Iran's president seeks purge of university profs ...
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From http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060905/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_university_purge
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president urged students Tuesday to push for a purge of liberal and secular university teachers, another sign of his determination to strengthen Islamic fundamentalism in the country.
With his call echoing the rhetoric of the nation's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejad appears determined to remake Iran by reviving the fundamentalist goals pursued under the republic's late founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran still has strong moderate factions, and since taking office a year ago Ahmadinejad has moved to replace pragmatic veterans in the government and diplomatic corps with former military commanders and inexperienced religious hard-liners. His administration also has launched crackdowns on independent journalists, Web sites and bloggers.
Speaking to a group of students Tuesday, Ahmadinejad called on them to pressure his administration to keep driving out moderate instructors, a process that began earlier this year.
Dozens of liberal university professors and teachers were sent into retirement this year after Ahmadinejad's administration, sparking strong protests from students, named the first cleric to head Tehran University.
The country's oldest institution of higher education remains home to dozens more professors and instructors who outspokenly oppose policies that restrict freedom of expression.
"Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a meeting with students.
The president complained that reforms in the country's universities were difficult to accomplish and that the educational system had been affected by secularism for the last 150 years. But, he added: "Such a change has begun."
It was not clear if Ahmadinejad intended to take immediate specific measures, or if he was just urging the students to rally.
Ahmadinejad, in his role as head of the country's Council of Cultural Revolution, would have the authority to make such changes himself. But his comments seemed designed to encourage hard-line students to begin a pressure campaign on their own, thus putting a squeeze on universities.
"This is the beginning of a so-called cultural revolution. Ahmadinejad and his allies plan to sweep their opponents from the universities," said Saeed Al-e Agha, a Tehran University professor. "They want to rule the brains of youth there."
"Ahmadinejad wants to settle scores with the most important center of critics and opposition and close the door to any opponent before municipal elections in late November," said Kouhyar Goodarzi, a human rights activist. "But his move may prompt a new round of student unrest."
Liberal and secular professors teach at universities around the country, but they are a minority. Most are politically passive and do not identify with either the hard-liners or the liberal camp.
Public opinion is difficult to gauge because of a lack of independent opinion polls. But Ahmadinejad must tread carefully among various factions, and strong moderate voices remain.
Hard-liners increasingly control the top rungs of government but still encounter resistance from some members of the public. Moderates also remain in government. Even among conservatives, there are different goals and powerful political factions.
It remains unclear, for example, how tightly Ahmadinejad controls the government, or the exact nature of his relationship with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad surprised his conservative backers in April by deciding that women could attend soccer games, but Khamenei didn't agree and the supreme leader's view prevailed.
Shortly after the Iranian revolution, Iran fired hundreds of liberal and leftist university teachers and expelled many students.
It had a brief period of reform in the 1990s under then-President Mohammad Khatami, but hard-line factions cracked down then, too, especially on university students, dissidents and journalists.
"It's horrible. I did not expect at all that Ahmadinejad ... would try to deprive others of their jobs because of political differences," Reza, a university graduate who did not wish to be identified further for fear of retaliation, said of Ahmadinejad's statement Tuesday.
The president, who won election based on promises of economic reform, has sharpened the government's stance both on human rights issues and on its controversial nuclear program.
Iran ignored a U.N. demand to suspend uranium enrichment by the end of August, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful and not intended to make a bomb. Ahmadinejad also has accused the United States of imperialism and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Despite Western disgust with its confrontational positions, it seems unlikely that Iran will face tough U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program. Many European leaders have called for more negotiations, and Russia and China appear unwilling to endanger trade ties.
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president urged students Tuesday to push for a purge of liberal and secular university teachers, another sign of his determination to strengthen Islamic fundamentalism in the country.
With his call echoing the rhetoric of the nation's 1979 Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejad appears determined to remake Iran by reviving the fundamentalist goals pursued under the republic's late founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran still has strong moderate factions, and since taking office a year ago Ahmadinejad has moved to replace pragmatic veterans in the government and diplomatic corps with former military commanders and inexperienced religious hard-liners. His administration also has launched crackdowns on independent journalists, Web sites and bloggers.
Speaking to a group of students Tuesday, Ahmadinejad called on them to pressure his administration to keep driving out moderate instructors, a process that began earlier this year.
Dozens of liberal university professors and teachers were sent into retirement this year after Ahmadinejad's administration, sparking strong protests from students, named the first cleric to head Tehran University.
The country's oldest institution of higher education remains home to dozens more professors and instructors who outspokenly oppose policies that restrict freedom of expression.
"Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a meeting with students.
The president complained that reforms in the country's universities were difficult to accomplish and that the educational system had been affected by secularism for the last 150 years. But, he added: "Such a change has begun."
It was not clear if Ahmadinejad intended to take immediate specific measures, or if he was just urging the students to rally.
Ahmadinejad, in his role as head of the country's Council of Cultural Revolution, would have the authority to make such changes himself. But his comments seemed designed to encourage hard-line students to begin a pressure campaign on their own, thus putting a squeeze on universities.
"This is the beginning of a so-called cultural revolution. Ahmadinejad and his allies plan to sweep their opponents from the universities," said Saeed Al-e Agha, a Tehran University professor. "They want to rule the brains of youth there."
"Ahmadinejad wants to settle scores with the most important center of critics and opposition and close the door to any opponent before municipal elections in late November," said Kouhyar Goodarzi, a human rights activist. "But his move may prompt a new round of student unrest."
Liberal and secular professors teach at universities around the country, but they are a minority. Most are politically passive and do not identify with either the hard-liners or the liberal camp.
Public opinion is difficult to gauge because of a lack of independent opinion polls. But Ahmadinejad must tread carefully among various factions, and strong moderate voices remain.
Hard-liners increasingly control the top rungs of government but still encounter resistance from some members of the public. Moderates also remain in government. Even among conservatives, there are different goals and powerful political factions.
It remains unclear, for example, how tightly Ahmadinejad controls the government, or the exact nature of his relationship with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad surprised his conservative backers in April by deciding that women could attend soccer games, but Khamenei didn't agree and the supreme leader's view prevailed.
Shortly after the Iranian revolution, Iran fired hundreds of liberal and leftist university teachers and expelled many students.
It had a brief period of reform in the 1990s under then-President Mohammad Khatami, but hard-line factions cracked down then, too, especially on university students, dissidents and journalists.
"It's horrible. I did not expect at all that Ahmadinejad ... would try to deprive others of their jobs because of political differences," Reza, a university graduate who did not wish to be identified further for fear of retaliation, said of Ahmadinejad's statement Tuesday.
The president, who won election based on promises of economic reform, has sharpened the government's stance both on human rights issues and on its controversial nuclear program.
Iran ignored a U.N. demand to suspend uranium enrichment by the end of August, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful and not intended to make a bomb. Ahmadinejad also has accused the United States of imperialism and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Despite Western disgust with its confrontational positions, it seems unlikely that Iran will face tough U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program. Many European leaders have called for more negotiations, and Russia and China appear unwilling to endanger trade ties.
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Comments
What surprises me is that so many people continue to take odds with the term "Islamic facism". Everything this guy does only makes the phrase more and more viable.