Regime-
Picture of the Taliban Regime in Afghanistan
a government, especially an authoritarian one.
I think its important to know the definition of this word while reading the book, because the main idea or topic of the book is the Islamic Regime in Iran. The main character is living under an extremist regime.
Most regimes including the one in the book have strict, unreasonable rules. The Islamic Regime in the book prohibits people from doing normal things such as playing cards and throwing parties. Playing cards and throwing parties are symbols of the West or of decadence as the government would say. The Islamic Regime is extremely religious, so anything that goes outside Islamic law is completely prohibited. Regimes tend to have harsh consequences on rule-breakers. In the book, rule-breakers could receive torture or be submitted to execution. People that oppose a regime or demonstrate against it suffer consequences. In the Islamic Regime in Persepolis, people that refused to follow the regime were executed.
Nowadays, not many countries are governed by a strict regime such as the one in the book. Regimes prevent the population from freedom, because people cannot express themselves and their feelings freely. Living under a regime is an unhappy, miserable experience for any person.
Persecution:
This is a photo of a person being persecuted.
To oppress or harass with ill treatment.
This word is often used throughout the entire book. This word describes what is happening to the communists, persecution. They are being treated inhumanely for having different views than the ones of the regime. In many cases, such as the one of the Holocaust when the Jewish people were persecuted, there is no logical reason for persecution. The communists are innocent people with different views that are having to suffer harsh consequences for having a different perspective.
Shah: the title of Persian emperors or kings.
Shah Reza Pahlavi. He was the Shah at the time of the Islamic Revolution.
The understanding of the word shah is fundamental to understand the book. The Shah was the one that began the Islamic Revolution, by closing down bilingual schools and obligating women to wear veils. As emperor, he was able to imprison anyone who opposed to his new regime. Iranians began demonstrating daily against the shah's regime. The country was becoming dangerous because of the violence in demonstrations. Eventually the shah resigned and left the country. More than three thousand political prisoners were released when the shah left. This shows how harsh his regime was. Iranians hated the shah.
Communist/Communism: a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
This is a picture of the symbol of the communist party.
In Persepolis, these are the innocent, oppressed people. They are being persecuted for execution. They are victims of the revolution, because they are suffering consequences for having a different opinion than that of the regime's. Marjane's family is communist. The eighteen year old girl that was in hiding with Khosro was communist. She was spotted, arrested, and executed.
Asylum: The protection granted by a nation to someone who has left their country as a political refugee.
In this photo, you can tell that the United States is giving help to someone else. This photo actually represents the United States giving asylum to people around the world.
In this chapter, Khosro finds his house ransacked by the men who arrested the communist girl hiding in his house. He got scared of the situation, so he fled to Turkey, and sought for asylum with his brother in Sweden. Since the regime closed the borders for 3 years, it was difficult for people to find asylum or flee the country. Anyone who was able to find asylum was very lucky. During the time, asylum was every communist's dream. They needed to flee from Iran as soon as possible before they were arrested. This was the only safe way communists and other persecuted people could leave Iran.
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