Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Being Silent

I have been silent too long. No excuse for that. So here we go.
Iranian year of 1388 is coming to an end. It was the most eventful year and you need not me to recount. However there is a chance that amidst the political stories the tale of economy was unheard.
The Iranian government is set, and undeterred, to go ahead with liberalization. There are many arguments for it and there are some against, well more against. Some say the critiques are more urban oriented, since they benefit more from subsidization and the rural "majority" are silent. These attribute the silence of rural population to their lack of representation and access to internet.
Although there is some truth to this argument, the word "majority" is a vague one and the definitions of rural and urban are not the same for everyone. Really would a town in rainy north of Iran is as rural as a city in the far south corner of Khorasan, close to Afghanistan border?
The truth is government is set to reduce its obligations. It has reduced the tariffs on car imports, leaving domestic producers vulnerable.
Would it be true to say, this government wishing to accomplish something, anything, spectacular is doing the one thing no other Iranian government would have dared? The future will answer that.

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