Extremists are at work
Extremists are at work, and it’s necessary to remind a few points to the honorable representative of Tehran and associate professor of philosophy at the Mesbah-Yazdi Institute. Nabavian likely refers to the appointment of the government spokesperson, which has been under coordinated attack by well-known users of social media, Kayhan newspaper, and some extremist political figures since the news of this responsibility being assigned to her was released.
The excuse for the attack is that Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a speech during the elections that as a mother, she would not allow another Mehrshad Shahidi to fall to the ground. We won’t allow even a bit of authoritarianism to fill our streets with the blood of young people. The Tehran representative must clarify what is wrong with this statement and similar comments. Who wants another Mehrshad Shahidi to fall to the ground? In fact, who wants blood to be shed during a protest? This type of comment stems from a mindset that prefers to erase the problem and only seeks validation from politicians, analysts, journalists, and society.
Previously, there was also a discussion about the executive assistant of the medical staff, questioning why in 2022 they talked about the eye injuries of protesters. Issuing a blanket statement of chaos or sedition for a series of events like those that occurred in Iran in 2022 closes the path to proper analysis. By issuing these judgments, neither the background and accumulated discontent exist, nor has any mistake occurred.
Everything that happens is a scenario. While a wave of protests is forming within the country, sometimes due to a long-standing erroneous law, the 2022 protests following Mahsa, protests against a critical situation, the water protests in Khuzestan in 2020, the sudden implementation of a fateful decision like the gasoline price hike in 2019, or the countless unanswered questions and ambiguities of the 2009 events. Is every protest that occurs in our country a foreign scenario? If so, we should read the country’s obituary because the adversary manages to disrupt this country every few years.
In this mindset, when an analysis is to be made, like what we read these days in Kayhan and its satellites, or when well-known users on Twitter start a wave, they talk about Arman Aliverdi and Rouhollah Ajamian but remain silent about the Zahedan shooting, and the Kayhan writer allows himself to deny eye injuries.
Even now, when they want to mention Mahsa Amini or analyze an issue, they use words that conceal a kind of resentment. The mindset from which Mr. Nabavian comes does not believe that the roots of protest exist in Iran, and to make it easy on themselves and erase the problem, they issue a blanket statement of chaos to end the matter, using this statement as a benchmark to measure others’ alignment with their criteria.
Another aspect of Seyed Mahmoud Nabavian’s remarks is the warnings that were raised after the results of the fourteenth elections were announced. The possibility of creating a crisis so far seems that the medical staff intends to make amends for some past wrong actions under the strategy of national unity, such as the expulsion of professors and students. It is still unclear whether he has made agreements to solve the hijab issue and to end police confrontations in governance or not. The issue of de-escalating foreign policy is also on the table.
Any of these matters is enough for Mr. Nabavian’s ideological current to feel that the revolution has deviated from its path and something must be done. The honeymoon of the government will soon end, and as before, the extensive organization of the broadcasting corporation, several news agencies, at least two newspapers, and Friday prayer platforms across the country, especially in Mashhad, are expected to revert to pre-2020 settings unless the course has truly changed, in which case returning to factory settings is not ruled out but will be less intense. Because in any case, someone like the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad considers himself quite independent. We should see where the first point of confrontation between the extremists and the fourteenth government will be. Remember December 2017.
