'Fashion police' continues intimidating Iranian women

No, the Iranian regime is not getting any better.

The police has recently announced to tighten the control of 'immoral' clothing. What they do is standing on the street and reminding 'improperly' dressed women. Some of the conversations between the police and women are offered in this article here.


A female police officer talking to an Iranian woman (Turkish Daily News)

"I am wearing stockings but, sorry, they are too light. Sorry I will change them, definitely I will change them. Now can I go?", says a nervous girl as a reply after being warned. Yet, others are more audacious and speak out:

"Shame on you, look what you've done! Go fix the traffic situation, people are stuck in traffic for hours, go fix other real problems".

I completely agree.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad

Just married! Hurrah!


The newly married couple posing for the cameras / Reuters



The first dance:


The happiness of Hugo and Mahmoud was visible throughout the wedding / Reuters

In Iran, it's not always about religion

After the presidential elections of 2005, many had tried to explain Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's surprising victory by pointing to his promises on solving the economical problems in the country. After all, the only thing that mattered to the common people were not ideological issues, nor the veils, but the very basic needs of mankind: enough food, clothes and a shelter.

You shouldn't think that this is recent problem in Iran. Academicians have argued that the underlying cause of the revolution against the Shah in 1979 was not really his authoritarian rule or his Westernist policies, but the bad economical conditions. Yet, the mullahs were no saviors, nor economists, so the situation remained.

If I had been a mullah (who I assume to be devout), I would have already left the country. I mean, the fact that the problems were continuing despite the rule of religion was surely a sign of Allah, wasn't it? Is there a better way to say "beat it you mullahs!"?

Ahmadinejad, the first non-mullah president of the Islamic Republic, has been in office for two years now, but has not succeeded in improving the conditions of the masses either. Instead, he has sought confrontation with Western governments and is facing harsh sanctions now. Well, you don't have to be an economist to see that this will aggravate the economical situation even more.


Iranians burn a gas station / AP

The decision to ration gasoline is the first measure of the government to deal with the threat of sanctions. The riots after the declaration of this decision, however, seem to be the first signs of public opposition against the government.

Khatami shaking hands of na-mahram women

Lately there has been much fuss in Iran about the former president Mohammad Khatami. The thing is that he shook the hands of women during his visit to the Italian city of Udine. "What's so special about that?" I hear you say. Well, the act is forbidden in Iran! That's the fuss about!

When are people going to stop blathering about such trivial things?



(I myself count two three hand shakes; one two around 4.30 and one around 4.40)

Khuzestan: a new theater of war?

Since the start of the war in Iraq, there has been a widespread concern that the conflict could lead to a regional war, involving such countries as Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel. It has caught my attention that the number of news items referring to this danger has been rising lately.

I'm not only referring to the Turkish desire to enter Northern Iraq, but also to the (apparently) growing tensions in Khuzestan (also called Arabistan), an Iranian province in which the majority is constituted by Arabs.


Source: Google Maps


"Iranian Arabs in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan in southwest Iran have expressed a strong will to split from Iran and restore their own state, accusing Tehran of suppressing them racially, economically, and politically."

I was bowled over when reading these lines in an article entitled "Iran Arabs denounce discrimination" on Al Jazeera. I knew that Arab separatist movements existed in the region, but these lines make it seem as if the whole Arabic population of Khuzestan is engaged in a struggle for independence. Does that sound reasonable to you in any way?

Well, I myself am quite sceptical about it. I don't question the claims of suppression or discrimination, but I do think that being suppressed or discriminated doesn't automatically make one aspire independence. Independence is a political ideal, not the practical solution that comes to the mind of the ordinary man. It is possible to spread such ideals among the people, but in order to do that, one has to have effective propaganda tools at its disposal. As far as I know, no such thing is the case in Khuzestan.

Secondly, the indifference of the common people towards this political ideal has in fact already been demonstrated during the First Gulf War (1980-1988). In those days, Saddam Hussein had expected that the Arabs in Khuzestan would join the Iraqi forces against Tehran, but this appeared to be a big miscalculation. Most Arabs did not join the Iraqi forces at all and a considerable number even allied with the Iranian forces!

Of course, things may have changed since the First Gulf War, but I believe that things have also changed since the war in Iraq. Confronted with images showing the brutality of war in the media everyday, I don't think many are willing to open up a new theater of war.

