Adam Ahmadinejad

“Its possible and we can do it”! For someone who has believed in that and swept to power riding on it, it does not surprise me on the latest dikkat from the President of Iran.
However, what surprises me and the rest of the world is, how an engineer from a renowned university in Tehran and someone who has been a professor, does not understand the science of population and still live in and impose his medieval thoughts?

Most of us here in this part of the world, are aware, and have grown up listening to concepts of “Population Explosion” and its effects on the economy. We also understand that ~ 6 Billion is greater than what this planet can cope and that the natural resources are fast depleting. When we look at the concept of over population, we understand that, the region where this has impacted, there has been environmental degradation.

While it has been debated enough, as to if and whether population has an impact on the economy, renowned scientists belonging to the United Nations have proved with their tons of reports that it does. So, I leave that as out of scope of this topic.

I wonder how the president came to the conclusion that Iran can support till 120 million people - almost double its current population. It probably does not need a scientist to get into these statistics, but even a 6th grader (the qualification of a lot of women in the Majlis, who have just been selected due to their proficiency in religious matters) can tell about the delimiting impacts that population explosion can have on the economy and people at large.
When the amount of land and the resources is not going to increase - given that Iran is the 3rd largest exporter of Oil in the world and that 80% of its annual budget comes from oil, a natural resource – I wonder if the president has stuck some gold mine in his backyard using which he is going to make soup for the poor and feed them (a good policy as a run up in his presidential elections, but 120 Million, you must be kidding me!).

President Ahmadinejad, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander (for those who can recall the American Embassy siege of 1979) who has come to power after kissing the hands of Iran’s supreme leader, is unabashedly conservative in his approach.
Let it be separating the lifts for men and women in Tehran or asking the people to “go forth and multiply”, he still seems to be having a medieval mindset.
As a person, I had to admire this David when he took on the George and defended Iran’s nuclear capabilities. He also won another round of applause around the world for having spoken his mind on Mike Wallace’s 60 MINUTES, but Mr. President, with great regret; the world today looks down upon you for having said what you have on population and women to please the right wing conservatives.

More demeaning than his ill-considered views on population, are the ones he has on women. A staunch believer that the “main mission” of women is raising children, he has spoke about limiting the number of hours that they can work.

When women across the world are making great strides in almost all fields and all the progressive religions are encouraging them do so, it is retrograde for the president to believe that all they have to do is to raise children. This only shows the medieval approach of the president and his loyalty to Ayatollah Khomeini’s views.

The women's newspaper, Payam-e Hajar (The Message of Hajar), under direct government order justifies the Islamic family laws (polygamy and women's lack of rights with regard to custody of their children and marriage contracts) by referring to the highly praised status of women as mothers in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
So, if you are a woman, remember that as per the Sharia, you have to raise children and wear a hijab and the punishment for not adhering to it is 74 lashes.

Let the world be prepared not to see any more Shirin Ebadi and Jamileh Kadivar. Let us also be prepared not to see 57.2 as the percentage of women being admitted in the universities of Iran. The reason being, they have a mission on hand, of raising children.

I conclude by stating that it is a pity to see the women of Islamic Republic of Iran in hejab (pun intended) when the eves in the rest of the world are progressing. Probably, only a Mahdaviat can save them.