A smile won and a frown lost
Well, well. Iran in yesterday’s elections chose a moderate, who wishes to embrace the world, build peace, and who rejects outright extremism. In other words, Iran voted for the opposite of Trump. What an interesting world we live in! Moderate Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, won a decisive second term against a decidedly extremist and intolerant candidate, Ebrahim Raisi. It is my sincerest wish that Rouhani winning a second term will be a turning point for Iran. What is of great joy is that huge numbers of Iranians came out to vote, and in Tehran the number of voters was double that of the last election. Even the executive branch in Iran has limited powers; it was the only area in which the hardliners did not control. It is of course also the only area in which the people have somewhat of a true say in matters. Never the less, the people have spoken and hopefully this will lead to a more open and free society!  During Rouhani’s first term many of his promises went unfulfilled. However, he answered this best by saying, “ I have accomplished what I promised when I could, and in many cases, I could not. In other words, he was admitting to his limited powers, and we can only hope this election win will strengthen his credibility within Iranian politics. I must remind Westerners that as a moderate, he spoke up and made direct accusations towards the torture and oppression, jailings and killings by Ebrahim Raisi. In Iran, no matter how high the status of an individual, it is always a risk to be so direct in exposing and opposing the hardliners. This is a fine line that always has to be balanced. If you doubt me just look at Egypt. Changes must be made in small steps so that the extremists can not make excuses to simply annul democracy ad seize back power!
May 19, 2017 was a great day for Iran, for Persia and for Hafez! It is with great irony that when Iran has made such a progressive choice, Donald Trump has chosen to visit Saudi Arabia and provide such an extremist kingdom with even more weapons. If only Persian poets could rule the world! Below are a few beautiful images from Iran!   
8 Comments
Harif
5/20/2017 11:32:18 pm
I am very happy with Rouhani, over the past years I have often been so incredibly angry with the way the western world responded to everything that came out of Iran, so suspicious, so blind and coloured by what was fed by the media. Hopefully this will change.
Aliena
5/21/2017 12:49:30 am
I am happy how things turned out, the photos with this blog are so nice too. Found this link on chat, thanks.
Jan
5/21/2017 03:22:03 pm
What excellent news Arthur let's hope it is a turning point and President Hassan Rouhani will bring about change:-) hugs Jan xx
Jersey
5/21/2017 04:42:31 pm
This is positive news. Thank you for shedding light on this with your blog and magnificent pictorial. I believe most in the west don't even know what happens outside their own backyard and blogs such as yours she'd a little light to what is otherwise dark.
Johnny
5/21/2017 09:33:08 pm
What excellent news Arthur! The pictures are nice with this blog. Thankd for sharing
Tim
5/21/2017 10:10:59 pm
What a great blog. Was out of the loop for a few days. What great news.
Fred
5/24/2017 10:10:02 am
Indeed, if only poets would rule the world.... Leave a Reply. |
Arthur Vaso
Hi there, the blog has been running for almost a year, and as you can see I try to keep up a few posts a month. More about poetry and fellow poets, but also about current events, social issues as well as art and music. I look forward to any suggestions from readers and fellow poets! Archives
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