Iranian Alert -- February 15, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

Iranian Women to Shun Parliamentary Election

February 15, 2004
Agence France-Presse
Rita Daou

Iranian women appear determined to stay away from the country's parliamentary elections this Friday, amid frustration with the failure of the reform movement they played a key role in launching.

Many Iranian woman interviewed here feel helpless to reverse what they consider a disastrous social and economic situation in the Islamic republic, and fret that things can only get worse.

Others say that conditions may have to deteriorate until there is an explosive backlash before progress can be made in the country.

One 22-year-old student, who refused to be named, said she would not vote in the February 20 legislative polls because the reformists were not adequately represented after the massive blacklisting of their candidates by conservatives.

"Although the reformists did not change anything during their time in the government and parliament, it was because they couldn't do anything," she said.

The young woman, who spoke in front of Tehran University, was sporting a red coat and white headscarf, colors forbidden to women before the reformists took over the government.

Although considering herself apolitical, she still reserved the right to express herself. "I hope that things will get worse and worse until they explode."

Olduz, a 25-year-old student, was also downbeat. "I prefer not to think about the future of my country," she said. "I have no hope."

A conservative rout of the reformists in Friday's vote could only worsen the current situation, said the budding artist, made up and wearing a long blouse and tight-fitting pink jacket.

Asked if a boycott of the vote was the solution, Olduz said, "Maybe not. But the (conservative) officials will know that the young are not with them."

She said she had once gone to the ballot box to vote for reformist President Muhammad Khatami but he ended up disappointing her. "There is no real hero around," she shrugged.

Most young Iranians think of only one thing, getting out and finding decent jobs abroad, she said.

Women represent slightly more than half of Iran's 66 million people and turned out massively in the past to support reformist candidates since Khatami's first election in 1997.

The president, a mild mannered and good looking cleric, drew women's attention with his love of culture and promise of "Islamic democracy." He even appointed Islamic Iran's first female vice president.

But the outlook for women has become progressively bleaker.

An 18-year-old psychology student, who wore the classic chador black robe and spoke on condition of anonymity, also said she does not plan to vote Friday.

"The situation is not going to change in Iran whether it is the conservatives or reformists who win," she said.

She put little stock in the fact that the conservatives were also fielding women candidates in the election.

"Sixty to 70 percent of the members of parliament were reformists and they could not do anything. Each time they got to the point of changing something, the Guardians Council imposed a veto," she said, referring to the hardline political watchdog also behind the mass barring of candidates.

"So what can one or two candidates do, whether they be men or women?"

Several older women refused to speak about the political situation. But Roya, 46, a retired schoolteacher, also planned to sit out the vote.

"I am not satisfied either with the candidates, nor the current members of parliament nor the government nor the regime," she said.

The main problems facing the country were economic, social and administrative, she said, adding that she was eligible for her pension but was told that the administration had no money left for it.

"Things can't be worse," Roya said.

One wife was making a statement not only for herself, but for her husband, the 30-year-man said. She has no plans to vote Friday and has hidden his voting card so he can't turn out either.

http://www.afp.com/english/home/

•In a statement issued in Tehran, the pro-reform society of the Islamic university professors denounced the February 20 elections as “unlawful,” because, it said, by eliminating competitions, a majority of the contests have already been decided. Ignoring the people's demands in the past few years has brought the democratic aspect of the Islamic regime under question, Georgetown University sociology professor and political activist Mehrdad Mashayekhi tells Radio Farda. Today, he adds, one faction says it would be happy if only less that 15 percent of voters turn out to vote. The regime, following what it considers the Chinese pattern, has moved to purge itself from any dissent, hoping to prop itself through better relations with the west. However, the positions of the US and EU on dialogue with Iran have been getting closer in the past two years; and the EU has announced that improvement in human rights is a condition of improving economic ties with Iran, he says. (Shireen Famili)

