Two years into Rouhani presidency, Iranians ask for more
Across from the public garden on 28th street, in the Khani Abad neighbourhood near the Grand Bazaar, 39-year-old Ali passes a hot summer’s day leaning against his old motorcycle. The 2013 presidential elections came soon after he was released from a four-year prison term for theft.Ali’s older brother suggested voting for Hassan Rouhani as a “solid” man. “The country was in shambles and everyone’s situation was so desperately horrible,” says Ali. “I’d been free only for two months, and prison had taken a toll on me. My brother said Rouhani would bring more jobs. So we voted for him and I encouraged some of my friends from prison to vote for him too.”
This August marks the end of Rouhani’s second year as president, but Ali says his hopes have not come to fruition.
“Two years ago we were sitting right here, around my motorcycle, smoking cigarettes, and right now here we’re doing the same. Before I ended up in theft I was an auto mechanic and I could do some basic electrical stuff too like repairing air conditioners, fans and juicers.
“But I’ve been to a hundred places all over town looking for work - any work - and no one is hiring. Artisans and craftsmen no longer take apprentices. You know why? They don’t have the money to pay wages. Mr Rouhani told us he would give us jobs, but he left us out to dry.”
Ali became addicted to crystal meth in prison, but in the winter of 2013 he kicked the habit.
“My two years of being clean coincides with Rouhani’s presidency. I go to the support groups, and many of the others who got clean are also unemployed, which is the quickest and easiest path back to addiction. In my opinion, Rouhani does feel for the people, but the leaders won’t let him do anything.
“I think he should start a few textile and machine-part factories in poorer areas. There are thousands like me who are ready to go to work from dawn to ten at night, if they knew they could earn good money.”
Ali lives with his mother in an old, rented 60 square-foot home.
“My mother was overjoyed when I got out of prison. She was so lonely without me. When I kicked the drug habit I promised her I’d rent her a good place, maybe even buy one if we got a loan. But who’s giving out loans? And how are people supposed to get money? From jobs.
“Prices have been going up for two years - I can’t buy fruit or meat for my mother or take her to the cinema once in a while. For six months I worked at a syrup factory on Karaj Road and they didn’t pay me for three of those months. They said they had too many workers and told me to leave, just like that. Why doesn’t the ministry of labour do something about this? Didn’t Rouhani come to power for this very reason? Aren’t I a Muslim? What kind of Islamic governance is this?”
Ali has followed the nuclear negotiations closely and accepts that Rouhani’s focus during these two years has been securing a deal.
“Thank God they reached an agreement. Rouhani has worked hard to make it happen. When you’re under sanctions, the economy simply doesn’t move - now the river is flowing again, he must let all the people drink from it. He mustn’t just allow the wealth to go into the pockets of the wealthy.”
Ali says he is hopeful for the future, but also fearful. “Joblessness and the cost of living are like fire and petrol: high prices act like petrol on the wildfire of unemployment. Sometimes the situation makes me miss prison. At least there was more order there; everything was calmer. Out here it’s all so gloomy and depressing. If Rouhani can’t make things right, I might go back to crime.”
While Ali’s grievances with Rouhani centre on jobs, Marjan, a 40-year old woman who lives in Shariati Street in the affluent north Tehran neighbourhood of Ghalhak, has other concerns.
“I’ve been at war with the police over my hejab since I was 16,” she said. “I voted for Mr Rouhani so he would improve the economy and keep these idiots off the streets. But just this year alone I’ve been picked up in their vans three times.”
By ‘vans’ Marjan means the police vehicles stationed along the main thoroughfares in central and north Tehran that take women in violation of the dress code to police stations around the city to be processed and usually fined.
“Didn’t Rouhani say he wanted to reinstate the rule of law? So do something about it! Is it too much to ask for just one person to stand by his word here?
“I like Rouhani. That he was able to secure the nuclear deal was really something. But everything isn’t just about the economy and national security. I’m an educated woman; I have rights. A president is supposed to defend the rights of the people. He’s supposed to prevent the police and Basij from doing whatever they want to people in the street. He’s not supposed to drag us to heaven, but he also shouldn’t leave us stranded in hell.”
Other perspectives can be found. Abbas, 42, runs a Samsung outlet on Jomhouri Street, says thing are improving since he fell on hard times after the United States and European Union tightened sanctions in 2012.
“I was almost bankrupt. From 2012 to 2014 it was really bad. Goods were held up in customs and it took all kinds of bribes and shady dealing to free them up. The value of the dollar was jumping up and down each day, so people expected currency fluctuations and they bought less. There were months when I sold only three televisions.
“Even if Rouhani had done nothing else, stabilising the currency was an economic renaissance for Iranians. Now there’s some semblance of order in the market, and people are slowly returning to their normal lives. I deal with customers every day. People have calmed down at last, finally they’re able to breathe.
“Rouhani is a president who stood by his word. Once the funds free up in the aftermath of the nuclear deal, hopefully the price of the dollar will continue to drop and the market will bounce back. I’m hopeful for Rouhani’s last two years. And if he stands a second time, he has my vote.”
In Laleh Park, central Tehran, 79-year-old Mohammad Reza sits on a bench with two friends he says he’s known since they were all 16. For seven years, Mohammad Reza has come to Laleh Park each day except Thursdays and Friday to “pass my retirement with some good quality people-watching”.
Mohammad Reza takes a long-term perspective on politics: “I saw the coup d’état [the 1953 toppling of Mohammad Mossadegh as prime minister], the revolution [of 1979], the war [with Iraq, 1980-88]. Iran’s main weakness has been expecting too much from our leaders. I don’t mean to suggest we should have no expectations from government, but we shouldn’t put everything at their feet. People need to take responsibility as well.
“For 35 years Iranians have come out to vote every four years, and then they’ve gone home and just sat and waited. This isn’t how things get done. They have to have continuing discussions, to work, and hold meetings.
“We all ask what Rouhani did, but what have we done? Allow me to quote the great film-maker Ali Hatami: ‘I don’t just express my wishes; I make them come true.’ People have to be like this in politics.
“The foreigners do it. They go into various arenas and state their demands, they fight for them. Voting is just one moment out of millions of other crucial ones. They don’t sit at home and say, ‘Mr President, Mr Prime Minister, please fix everything.’ They protest, they participate directly, and the president provides the legal protection. In my opinion the question of what Rouhani did in these two years is too convenient a question. A better one is. ‘What did we do?’.”
No comments:
Post a Comment