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Aziz’s Notebook
at the Heart of the Iranian Revolution
His daughters, Fataneh and Fatemeh, were members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq, a left-wing militant organisation in Iran. Aziz explained that their mission aimed ‘to establish cultural cooperation’ and disagrees with their official media’s status as ‘Islamic Marxists’. At the same time, he also admits that he ‘do(es) not know’ their programme and activities. Both sisters contested legislative elections against Ayatollah Khomeini’s party in 1981. Fataneh was arrested after weapons were seized from her house and her husband got killed while escaping the arrest. Like many others, they were also condemned as ‘Monafeqein’ or ‘unbelievers and hypocrites’ for challenging the Islamic republic. But the concrete charges framed against Fatemeh are not mentioned in detail in the book. They were executed at a time when the police and judiciary, furious over some leaders’ deaths in a bomb blast, took up a task "to kill or being killed". Both the sisters stood fearless and ideologically unmoved during the difficult times. But their story is not meant to justify their ideology. It is totally a subjective account of a man’s sufferings who intends to leave a record for his grandchildren. The reader encounters a situation that compels him to sympathise with a helpless father and motherless grandchildren. Aziz’s dairy was later found by Fatemeh’s daughter Chowra Makaremi. Chowra, an anthropologist based in France, edited and compiled these notes before presenting the same to the reader. Though the title claims to be A Notebook at the Heart of the Iranian Revolution, the text doesn’t include details about the revolution. The author hops from pre-Revolution period to the first Parliamentary elections held under the Islamic Republic. How the book is going to be relevant in the era of Arab spring? The answer depends on reader’s perception.
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