Iran, 1985

The Islamic revolution in Iran represented a clear rejection of Western values ​​and civilization. An entire people felt their identity threatened by the Shah’s attempts to develop his country along Western lines.
Turning to the foundations of Shiism and its demand for a political system based on equality and justice was to create the basis for a new society. The deep veneration of the martyrs, which the children experience from an early age as an ideal of faith, means that one’s own martyr’s death is also accepted in the name of God. Young people in particular belong to the Revolutionary Guard and are committed to a classless theocracy, for which they are willing to die.
Religious education is increasingly being taken over by the schools. In the countryside, the population also professes Islam, but the social and revolutionary content is not rooted here. The children should carry the new teachings into the families, which should again become the center of religious and moral values.

Gordian Troeller
Assistance: Ingrid Becker-Ross
Camera: Gordian Troeller
Sound: Saïd Nezami, Jürgen Kauffels
Editing: Ingeburg Forth
Length: 43 minutes
First broadcast: RB 27.1.1985