© the eyeranian

Relax, Sky is NOT Falling!

So, the "opposition", academia, the community abroad, bloggers, observers, pollsters and even the CIA-funded call center that spent weeks with numerous Los Angeles based operators calling Iran in order to predict a winner, got it all wrong and Ahmadinejad came out as the new president.

There is little point in discussing the accuracy or even legitimacy of this so-called election. What is perhaps more compelling to watch now however, is the reaction it has created. Some are clearly in mourning to the extent of going completely silent, although the most common reaction is what I can only describe as the "sky is falling" syndrome.

This refers to all those who are predicting a catastrophic doom as the result of one bureaucrat taking over another's job. After all, isn't by constitution the role of Iranian president more or less that of an administrator? He (and by their latest interpretation of their law, there will never be a she) is not in charge of deciding whether nuclear energy requires further steps forward or whom should the para-military Basij and Revolutionary Guards target next. He also has no control over the judiciary, so can not release prisoners or decide to take more in. He introduces no legislation and vetoes none either. Even his elected seat could be taken away if the non-elected leader decides so, as the first ever president of Iran quickly found out.

If all of that is true, then what is the difference who the man at the high seat is? I know it may seem easy for someone from so far to seat back and say "who cares", but then again it is sometimes hard for those surrounded by trees to see the forest.

Iran is only the second country in the world (that I am aware of) who produces both sides of its fundamental political positions from the same essential cloth. In other words, those in power as well as it's supposed opposition share the exact same views on 90% of the issues and even the other 10% also run more along posturing than actual values. It may not be an accident that the main architects of this scheme were all educated in the first country in the world with a similar system (You think Saeed Emami is reading this? I'm yet to be convinced he's dead.)

So my friends, take heart in knowing that the sky is NOT falling yet, just because we are changing presidents. Whatever changes take place over the next four years will not be a result of Ahmadinejad's new title, as those decisions are made way above his head and when they are made, even the most "liberal" of the reformist presidents will not stand in the way of their execution.

As I look at my Sunday issue of LA Times, I see the gloomy face of Pooya Dayanim, introduced as president of Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee and holding a framed image of Forough Farokhzad with this caption "he fears her poetry will be banned under the newly elected Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." Then I wonder if some of us are still in shock over what took place in our country over a quarter of a century ago and can't accept the reality of its magnitude yet.

Posted by Pedram at June 28, 2005 08:10 AM