Factions and Political Pluralism

Iran’s political factions ironically appear very similar to the United States’, however when looked into further there is actually quite a bit of variance between the two. According to Sussan Siavoshi in the article "Cultural Policies and the Islamic Republican",For the most they have a biofactional policy between the conservatives and the liberals. Like the United States these two groups are in constant battle with each other. One group wants the country to keep old traditions and beliefs and the other loves to embrace change. Although, the amount of power the dominant group has is the huge difference between USA and Iran. Liberals had an upper hand in government control, until Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic public, sided with conservatives after 1992 elections. As a result, the conservatives took complete control of the government. This power change lead to some major changes within the country.      

Western influence had been instilled into the Iranians for half a century, and Khomeini’s goal was to recapture Iran as a Muslim country. The ministries and their religious leaders were some of his main supporters. To achieve his goal, Ayatollah Khomeini had to destroy the whole western value system. He strongly states that "Americans are the great Satan, the wounded snake" (AyatollahKhomeini). By demonizing the Americans, he hoped to get more Iranians against foreign influence. He attempted to get the general public against foreign countries utilizing their oil. Most of the conservatives were in the older generation and they remember how Iran used to be before their country was taken over by foreign countries, so they wanted Iran to be more like it was in those times. The main point was to revert back to older, post revolutionary days. This means that a lot of things considered to be a part of the modern day society were discouraged.

 Cultural freedom was so feared that censorship was taken to the extreme. Liberals believe education and the arts should play a major role in society, but the powerful conservatives think the opposite. They wanted to oppress the freedom of expression that art encourages.There are two groups of conservatives, so beliefs do vary, but all put an emphasis on religious dedication and war participation instead of education.

 So where does this discrimination leave the liberals? As a result of Khamenei's conservative approach, and when Ali Larijani got the position of minister in the summer of 1992, attacks on the intellectual community started to increase. A lot of authors were arrested .Newspaper and publishing houses were closed. On a television program called Huvayyat, intellectuals were even portrayed as foreign spies. Acording to the "World Savvy Monitor", Khomeini gave a speech targeting university curriculum. He demanded that they have more of an Islamic emphasis on the learning material. School children were also forced to wear the traditional Muslim veil. He saw it as the states responsibility to enforce all of these traditional Islamic values. The liberal’s response to all of this was very defensive. Although they did not really have a say in the government, they could only respond with news paper and magazine articles.

 It is unclear how long the conservative power will be so dominant in Iran’s politics. The discrimination of intellectuals will most likely go on until there is a power shift. The ongoing battle between the liberals and conservatives is likely to continue for generations to come.

 

 

Work Cited

"World Savvy Monitor." World Savvy Monitor. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.

Siavoshi, Sussan. "Cultural Policies and the Islamic Republic: Cinema and Book Publication." International Journal of Middle East Studies 29.04 (1997): 509. Print.

"Ruhollah Khomeini." Ruhollah Khomeini. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.