In Ahmadinejad's Iran, no tolerance for loose headscarfs

I've always found it remarkable that there are people who actually think that they can successfully (trans)form society by simply imposing their ideas on other people. History is full of examples that demonstrate the failure of such attempts. Is it that these people are too pigheaded to accept any lessons from history or is it just that the capacity of their brains does not permit them to do so?

For a long time, I had the idea that the clerical regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran had (finally) realized that imposing Islamic rules on society would be to no avail. I had deduced this from the fact that the regime had been tolerating certain phenomena and practices, such as loose headscarfs (the scarf actually looked like a fashion item), fashionable and attractive clothes, young people dating in public parks, mixed parties at private homes (even though there were occasional police raids), the easy access to alcoholic drinks and so on.

However, it seems that under the current government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the authorities are much less willing to maintain such a policy of toleration. The picture below exemplifies this change to an intolerant, ruthless and rather brutal policy:


source: Masih Alinejad

According to messages in the Iranian blogosphere, this women was questioned by the police for being "improperly" dressed. In the struggle that followed, the woman was beaten by an officer and ended up having a face covered with blood. For more about the incident read this and this on Kamangir's blog.

Gulf of Peace

A couple of days ago, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had the honor of being the first Iranian head of state ever to visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This may actually sound strange if you realize that the UAE has been Iran's largest trade partner since years. The two countries have a dispute about three little islands in the Gulf, but this doesn't seem to disturb their commercial links in any way.

It is well-known that the Iranians are not very fond of the American presence in the region. They feel surrounded on all sides. Indeed, almost all neighboring countries have pro-American governments and most of them also American military bases. You might expect the lionhearted, audacious Ahmadinejad to criticize Iran's neighbors on this point, but he is actually not as gutsy as he seems.

Expressing the wish of wiping Israel off the map and questioning the Holocaust, do not have any serious consequences, since Iran doesn't have any relations with Israel and neither with its American ally. These actions would at the most lead to disapprovals by Europeans and other countries in the world, but at the same time it would boost the regime's prestige in Iran and the region.

The situation is quite different when things really are at stake. Could the regime afford to be rude against its largest trade partner? Don't think so!
See below how elegantly the oh so ferocious Ahmadinejad addresses the issue of the American presence in the Gulf:

"We all wish that foreign troops would leave the region and give a chance to countries in the region to establish security in the region themselves. [...] With each other's help, we can turn the Persian Gulf to the gulf of peace and friendship."¹

Ahmadinejad visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
source image: IRNA / balloons and text by Ponentin

1. Quoted in "Iran calls for 'Gulf of Peace'", on Al Jazeera Net, 13 May 2007; available at http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FA9EB904-7553-4641-B715-C394D2CCF0F1.htm (accessed on 16 May 07).

Another world through exchange

For the ordinary man reading his daily newspaper, it may seem like squabbling is the only form of intercourse between the West and the Islamic Republic of Iran lately. I have to admit that this is indeed true for politicians and diplomats; they keep on arguing, bickering and maneuvering, yet not producing any tangible results. But hey, it's their job to act like that! We wouldn't have expected it otherwise, do we?

I'm happy to say that there is much more dialogue on much more levels between Western countries and Iran. In fact, at this particular moment, a group of Dutch students is visiting Iran, as part of an exchange project between the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Tehran based School of International Relations (SIR). A group of Iranian students had already visited the Netherlands in March 2007. The exchange project was started in 2002 and is repeated each year with new groups of students.

It is worth noting that the participants have always described their experiences as very positive. The exchange is indeed a perfect tool for the development and facilitation of mutual understanding and dialogue. The participants not only get the opportunity of studying the country on location, but also of meeting fellow students and maintaining links with them. To give just one example: this blog itself is also read by Iranian students! (Hello my friends!)


Dutch and Iranian students in Tehran.
source: www.pidad.org

I myself participated in this exchange in 2005/2006 and I'm still involved in the project in some way. Together with fellow exchange students (both Dutch and Iranian) from my year, we have developed an online platform with the aim of making the dialogue stabler and permanent. Visit the platform for more information: PIDAD. Oh by the way, you can already read the report of the Dutch students' first day in Tehran!

Guys, I'm eagerly seeking new exchanges! Anyone organizing one?