Posted on 01/14/2006 9:25:42 PM PST by Khashayar
Iran's hardline Interior Ministry has decided to control and crackdown the NGOs by preparing a list of groups that it claims are planning to overthrow the Islamic regime. Conservative Qods daily has exposed a plan by the ministry to deal with Iranian NGOs. Based on Qod’s report, the Interior Ministry has accused some NGOs of misusing money, supporting members of the former government of Khatami and secretly communicating with foreign agents.
During the last days of President Mohammad Khatami's reform government, Ashraf Boroujerdi, social affairs deputy at the Interior Ministry had stressed the existence of plans to fight NGOs and their so-called activities against Iran's national security.
It seems that through the news regarding the interior ministry's list of NGOs, the fundamentalist and hardline government of Ahmadinejad is exposing its strategies aimed at slaughtering the NGOs.
With 20 million votes, Khatami became the first president after the revolution who regularly and systematically emphasized on the establishment of a civil society in Iran. Eight years ago the media and political analysts took note of the call for the establishment and institutionalization of a civil society in Iran. In order to institutionalize the reform movement in Iran, Khatami's aides advised him to pay more attention to non-political and civil institutions and paved the way for the formation of NGOs that blossomed in Iran's short-live reform period. A Ministry of Interior official asserts that more than 10,000 active NGOs were established during Khatami's eight-year presidential term. During the last months of Khatami's government, the interference of semi-military and security shadow groups, prevented the activities of many NGOs while also intimidating activists through interrogations and even arrests.
But things have come a long way and have changed drastically since the victory of the current hardline administration. Instead of strengthening the status of the NGO, some government officials today call for strengthening the religious and Islamic organizations. In the same light, the new government has shown a familiar intolerance towards the media and non-government political and student organizations, threatening them with closures and suspension of activity.
A number of media editors too have expressed their concerns over the crackdown of NGOs and have called the pressures a plot to limit the free flow of information between Iranian institutions that operate in the global intellectual arena.
This confrontational attitude and policies have raised the concerns of social activists as well. They believe these intuitions will form the foundations for social and civil justice, and eventually pave the way for people's participation to protect their rights and interests.
Ahmadinejad's hard-line government does not believe in NGOs and prefers to provide the masses with ideology and rather than with modern organized organizations. The plot to crackdown such activities revealed itself when the government announced its plan to formally review the legal files of the NGOs.
ping
Well from articles like this, if mullahs start making nukes, their first target may not be Israel and the U.S. but the Iranian citizens themselves.
Cowardice wins in international politics.
from your lips to God's ear
That is what I have always said to every one
The nukes in the hands of the Mullahs are threatening the ordinary Iranians, then Israelis and Americans.
Mullahs want the nukes as a sword over our heads in case of an uprising or revolt or in case of a foreign assistance to help overthrow the clerical regime
Not good. Have these NGOs been helping the poor Iranians? What functions do they perform? What I'm trying to figure out is how the Iranian people will react to this crackdown.
These NGOs are full of anti-regime young girls and boys trying to do every possible thing to stay informed.
They do lots of things from helping the poor to provide meetings on women's rights and legal issues.
Their main task is to keep the society informed and empowered and embattle the repression
Thank you Khashayar, but how will the people react to them being treated roughly by the regime?
Darn shame that these groups were not more secretive about themselves. You all will have to work in the shadows to succeed. Our prayers starting today go with you as we both believe in the same GOD, just use different titles to address him.
People wouldnt risk their lives over this but there will be some protests for sure!
What is an NGO? Generally they seem to be fringe lobbyists or agitators, mostly a hodge-podge of womens rights, environment and the like. Help me out here.
Non-Governmental Organizations
Non Governmental Organization
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.