Review of a book entitled "Narration of the Revolution and the Explosion"

The Interview of Oral history with Morteza Fazlali

Elnaz Darvishi
Translated by Fazel Shirzad

2020-11-24

The Narration of the Revolution and the Explosion is the title of an interview with Morteza Fazlali conducted by Mohammad Hossein Yazdani-Rad over sixteen hours, edited and researched by Paymaneh Salehi. The interview was conducted in the years 2013 to 2015 and its text was published by Rozaneh Publications.

Morteza Fazlali, one of the veterans of the incident of the Hafte Tir bombing (On 28 June 1981), had a calm and good-natured personality. He is one of the fighters against the Pahlavi regime, after the revolution, he was a parliamentary representation and membership in the Islamic Republic Party for several years, and four decades in the fields of education, activity in Islamic associations, and legislation.

This book consists of 262 pages, which begins with "Introduction" and continues with 9 chapters entitled: "Family, elementary school, high school and the Khordad 15 uprising (The demonstrations of June 5 and 6)", "Political activities, university and exile to Garmsar", "Memories of Iranshahr, Garmsar city council and the first term elections ...", "Opening of the parliament, the first approvals and war Iran and Iraq", "Political groups, economic issues and the Ministry of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps  ", "Explosion of the Republican Party office and continuation of party meetings", "From The second to fourth parliaments, jobs in the prime minister office and the fifth term of the parliament", "Youth employment and cultural affairs, the formation of city and village councils, etc." and "Governmental Punishment Organization and the seventh term of the parliament", and the endnotes are written at the end of each chapter. The final section of the book includes attachments entitled "Life Calendar", "Selection of Images and Documents", "Index", "People", "Places" and "Bibliography".

The book's introduction contains tips on how to prepare and compile the material. This book is one of the sources of the oral history of Hamedan management of the National Archives and Library of Iran. In this book, some other things are mentioned as follows: "Explaining religious and political activities before the revolution in Hamedan, explaining the formation of committees and crises of the early revolution, reviewing the performance and activities of the first term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, formation background, goals and positions of the Islamic Republic Party, detailed description the incident Hafte Tir bombing and Detailed implementation of construction, agricultural and cultural projects in Tuyserkan city in the fifth parliament, The description of the activities of the Councils and Internal Affairs Commission of the parliament, the interaction with the representatives of Hamedan province in the seventh parliament, the background of the establishment of the government penitentiary organization and its ups and downs are mentioned.

This book has been compiled in the form of an interview and its chapters are in the order of the history of the narrator's activities. The book first deals with his family and education, and then with the events related to the political struggles during his student years, his employment in the educational system, and how he was deported to Garmsar with the intervention of SAVAK forces.

The activities of Morteza Fazlali in the days of the victory of the revolution are also mentioned in the book. He was arrested and tortured four times during the Pahlavi era. He went to Iranshahr in early 1978 to meet with Seyyed Ali Mousavi, Ayatollah Khamenei, and other exiled scholars but was arrested and returned to Garmsar after a three-day stay there. Besides, he has attended lectures by great figures such as Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti.

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Morteza Fazlali became a member of the Garmsar Revolutionary Committee. In 1980, he entered the Islamic Consultative Assembly with the vote of the people of this city, as a representative of the first term. The first parliament has faced many challenges and issues, such as the removal of Abul Hassan Bani Sadr, the bombings and assassinations in the cities, the differences between the political factions, and the Iran-Iraq war. Fazlali was present in this period as a member of the Islamic Republic Party in the context of the events and he took effective steps to solve the problems of the revolution and the Islamic Republic system along with like-minded comrades.

In different chapters of the book, Fazlali's positions and occupations are also mentioned. He is currently retired from the presidency and is working part-time as a representative of the Minister of Justice and Secretary of the Central Selection Board of the Ministry of Justice.  This book contains a narrative of the events of the revolution and after the revolution and includes information about the revolutionary activity of religious people and how the relations between them. The narrator of the book is present in the heart of the events and has described them in full.

This book has been published with 262 pages, in the size A5, and at the price of 55,000 Toman (Iranian currency) in 2019.