This summer I travelled back to Iran after3 years. This was not the first time being away from home for such a long time,but it was first time seeing THIS MANY people unsatisfied and angry with the government to such an extent.
I had seen people voicing thief anger and dissatisfaction towards the government before, but this was by far the largest I’ve ever seen. Even though Iran is a dictatorship, and criticizing the government can get you in an enormous trouble, but people express their feelings towards the government and the officials in the supermarkets, bus stations and my favorite in the taxis. This shows the extent of disconnect with the people and the regime.
No matter where you catch a cab in Tehran and even in the other cities, the conversation immediately turns into politics. Suddenly you’ll be involved in a political discussion that doesn’t favor the top officials, and all of the failed policies of the last 30 years of Islamic republic autocracy will be the talking points.
From the initial promises of the revolution, such as free electricity, water & gas for all to the badly failed foreign policies.
It is no longer a secret for the people that where are the vast income from the oil revenue going. Everyone knows that the money is feeding terrorist organizations in Lebanon and Palestine. Over the past 30 years the Islamic republic regime in Iran has been trying hard to portray itself as the leader of the Islamic world, and they have tried everything to make the Arab world like them and to accept them in that role. But, since there is a great hatred towards Persians in the Arab community, they have failed in that sense, as well as protecting the Iranian National interest. However we cannot ignore that the Islamic government in Iran has been successful in increasing its influence around the Arab community.
What really bugs the Iranian people is the trillions of dollars that their government has given to the Palestinian and Lebanese groups, and not only the Iranian people and their culture is not respected by the Arabs but the loathing of Persians continue in the Arab community.
Every year the only issue that the Arab states agree upon is that the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf belong to United Arab Emirates! As if Arab world has no other problem left!!! Or when they rename the historic name of the Persian Gulf!!!
The Iran-Iraq war is deeply carved into the memory of every Iranian and they don’t forget that they were fighting the invading army of Iraq that included VOLUNTEERS from all over the Arab world.
These issues are RARELY addressed or even discussed by the Iranian government, because they want to convince the public in Iran that Arab world is our friend and ignore the fact that for the past 30 years they have been taking our money and disrespecting us in every possible way. But this has become such a huge issue in the Iranian Society that it was brought up by the new reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in his last statement, when he said, we shall solve our internal economical problems first and then worry about the situations in Lebanon and Palestine.
After the “election” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,a new chapter in Iranian politics was established. A new chapter for the government and a new chapter for people. When Ahmadinejad started his controversial and even racist comments against Israel, the Jewish community and the holocaust, Iran was isolated and alienated to a degree that it has never experienced before. The economic sanctions along with Ahmadinejad’s idiotic economic policies made the life for Iranians extremely difficult and the middle-class shrank dramatically. This economic down turn is the Achilles’ heel of his government and it is so big that people are asking new questions.
While I was in enjoying a ride in Tehran’s politically fueled cabs, the conversation turned to Ahmadinejad’s failed economic and political policies. The cabbie told me “why does this guy go around the world and make enemies for us? Why is he trying to annoy every country on earth? Doesn’t he know that his words are affecting the nation and the people?” and the most interesting part for me was when he said”why is he saying those things against Israel? What did Israel ever do to us?”
I heard this from three different cabbies on different occasions.
Over the past 30 years this regime has been saying nothing other than “down with America, down with Israel” and since these slogans haven’t produced anything for the nation, now they are facing a great challenge to explain to the people, why should we be in conflict with these countries?
Their nuclear program can bring them the perfect excuse. The Islamic republic government knows perfectly well that any attack on Iran for any reason, will unite the people behind them, which is the reason behind refusal of every package proposed to them. They know better than everyone else that if it wasn’t for the Iran-Iraq war they wouldn’t be in power this long. In the beginning of the revolution they were also facing criticism for their failed economic policies, but the war united the people behind the government and everyone’s priority became kicking out the aggressor. Moreover,during that time anyone who criticized the government was labeled as a spy and he/she was prosecuted, jailed or even executed!
Now the Iranian government wants to extend its life by provoking the west to a degree that they’ll attack Iran. If any country attacks Iran, they will give the autocratic Islamic government the best gift with a big red bow on top.
The elections are near in Iran and even though Ahmadinejad is highly unpopular among many Iranians but it will not be a surprise if he wins the “election”. He has been endorsed by the supreme leader on many occasions and the extreme right will not allow his defeat, because he will be the first president in the history of the Islamic republic to lose a re-election.
The future is certain and this government will fall just like any other autocratic government but no one knows when. At this moment we should separate the Iranian people with the government and try NOT to play in the hands of the mullahs.
Iran’s mentality is very different from the other countries in the region. Iran is the only Muslim country in the middle-east with an extreme right wing government, but liberal and open-minded people who aren’t in favor of the ruling government and its policies, but any attack on Iran will surely change that and it will play into the hands of the regime.
