FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2002
Khatami's reform plans remain dead letter
AFP
TEHRAN: Mohammad Khatami's five years as president of Iran have seen the country shaken up, but have left the political and economic reforms he promised virtually a dead letter.
"Society has been shaken up and has opened up. Intellectuals and artists are happy with the progress. Civil society has woken up, and the situation of women has become a little better. But nearly everyone, especially the youth, are disappointed," sociology professor Shahrdad Rahmanifard told AFP.
"The disappointment is as big as the hopes that people had. They voted for Khatami twice, but are unhappy because of growing unemployment and a lack of prospects. We risk a grave crisis that could have huge political consequences", he added.
Political analyst Iraj Rashti said Khatami "presented himself as an open and democratic religious man. He won the hearts of Iranians. But he is standing alone, and the real power is still in the hands of the conservatives".
Khatami was first elected president on May 23, 1997 with a hefty 69 percent of the vote, a margin that rose to 77 percent when he was re-elected in June. The February 2000 legislative elections were also a victory for the mid-level cleric, when reformists swept into parliament winning a majority of the seats.
Despite the hopes that these victories raised, "unemployment and poverty are burdening society. The young people want to leave and have lost faith. And the few improvements and social liberties do not make up for it," Rashti said.
Speaking Thursday on the 19th anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr which Iraq occupied at the outbreak of a 1980-1988 war, Khatami said the 1979 revolution that overthrew the shah was not aimed at setting up an "Islamic dictatorship".
"This revolution represented our desire for an Islamic republic, not an Islamic dictatorship, and it wanted all the components of the regime to be based on the vote of the people," he said.
In a veiled call to the conservatives, he added, "If we want to be respected ... the best way is to let the people govern themselves freely."
Iran's president is elected directly by the people, though his powers are limited in comparison to those of the supreme leader, the arch-conservative Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, itself composed of elected clerics.
The conservatives have blocked the way for increased press freedom and human rights. Notably, they control the judiciary, which in the past two years has imprisoned dozens of opposition figures and journalists, shut down 22 daily papers and reinstated public flagellations and executions.
The Guardians Council, which decides whether proposed laws conform with Islam, is also a conservative bastion, and a stumbling-block in the way of reformist-led legislation. There is growing recognition across the political spectrum that something needs to be done to prevent a social upheaval.
The reformist Iran News said in an editorial Thursday that "if the government is unable or unwilling to respond to the calls of the third generation for change such as social, political, and economic reform, there may be cataclysmic consequences for the country," referring to the generation born after the revolution.
And Rahmanifard pointed out: "It is very new, but the supreme leader recently held meetings to discuss economic problems, unemployment and corruption. He is now playing a role in the executive."
Around two-thirds of Iran's population are under the age of 30, and Khatami is aware that they are frustrated with the current situation.
Khatami's own frustration at the actions taken against the country's reformist forces was clearly expressed on May 5 when he threatened to resign.
"I will not stay in office as a president even a moment if the government deviates a bit from the path of the revolution's goals and nation's reform movement," he told a meeting of teachers.
Last week he and other government officials said poverty and dependence were a grim reality in Iran, pointing out the large number of educated people who are unemployed and who are seeking work abroad, principally in the West.
Government plans to create jobs and overcome poverty, which is burdening one-third of the population, are either blocked or delayed. The same goes for plans to diversify the economy, which is almost wholly dependent on oil.
Khatami's misgivings are not a new phenomenon.
He left the country waiting and wondering right up to the deadline last June as to whether he would even run for re-election. At the time he spoke poignantly of the sacrifices he had made and of the hard road that lay ahead.
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