‘Optimistic’ Iranians waiting for change
TEHRAN, Iran — During his presidential election campaign, Hassan Rouhani excited Iranians’ expectations by promising to get suffocating Western sanctions lifted and revive the economy while increasing personal freedoms: opening up access to the Internet and taking the much-hated morality police off the streets.
Their hopes soared once again with Rouhani’s visit to New York, when he spoke of détente with the West and took a historic phone call from President Barack Obama, ending a taboo on direct talks between the nations.
And yet again when the first round of international talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear program ended last week on an upbeat note. Promising signs
Four months after Rouhani’s election and two months after his installation as president, people here in the capital are still waiting for the great changes that most of them are longing for.
But even if their immediate hopes have been dampened, most here say they are relieved to see the last of the previous president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his confrontational policies, and are savoring an emotion that had been absent for years now: hope.
“We Iranians are optimistic people,” said Maryam Salehi, 48, an art teacher in a poor area in south Tehran.
“We may wait for 10 years for something and nothing happens, but still we keep on waiting. What else can we do?”
There have been a few promising signs. More than 90 political prisoners were released, although for the most part their names have not been an-
“We Iranians are optimistic people. We may wait for 10 years for something and nothing happens, but still we keep on waiting. What else can we do?” Maryam Salehi, Tehran resident
nounced.
Those who are known to be free, like prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, are staying out of sight, avoiding interviews or refusing to take public stands on the issues they once went to jail for.
“Most of them were eligible for release, as they had passed half of their sentences,” said one former prisoner who for obvious reasons asked to remain anonymous.
“Before you can go out you have to sign a form promising you will be a good citizen or return to prison.”
On the whole, Iranians are realistic about the prospects for change.
“I don’t expect the president to fulfill all his promises,” said Hadis Bagheri, 28, who has been unemployed since the previous administration closed down the Association of Poets, where she had an administrative job.
“I did vote for Rouhani because he promised that women like me would be able to go on the streets without being bothered over our clothes,” said Bagheri, who said she had been arrested several times by the morality police.
“At least the patrols are less for now.” Preaching patience
Slightly more than 50 days into his presidency Rouhani preaches patience, saying it will take time to convince well-entrenched hard-liners that their actions are hurting their relationship with the Iranian people.
Having consolidated their power over the past eight years during Ahmadinejad’s two terms, the conservatives control the judiciary, the majority in Parliament, all security forces, the state broadcaster and the influential Friday prayer venues, where they insist on shouting “Death to America” during prayers.
The fact that conservatives are starting to push back does not mean Rouhani and his Cabinet members are backtracking on their promises for more personal freedoms.
Two weeks ago, the vice president of legal affairs, Elham Aminzadeh, said that the government would soon present a manifesto on civil rights for all citizens.
“This is not propaganda,” Aminzadeh said.
“People need to be informed about their rights using their own language, explicitly and transparently.”
Following complaints by the hard-line media about Rouhani’s phone call with Obama, the government has announced that it will conduct a rare opinion poll to assess Iranians’ reaction to the outreach.
“We will see what the people have to say,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
While it is true that there are many promises to be fulfilled, said Reza Raesi, the editor-in-chief of the pro-Rouhani web- site Khordadnews.ir, the real change is the current “calmness” in Iranian society.
“Before we would be depressed every day by the news of the national currency losing ground, of prices going higher and higher and threats of war,” he said in his office. “We didn’t see a future, but now we do.”