Iranian Election Fraud 2009 Who was the Real Target and Why? Note on the use of of the term "reformer" in Iranian politics. The reform movement in Iranian politics reached maturity in the1997 election. These two sections from the Wikipedia article on the reform movement give you a summary of the popular Iranian movement. IDEAS Iran's Reform Movement Many Iranian intellectuals were involved in establishing a foundation for the movement. Perhaps the most influential figure was Abdolkarim Soroush. For many years his was the only voice that publicly criticized the regime's policies. His regular lectures at Tehran University used to enjoy the attendance of many Iranian students who later generated the 2nd of Khordad movement. Many famous figures of the movement belong to the Soroush circle. However, at the rise of 2nd of Khordad movement, Saeed Hajjarian acted as the main theorist behind the movement and the main strategist in Khatami's camp. The movement has been described as changing the key terms in public discourse from emperialism, mostazafen, jehad, mojahed, shahed (martyrdom), khish (roots), enqelab (revolution) and Gharbzadegi (Western intoxication); to demokrasi, pluralism, moderniyat, azadi (liberty), barabari (equality), jam'eh-e madani (civil society), hoquq-e beshar (human rights), mosharekat-e siyasi (political participation), Shahrvandi (citizenship), etc.[6]
This represents a considerable departure from the radical Islamic faction of Iranian politics represented by the current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The "core" of the reform movement is said to be made up of Islamic leftists who were disqualified for running for office, purged and generally "disempowered" by Islamic conservatives following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.[7] Islamic leftists turned reformists include Abdolkarim Soroush, Saeed Hajjarian, Akbar Ganji, Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and the Anjoman-e-Eslami (Islamic Association) and Office for Strengthening Unity student groups. Khatami's support is said to have cut across regions and class lines with even some Revolutionary Guards, Qom seminarians[8] and Basij members voting for him.[9] The core of his electrol support, however, came from the modern middle class, college students, women, and urban workers.[10] For example, by 1995, about half of Iran's 60.5 million people were too young to be alive at the time of the Islamic Revolution.[11]
Some argue that there isn't much difference between the radical's and the reformers. The argument is suspect given information readily available on the movement and the considerable risk reformers take in taking on that political identification and advocacy. END |