Iran: August 19, 2004

Archives

moderate majority.

The Islamic conservatives are using it's majority in parliament (achieved via  religious control over who can run for office), to pass laws further restricting open discussion of un-Islamic matters (such as government corruption or economic and social reform). The police has stepped up arrests of young women caught in public with insufficient clothing. The parliament, now controlled by Islamic conservatives, is discussing passing a law mandating what women can wear. The legislators are talking about "national costumes" that women would have to wear in public. 

The Islamic conservatives believe that they can terrorize the population into submission to Islamic law and conservative social practices. This is generating more anger among the majority of younger Iranians, and brings the country closer to civil war. The Islamic conservatives don't seem to care, given that God is on their