Going to IranA new book by Kate Millett, one of our most important feminists, is always a major literary event, and "Going to Iran", illustrated with dramatic photographs by Sophie Keir, is a powerfully political and beautifully written work. Iran has been in the international headlines continuously for more than three years: the Shah's expulsion, his sickness and death, the struggles before the Ayatollah Khomeini dropped the curtain to the world, the taking of the hostages. Millett had worked for many years with a humanitarian group of Iranian dissenters, CAIFI, the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran, which protested conditions under the Shah. After his downfall, when Iran was poised between a new democracy and religious totalitarianism, Iranian feminists sent an urgent please to their sisters around the world as they began to organize an Iranian women's movement to protect their threatened rights. Kate Millett and Sophie Keir answered the call, and they were among the very few Americans to see that nation in the nascent stages of revolution. "Going to Iran" is the dramatic, highly personal account of their extraordinary stay in the "new" Iran, where they made friendships with courageous Iranian women but where they were defamed and threatened with death, where one can get seventy-five lashes for taking a drink, where homosexuals and children as arbitrarily executed. Millett decries the Shah, who presented a civilized face to the world but kept vats of acid to dispose of his torture victims, but she decries the Ayatollah as well, for sanctioning the fanaticism of Moslems who disrupt women's rallies, attacked women demonstrators, even schoolgirls, and threatened all those who refused to wear the "chador" (veil), which the new regime has made a compulsory symbol of female submission. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Air Force airport already American Angela Davis arms attackers Ayatollah Ayatollah Khomeini Caifi camera chador chant Claudine course crowd danger demonstration door Entezam everything eyes face fanatics Farsi Fedayeen feel feminism feminists Ferdosi film foreign freedom French friends guard guns International Women's Day Iran Iranian women Isfahan Islamic Kate Millett Kateh Khalil Khomeini Komiteh Lahadji laugh leave live look Maoists militia Millett Mimi ministry Nasrin Nelufar Nemat Nersi never night perhaps Persian plane police political press conference prisoners rally Ralph Schoenman reporters Resvan revolution Reza Robin Morgan Savak Shah Shah's Siamak smile someone Sophie's speak stay streets sure Sylvina talk tape Tehran Tehran University telephone television tell Terranie there's thing tomorrow trying voice wait watch woman women's movement wonder young