TRAVEL | IRAN
The Heart of the Matter
Political realities in Tehran
Azadi Tower, formerly called Shahyad Tower, encapsulates the strange dichotomy existing in Iran. It was built in 1971 to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of Persian imperial rule. The late Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi intended it to be a monument to the glory of his ruling dynasty, imagining himself a continuation of the many Iranian kingdoms and empires of yesteryear.
Within eight years, the Shah would flee his country and shuttle from one tenuous exile to another before dying of cancer in Egypt. His family now lives in the United States, unable to return home. The 2,500-year span of kings is over. The tower served as a focal point for the massive protests against the Shah’s regime, an irony given its origin. It was renamed Azadi (Freedom), meaning, in this case, freedom from secular dictatorship.
I have seen this tower often on the news, always associated with anger and protest. It was the backdrop for demonstrations during the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power. It was also a lightning rod for the opposition. The protesters of the Persian Awakening in 2009 gathered here when ultraconservative President Ahmadinejad clung to power after suspected doctoring of election results.
