On August 29th, in a commemorative ceremony, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wearing a beige jacket, addressed hundreds of managers and ordinary employees of Iran's state-owned enterprises, saying that the wage gap between managers and ordinary employees in Iran is too large, and measures should be taken to narrow the gap.
Ahmadinejad's civilian revolution
In his speech, he repeatedly stressed that "always with the people" is a precious legacy left by Iranian martyrs. In fact, on August 3, when Ahmadinejad made his first speech as the president of the world's second largest oil-rich country, he particularly emphasized that the office of Iranian government staff should not hang his photo, but only the photos of Iran's supreme leader Khomeini and Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad, 49, became the first Iranian president with a non-religious background in 24 years. He has a diploma as a municipal engineer, not a diploma from any religious school.
Ahmadinejad's election surprised many people. What caused these analysts with senior political experience to miscalculate in the Iranian election? Evan Abraha Mien, a professor of Iranian history at Baru University, who wrote The Axis of Evil Out of Nothing, said: "If you want to understand Iranian politics, you must understand the class problem in Iran, but this problem has been hidden for many years."
1979 during the Iranian revolution, class and the gap between the rich and the poor were an open issue. However, in the recent Iranian general election, class issues were overshadowed by other issues such as cultural issues and lifestyle issues. In this election, Ahmadinejad explicitly raised this issue again, which caused great repercussions among the Iranian people.
Like his contemporaries, the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War deeply influenced Ahmadinejad. During the Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad was a member of the "radical student" organization, and later participated in the Iran-Iraq war and became an officer of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Before taking office as president, Ahmadinejad's only political experience was mainly managing some local affairs. He used to be the governor of Ardabil province in the northwest and the mayor of Tehran, and had no experience in participating in national politics. However, his simple style as the mayor of Tehran, his words and deeds of resolutely cracking down on corruption, and the slogan of "reflecting Iran's oil revenue at the dinner table of every ordinary person" have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
At the same time, he restored the confidence of Iranians to re-revolution. Ahmadinejad has his own views on the Iranian revolution of 1979: "Our revolution is not for democracy." "People think that returning to revolutionary values is just a matter of wearing a headscarf. The real problem in this country is employment and housing, not what to wear. " Regarding Ahmadinejad's words and deeds, some western media even commented that Ahmadinejad brought Iran back to the early era of the Islamic revolution. The British "Guardian" believes that Ahmadinejad's words and deeds began with the powerful religious forces behind him.
The campaign in Washington
"The relationship with the United States cannot be a good medicine to cure our own diseases." This sentence when Ahmadinejad talked about the relationship between the United States and Iran before the election was repeatedly quoted by western media. Although in the general election, other candidates indicated that they would repair relations with the United States, Ahmadinejad was the only candidate who did not indicate that he would repair relations with the United States. He said: "Our country will continue to advance on the principle of self-respect and self-improvement. In this process of development, we have no special need to develop relations with the United States. We will focus on developing relations with all countries that are not hostile to us. "
On August 3rd, the same day that Ahmadinejad came to power, an international crisis group, a non-governmental research institution in Brussels, Belgium, published a report on Iran. After analyzing Ahmadinejad's words and deeds before and after the election, the report pointed out: "Ahmadinejad's appointment as president marks the increasing consolidation of Iran's conservative forces, which is a new challenge for other countries in the world. According to his remarks, past performance and the team around him, Ahmadinejad seems to have let Iran go back to the initial era of the Iranian revolution, more ideological, not pragmatic and more anti-American. "
According to the final report, Ahmadinejad is likely to "aggravate the tension with the United States" because he "despises the need to improve relations with Washington". "In the diplomatic field, Ahmadinejad's approach will be more conflict and confrontation, which is unacceptable to his western audience."
In fact, just as the Iranian election results were announced, US Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld accepted an interview with Fox News Channel. He said in an interview: "Now I don't know much about this person (Ahmadinejad). He is very young. I have read some background information about him, but I know that he is by no means a supporter of democratic politics. He is not the guardian of freedom. He is a very supportive man of the current Mullah. These mullahs are always pointing fingers at people's lives. I think this is over. "
Both US President Bush's criticism of Iran's undemocratic elections and Rumsfeld's disdain for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have aroused strong anti-American sentiment in Iran. As an Iranian parliamentarian said, "We really should thank Bush. What he said before the election was illegal, but it actually helped us a lot. Many Iranians later went to the polling station to vote against the United States. "
Iranian revolutionary spirit
"Young people and women will soon find that he (Ahmadinejad) and those mullahs are unacceptable." This is Rumsfeld's expectation for Ahmadinejad after he took office. But less than a month after taking office, Ahmadinejad's first important move was to help young people solve housing and marriage problems.
On August 30th, Iranian Vice President Rahbar announced that Iran will set up a "Love Fund" with a huge sum of US$ 654.38+0.3 billion from oil revenue to solve the employment, marriage and housing problems of Iranian young people. Rahbar said: "The' Love Fund' is a new slogan to implement the government's' putting oil revenue on the people's table'."
For Iran, a country where the proportion of young people under 30 is as high as 70%, it is of unusual significance to solve the housing and marriage problems of young people. After the Islamic Revolution, there was a baby boom in Iran. These post-80s young Iranians are facing high unemployment and soaring housing prices in big cities. In Tehran, a government civil servant earns an average of $220 a month, while renting a small apartment costs at least $300 a month. Therefore, many Iranian young people have repeatedly postponed their marriage because they have no money to get married, which has become an increasingly serious social problem in Iran.
Obviously, some American scholars are full of confidence in Ahmadinejad's invincible elite value orientation when they look at him. Patrick klausen, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in an interview with the website of Cover magazine on July 29th: "Ahmadinejad's simple-minded populism can't solve the Iranian issue at all. He blames inflation on price fraud by businessmen, and he is hostile to foreign investment that can create jobs. His policy is outdated "Third World Doctrine". But many low-level Iranians are attracted by his policies because they need economic growth very much. So I think Ahmadinejad is likely to have a honeymoon-after all, he is honest and simple, unlike some corrupt' old revolutions' in Iran. But after that, people will only be disappointed, especially when many people in his camp are involved in personal corruption. His two predecessors, Khatami and Rafsanjani, both experienced the same process of declining support rate. "
However, Ahmadinejad, a civilian, also has his confidence. When talking about financial issues, his view is: "Now, private banks have not played any positive or constructive role in the economy, but have played a destructive role." When talking about the oil problem, his point of view is: "I will cut off the black hand of those in power who tightly control our oil, and I will defend this with my life." The value of Iran's oil should be reflected on the table of every ordinary person. "
When talking about joining the WTO, his view is: "It will take Iran at least three years to join the WTO. We need time, and we need to protect our national industry. " In fact, Ahmadinejad's above views can be condensed into his recent statement: "I want to push Iran's revolutionary spirit to the world to eliminate global injustice."
In mid-September, Ahmadinejad will go to the United States to attend the UN General Assembly, when he will put forward Iran's new proposal on nuclear negotiations. By then, can American scholars read from that civilian face how destructive the Iranian revolutionary spirit is to the American "Greater Middle East Democracy Plan"? Can they read the real expectations of ordinary Iranians for their country from Ahmadinejad's face?