Iranian of the Day

jailed for being Dissilusioned with reforming islamist system,

He did not merely pay lip service to reform movement, he actually is a true reformer, yetrealising no reforms are possible within the framework of the "islamist constitution", per this extract of his interview:

Iran is a wealthy country, ... [with] great oil resources, great human resources ... ancient culture. ... Why so many economic problems? Why such a high unemployment rate, high inflation?

The economy's problems do not stem from the wealthy people, [and] do not stem from the wealth of the country. It's because of social structure, because of the structure of power, in my opinion. The minority of people, they have resources in their hand, capital in their hand, and they do not release them to our production, to our employment, and the real economic development.

Now, the minority of people you talk about are largely people of God -- people whose lives are dedicated to their clergy?

Yes, the people that believe that they have a special relation with God and with religion. But remember that they come to power because of the people's revolution 24 years ago. ... The people have given religious power to them.

You were an active reformer under the shah. You were part of the revolution [in 1979]. How long before you became disappointed?

I'm not disappointed for real reformism and the changes in Iran. [I became] disappointed ... particularly during the last two years and particularly after [the] second election of Mr. Khatami, because he announced that he believes [in the] constitution. And in my opinion, this constitution cannot present real democracy in Iran. If you look to this constitution, you are inside a loop, a vicious circle. Democracy means that the power should come from people. ... But in this constitution, you are inside of a loop, and you can never give the real power to people. ... This was one reason.

And the second reason was that he's very conservative; he is not very happy of the real power of the people. ... He belongs to ... a particular kind of ideology, and somehow he's in favor of the status quo. ...

//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/interviews/raisdana.html

Fariborz Raisdana is so deserving of this title

Glad that Fariborz Raisdana is out of jail. He is a great choice for Iranian of the Day.