This may interest some more than others, but developments like this will shape our world over the next 20 years.
Iran (say it E-ron, not I-ran) has recently held their presidential elections with several candidates competing to be the new voice of the country. Once elected, the president has restrained power due to prominent religious leaders, but is indeed the highest ranking official elected by popular vote. Though the Ayatollah still holds a very strong and powerful position in society, Iran’s political institutions seem to be gaining strength, or rather, support for reform and change. With 66% of Iran’s population under 30 years old, and many of its current prominent leaders aging and waning, Iran is primed to be a dynamic and changing country. In the coming years, we could see the crumbling of a conservative and beligerant religious regime in favor of a power structure erected on popular voting and public discourse. All very exciting things.
Photo for an Iranian H&M catalogue? Actually, some of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's young supporters. See the Washington Post link below.
For a side of Iran that most American news sources refuse to show, head over to the Washington Post’s Big Picture series on the Iranian elections. Noteworthy is the contrast between photos #27 and 30. The young people in #27 particularly make me think of a few of my friends from Minneapolis.
For a more pointed and sarcastic look at the situation, head to the Media Hacker, a 21-year-old independent journalist and web developer from Texas. He recaps the last decade of American elections and compares it to Iran, without a real definite conclusion of who has a better process, but most importantly points out the failings of most Western media outlets to follow the aftermath of the election. Which is why he exists.
ansel said,
June 14, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hey Jonathan – thanks for the link. You’ve got a neat blog here, good luck with your studies. Very cool that you’re in Japan!
By the way, one thing I avoided doing in my post is calling Mousavi the “reformist candidate.” Certainly the media are describing him that way, but I haven’t seen much evidence that he represents a strong departure from the politics of Ahmadinejad.
sleepingjellyfish said,
June 14, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Ansel, thanks for checking it out!
Since I borrowed the picture from the WP’s BP page, I wanted to use the same caption and wording they did, which was reformist. I’ve now specified where the photo came from to hopefully clear up any confusion, but thanks for making your own clarification statement.
Thanks for visiting, and please keep up the great work you do.
Rod said,
June 16, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Is Japan watching the election controversy demonstrations like they are here?
Rod said,
June 20, 2009 at 11:02 am
What is your latest comentary on the recent events?
sleepingjellyfish said,
June 20, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Japan does not really have a direct stake in the Middle East, at least not in the same way America does. Part of the US-Japan Security Treaty, is that in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula, Japan would secure the oil shipping line from the Gulf through the Indian Ocean to South East Asia. In recent years, however, Japan’s crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia (biggest supplier) and Iran (increasingly important) have been surging.
Regardless, Japan does not cover the Iranian election much. Japan, although troubled, seems to be less troubled by the American financial crises than other developed nations, and thus with ample capital, has their oil futures secured. And in a pinch, there is always the option to beg Russia.
From my point of view, especially in light of the crapstorm that was the 2000 US presidential election, it is best for America, with Obama as its current face, to weather the storm. If Obama stays on course with his ambitions to offer diplomacy “regardless of who is elected” it will show impartiality, respect for sovereignty, and reassert that the protests and public movements that the Iranian election spawned were homegrown, and not a product of American intervention.
Iran is changing. The Middle East is changing. The world is changing. America is currently embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perpetual conflict rages in Palestine and Israel. Turkey is still seeking admittance to the EU. And although some would argue that these are centuries old conflicts, the most recent sparks were flared between the 1950s-1970s. Within a generation we could see a secular government, with an Islamic culture, prospering in the newly admitted EU state of Turkey. This would show acknowledgement of the West for the attention seeking Middle East. In accordance with a fully sovereign, Arab-democratic Iraq, these two nations would give example to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, for how secular government, Islam, and tribal/cultural/sectarian differences, rules, and governance can function together for the nation-state.
This is a very hot area. I don’t expect anything immediately practical to come out of the “fraudulent” Iranian elections. But like most things, it is the unforseen, indirect consequences that will make the biggest impacts, and for these I am most hopeful.
Iranian students were constantly circumnavigating their government blocks on social networking sites like Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and others. 1/6 of the world will soon be of Muslim faith. The rate of change in, and the amount of eyes watching and reading about the Middle East (and Korea) in the years to come will be unfathomable.