DATE=11/10/98 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-41815 TITLE=IRAN / AN OVERVIEW CQ BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB DATELINE=TEHRAN CONTENT= VOICED AT: ///// ED'S: THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF BACKGROUND REPORTS ABOUT IRAN. ///// INTRO: WINDS OF CHANGE ARE BLOWING IN IRAN. RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO HAVE CONTROLLED POLITICAL LIFE SINCE THE REVOLUTION NEARLY 20-YEARS AGO HAVE BEGUN TO ALLOW A GREATER DEGREE OF OPENNESS IN POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LIFE. BUT THERE IS CONSIDERABLE RESISTANCE FROM CONSERVATIVE CLERGYMEN, WHO STILL WIELD A GREAT DEAL OF POWER. CORRESPONDENT SCOTT BOBB VISITED IRAN RECENTLY AND FILED THIS REPORT. TEXT: IRAN IS CHANGING, MOST PEOPLE AGREE. BUT SOME IRANIANS CALL THIS CHANGE ONE STEP FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK, BECAUSE OF ITS HALTING NATURE. OPINIONS VARY CONSIDERABLY ON WHETHER THE CHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE. THE RECENT ELECTIONS FOR THE COUNCIL OF EXPERTS THAT CHOOSES IRAN'S SUPREME RELIGIOUS LEADER IS AN EXAMPLE. THE VOTING ITSELF WAS VIEWED AS DEMOCRATIC, BUT MOST OF THE REFORMIST CANDIDATES, INCLUDING ALL THE FEMALE CANDIDATES, HAD BEEN STRICKEN FROM THE LISTS BY A COUNCIL OF CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS LEADERS THAT REVIEWS THE RELIGIOUS QUALIFICATIONS OF ALL CANDIDATES. AS A RESULT, IT WAS NOT MUCH OF A CONTEST. MANY CANDIDATES RAN UNOPPOSED. MORE THAN ONE-HALF THE ELIGIBLE VOTERS DID NOT BOTHER TO VOTE, INCLUDING THIS COUPLE INTERVIEWED IN A PARK IN TEHRAN. /// ACT - WOMAN AND MAN - IN FARSI / WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION /// WOMAN: I DID NOT PARTICIPATE, AND THE ONES THAT I WANTED WERE NOT CANDIDATES. REPORTER: AND YOU, SIR? MAN: I DID NOT PARTICIPATE. /// END ACT /// IRAN'S REFORM-MINDED PRESIDENT MOHAMED KHATAMI, URGED IRANIANS TO VOTE, EVEN THOUGH HE SAID MANY GOOD CANDIDATES WERE UNFAIRLY DISQUALIFIED. HE SAID IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR REFORMISTS TO HAVE SOME REPRESENTATION ON THE COUNCIL. THEY WON ABOUT ONE-SIXTH OF THE SEATS. MANY POLITICAL GROUPS BOYCOTTED THE VOTE. /// OPT /// THE LEADER OF A MAJOR STUDENTS ASSOCIATION, TABORZADI, IS AMONG THOSE WHO BOYCOTTED. HE SAYS THIS WAS NOT AN ELECTION, BUT RATHER A REFERENDUM ON THE DEGREE OF SUPPORT FOR THE CONSERVATIVES. HE SAYS THE FACT THAT MOST VOTERS DID NOT PARTICIPATE, SHOWS THAT IRANIANS WANT CHANGE. /// OPT // TABORZADI ACT - IN FARSI / WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION /// THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION WAS A VERY IMPORTANT EVENT FOR US. BUT UNFORTUNATELY IN RECENT YEARS, THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION HAS NOT BEEN GOING THE ROUTE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. AND THIS IS BECAUSE RECENTLY THE REPUBLIC HAS A DISCREPANCY (PROBLEM) WITH A REGIME OF ONE PERSON. /// END ACT /// MR. TABORZADI SAYS HIS GROUP DOES NOT OBJECT TO A RELIGIOUS FIGURE AT THE HELM OF THE COUNTRY, BUT HE SAYS IT WANTS IRAN'S TOP LEADER TO BE CHOSEN BY A DIRECT VOTE OF THE PEOPLE. /// END OPT /// SHORTLY AFTER THE ELECTIONS, THE KHATAMI GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD IN IRAN FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE REVOLUTION. THESE ELECTIONS, IN WHICH ONE-MILLION CANDIDATES ARE EXPECTED TO VIE FOR 200-THOUSAND SEATS ON MUNICIPAL COUNCILS, WAS ONE OF MR. KAHATAMI'S CAMPAIGN PROMISES. SOME IRANIANS SEE THIS AS A MAJOR STEP FORWARD. A LEADING LAWYER AND ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN IRAN, MEHRANGUIZ KAR, SAYS THE LOCAL ELECTIONS WILL PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN AND NON-RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO OBTAIN A VOICE IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM. /// KAR ACT /// THIS ELECTION IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR PARTICIPATION AND FOR GETTING DEMOCRACY IN IRAN, BECAUSE THERE IS NO OBSTACLE FOR BEING A MEMBER OF THESE LOCAL COUNCILS. AND MEN AND WOMEN AND EVEN MINORITY PEOPLE CAN BE ACTIVE IN THIS ELECTION. /// END ACT /// OTHER IRANIANS ARE MORE CYNICAL. THEY SAY THE USUAL VESTED INTERESTS, FEARFUL OF LOSING POWER, WILL SEEK TO CONTROL THE PROCESS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. /// OPT /// THE STRUGGLE IS ALSO ENJOINED AT THE CULTURAL LEVEL, WHICH IN IRAN IS AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT AS POLITICS. IRAN'S VIBRANT FILM INDUSTRY, WHICH SINCE THE REVOLUTION HAS BEEN STRICTLY CENSORED FOR SEX, VIOLENCE, AND PERCEIVED STATEMENTS AGAINST ISLAM AND THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT, HAS BEGUN TO DEAL WITH TOPICS THAT PREVIOUSLY WERE TABOO. ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR FILMS IN RECENT MONTHS ("GLASS AGENCY"), DEALS WITH THE DESPAIR OF A VETERAN OF IRAN'S COSTLY WAR WITH IRAQ. FOR THE FIRST TIME IT SHOWS SOME OF THE NEGATIVE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE WAR. BUT A LEADING IRANIAN FILMMAKER, DARIUSH MERJUI, WHOSE LATEST FILM APPEARED ONLY RECENTLY AFTER BEING BANNED FOR SEVEN-YEARS, SAYS THE OUTCOME IS STILL IN DOUBT BECAUSE THE FILMS APPROVED UNDER THE KHATAMI GOVERNMENT HAVE YET TO APPEAR. /// OPT // MERJUI ACT /// IT HAS NOT CHANGED THAT MUCH AND ACTUALLY IT HAS NOT SHOWN ITSELF YET IN REGARD TO THE FILMS BECAUSE ALL THESE FILMS THAT WE SEE THIS YEAR, THEY WERE MADE LAST YEAR, OR TWO-YEARS AGO. MAYBE IN TWO-YEARS, WE WILL SEE THE ACTUAL REFLECTION OF THIS CHANGE. BUT SO FAR, ONLY IN THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE YOU SEE THAT CERTAIN THINGS ARE HAPPENING. /// END ACT // END OPT /// ONE AREA WHERE VIRTUALLY EVERYONE NOTES CHANGE IN IRAN IS IN THE NEWS MEDIA, WHERE A WIDE-RANGING DEBATE HAS BEEN LAUNCHED ON POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE. DURING THE RECENT ELECTION CAMPAIGN, SEVERAL NEWSPAPERS QUESTIONED THE MANNER IN WHICH THE SUPREME LEADER IS CHOSEN. THEY ALSO QUESTIONED WHETHER HE SHOULD BE ALL-POWERFUL. FOR THIS AND OTHER POSITIONS, A NUMBER OF THE NEWSPAPERS WERE CLOSED AND SEVERAL OF THEIR EDITORS WERE DETAINED FOR WEEKS. FINALLY, THE DUALITY IS REFLECTED IN STATEMENTS ABOUT RELATIONS WITH THE U-S GOVERNMENT, WHICH THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS -- THE GREAT SATAN. ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE TAKING OF THE U-S EMBASSY IN TEHRAN 19-YEARS AGO, PRESIDENT KHATAMI DELIVERED A SPEECH CALLING FOR RECONCILIATION WITH THE U-S GOVERNMENT AND URGING IT TO MAKE GREATER EFFORTS TO REBUILD TIES. THE DAY BEFORE, IN A SPEECH MARKING THE SAME OCCASION, SUPREME RELIGIOUS LEADER ALI KHOMENEI DELIVERED A DIFFERENT MESSAGE. HE SAID NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH THE U-S GOVERNMENT WAS NOT A TOP PRIORITY AND THE LACK OF TIES ACTUALLY BENEFITS THE IRANIAN PEOPLE 100-PERCENT. THESE CONFLICTING MESSAGES MEAN CHANGE WILL COME SLOWLY TO IRAN AND WILL BE STRONGLY MARKED BY THE COUNTRY'S DEEP NATIONALISM. (SIGNED) NEB/SB/DW/RAE 10-Nov-98 9:47 AM EST (1447 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
NEWSLETTER
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |