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Iran votes for change
Undaunted by jail, dissident journalists have fueled the nation's hunger for reform.
By Flore de Preneuf
[02/22/00]

A California lawsuit makes Paris tremble
Did the toughest corporate raider in France play the stooge for a bank gone wrong?
By Mark Hunter
[02/22/00]

Follow the money
The pundits have it all wrong: Bush isn't the "big money" candidate, but just another grass-roots reformer like McCain.
By David Horowitz
[02/22/00]

The empire strikes back
As the boys on the bus wept in John McCain's lap Saturday, George W. Bush used an old-fashioned media strategy to secure his South Carolina victory.
By Sean Elder
[02/20/00]

"An avalanche is coming!"
As Iranians surge to the polls, a new generation of liberal reformers is expected to be swept into office. But it's not yet time to declare the mullahs powerless.
By Vivienne Walt
[02/18/00]

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"They" are the Council of Music, a unique creation of the 21-year-old Islamic Revolution, which requires written approval before any bar of music is played in public anywhere in Iran. Along with the Council of Poetry, which vets every word of every lyric written, it is housed within the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Culture. That department is charged with keeping Iran a pure Islamic country, by enforcing a mass of rules and regulations: which books people can read, what music they can hear, which foreigners they can talk to.

Iran, to be sure, is changing dramatically. Reformists won a landslide victory in Friday's parliamentary elections, thanks largely to the millions of Iranians who are far too young to remember the 1979 Islamic revolution.

By Wednesday, with two-thirds of the votes counted, the reformists had won more than 70 percent of the votes, capturing at least 141 of the 195 seats decided so far. Reports show reformers are leading for the 30 outstanding Tehran seats. The remaining 65 seats will be decided in run-offs for the 290-member parliament, or Majlis.

The immensely popular liberal President Muhammad Khatami, who swept into power nearly three years ago, promised to liberalize Iran and ease control by its hard-core Muslim clerics. The landslide victory this week was won by those who backed Khatami's reforms. Even veteran conservatives were kicked out -- in the traditionally conservative city of Mashhad not a single incumbent kept his seat.

About 60 percent of Iran is younger than 25. And while most have a deep attachment to Islam, the stunning vote suggests that they have had enough of the intense scrutiny and control over their lives.

In the days since the election, the new representatives have begun sketching out in interviews their vision for a new Iran. Among their priorities in the new parliament, they say, is to give youth some freedom to live life the way they want.

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For years, young Iranians have chipped away at the prying forces of the government, so that today, there are two pop cultures in the country: official and real.

Officially, Western movies are forbidden. But countless Iranians use a bootleg video-rental service, a huge network. Someone appears at the front door each week with a suitcase containing tapes of the latest Hollywood releases. Iranians in the United States shoot them from their theater seats using small hand-held cameras, then ship the tapes to Tehran, where they are copied in bulk. The sound is muffled and the picture jerks wildly in parts, according to several people I interviewed.

But being current is much more important than quality in a country where the government has spent years trying to seal people off from the corrupting West. "I bet we saw 'Titanic' before you did," one Tehran student boasted to me. "We see movies the week they come out."

Officially, Western rock music is banned, and everyone arriving in Iran is required to present CDs and tapes for inspection. In reality, countless CDs slip through, by mail or by hand, and are instantly copied.

At the hugely popular Iranian concerts held in the United States and Dubai every March to celebrate the Persian new year, performances by forbidden émigré singers are also taped. Within three days, the tapes are blasting from stereos and televisions in living rooms around Tehran, according to those I interviewed.

But the youth who helped oust scores of conservatives this week ought to hear Bahraini's tale of trying to produce a new rock album. It is a tale that demonstrates the religious bureaucracy governing culture is still a force to be reckoned with.

More than four months ago, Bahraini made a master recording of his latest find: a group of friends who had been jamming together in their Tehran home, with a guitar, synthesizer, saxophone and drum set. They had managed to create some fine rock songs, shot through with traditional Persian rhythms and Farsi-language harmonies. It was strikingly different from what was being played in Tehran.

Bahraini snapped up their tape for 8 million Rials -- about $1,000. It was great money for an obscure band that had played only a couple of concerts in the city's government cultural centers. Bahraini, whose Tannin Sote Records produces "new wave and new age" music, has made a name over the past few years for spotting big talent early on.

Then began the struggle. Following the law, Bahraini typed out all the lyrics and made a cassette tape of their music. He dropped the material off at the offices of the Council of Music and the Council of Poetry, and waited weeks for a response. The music council finally sent word: The offending instrument was the saxophone, whose sensual riffs sounded unsettlingly provocative. "They said it was the Western style of playing," said Bahraini, who spoke through an interpreter.

Next page | An official explains: "If the music makes you want to jump up and dance, it is not acceptable."