Iran’s Organized Reformers

President Mohammed Khatami allowed radicalism to tank the reform movement, argues cleric Mehdi Karrubi.

Hasan Sarbakhshin / AP

Karrubi: 'The age of haphazard reformist activism is over'

By Maziar Bahari | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Mar 7, 2008 | Updated: 3:58 p.m. ET Mar 7, 2008

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Mehdi Karrubi sees himself as the Al Gore of Iran. According to the cleric, vote rigging cost him the 1995 presidential race against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Karrubi is leader of the National Trust Party, founded after his 2005 defeat, and was a speaker of Iran's parliament, or Majlis. Even though he is a reformist he believes that President Mohammed Khatami allowed radicalism to tank the reform movement. In his first interview with the foreign press, Karrubi, 69, talked with NEWSWEEK's Maziar Bahari about next week's parliamentary elections. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: A few days ago the headline of your party's newspaper was "Karrubi Is Worried." Why were you worried?
Mehdi Karrubi: A large number of very good people who could be Majlis candidates were disqualified [by the Council of Guardians and the Ministry of Interior]. Nonetheless, we have lobbied high-ranking officials and different parts of the government, and the situation has improved.

So you are not worried anymore?
I'm worried, but less.

When the Guardians can veto bills, what gain is even a powerful Majlis minority?
The Council of Guardians has a responsibility to make sure that the Majlis bills are in accordance with the teachings of Islam. Of course, at times we have suffered from a narrow-minded approach, but they are not as narrow-minded as some people think. And you can solve most problems by lobbying with the members of the Council and other high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic.

Is democracy in Iran only possible within the constraints of traditional methods, like lobbying and backroom negotiations?
Democracy means different things in different societies. We don't have the same situation as in Germany. There are people, like me, who know where they live and how to adapt democracy to their own country. There are others who, as soon as they have an opportunity, start abusing this freedom. Like those people who ridicule religion as soon as they can. These people give an excuse to the reactionaries, who make an all-out assault against anyone who talks about democracy.

What are your main criticisms of the reformist movement during Khatami's era?
The most important of all was their destructionist approach. They questioned the Islamic component of the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic is a government chosen by people in a country where the majority of people are Muslim. On the other hand, these days there are people who are questioning the Republic aspect of our system of government and don't respect people's votes.

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Posted By: mynicename @ 03/10/2008 2:12:53 AM

Political stability is more important than political freedom. Chese success is based on its political stability. Uncontrolled democracy is not for a country like Iran that can not curb the influence of foreigners in an open democracy which does not and should not exist even in Western countries. The masses of people have realistic concerns and the westernised elite who knows what they want. One thing for sure they never been able to ocnnect to masses and have no choice but a dcitatorship to get what they want. Karrubi's comments seems to be realistic, accurate, and match the reality of Iran.
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Posted By: mynicename @ 03/10/2008 2:06:53 AM

It is a naive approach to ask for a democracy without some control in a country like Iran. Can't a foreign country invest $1 billion and put some of her people in power? Political stability is more important than a shaky democracy. case in point is China which increased its per capita income by 400% in less than 20 years. The masses of people want to solve their real problems and the westernized elites are fater who know what and never could connect to people and always has been wrong in analysing the enternal situation. Iranians want blodd less costless improvement and not another revolution. I found Karrubi's positions are realistic and accurate.
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Posted By: Khaschayar @ 03/09/2008 10:19:34 AM

If Iranian don't want to endure further social, economic and political disaster managed by this religious terror regime, they should boycott the participation in the forthcoming sham parliament election and demand UNO simultaneously to annul it.
This election is like another elections staged bye this Mullah regime is illegal because all the pro-democratic candidates, who could have represented the Interests of Iranian people, have been laid up and filtrated from election. In such circumstance is the staging of this parliament election like an offence against the right of Iranian people to participate in a free election. The only way to overcome this nightmare and to end this terror rule Iranian have to ask UNO to manage a free election in form of a referendum for determination of political system in the future in Iran.