Officials Enrage Young Iranians By 'Marginalizing, Humiliating' Them
Iranian academic Hadi Khaniki says the current wave of protests in Iran may have originated from the younger generation's feeling of being marginalized.
Iranian academic Hadi Khaniki says the current wave of protests in Iran may have originated from the younger generation's feeling of being marginalized.
What the academic is referring to is the dual lack of social freedoms and economic opportunity in a country rich with natural resources but hampered by religious ideology and an inefficient, centralized economy.
Khaniki told Etemad Online in Tehran that he still does not know any way out of the crisis other than holding dialogues. His statement is obviously mindless of the fact that it takes two to tango and that there will be no dialogue while the regime remains unaccountable and exhibits signs of arrogance.
Khaniki said that during recent years the Iranian society has become more pluralistic, but the government continues to believe in controlling and restricting the society's lifestyle and political choices.
He said Iran's new generation is fighting the government to put an end to discriminations against young Iranians. Although networking and voicing demands through social networks exist in all societies, the Iranian government behaves badly by ignoring the young generation’s demands, in an environment where most social, economic and political activities is controlled by the state.
Meanwhile, Khaniki pointed out that the continuation of the discriminatory distribution of privileges in the interest of the older generation has escalated the protests in Iran. He added that the Iranian government ignores the fact that responding to demands is part of its responsibilities.
As the protests in Iran entered its third month, another Iranian reformist commentator, Mohammad Reza Tajik suggested in a commentary published by Etemad newspaper that government officials should avoid making annoying comments that will further enrage young protesters.
Tajik characterized Iranian officials' rhetoric as outdated and rotten, and their tone as aggressive, violent and rude. "They say no to all the criticisms and demands for change. But this is a language that cannot go any further, hinders communication and remains futile," he said.
Such a rigid rhetoric, said Tajik, puts an end to human bonds and particularly alienates the younger generation. It bruises young Iranians' soul and comes across as bad lies and deceit.
He pointed out that "purifying the political language will purify political action. But this should take place constantly as political rhetoric needs to be consistent with the requirements of modern times. Iranians' political language should be rejuvenated in the same way that Romans did away with the roughness of Latin and turned to a rich language that was suitable for writing laws."
Tajik further opined that healthy politics can be preserved only when politicians do away with rude, vulgar, and violent language. He said politicians should not think that whatever they say is true and comes from God. Instead, they should put their ideas to the test of the people's vote.
He pointed out that under the current circumstances when society is agitated unfair comments will add to its anger and hatred. Thus, it is wise for the country's officials to at least remain silent not to enrage the people even more.
Tajik did not name anyone, but he was obviously talking about hardliner politicians and military commanders considered to enjoy the confidence of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
His representative to Khorasan Province Ahmad Alamolhoda and the editor of Khamenei's office's newspaper Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, on a daily basis pump waves of hate speak into society. Some Revolutionary Guard commanders keep humiliating Iranian protesters by calling them "flies" a species inferior even to "goats," a nickname Alamolhoda gave to Iranians who protested against a rigged election in 2009 and an unusual fuel price rise in 2019.
The first high-level western official to meet with an Iranian activist was US Vice President Kamala Harris who in her meeting with Iran-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi October 14 underscored that the Biden-Harris Administration would continue to stand with Iranian women and citizens.
Two weeks later, on October 29, Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau became the first world leader to join Iranians at a demonstration in Ottawa. Trudeau hinted at the possibility of regime change in Iran in his exchange of words with Iranian activists including Hamed Esmaeilion who initiated global rallies against the Islamic Republic soon after the protests began.
French President Emmanuel Macron also met Friday with a delegation of expat activists and rights advocates -- including Masih Alinejad, Shima Babaei, and Ladan Boroumand. Macron was the first western leader to refer to the Iranian protest movement as a “revolution”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said a video posted on Twitter Saturday that he favors a new round of European Union sanctions on Iran next week to step up the pressure on the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and the political leadership.
Majid Golpour, Paris-based international affairs expert, told Iran International TV Friday that the European Union will completely revise its general Iran policies “in form and content” within the next ten days and member states will release official statements outlining the new measures they will adopt vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic in the light of the developments in the past two months.
These measures, Golpour added, may include closure of EU embassies in Tehran and establishing secure channels for European parliamentarians’ contact with “Iranian civil society” and its activists while also no longer overlooking Iran's breaches of the 2015 nuclear agreement such as higher uranium enrichment and stockpiling to ensure the deal could be restored.
The four world powers have submitted a draft resolution to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which requires Iran to urgently explain uranium traces found at three undeclared sites, Reuters reported Friday. Iran has agreed to hold a meeting with IAEA officials in Tehran after next week's IAEA board meeting to resolve outstanding issues.
Deputy chief of the Iranian Judiciary Kazem Gharibabadi told reporters in New York Saturday that he planned to take part in meetings of the UN General Assembly Third Committee to hinder the “circulation of hostile and fake narratives by the West and the US on recent developments in Iran.”
Calling the recent protests “riots”, he claimed that the imprisonment of thousands of protesters, as rights groups have reported, is false and that foreign enemies were seeking to put pressure on Iran for their own political gain.
Germany and Iceland have called for an urgent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran.
UN experts, including Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Friday, urged Tehran to stop indicting people with charges that carry the death penalty for participation in peaceful protests.
“The experts also urged immediate release of all those arrested for peacefully protesting arbitrarily for ‘exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly and for their actions to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms through peaceful means.”
On November 6, 227 members of the Iranian Parliament called on the judiciary to act decisively against people arrested during the protests using even the death penalty.