Just last Year at this time...

Just a year ago Ahmadinejad elected for the office in a very controversial election. Since then, civil society activists are experiencing a different situation. Ahmadinejad’s agenda was based on economy improvement for poor people. But during the last year, his focus has been on foreign policy. He chose an aggressive tone against the international community, talked about things that have never been a priority among Iranians. Things like dening holocaust or wiping off Israel from the map. I was talking with a friend of mine in Tehran, a middle class family, about living in post-khatami period. “Omid, you can not even imagine how inflation is affecting the daily life.” He said, “We are loosing increasingly our ability life in such a expensive city.” Officials say the inflation is just %15, but economists believe the real number is double. Even the extra money of oil income hasn’t changed the people’s daily life. Life is getting hard and harder for ordinary people while government is just repeat its promises to change. But is there any hope for real change in a short-term period? The perspective of economic change is not bright.

On behalf of social and political atmosphere, we can just look at the reaction to the social campaigns and protest. They can not listen to the “other’s voice. Anyway, after such a long time that I haven’t written anything on my blog, I have many things to say, but perhaps next post…

This is my piece on Iranian women protest on June 12 on IPS:

BERKELEY, California, Jun 11 (IPS) - On Monday, Iranian
women activists will again demonstrate in Tehran to demand changes in the
oppressive laws that are written into the country's constitution. They are being
supported by five Nobel Peace Prize winners: Shirin Ebadi of Iran, Jody Williams
from the United States, Betty Williams from Ireland, Wangari Maathai of Kenya,
and Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala. "We, the undersigned, would like to express
our support for Iranian women in their continued struggle to gain equal rights
under the civil and penal codes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Specifically,
we support Iranian women in their peaceful protest scheduled for June 12, 2006,"
said the letter from the "Nobel Women's Initiative".