And You Wonder Why He is in Prison …
Feb 7th, 2010 by pedestrian
Mostafa Tajzadeh is a leading Iranian reformist politician and a member of the Islamic Participation Front. He has been in prison since the June 2009 presidential election. He served as a deputy in the interior ministry under the Khatami administration.
Here you can see a video of him making a speech before the election. I’ve translated his speech below.
[clip 1] Those who are my age know this, in the days of the Shah [prior to the 1979 revolution], the people of Iran had every kind of freedom, except for political freedom. That is, when one of the slogans of the revolution became esteghlal, azadi, jomhooriyeh eslami [independence, freedom, the Islamic Republic of Iran] by “freedom” they only meant political freedom. Which other kind of freedom was it that we didn’t have? [Religious wise], you could freely practice your religion. If you were the type who wanted to go to the mosque, you could, if you wanted to go to a bar, you also could. The path was open. The freedom we did not have was political freedom. We did not have a free press, we did not have free political parties, we did not have free elections, we did not have free unions … This is where the problem was. [In the days of the revolution], this is the tyranny which the people of Iran stood against. Thus, political freedom was one of the main demands of this nation. Just like the days of the Constitutional Revolution [1906].
With what rationality did the Imam [Khomeini] put aside the constitution [the one during the Shah]? His most important reason, the brightest, most historic [reason] he put forth, was when he said: “our fathers, our mothers, in another time, thought that this constitution [the one under the shah] was the best. Today, their children are mature and wise, they recognize that they want a new constitution.” He thus acknowledged the right of every generation to govern its nation on its own.
[clip 2] It is imperative that the election be free, and if for any reason, anyone undermines this freedom, they are acting against the law. They tell us: “don’t worry” [about fraud in the election]. Well, we are worried. I personally am very distraught over what Mr. Mahsouli [Ahmadinejad's interior minister in the ninth cabinet] is doing over at the interior ministry. They are shuffling around and changing everybody these days, even the secretaries. I don’t know what they are doing in there that has become so secretive and confidential.
He does seem to over play the amount of freedom people enjoyed in the Shahs days to be honest.
Anyhow I never understood why some reformist make comments like this, it is brave but it really doesn’t accomplish much other than get them selves into trouble. You don’t tell the guy with the gun and hostages to go to hell, you try to reason with him and pretend to sympathize with him until the right opportunity comes along when you can start taking him down. Admittedly that is overly simplifying it, and I guess some people do need to be harsh to keep the moral of their followers up before they fall into despair.
Artanian, I wasn’t around back then, so I really can’t comment! But, I’ve heard the reformist camp give responses like this to the pro-Ahmadi people when the Ahmadites say “people are after economic progress, not political.” I think this was also said in a similar context. He’s trying to “prove” that political reform is what the people were actually after in the revolution, and thus, this talk of “economic reform is the ONLY thing people are demanding” is not entirely true.
Maybe he knew he would be in a jail cell anyways so might as well say whatever is on his mind. They’ve even arrested someone like Akbar Montajebi who hasn’t even updated his weblog in the past 8 months.
To be fair I think at this point in time it would be fair to say that most people would prioritize economic progress first and foremost, and its not really fair to use the Shah argument against IRI because during Shahs time at least from what I read the working class weren’t that much better off even tho Shah had started some reform initiative which ultimately didn’t help him much.
[...] “national security”. Here is an example of that threat in a speech before the election (hat-tip to Pedestrian): In the days of the Shah, the people of Iran had every kind of freedom, except for political [...]
I believe incompetence is the consequence of autocratic rule. Competition is what this country needs, on the economic level and most certainly on the political level. If a political party is challenged, it will strive to win the favor of the masses rather than repress them if they object.
I think there are two other possible reasons “why some reformists make comments like this.” 1) They think the government won’t touch them because they are too famous or have a following that will cause too much trouble if the government arrests them. 2) It is somewhat of a risk, but if the reformists win out and the government is transformed then those who made strong statements will have increased power in the new regime.