ME said:
Thank you for trying to be objective. However, majority of Iranians are below upper-middle class and the uppermidle class was always doing well anyhow. you probably had little contact with the poor, minorities, villagers, ethnic people....
I want you to know that if you believe that IRI or Ahamdinejad are popular with 'upper middle class" Iranians, but that the less affluent are the ones who don't like things, you have got things in reverse.
The most striking thing about the time I have been in Iran has been the total disconnect between those complaining the most on the one hand, and those who have the most to complain about but don't on the other hand. The former are generally the source of most of the rumors, gripes, gossips, and complaints against the regime. The latter have, with some exceptions to be sure, been the most supportive of Ahamdinejad if not the entire regime.
I used to attribute this mostly to cultural alienation by Iran's upper middle class. That is certainly a part of the reason, but having encountered some folks who are absolutely without reason to complain but do constantly, I have had to revise some of my understanding of this phenomenon.
Basically, besides the old rich from the former era which I see quite often for family reasons, I have ran into some of Iran's new rich and upper middle class as well. And found most of them bitterly complaining as well. These are often semi educated people who don't even deserve the wealth they have. Many became
millionaires in Iran practically overnight, without any effort, merely by happenstance. For instance, because they owned some previously nearly worthless property in some town or village in the Caspian region, or near Tehran (such as in fasham area) that has now skyrocketed and made them rich.
When I heard them complaining, or when I hear some bazaari types complaining despite being rich and becoming richer since, I wonder what is going on? Especially since I have noticed how the truly average Iranian, as well as the less affluent, generally hold very different political views, typically far more supportive of things than these folks.
I think the answer is multi faceted.
Part of it is cultural alienation. I don't need to expand on that, except to say that Westernized Iranians obviously aren't going to be thrilled with a regime that has been (to varying degrees)
trying to fight 'Westernization'. (Whether it should have tried, or whether it has succeeded at all, is a different issue).
A big part is a simple fact: if you are well off, you have the luxury to compare yourself with your image of how someone in the west is living. Instead of worrying about how to make ends meet, you can worry about the kind of luxuries and social freedoms that are more restricted in Iran than elsewhere.
But another part is this: it has become a
right of passage as a member of the 'elite' to constantly gripe against the regime and show you don't like the mullahs. In other words, it is the 'chique' thing to do. And Iranians, and more so those who can't think for themselves, are pretty good at imitating and trying to do the 'chique' thing.
Otherwise, having traveled extensively in Iran, what striked me the most was how
developed many of our provinces and rural regions are becoming. Far more so than I had expected from a so-called
third world developing country like Iran. There are still many areas, especially in Baluchistan, in Khuzistan, in Kurdistan, left behind, but today's villager in Iran is nothing like the villager before! He is likely to have a tv set, a stereo if not the latest DVD player, a telphone, some of them even have cellphones! More and more of them have cars -- some better cars than many from the old middle class in Tehran!
And as they become richer,
but no sooner, they also join the army of people who complain here without knowing what they are complaining about in the first place. In the meantime, the majority are not nearly as unhappy or as opposed to the regime as you imagine. Not at all.
This picture, btw, is from Ahamdinejad's visit today to eastern Azerbaijan. It is a typical picture of the kind of reception he gets whereever he visits in Iran.
