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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (60923)	12/10/2002 3:06:38 PM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

University Protests in Iran Bring a Bitter Walkout in Parliament nytimes.com By NAZILA FATHI December 10, 2002 TEHRAN, Dec. 9 — Tensions over weeks of student protests have reached into Parliament here, with hard-liners leaving the floor in protest on Sunday as a reformist member called for a referendum on the current government. It was the first such scene in recent years. The popularity of the protests, which began over a death sentence for a reformist scholar, is also broadening. Several hundred people broke through the gates at Amir Kabir University here today to join student protesters, witnesses said. The hard-liners, who have opposed change despite the election of a moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, in 1997, have rejected the idea of a referendum and said that street demonstrations in support of the current government were a sign of its popularity. "If it is a matter of measuring how people think about the leaders, the only way is to put it to a public vote," said Rajabali Mazroui, a pro-reform member, in Parliament on Sunday. "I am warning those who threaten in their statements to bring in" vigilante forces against the protesters "to stop, because that is neither according to our Islamic teachings nor a way to resolve the complicated problems in our society," he added. One hard-line member, Muhammad Muhammadi, accused Mr. Mazroui of being a traitor and of provoking students. Mr. Muhammadi threatened to call on the people to "tear him to pieces." Then the hard-liners left the assembly, saying that Mr. Mazroui's warning was directed at Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that they considered it an insult. The ayatollah had said last month that he would call on such groups to intervene if authorities failed to maintain calm in society. Later, to restore the peace within the Parliament, Mr. Mazroui said that his warning had been directed at members of hard-line factions, not Ayatollah Khamenei. The speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karoubi, negotiated with angry members for half an hour to persuade them to return. The daily Hayat-e-No, a newspaper close to the reformers, however, said today that the attempt by hard-liners to obstruct Parliament was basically a power play, in preparation for obstructionist tactics when the body votes on Mr. Khatami's major reform bills in the coming weeks. Parliament, which is dominated by supporters of Mr. Khatami, will consider two bills that are aimed at reforming the election law to allow liberal politicians to run for public office more easily and to expand the president's limited power. The approval of the bills has already been slowed by the introduction of 600 proposed amendments, mostly by hard-liners. Each must be read on the floor and put to a vote. Even if the bills are passed, they must then be reviewed by the very hard-line body whose power they would weaken, so the reformists' prospects of success are not great. Copyright The New York Times Company

To: FaultLine who wrote (60923)	12/10/2002 4:22:59 PM
From: BigBull	Respond to of 281500

The proud traditions and norms of Iran are what the students seek to revitalize. Theirs is not a counterrevolution but a completion of the present one. Iran's students will continue to seek political evolution, one that is without violence and gradual, but certainly no less determined in its democratic aspirations. Sorry FL, no sale. That's old style reformist talk. These guys are way beyond that. Read what the guys AT the demonstration say: <edit>‘We’re Sitting on a Time Bomb’ Thousands of Iranians join Tehran University students in a massive demonstration for political reform - and hundreds are arrested By Babak Dehghanpisheh NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE Dec. 7 — More than 10,000 Iranians rallied in the streets around Tehran University Saturday in a show of solidarity with the increasingly vocal student movement. Hundreds of riot police and plain-clothes members of the Basij, an Islamic paramilitary organization linked with hardliners in the Iranian government, clashed with protesters in late afternoon, beating them back with batons and fists. msnbc.com There had been a hint of violence earlier in the day when dozens of Basijis tried to force their way into the student rally. Other Basijis, who had slipped in amongst students, heckled speakers and held up pictures of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. But the speakers asked for restraint amongst students and proceeded to read a list of demands, most significantly a call for a referendum to decide whether the country should stay a theocracy or a secular democracy. “We condemn dictatorship in any form,” said Vahid Ghobadi, 25, a member of the Islamic student union at Tehran University. “And we will fight against dictatorship with all our strength.” BB@Itsthereferendumstupid.com :o}