Iranian Youth Despair

[democratic]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2004/August/editorial_August12.xml§ion=editorial&subsection=editorial

Iranian youth despair


6 August 2004



TWO-THIRDS of Iranians are dissatisfied with the administration of Iran, as per the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) survey. The survey said young people were mainly unhappy with the lack of transparency in the country's governing executive. At present, 70 per cent of Iranians are in the age group of 0-30.


All these young people require jobs, which they find difficult to get. In addition to unemployment, numerous social restrictions are placed on them by the Guardian Council, which mainly consists of conservative clerics. Now, in Iran, the government is the main executive power, according to the constitution, but the final say lies with the supreme religious leadership, currently in the hands of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While the government of President Khatami is pro-reforms, conservative elements in the Guardian Council have scuttled every effort of the government to usher in more reforms in the country. This will be disastrous as youth power cannot be put on leash. The youth of Iran are angry and frustrated at the lack of challenging employment opportunities, while they are depressed by the lack of progress towards a more people-oriented, democratic system.

The youth of Iran want to express themselves in new and creative ways, but the ultra-conservative stranglehold prevents them from doing so. Thus, their restless, creative energies spill out onto the streets of Teheran and elsewhere in Iran, in the form of mass protests. The government is unable to control them because it has not given them enough reasons to be happy and satisfied. While Khatami's government wants to give more freedom to the youth, the Guardian Council acts as a moral police, telling them to conform to the straight and narrow path. Only eight per cent of the Iranian youth have found their way to higher education, and half the youth are unemployed, and even those who have jobs are not satisfied with them. In such a scenario, it would be wise for the Guardian Council to ease the pressure on the nation's youth and let them realise their full potential. The government too must see to it that more youths get jobs - and meaningful ones - according to their abilities and qualifications. For, unhappy youth can prove to be calamitous for the country.

[enfield collector]

1. time for another revolution there.

maybe this time they should build in a clause about separation of church and state.