Word: akbar
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With music still frowned upon,the Islamic Republic of Iran has no true pop stars. But Akbar Ganji is mobbed like one nearly everywhere he goes these days. When Iran's No. 1 muckraking journalist attended a lecture at Tehran University last month, students whistled and chanted his name until he went onstage and gave a speech. At an election rally featuring the country's most popular reform politicians, it was Ganji who brought down the house. "Ganji! Ganji!" the crowd roared when he arrived. Once a functionary in the Revolutionary Guards and Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance, Ganji...
This being Iran, a victory for the reformers may not be precisely what it seems: the unknown factor is former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Desperate for a big name to head their slate, the hard-liners turned to Rafsanjani, despite the fact that his party, Servants of Construction, was already part of the pro-Khatami coalition. Rafsanjani leaped at the chance, hoping to win an easy Majlis seat and stage a political comeback, possibly as speaker, a post he held from 1980 to '89. While the President and Rafsanjani agree on issues like opening up to the West...
...questioning velayat-e-faqih, the absolute authority of the clergy. In an explosive article, a young cleric, Mohsen Kadivar, even criticized the royalist tendencies of the clerics and their treatment of Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei as a shah. Hard-liners feel particularly threatened, explains newspaper commentator Akbar Gangi, because the reformers have impeccable revolutionary credentials too and thus cannot be lightly dismissed or called traitors. Says Gangi: "We have a saying in Persian, 'Only stone can break stone...
...byzantine balloting system Wednesday set off a night of rioting, said she would take the job for "for the sake of the nation." Her path was cleared by an apparent consensus among the political elites that saw the withdrawal of two key rivals, armed forces chief General Wiranto and Akbar Tandjug, the head of former president B. J. Habibie's Golkar party. She also has the backing of newly elected President Abdurrahman Wahid...
...same time, however, the conservatives recognize the importance of transforming Iran?s image in the international community. In a sermon at Tehran University on Friday, former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani praised Iranians who had rallied behind the leadership during the street protests, but noted that the episode and had damaged Iran and called for stability. "[Instability] can be very damaging economically," he warned. "Foreign and domestic investment could decrease and Iran?s risk factor could rise." The very fact of a doyen of Iran?s Islamic revolution expressing concern over the country?s AAA rating signals a profound shift...