August 10th, 2010 by Jennifer

In an extensive new piece in The New Yorker, Jon Lee Anderson reports on his trip as a Western journalist to Iran earlier this summer. Anderson notes that intense government crackdowns on activists and continuing harassment of reformist leaders over the past year have taken their toll, arguing that “under such sustained pressures, the Green Movement has effectively ceased to exist as a visible political force. [Mehdi] Karroubi is the only prominent reformist leader who still regularly appears in public.” Meanwhile, he observes that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared “calm and confident, almost cocky” during Anderson’s visit, pointing out that “since winning reelection, he had neutralized the main reformist politicians, and was now pursuing his rivals in Iran’s conservative establishment.” Anderson suggests that the Iranian regime sees itself in a place of increased strength despite recent UN sanctions, and has moved on from addressing the Green Movement to focus its concerns on its nuclear agenda. Detailing an exclusive interview he conducted with Ahmadinejad himself, Anderson says that the Iranian leader denied that his government was undemocratic, or that it repressed activists, reformists, and journalists. According to Anderson, Ahmadinejad stated, “‘Show me a country in the West where eighty-five per cent of the people participate in Presidential elections! There aren’t any! Iran is the record-holder in democracy… Today you can see that all my rivals and the so-called ‘opposition’ are free,’ and adding, ‘There is freedom here. They all have Web sites, news channels, and newspapers, and they say whatever they want about me. No one disturbs them’.” Anderson notes that numerous reports of human rights abuses, political oppression, and censorship contradict these assertions.

Anderson also describes another interview he carried out with Hossein Shariatmadari, a close adviser of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and editor-in-chief of Kayhan, the clerical establishment’s daily newspaper. According to Anderson, Shariatmadari “suggested that reformists were something like sleeper agents for the West, and that the unrest had helped the Islamic Republic by exposing their identities.” Anderson argues, however, that “Ahmadinejad’s victory over the Green Movement had come at a cost; the religious establishment and Iranian society at large seemed far less unified than Shariatmadari claimed.” Nonetheless, Anderson also warns that despite increased pressure on Iran from the international sanctions, economic action “alone may not cause enough distress to bring Iranians back out onto the streets.” Ultimately, Anderson paints a dismal picture regarding the current status of the reformist movement, remarking that “the Green Movement as it stands seems to present little threat to Iran’s government,” and quoting one Iran expert who has  commented that “in the absence of strong leadership, the movement [is] splintering.”

Posted in Elections, Freedom, Human Rights, Iran, Reform, US foreign policy, United Nations, sanctions |