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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iranian Youth Not buying the Reformist Song & Dance |
| 2004-02-09 |
| EFL They slice through traffic on their motorbikes, racing each other at breakneck speed while holding their mobile phones. They listen to heavy metal, read GÃŒnter Grass and admire Tom Cruise. They don’t go to the mosque the way their parents did, and they have given up on politics... Now Sohrab and his friends blame the clergy for Iran’s troubles. "You cannot accuse anyone else. The revolution was in their hands, they made it happen. They were responsible. They started with a slogan of Islam, but they betrayed Islam. It was a futile revolution," says Sohrab, who is as young as the Islamic Republic. "It brought nothing but harm for the people." He worries about friends who have turned to drugs. More than a million young Iranians are addicts, and hundreds of thousands of young men are in jail for drug offences. He complains about the social restrictions that make having a girlfriend a clandestine project; the risks of speaking out publicly against the theocracy; the inflation that eats away at his wages; corruption; and his country’s pariah status. Like his peers, he wears his hair long and slicked back with gel. He has a "hidden friendship" with a girl; "people have learned to do everything they want in society behind closed doors". He adds: "We are human beings. It’s natural." Hoping for real change, Sohrab, along with millions of other young Iranians, voted for reformists four years ago in parliamentary elections. But the reformist majority was overruled in a system that gives final authority to appointed ideologues. "They knew how to fool us" he says. "I had a lot of enthusiasm at the time. But I won’t vote again. Even if my father becomes a candidate, I won’t vote." ... Journalists say the leadership hopes to follow China’s example, easing social and economic restrictions while holding on firmly to power. Unable to contain the vast youth population, the Iranian establishment has been forced to grant a limited degree of social freedom, allowing couples to hold hands on the street, spicing up programming on state television and permitting concerts and billiard halls. Among young couples sharing ice cream at a shopping centre, there is no gratitude for the new social allowances. "It’s not a matter of tolerance. They were forced to act because society was about to explode," says Sadjad, 19, a university student. "We are not the youth of 10 years ago and we have more access to the rest of the world, so they have to give us more freedom." His girlfriend Mara says the concessions are meaningless. "Freedom is not only about going with your friend hand-in-hand. It’s being able to speak freely, even in front of a policeman." |
| Posted by:Super Hose |