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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (222229)	3/5/2005 6:51:11 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573211

True democracy is the ability to choose your government and then choose a different one if you end up not liking the one you initially chose. The Iranians did choose theocracy to begin with. I'll concede that. But since then, they've been locked in. They have not had any real meaningful choice in their government since then. They fell into the trap that all early democracies have to strive to avoid. Remember, people are only free to the extent that they exercise their freedoms. The Iranians lost their freedom long ago to the mullahs...and they want it back. Most Iranians I talk to here in the U.S. would give anything to get back their country from the mullahs. It's a real tragedy. Most of the Iranians you know were from the nouveau riche and very rich classes under the Shah. They were forced to flee. You don't think they have an unbiased position, do you? And did you know that Iran is turning out more women lawyers and doctors than even most first world countries. "More and more women are entering politics here," she said. "Despite the cultural attitudes that still exist - and they don't change overnight - more women are running for office. You still see some misogynistic attitudes but the fact that women are coming from provinces [to run for office] shows there is a genuine change." Mrs. Ebtekar said that the most important steps Iran has made to empower women are reflected in the rising literacy rate of females. In 1978, only 57 percent of females in Iran could read. In 1997, 80 percent could read, she said, a rate that is 9 percent less than that for males, but still a large improvement. After the Islamic revolution of 1979, she said, the government encouraged women to get university degrees by imposing a quota on universities. Mrs. Ebtekar said that in certain medical fields, 50 percent of the students are women. About 40 percent of the students in humanities and basic sciences at universities are women. Part of the reason for this is because Iranian society is so rigidly segregated. The separation necessitates that more women gain university degrees. For example, the government decreed that women could not be examined by male doctors, so more women had to become doctors. But more involvement in careers, Mrs. Ebtekar said, is also motivating more women to campaign for political office. Some change, she implied, isn't obvious from the numbers of women in government. There are 14 women in parliament out of 270, and two women out of 22 cabinet ministers. "But of 22 ministers, almost every one has a woman adviser. The only adviser to the president who sits in the cabinet is his adviser on women's affairs. She spoke out very effectively on the budget recently," Mrs. Ebtekar said." internews.org There are many bad things in Iran but there is some good as well..........even when the intentions are not always the best. ted