While Ahmadinejad hobnobs, Iranians turn against him
January 23, 2007 by Alexander
As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares for Security Council sanctions and woos anti-democratic allies, he’s exposed himself at home. England’s Telegraph reported Sunday that Ahmadinejad’s foreign alliances have angered the Iranian people. The economy is ailing, the poor are wondering when Ahmadinejad will deliver the oil money he promised them, and even Grand Ayatollah Khamenei is restless.
The article has good news for anti-totalitarian forces in Iran and abroad. For too long, the Iranian middle class supported Ahmadinejad and the religious establishment in exchange for financial betterment and a relatively free reign in private pursuits. In the words of one Iranian writer, many Iranians “render politics unto Caesar, provided that Caesar keeps his nose out of their liquor cabinets.” Without the support of the middle class, the new Iranian revolution expected in the West continually fails to materialize.
All that may be changing, though, now that Iran’s economy is in a downturn. According to the Telegraph, housing prices in Iran have increased by an astonishing 40% over 6 months, and unemployment is at 30%. In a figure that seems excessive even for Ahmadinejad’s mishandling, the Telegraph reports 1,000 educated Iranians leave the country every day. If it’s true, Ahmadinejad and his clerics will soon be bereft of the technical knowledge of nuclear energy and petroleum they hope to base their aggression on.
Even some of Ahmadinejad’s core supporters may have turned against him. According to the article, a formerly supportive faction in the Revolutionary Guard is dissatisfied, and a newspaper that serves as a mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei criticized Ahmadinejad’s foreign alliances. If the religious establishment’s complaints aren’t acted on, Ahmadinejad may find himself surrounded on three sides by the politically, economically, and religiously alienated.
Allies of democracy shouldn’t take this good news as permission for complacency. Mao was at his weakest before the Cultural Revolution, and Stalin seemed prepared for a figurehead role before he began the Purges. Still, it is heartening to see that more Iranians are voicing their disagreement with Ahmadinejad’s regime.
StopAhmadinejad.com
