The Green Movement

1. The Green Movement • Protest of 2009 Election • Movement for political liberalization • Former President Khatami (progressive) gave a green sash to Mir HosseinMousavi.

2. Media in Iran • Overview • Freedoms fluctuate depending on leader and circumstance • Iranian Constitution and the Media • Unlawful to express views that are “detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam or the rights of the public.” • Newspapers • Connected to parties or individuals • Monitored by government • Subject to censorship

3. Media in Iran • Broadcasting • No private broadcasting • State controls TV and radio • News Agencies • Directly or indirectly controlled by government • Since 2009 • Mass arrest of domestic journalists • Temporary expulsion of foreign journalists

4. Open Net Initiative http://map.opennet.net/filtering-pol.html

6. Religion In Iran • Shiism is the official state religion. • Constitution “protects” certain religious minorities: • Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews Religious Demographics • Shia Muslim: 89% • Sunni Muslim: 9% • Other religions: 2%

7. Religious Restrictions • Apostasy: Punishable by death • Non-Muslims cannot engage in public religious acts. • Non-Muslim activity closely monitored, including private religious schools. • Non-Muslims: can only serve in lower ranks of government. • Non-Muslims can only serve in one of four minority Majles seats. • Judaism suffers official discrimination. • Ahmadinejad: outspokenly anti-Semitic

8. Examples of Religious Persecution • Iranian Shiite Ayatollah SeyedHosseinKazemeiniBoroujerdi, along with 17 of his followers, have been imprisoned for espousing religious views that are incongruent with the official religious views of the government since 2006. He is serving an 11-year prison term and is reportedly in poor health. • In May 2010 most of the 20 Sufi practitioners arrested in July 2009 in the northeastern city of Gonabad received sentences of flogging or imprisonment. They were among more than 200 Sufi dervishes who gathered to protest the arrest of HosseinZareya, a local leader. • In November 2008 Amir Ali Mohammad Labaf of the Gonabadi Sufi order was sentenced to 74 lashes, five years in prison, and internal exile to the town of Babak for "spreading lies.“ • In February 2009 authorities razed the house of worship of Gonabadi dervishes at Takht-e-Foulad, in Isfahan, with bulldozers. All Sufis present were arrested and had their mobile phones confiscated. Sufi books and publications were destroyed. • Taken From: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168264.htm

9. Examples of Religious Persecution • Christians, particularly evangelicals, continued to be subject to harassment and close surveillance. During the reporting period, the government enforced its prohibition on proselytizing by closely monitoring the activities of evangelical Christians, discouraging Muslims from entering church premises, closing churches, and arresting Christian converts. Members of evangelical congregations were required to carry membership cards, photocopies of which must be provided to the authorities. Worshippers were subject to identity checks by authorities posted outside congregation centers. The government restricted meetings for evangelical services to Sundays, and church officials were ordered to inform the Ministry of Information and Islamic Guidance before admitting new members. • On November 13 following his October 2009 arrest, YoucefNadarkhani, a pastor of a house church in Gilan, reportedly received a death sentence for apostasy and evangelism. • Taken From: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010_5/168264.htm

10. Importance of Qom • Religious center of Iran • City of seminaries and religious scholars • Pragmatist clerics • Disagree with velayat-e-faqih • Greater church/state separation • Former President Khatami • Conservative clerics • Oppose pragmatists

11. Iranian Social Culture Pragmatists/Progressives v. Conservatives

12. http://www.prb.org/pdf/IransFamPlanProg_Eng.pdf

14. Iranian Economy • Rentier State • Revenue from Oil Exports • 60-80% of government revenue Shah Reza Pahlavi • 1960-1977: GNP average=9.6% annually • One of the fastest developing countries • Huge economic disparity between rich and poor/urban and rural

15. Kesselman, Krieger, and Joseph. Introduction to Comparative Politics. 5th ed. (Wadsworth, Canada), 2010.

16. After the Revolution of 1979 • Many entrepreneurs fled. • Bonyads • Government seized assets/property of Shah and his supporters. • Turned into a form of government-sponsored charity run by clerics(patronage). • State controls approx. 80% of Iranian economy • Widespread corruption and mismanagement. • Smallest private sector of any country we studied. • Heavy government regulation of private industry.

17. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.htmlhttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.html • http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=71&c=ir&l=en • http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=56390 2011 Unemployment=15.3% March 2012 Inflation=21.5%

18. Factors Causing the Struggling Economy • 1979 Revolution drove out entrepreneurs • Iran-Iraq War • Mismanagement and corruption • U.S., EU, and UN sanctions (nuclear ambitions) • Overreliance on oil • “Brain Drain” • Costly government subsidy programs

19. Government Subsidy Program • Prices for energy and everyday goods kept artificially low. • Poor benefitted little from energy subsidy.

20. Targeted Subsidies Reform Act, 2010 • Reduce or remove subsidies • Poor receive a direct cash payment. RESULT • INFLATION: Everything costs more • International Sanctions make inflation worse • March 2012: Inflation=21.5% • March 2013: Inflation=28.7%

21. Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions • Nov 2011 IAEA Report • Suggested that Iran conducted tests “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive devise” • Iranian Response • Only seeking nuclear energy; not weapon • UN, EU, and US responded with tougher sanctions. • Trade embargo on nuclear technology and equipment. • Restrict activities of Iranian banks. • Oil embargo against Iran. • Iran threatened to block Strait of Hormuz

22. Strait of Hormuz