Religious dissent
This article, like many others on the developments in Iran, might soon be out of date.But, if your students read it, how many parts of the political culture and regime could they identify?
The scholars are identified as pro-reformist, but it's also likely that they represent the traditional Shia attitude of keeping the clergy out of politics.
Clerical Leaders Defy Ayatollah on Iran Election
An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.
A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult...
Since the election, the bulk of the clerical establishment in the holy city of Qum, an important religious and political center of power, has remained largely silent...
With its statement Saturday, the association of clerics came down squarely on the side of the reform movement...
The clerics’ decision to speak up... is not itself a turning point and could fizzle under pressure from the state... Some seminaries in Qum rely on the government for funds, and Ayatollah Khamenei and... President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have powerful backers there.
They also retain the support of the powerful security forces and the elite Revolutionary Guards. In addition, the country’s highest-ranking clerics have yet to speak out individually against the election results.
The Guardian reported on the same announcement this way:
Senior Iranian clerics reject re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Deepening splits among Iran's clergy came to the surface today , with a senior clerical group calling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election "illegitimate".
The Assembly of Scholars and Researchers at Qom seminary, the centre of Shia learning in Iran, rejected the official results and called for the release of political prisoners. "Other candidates' complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored … peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed … dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested," a statement on its website said. "The outcome is invalid."...
The Qom assembly is a pro-reform group with limited political influence, but the statement is important as it represents an open challenge to the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who declared Ahmadinejad the winner and ordered an end to debate on the result...
Labels: civil society, cleavages, Iran, legitimacy, political culture
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:02 AM
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