- 24 May 2010
-
- 4 Comments
-
-
-
- Events in Iran
The People’s Enemy
24 May 2010 Posted By Setareh Tabatabaie
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEeMnedfUy0&”]
Today marks the 28th anniversary of the liberation of Iran’s southwestern city of Khorramshahr, captured by Iraq in 1980 near the start of the Iran-Iraq War.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei made a speech marking the occasion, declaring that “Enemies of the Iranian nation will definitely be defeated today as they were defeated in 1980.” Denouncing the actions of the US and its allies in different parts of the world, namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Palestinian territories, Khamenei attributed Iran’s enemies as the root cause and element of crimes and insecurity in the world.
President Ahmadinejad also made a speech in Khorramshahr for the occasion, but this speech didn’t go exactly as planned. Ahmadinejad was interrupted by loud chants coming from the crowd, saying: “Bikaree! Bikaree!” (“Unemployment! Unemployment!”)
With this interruption, the citizens of Khorramshahr reminded the president as well as the Supreme Leader that they don’t blame Iran’s enemies for the double-digit unemployment in the country.
To top it off, the speech — and the ensuing chants — were carried live on national TV. This forced Ahmadinejad to respond, saying “The government… with the help of the youth in Khorramshahr and Khuzestan [province], hopefully will eliminate unemployment in Khuzestan.”
Unemployment was also one of the main issues in the 2009 presidential campaign, and one of the main issues distinguishing incumbent Ahmadinejad and reformist candidate Mousavi, who criticized Ahmadinejad for his handling of the economy in his four years in office. In his 2005 election campaign, then-candidate Ahmadinejad gained significant support among the voters for his promise to put “a chicken in every pot.”
But perhaps too much emphasis has been placed on detaining artists, hikers, Bahai’s, election protesters, Canadian journalists and French academics (among many others). This has to have been a distraction from the government handling the double-digit unemployment in the country, which is also an “enemy of the Iranian nation.”
4 Responses to “The People’s Enemy”
That was amazing. Here in the US, when presidents and vice-presidents make public speeches, the crowds are vetted. Protesters and would-be protesters are sectioned off in purposely constructed pens. Thus, Vice President Cheney, for example, rarely gave public speeches to crowds other than the US military. And President Bush’s staff carefully vetted and sectioned off his audiences in any public speaking venue.
Imagine what would happen if President Obama gave an open-air public speech accessible to everyone. The Tea Party would make a huge scene! That’s why it doesn’t happen these days here in the USA.
Apparently in the Islamic Republic of Iran, public venues for speeches by its leaders are not vetted as they are here in the US. Remarkable, wouldn’t you say?
My advice Setareh is not to mistake the chants of “Bikaree” as criticism of the government, and especially not of Ahmadinejad. The people are not bothered by unemployment by a long shot. In fact, the people of Iran find their lack of employment delightful. In western countries, especially the US, people are forced to work and make money to survive. In Iran, where education, healthcare and food is free and available to all Iranians, President Ahmadinejad visits every Iranian family, and delivers them presents much like Santa Clause does in the US. The only difference, of course, is Santa Clause is not real.
Wow Pirouz. I thought mine was good, but, like always, you hit it out the park 😉
Pirouz,
Perhaps the reason that public venues for speeches are not vetted in the Islamic Republic of Iran is because the Iranian people fear the repercussions of truly critical speech. Note that Ahmadinejad seemed surprised that the speech “did not go exactly as planned.” Compliance and silence are expected to be givens in such an environment.
Moreover, I sincerely doubt that the Iranian people find their unemployment delightful. In fact, I was under the impression that the state of the economy was contributing to unrest not appreciation. Unless I have failed to detect sarcasm in Iranian American’s comment, I’m afraid I find it’s veracity a bit hard to believe.