June 5, 1963 demonstrations in Iran
| The Demonstration of June 5, 1963 | |||||
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| Part of the Iranian Revolution | |||||
 People of Tehran in the demonstrations with pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini in their hands. |
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The demonstrations of June 5 and 6, 1963, in Iran (also called the uprising, or the events of June 1963, and known in Iran by the Iranian calendar as 15 Khordad (Persian: قیام پانزده خرداد) were a protest against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after a speech by him attacking Iranian Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Israel. The Shah's regime was taken by surprise by the massive public demonstrations of support, and although these were crushed within days by the police and military, the events established the importance and power of (Shia) religious opposition to the Shah, and Khomeini as a major political and religious leader. Fifteen years later, Khomeini was to lead the Iranian Revolution which overthrew the Shah and his Pahlavi dynasty and established the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In decade of 1960, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran's Shah started several activities for modernizing Iran which known as "The Revolution of the Shah and the People" or "White Revolution". These plans were to make social and economic changes in Iran. Therefore, on January 26, 1963, Shah held a national referendum for 19 rules of White Revolution. The rules of this revolution were land reforms, nationalization of the forests and pastureland, privatization of the government owned enterprises, profit sharing, extending the right to vote to women, formation of the literacy corps, formation of the health corps, formation of the reconstruction and development corps, formation of the houses of equity, nationalization of all water resources, urban and rural modernization and reconstruction, didactic reforms, workers' right to own shares in the industrial complexes, price stabilization, free and compulsory education, free food for needy mothers, introduction of social security and national insurance, stable and reasonable cost of renting or buying of residential properties, and introduction of measures to fight against corruption. The Shah announced this revolution as a way towards Modernization. Also, another sources believe that Shah could give legitimacy to Pahlavi dynasty with White Revolution. The revolution made s deep rift between Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Iranian Shia religious scholars, Ulama. They introduced these changes as serous threat for Islam. Ruhollah Khomeini was one of the objectors who held a meeting with another Maraji and scholars at the Qom and boycotted the referendum of the revolution. On January 22, 1963, Khomeini issued a worded declaration denouncing the Shah and his plans. Khomeini continued his denunciation of the Shah's programs, issuing a manifesto that also bore the signatures of eight other senior religious scholars. In it he listed the various ways in which the Shah had violated the constitution, condemned the spread of moral corruption in the country, and accused the Shah of submission to the U.S. and Israel. He also decreed that the Norooz celebrations for the Iranian year 1342 (which fell on March 21, 1963) be canceled as a sign of protest against government policies.
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