GROUPS THAT SUPPORTED ALI
AKBAR NATEQ NURI
IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
OF 1997
| Jame'eh-ye
Ruhaniyat-e Mobarez
(Association of Militant Clergy) |
Faction of hard line conservative traditionalist clerics. The conservative
traditionalists favor a market economy, are hard-liners on foreign policy
and ultra-conservative on cultural policy. This group closely supports
Iran's Supreme Leader and Juriscunsultant, Ali Khamenei, and advocates
an absolutist interpretation of the Velayat-e Faqih doctrine that
ultimate decision making authority belongs to the Vali Faqih, or
Chief Jurisconsultant, whose knowledge of God's will is believed to exceed
that of other citizens. The Jame'eh-ye Ruhaniyat-e Mobarez
was the main organization supporting the candidacy of Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri
in the Iranian presidential elections of May 23, 1997. One of the main
newspapers supporting this faction is the daily Resalat. |
| Ansar-e Hezbollah |
A loose organization of radical conservative elements, whose political
methods are similar to those of Mussolini's fascists. Members of
the Ansar-e Hezbollah have carried out physical assaults on liberal
intellectuals and political figures and have ransacked headquarters of
liberal publications. Members of this organization act as enforcers for
the ultra-conservative traditionalists. In November 1997, the group
led an an assault on the offices of Salam, the main newspaper supporting
President Khatami. Their violent actions have occasionally been criticized
by some of the conservative clerics. |
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GROUPS THAT SUPPORTED MOHAMMAD
KHATAMI
IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
OF 1997
| Majma'-e
Ruhaniyun-e Mobarez
(Assembly of Militant Clerics)
|
This group is made up of clergymen associated with the left of the
Islamic political spectrum. The Ruhaniyune Mobarez organization
takes a more flexible position on cultural matters than the conservative
faction. and has been calling for greater political freedom and the strengthening
of "civil society." Members of this group support government measures
to create employment, social assistance for the poor, and continuing state
intervention in the economy. Members of this group have recently supported
Khatami's finance minister's budget balancing austerity effort. Previously
members of this group were associated with radical anti-U.S. positions
in foreign policy, but some have moderated their positions in recent months
showing openness to a dialogue with the West. The Majma'-e Ruhaniyun-e
Mobarez supported Khatami in the recent presidential elections. |
| Khat-e Emami
(Line of the Imam Faction) |
Individuals of this orientation are loosely associated in what is known
as the Khat-e Emami or Line-of-the-Imam faction. Representatives
of this group were ardent supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini in the early
years of the revolution. Prominent representatives of this group are former
members of the student organization by this name which, in fall of 1979,
organized the assault on the United States Embassy in Tehran and the seizure
of Embassy personnel as hostages. Members of organizations with this political
orientation hold views in many ways similar to those of the Majma'-e
Ruhaniyun-e Mobarez, are considered part of the left wing of the Islamic
political spectrum in Iran, and supported Mohammad Khatami's presidential
candidacy. |
| Sazman-e Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e
Eslami
(Organization of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution) |
This organization was created in 1979, shortly after the revolution,
from small Islamic guerrilla organizations, several of whose leaders had
formerly been Marxists. The political ideology of members of this group
today is similar to that of the Khat-e Emami groups. Recently representatives
of this group and their student supporters have launched the bi-weekly
newspaper Asr-e Ma. One of the leading figures behind Asr-e
Ma is Behzad Nabavi, one of the founders of the Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e
Eslami, who acted as chief negotiator for Iran during the discussions
with US officials over the the fate of the American hostages and who also
served as Minister of Heavy Industry. Behzad Nabavi and some of his younger
student supporters have recently written articles in which they try to
reconcile the Velayat-e Faqih or guardianship of the supreme jurisprudent
with popular sovereignty in political decision making. The Sazman-e
Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e Eslami supported Khatami's presidential candidacy. |
| Kargozaran-e Sazandegi
(Servants of Construction) |
A faction of technocratic supporters of former president Hashemi Rasfanjani.
Members of this group favor market economic reforms, a relatively liberal
cultural policy and an improvement in relations with western countries
in order to break Iran's economic isolation. This group was formed by several
leading Rafsanjanites at the time of the elections to the 5th Majles in
1996. Among the prominent members of this group are Gholam Hossein Karbaschi,
the popular mayor of Tehran and Mohsen Nurbakhsh the governor of the National
Bank of Iran.
|
| Student Groups and
Publications Supporting Political Reform |
In recent months a variety of student organizations have become revitalized
and active demanding greater political freedom and the strengthening of
civil society, a theme which was very much present in Khatami's presidential
campaign. Some members of these student organizations have recently advocated
limits on the power of the Supreme Leader, an end to domination of political
discourse by the conservative clerical faction, and improved relations
with the west. The most important reform oriented student ortanization
whose members have adocated such views is is the Union of Islamic University
Associations. Members of this group launched the publication Payam-e
Daneshju, which was banned by the conservative judicial authorities.
One of the most outspoken leaders of the new student movement is Heshmatollah
Tabarzadi a radical turned democrat, who is president of the Union of Islamic
University Associations and also editor of Payam-e Daneshju. The
views of the students who publish Payam-e Daneshju are in many ways
similar to those of Iranian dissident scholar Abdul Karim Sorush, who has
argued that Islam and democracy are compatible and has called for
an end to the clergy's near monopoly on political power. Another nation-wide
university organization is the Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (Office
for Strengthening of Unity) which has close relations with the Khat-e
Emami groups and the Mojahedin-e Enqelab-e Eslami. The views
of this group of students and academics are often represented in the newspaper
Asr-e Ma. Members of this group, while supporting Khatami's call
for greater political freedom, are less outspoken than those close to Tabarzadi
on the need to limit the powers of the Supreme Leader. Members of
the pro-Khatami pro-reform student organizations played a major role in
mobililzing voters for Khatami in the presidential elections.
In addition to the organizations which support democratizing political
reform, there are organizations which support the Supreme Leader and an
absolutist interpretation of the Velayat-e Faqih doctrine. Over
the past year members of the reformist student organizations have been
physically assaulted by members of Hezbollahi youth organizations. |
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