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Mohammad Khatami, Iran's moderate president, surrounded by supporters on election day. Khatami's election in 1997 marked the beginning of democratic reform inside Iran. (AP/Wide World Photos) |
Khatami: The Harbinger of Change - A new president carries
the reform banner
The first inklings of change inside the Islamic Republic appeared
in May 1997, when Mohammad Khatami, a reform-minded candidate,
was elected president in a surprising landslide victory. Khatami
was a new kind of politician, a moderate cleric representing
the popular demand for greater democratic freedom. His campaign
became a voice for women, university students and young people.
The 20 million votes he received, representing 70 percent of
the electorate, signaled that Iranians were ready for change.
The aftermath of Khatami's election was an era of social and
political liberalization. Reform-minded politicians became more
outspoken in their demands for social freedom, denouncing the
constrictive nature of Islamic politics and law. Dozens of reformist
newspapers emerged, exposing the oppression and corruption of
the clerical establishment. Khatami, for his part, appointed
a woman to be one of his vice presidents. These changes represented
a marked break from the conservative agenda of the ruling clerics.
Most important, Khatami's presidency laid the groundwork for
the emerging opposition movement. University students and other
young people, many of them women, began appearing by the thousands
on the streets of Tehran to call for more open reforms. These
dissidents were fiercely loyal to Khatami. They viewed themselves
as the projection of his voice on the street while relying on
him to bring about democratic change from within the government.
Khatami's presidency bitterly divided reformists from the
conservative forces -- among them, clerics, the police, academics
and politicians -- that controlled most of the instruments of
government. These conservatives unleashed a campaign to halt
the advance of reform. One of their first strikes was directed
at the emerging vanguard of reform politics: the university
students.
NEXT: The Student Uprising
PREVIOUS: The Modern Past
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