Revolution

I’m deep into the early idea-gathering phase for my next book, and this time I want to shake things up - especially when it comes to protagonists and how their stories unfold. While exploring different themes and narrative directions, I stumbled across a compelling book titled In the Streets of Tehran. It dives into the extraordinary courage of Iranian women who are pushing, often at great personal risk, for a future beyond the constraints of a theocratic regime - one grounded instead in freedom, democracy, and genuine liberation.

Their bravery is nothing short of inspiring, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of hope watching this movement grow. It reminded me of an old Persian tale about a Sultan who asked a Sufi poet to craft an inscription for a ring - one that would remain true in both joy and hardship. The poet offered four simple words: “This too will pass.” For the women of Iran, striving for change in the face of immense pressure, we can only hope those words signal a transition toward something far better.

Yet, amid that hope, I found myself reflecting on a sobering passage from Andrew Marr’s excellent A History of the World, which offers an important reminder about the cycles of struggle and progress…

The world's seen many revolutions,

and they have often followed just the same pattern -

idealism, then extremism,

the revolution starts to eat its own children,

until finally, in exhaustion,

power lands in the hands of a military hardman.

And yet, despite that ghastly cycle, the revolutions keep coming,

often driven by just the same ideals as that first revolution.

Let’s hope for everyone in Iran that, that ‘ghastly cycle’ does not continue – I wouldn’t bet the house on it!