Yearender: Fierce Battle Going on for Reforms in Iran

Contrary to the expectations of many, Iranian reformists have done little remarkable almost one year after they swept the board in the parliament elections. The political camp led by President Mohammad Khatami has been successfully contained by the conservatives in fulfilling their promises on reforms.

More and more voters are getting impatient and even frustrated - - all the reform programs, if not stillborn, have not been delivered because of conservatives blockade, and those reformists are actually in a tougher situation as a result of frequent warnings and crackdowns.

It is true that the reformists now control the administrative and legislative branches, but they have been virtually rendered powerless by the conservative establishment, which still dominates the judiciary, the military and TV and radio broadcasting.

More importantly, the conservatives have the backing of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose power is almost unlimited according to the constitution.

Khatami and his allies have been advocating more public participation in politics. They tolerated and even encouraged political pluralism. As many as 95 new political parties and groups have mushroomed since Khatami took office in 1997, in addition to a total of only 35 before that year.

The emergence of a large number of political parties gave rise to a boom of newspapers, through which different factions voiced their opinions. People became politically active, which was regarded as an important step toward the "Islamic democracy" that Khatami has been pushing for.

The reformers also sought to relax restrictions on people's social and cultural life. For example, they called for the lifting of a ban on satellite dishes to enable people to watch a variety of TV programs, and they raised opposition to the Islamic dress code, which demands women wear scarves and head-to-toe black robes in all seasons.

On the economic front, the reformers called for reducing social welfare beneficiaries, attracting foreign investments and privatizing some key sectors, including the banking sector.

Regarding foreign relations, Khatami adopted a policy of " detente" and sought to improve relations with neighboring Arab countries and the European Union on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

Tentative efforts were also made to bring down the "wall of distrust" between Iran and the United States, the "Great Satan" as has been called by the conservatives, and to facilitate people-to- people exchanges, for the first time since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

While those reformist ideas appeal to the general populace, especially the younger generation, they are abominated by the conservatives, who fear their cherished principles and values of the 1979 Islamic revolution are being threatened by those "pro- Western reforms."

The conservatives and the reformers differ in their visions about this country two decades after the revolution. Since they lost the parliamentary election on February 18, the conservatives have stepped up suppression of the reformist movement.

Their measures included canceling election results in a number of constituencies, delaying the approval of voting results in Tehran, closing reformist publications, arresting pro-reform journalists and blocking the new parliament from amending, among others, the restrictive press law.

Alarmed by the popular support for reformists, the Guardians Council, an election watchdog and with veto power to the parliament bills, annulled polling results in several constituencies to deprive some 10 reformist candidates of their seats in the new legislative body.

The council, with 12 members, most of them conservatives, also ordered recounts of votes in the crucial Tehran constituency, which has a share of 30 seats in the 290-seat parliament. It was only after an unprecedented delay of three months, that the council finally approved the election results in Tehran, which remarkably moved up the rankings of two conservative candidates.

Starting from April, the conservative judiciary launched a relentless campaign to close down pro-reform newspapers and journals, the major reformist channels for promoting their ideas and rallying popular support.

More than two dozens pro-reform publications have been ordered shut down on charges of violating Islamic values and propagating " pro-American reforms." At the same time, a number of journalists were put into jail on similar charges.

In an effort to parry the conservative crackdown, reformist lawmakers in the new parliament attempted in August to rewrite some restrictive articles of the press law to prevent further closure of their newspapers.

Their hope was quickly dashed because the supreme leader, who came out to intervene in person, ordered the lawmakers to stop the debate on amendments. And so they did.

Their second try in late October was rejected by the Guardians Council. This case was then referred to the State Expediency Council empowered to settle disputes between the parliament and the Guardians Council. The State Expediency Council, however, has yet to give its ruling.

Moreover, Khamenei, the supreme leader, has once warned that the Islamic regime could use "legal violence" to defend its values and principles.

The elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), directly controlled by the leader, echoed Khamenei's warning by vowing to defend the Islamic system against any threats.

There have been recurring violence and riots in the country's major cities, as well as assassination attempts against leading reformist figures. Saeed Hajjarian, one of the architects of the reformist movements, was shot in March and now partially paralyzed.

In face of the difficult situation, the president and his allies seemed unable to do anything to ease the tension and make a change. Khatami, for his part, has been repeatedly calling for calmness, restraint and tolerance.

He has also complained twice in public that he lacks the necessary power to enforce the constitution and prevent its violations.

Khatami has indicated that he will seek a second term in the June 2001 presidential election and many people hope he could keep the post to ensure the continuation of his policy.

Yet he is blamed by many others for achieving little in reviving the country's economy and solving such problems as high inflation and unemployment rate during his first four-year term.

But even if Khatami and his reformist allies win another victory in the coming election, Iran's reform process will surely not go smoothly with regard to the formidable resistance of the conservative camp.






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/