Book contents
- Contesting the Iranian Revolution
- Contesting the Iranian Revolution
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration
- 1 Situating the 2009 Green Uprising
- 2 From the Theory of Islamic Republicanism to Practice, 1979–2009
- 3 On the Streets and Beyond
- 4 Contesting Palestine
- 5 Mourning as Protest
- 6 Conclusion
- References
- Index
5 - Mourning as Protest
Montazeri, Post-Islamism, and Revolutionary ʿAshura
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2020
- Contesting the Iranian Revolution
- Contesting the Iranian Revolution
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration
- 1 Situating the 2009 Green Uprising
- 2 From the Theory of Islamic Republicanism to Practice, 1979–2009
- 3 On the Streets and Beyond
- 4 Contesting Palestine
- 5 Mourning as Protest
- 6 Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
The ʿAshura protests of 2009 also warrant their own chapter because of the profound meaning with which history infused them. The chapter presents a case study of post-Islamism in the person of Ayatollah Montazeri, who was originally an architect of the Islamic system but had become one of its severest critics. After a period of trial and error, the goal of the post-Islamist trend had become to save Islam from the state by fusing it with plurality and rights instead of dogmatism and duties. Montazeri died in December 2009—six months after the initial uprising—by which time repression by the state had either radicalized protesters or suppressed more moderate voices. The seventh day of mourning for his death fell on ‘Ashura 2009, and the ensuing day of action fused the two events, drawing on both the Iranian Revolution and wider Islamic history to imbue the protests with particular meaning.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Contesting the Iranian RevolutionThe Green Uprisings, pp. 196 - 255Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020