceptions of Islam]]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* Afary, Janet, and Kevin B. Anderson. ''Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism''. University of Chicago Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-0226007854}}
* [[Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi|Ghamari-Tabrizi, Behrooz]]. ''Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution and the Enlightenment''. University of Minnesota Press, 2016. {{ISBN|978-0816699483}}
* [[Hamid Dabashi|Dabashi, Hamid]]. ''Theology of Discontent: The Ideological Foundation of the Islamic Revolution in Iran''. New York University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0814718391}}
* [[Ervand Abrahamian|Abrahamian, Ervand]]. ''Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic''. University of California Press, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0520085039}}

== External links ==

* [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/trusting-khomeini-old-nyt-article-praising-former-supreme-leader-surfaces-amid-iran-protests/articleshow/126434937.cms "Trusting Khomeini: Old NYT article surfaces amid Iran protests"] – ''The Times of India'' (2026)
* [https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019712_2019694_2019594,00.html "Ayatullah Khomeini: 1979"] – ''Time Magazine'' Person of the Year profile

[[Category:Iranian Revolution]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialism]]