Middle East: how 1979 changed the world

Hope you all had a happy Christmas, time to learn politics.
​Nineteen Seventy Nine was the year that changed the world. I am going to be focusing on 3 main events which help to change the middle east and as a result, the wests response to it. It will not be in any particular order.Nineteen Seventy Nine was the year that changed the world. I am going to be focusing on 3 main events which help to change the middle east and as a result, the wests response to it. It will not be in any particular order.

From Afghanistan with Love

​The first event I am going to talk about is the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. This invasion is obviously extremely important for two reasons. One the radicalisation and growth of a Jihadist movement in its early infantile. Second the bankrupting of the Soviet Union due to a decade at war. I will be focusing on the first reason as I am not well versed in Soviet history.
To understand how the invasion radicalised a terrorist movement, it’s a good idea to have a brief understand of the movement beforehand. Prior to the invasion, the ideology of Jihadism was mostly theoretical. It was an ideology which was founded and only lived in the pages and works of Abdullah Azzam, Qubt and Ibn Taymiyyah. It was an Ideology which flourished in prisons of dictators like Nasser and the Saudi Monarchy, but it did not have a galvanising moment. That was until the Soviets invasion of Afghanistan. This invasion provided the ultimate backdrop for extremists to test drive their ideology which so far had been confined to the pages of a book. It was in Afghanistan in which extremists were able to harden their fighting skills, radicalisation and perhaps most importantly their propaganda. Throughout the war, figureheads of the extremist movements such as Abdullah Azzam and Ayman al-Zawahiri sharpened their propaganda and urged Muslims across the Arab world to travel to Afghanistan to wage Jihad against foreign invaders. Once there, recruits would be further radicalised by incumbent extremists and harsh fighting conditions. In addition to this, Arab countries were more than happy to allow their extremists to leave the nest and travel to Afghanistan and die fighting for some archaic millenarianist ideology. However, they didn’t bank on the Soviets losing. This outcome has essentially led to the propagation of extremism. Never before had so many extremists been able to come together, converse and create a dialogue to push forward their ideology to its next iteration. It was the war in Afghanistan which galvanised the movement and matured it. It provided a new form of language which was lacking before the war. Throughout it, figureheads of the movement would state how “lone Jihadists would defeat battalions of Soviet soldiers” or “Angels were witnessed riding into battle on horseback” and “falling bombs were intercepted by birds”. This sort of language and imagery was not possible before the Soviet invasion. Of course there have been wars in the Islamic world but not one which was purely fought via Jihadism and took place in recent history. Thanks to the Soviets, this almost biblical language of a bygone age had been revived and brought into modernity. Keeping in mind that Jihadism and by extension Islamism is of authoritarian predisposition, authoritarian regimes will often use biblical and palingenetic language/imagery to follow and reinforce their narrative. This in turn creates nostalgia and a sense of belonging which relays a cathartic response from the recipient. In this, a sense of loyalty and devotion is produced from the recipient to the regime.  Other authoritarian regimes did something similar. The Nazis imagery/language referred back to the idea of an Aryan master race with blonde hair and blue eyes. The communists were spurred on by imagery of the Soviet worker. Jihadists relied on the religiosity of their actions against the Soviets in Afghanistan to radicalise their adherents. From this, the next iteration of Jihadism came in the form of a particularly notorious organisation by the name of Al-Qaida. Its leaders pushed for its fighters to return home after the war and continue the fight not worrying about spreading its fighters far and wide as it had established a common language. Meanwhile the core group re-focused on a new enemy, the United States. The rest the say, is history. 
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The Revolution will be Televised

​ The second event which also occurred in 1979 was the Iranian revolution. I don’t think I need to spend too long on this point as its importance is self-evident. Prior to the revolution, Iran was ruled by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (Shah) but was overthrown and replaced with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The state of Iran changed from authoritarian dictatorship to Islamic theocracy called the Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist). The implications were massive. From a political theory point of view, the revolution presented Islamism as an alternative to Capitalism and Communism. The Middle East in the 20th century was a landscape in which capitalistic Arab nationalism was the ideology meant to modernise the  Arab world, but from the depths of the antiquity a new system of governance arose to compete against existing systems. Neighbouring countries were extremely alarmed that nationalism had been so easily pushed aside in favour of a more theocratic ideology. Nations across the Arab world were concerned if Iran would export their revolution. Leaders such as Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad  and the Saudi monarchy were especially concerned due to their Shia populations. Unrest is always bad for business.
It was for this reasoning that Iraq invaded Iran in 1980. Aiming to take advantage of Iran’s internal instability, Saddams Iraq launched a gruelling war which lasted 8 years. Despite having the backing of most western powers and financial help from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Iraq was pushed back. The Iranians hold this deep In their mindset when talking about distrust of the outside world and is common rhetoric for politicians. From the purely religious perspective, it challenged Saudi Arabia on its position as leader of the Muslim world and has tried to position itself as an alternative, a decision which has wreaked havoc on the middle east.
Since then, Iran has become something of a pariah state, sanctioned from the rest of the world, the regime has become infamous for its support for Hezbollah, hate for Israel, and nuclear program. Its fair to say the revolution is without doubt one of the most defining moments of 1979 and even the century.

​Mecca Syndrome

​The third event to occur in 1979 lasted only 2 weeks, buts its effect on the world has reverberated to present day. Often called the Grand Mosque seizure, its name is fitting. Before we get into the implications, its best to have a brief understanding of the situation. Armed insurgents numbering in hundreds took barricaded themselves in the Grand mosque in Mecca and took hostages. They believed their leader was the Mahdi (islamic prophet) and aimed to overthrow the Saudi Monarchy. They were eventually defeated after 2 weeks of fighting. The implication of this siege was huge. While the insurgents were essentially proclaiming that judgement day was close and the apocalypse was near, there was one grievance which resonated throughout Saudi society. The grievance was that Saudi Arabia was becoming too western. The monarchy had pursed a policy of liberal westernisation to modernise themselves. This however is at odds with extremist ideas as anything non-Islamic is a sin. The Saudi Monarchy was terrified that a revolution was on the way if they did not improve their adherence to Islam quickly. King Khaled responded to the hostage crisis by giving more power to religious conservatives (Ulama). This has led to the spreading of Wahhabism across the Muslim world which has arguably led to the rise of extremism globally.

Conclusion

​So there it is, 3 reasons why 1979 is extremely important year for the middle east. It played host to an invasion, a revolution and a hostage crisis. These three events were so strong we are still seeing the effects of them today. Thanks for reading.