•One cannot be too proud of the elections in which the people's trust in the government has been destroyed, reformist daily Aftab-e Yazd writes. Though the conservatives believe that they will win in the elections, but not a single reformist believes there is any benefit to behind-the-scenes negotiations between the two factions, reformist daily Yaas-e Now writes. President Khatami is being hammered by radical reformists, because he did not go along with their demands, conservative daily Resalat writes. The upcoming Majles will be neither reformist nor conservative. It will be dominated by independent MPs, conservative Mashhad daily Qods writes. (Amir Armin)

•Thirty candidates started campaigning for Kerman's three Majles seats, editor of banned local daily Hadith Mohammad-Sadeq Taheri tells Radio Farda. Twenty-six of the candidates have declared themselves independent, while two are from the reformist faction and two from the conservative faction, he adds. The presence of reformists in the mix has created an atmosphere of real competition, he says, adding that no elections will be held in the earthquake-stricken Bam, according to the provincial governor. (Masoud Malek)

•With the reinstatement of reformist candidate Dr. Mohammad Farokhi, competition between the two factions has heated up in the central town of Jiroft, local journalist Shahram Parsa-Motlaq tells Radio Farda. However, political alliances in this town are influenced by ethnic and tribal links, he adds. (Farin Asemi)

•In the absence of major political figures, who have been banned from running in the elections by the Guardians Council, in Shiraz there is hardly any interest in the elections, local journalist Farid Yasamin tells Radio Farda. The candidates' slogans do not go beyond such clichés as bread, justice and housing, which do not reflect the real demands of the voters, he adds. (Jamshid Zand)

•The reformist candidates who have been approved by the Guardians Council to run in the elections, such as moderate reformist MPs Elias Hazrati, Jamileh Kadivar and Majid Ansari, say that by dropping out of the elections the reformists should not leave the Majles to the conservatives. Their position reveals a growing rift in the ranks of reformists, as MPs Ali-Akbar Mohtashami, Fatemeh Rakei and Shams Vahabi, along with hundreds of reformist and independent candidates who pulled out of the competition, no longer see any benefit in political participation. Reformist MP Fatemeh Rakei, who has been banned from reelection by the Guardians Council, and is among the 120 MPs who resigned, said the MPs plan to prevent the Majles from reaching a quorum in its final months. (Siavash Ardalan)

•There is no mention of the banned MPs and disqualified candidates in the Tehran press. The conservative newspapers played up the Supreme Leader's speech in their headlines, in which the voters were urged to turnout for the elections, but reformist daily Yaas-e Now's headline says the Participation Front has no candidate in these elections. (Arash Qavidel, Tehran)

•Of 290 Majles seats, at least 190 will go to the conservatives, who are running unchallenged, Berlin daily die tageszeitung writes. The real power in Iran resides not with the Supreme Leader, but with the conservative clerics who, in addition to receiving all kinds of government subsidies and tax exemptions, control major economic levers, including widespread smuggling of goods and drugs, it writes. (Parviz Farhang, Cologne)

http://www.radiofarda.com/transcripts/topstory/2004/02/20040214_1430_0131_0403_EN.asp

Very interesting...

Conservatives Switch Positions on US Relations, Press Law, Women's Dress

•Campaigning to increase voter turnout in the February 20 elections, members of the leading right wing coalition Abadgaran retracted former hard-line positions on Islamic dress code for women, relations with the US, ban on satellite TV viewing and the press law. We shall reform the press law, if necessary, and rules on women's dress code, viewing foreign satellite TV broadcasts and relations with the US are all subject to change, due to the conditions of the time, Tehran conservative MP Gholamali Haddad-Adel, a relative of the Supreme Leader and head of the Majles conservative block, said today in a campaign speech. The sources of investments are not important for us, since any investment can be in the national interest, conservative politician Ahmad Tavakoli, former labor minister and a former presidential candidate, who is a major figure in the newly formed right-wing coalition Abadgaran, said, reversing the Guardians Council's position on foreign investment as a tool of foreign domination. (Amir Armin)

http://www.radiofarda.com/transcripts/topstory/2004/02/20040214_1430_0131_0403_EN.asp

Iranian Lovers Sidestep Valentine's Crackdowns

February 14, 2004
Reuters
MSNBC News

TEHRAN - The word “Valentine” may be banned in Iran, but florists and chocolate shops are packed with romantic gifts and young Iranians have found ways to sidestep police crackdowns on the Western lovers’ day.

