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Ural Hatemi |
Sociologist and political activist Ural Hatemi stated in an interview with Voice of America that political movements fighting against states like the Islamic Republic of Iran must engage in necessary activities and discussions to strengthen their intellectual foundations before revolutionary periods that stir society’s excitement.
According to him, since the Constitutional Revolution, the intellectual level of political movements in Iran has been declining:
“If we look at the history of popular movements and protests in the last century, we can easily see that populism has increased in protests and political activities against the government over time. In the Constitutional Revolution, we can't really talk about populism. In the movements that followed, again, there wasn’t much populism. That is, there was an intellectual foundation with well-thought-out and fundamental problems of society. Today, it is clearly evident that this has decreased.”
Ural Hatemi highlights that the central government seeks to undermine the intellectual foundations of political movements.
He says, “In my opinion, central governments have played a major role in the rise of populism from the Pahlavis to the Islamic Republic, and they have the primary responsibility. The more populism increases in protest movements, the more we risk jeopardizing the continuity of the movement... Political movements need to have intellectual thoughts and foundations. Central governments try to erode these intellectual foundations of the movements. In recent years, we can clearly see this.”
In the sociologist’s view, political movements must engage in necessary activities and discussions to strengthen their intellectual foundations before revolutionary periods that stir the society’s excitement.
“The ideal political movement, in my opinion, is one that does not get stuck in the excitement of those periods. Before those periods, there should be intellectual plans, programs, and discussions. Such movements can achieve more successful results in the long term. I think the Islamic Republic of Iran has taken this feature from many, though not all, political movements. That is, by over-politicizing everything, it has blocked intellectual discussions,” Ural Hatemi adds.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Ural Hatəmi: İranda mərkəzi hökumət siyasi hərəkatların intellektual təməllərini boşaltmaq istəyir