Word: reforms
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...signs, balloons. He speaks to thousands, delivering the scrupulously worded message of moderate change that has made him a hero to many--and a terrifying figure to the hard-liners who have dominated Iran's politics since the death of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. Khatami's struggle to reform Iran is proving a dangerous task. One of the President's closest friends is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, nearly assassinated by hard-liners. Dozens of other supporters are in jail or heading there. Iran's hard-liners have sent a chilling message that they...
...weeks ago, the most freely elected parliament in Iranian history took up its duties in a marble-sided edifice in downtown Tehran. In the biggest boost for reform since Khatami's victory in 1997, Iranians in February ousted conservatives and handed Khatami control of the 290-seat Majlis-e Shura. The mullah count in this new, moderate parliament is down from 53 to 33. And among the deputies taking their seats were an actor-politician in Western blue jeans and women M.P.s, daringly dressed in head scarves rather than chadors...
...serve the Islamic government by giving people the right to choose it--a concept that is dangerously revolutionary to hard-liners who believe in imposing it by diktat. Outside Iran, especially in Washington, diplomats speculate that Khatami may be unable to convince the hard-liners that reform is really necessary, and American officials grimly point to Khatami's meetings with supporters of terrorism as a sign that he may not be as moderate as some hope...
Over tea at the horseshoe-shaped table in the party's conference room, Mirdamadi sketches out the reform dream for Iran. One of the first goals, he explains, will be to loosen press restrictions, thus enabling the reform newspapers and magazines that were first muzzled in April to begin publishing again. This is more than just a battle for civil rights: reopening the dissident press will help keep the reform movement--and its leaders--alive. The Participation Front is also hoping to open Iran's opaque judicial system with a bill that will give conservative judges less leeway to lock...
...then, will lead the country toward the economic and social reform it so badly needs? Crushed by inflation and 16% unemployment, Iranians are losing patience. At Tehran University two weeks ago, thousands held a pro-democracy demonstration, chanting angry slogans against hard-line mullahs while holding pictures of jailed Iranian journalists. If anything, the convening of a reform parliament puts more pressure on Khatami to satisfy the yearning for change. "We understand he is trying to fill a huge pool with an eyedropper," says Tehran secretary Rezvan Nayeri, 34. "But there is no more room for excuses." Some students...