A quarter-century after the Islamic revolution, gift shops were brimming over on Saturday with candles, heart-shaped cards and cushions with “Love” written on them.

But writing “Valentine” on anything remains taboo.

“I want to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day. I do not care if it is a banned Western cultural habit. I want to show my affection for my boyfriend,” said Elmira, 23, carrying a teddy bear with a red heart stitched on it.

The Islamic Republic prohibits public displays of affection but has relaxed a touch since reformist President Mohammad Khatami won a landslide election victory in 1997. Some couples in Tehran now furtively hold hands and embrace in parks.

Moral police fail to deter shopkeepers

Even so, moral police cracked down on Valentine’s Day presents last year, closing or fining some gift shops and confiscating their decadent Western merchandise.

Shopkeepers are undeterred. “We have been ordered by police not to display any gift with the word 'Valentine’ on it, but heart-shaped ornaments are not problematic,” said one shopkeeper, wrapping amorous gifts in shiny paper.

Some reformist newspapers published pictures on Saturday of swans kissing and ran features on the significance of Valentine’s Day around the world.'We have been ordered by police not to display any gift with the word ’Valentine’ on it, but heart-shaped ornaments are not problematic.'

Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, in an article called “A bouquet of flowers for intimacy,” praised the notion of a day dedicated to friendship and love.

“Our Islam is a pioneer among other religions in encouraging people to express their love and affection,” Abtahi wrote on his Web site (www.webnevesht.com).

Restaurant owners say they are fully booked for candlelit dinners and flower shops are packed with young people buying red roses — 70 percent of Iran’s 66 million people are under 30.

But Amir, in his late 20s, went against the trend, saying he refused to surrender to what he called glitzy, tawdry U.S.-style profiteering. “Why should I commercialize my love?” he asked.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4269105/

Iran flags next step: trade in nuke fuel

February 16, 2004
The Australian

IRAN signalled yesterday that it might resume its controversial effort to produce nuclear fuel.

"As a country that is capable of producing nuclear fuel, Iran is ready to sell it on the international market," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

"The Iranian people are not ready to compromise on their national interests. No government can relinquish an issue that has gained it national pride, but we are ready to co-operate internationally."

Iran, which denies US allegations that it is using an atomic energy program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons, pledged last year to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would temporarily cease enriching uranium.

That promise, which officials in Tehran have warned could expire at a moment of their own choosing, was part of a confidence-building package negotiated with Britain, France and Germany.

Iran also agreed to allow IAEA inspectors to conduct tougher investigations of its nuclear program after admitting to a string of violations of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Although the treaty permits the enriching of uranium for peaceful purposes, Iran has been under pressure to halt its work on such technology, given concerns expressed by the US and others over its ambitions.

They see a longer-term risk that, once having mastered the full fuel cycle, Iran could be just months away from producing weapons-grade material.

However, the state of Iran's effort to produce its own nuclear fuel, let alone export it, had been considered limited, given the country's effort to acquire such fuel from Russia. Iran announced only early last year that it was beginning to mine uranium.

Mr Kharazi's comments, which also included a new denial that Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons, come amid a fresh storm surrounding his country's nuclear program.

Diplomats at the Vienna-based IAEA said last week that nuclear weapons inspectors in Iran had found blueprints for an advanced centrifuge - used to enrich uranium both for nuclear reactors and for atomic bombs - that Tehran had failed to declare.

In Berlin on Thursday, US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said: "The response is clear. There's no doubt that Iran continues a nuclear program."

But the diplomats in Vienna said the discovery was not a "smoking gun" that the UN watchdog could use to take Iran before the Security Council, where it could face sanctions.

Mr Kharazi's assertions also come at a time when Iran is having problems acquiring nuclear fuel from Russia, which is withholding supplies for a nuclear plant it is helping build in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr.

The IAEA's board of governors is to meet on March 8 to review the situation in Iran.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8693231%255E2703,00.html

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