Hurdles placed in Khatami's path

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), AUG. 19. Iran's conservatives have frenetically hitched up the tenor of their counter-reformation campaign. This sudden escalation of the multi-pronged assault on the liberal changes that have taken place in the past four years is probably traceable to the conservatives' desire to seize the political high ground before the President, Mr. Mohammed Khatami's Cabinet is in place, thus allowing him to launch his second term in office. But, in launching this assault, the conservatives are in danger of striking a blow against themselves.

Yesterday, Iran's Supreme Court annulled the verdicts passed by military courts against 15 intelligence service personnel who were convicted of the murders of dissidents. The court apparently found that the investigations had been flawed. But since the intelligence service personnel were widely believed to have acted on behalf of the conservatives in the establishment, who also happen to control the judiciary, the verdict is bound to be met with scepticism.

Again yesterday, authorities announced that they were to mount a campaign to end ``depraved commerce''. Depraved practices in commerce according to them includes such acts as playing music in shops, displaying neck-ties, selling pets, displaying mannequins dressed in women's clothing and horror of horrors, lingerie.

Shop-keepers are to be asked to remove all such exhibits from places where they will disturb the moral and emotional balance of the Iranians.

This crackdown on ``depraved commerce'' comes on the heels of a month-long campaign to crush violations of the alcohol code. Over 200 young men have been flogged in Teheran alone. Those who caught and thrashed them claimed that the boys had been drinking. What with the number of people who have been flogged for drinking and the reports of seizures of huge quantities of alcohol the Islamic Republic gives the impression that it confronts a drinking problem somewhat on the lines faced by the former Soviet Republics to its north. If after 18 years of rigid religiosity the situation is such then no amount of flogging is going to help matters.

It was only from the beginning of this year that Iranian authorities began admitting that there was prostitution in the country. But since then, especially in the wake of the serial killing of 19 prostitutes in the holy city of Mashad, there have been as many reports on this subject as one would expect to find in the city pages of a Mumbai tabloid. Besides the usual causes behind prostitution anywhere in the world, unemployment and poverty, there are special conditions that contribute to the problem in Iran. Among these are the increasing drug use (according to a recent report in The Economist, Iran is one of the four countries in the world that account for the bulk of heroin addicts) and the difficulties faced by young couples in getting married especially with women getting better educated than men.

Instead of having the issues openly debated so as to find solutions to these problems, as the reformers would want, the only policy conservatives have is that of suppression. This approach can be taken to bizarre extremes. After the self- confessed killers of the Mashad prostitutes surrendered to the authorities a conservative paper suggested that it was the killer and not the victims who deserved sympathy. This in a context where suicides by young women, who did not want to be a burden on their families, are reported to have increased in parts of the country.

The crackdown against alcoholism or prostitution provides a respectable cover for the overall repression that has been unleashed. The conservatives have shown no inclination to allow banned liberal newspapers and magazines to resume publishing.

All forms of questioning, including any expressions of disillusionment with the system, are being equated with treachery. The conservatives believe that they have a small window of opportunity before Mr. Khatami begins his second term. They are, therefore, determined to roll back all the civil space that ordinary Iranians had come to enjoy during Mr. Khatami's first term in office. In effect, they want the reformers to fight all over again the same fights they fought in the last four years and starting from the same point.

The problem that the conservatives will face is that the people have already enjoyed these rights. Activities like listening to music, or going to the cinema or shopping provided some form of release in a situation where the economy is bad and complaints about their plight are not permitted. In trying to push dissent back into the bottle, the conservatives might find that the more combustible material is compressed the more likely it is to explode.

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Section  : International
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