When a few hundred people gathered in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest and holiest city, very few thought that the Dec. 28th protest could result in a domino effect. With protests spreading and popping up in several cities around the country, President Hassan Rouhani and his band of elites who walk the corridor of powers have been losing sleep.
Iran is facing a wave of protests by customers of several bankrupt credit institutions who have lost their savings. Angry protesters gather in front of government buildings almost on daily basis demanding action against what they believe is large scale fraud and asking for redress. The anti-corruption and anti-government chants end up turning into anti-Islamic Republic slogans.
Initially, President Rouhani who was the target of the demonstration blamed the defeated presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi. Thanks to President Donald Trump who quickly took side and declared U.S. support for the protesters, Rouhani conveniently diverted the blames – the U.S. interference in sovereign Iran’s affairs is a good example of the evil planning to destroy Iran.
However, in the age of social media, it isn’t easy to put the blame squarely on America. Iranians, mostly ordinary people, are dissatisfied and angered with President Hassan Rouhani’s performance after he promised – but failed spectacularly – to fight corruption and bring about economic prosperity after Iran’s nuclear deal with Obama administration.
Besides, it’s not Trump’s fault that Iran’s Ministry of Cooperatives – without having enough qualification in the banking field – was empowered to issuing permits for credit institutions. It’s also not the U.S. fault that those mini banks (or simply cooperatives) go bust due to lack of proper supervision which in turn led to widespread corruption in the cooperatives.
Like it or not, the buck stops at the Iranian government for allowing credit institutions to operate outside banking rules for more than two decades. The incompetent Rouhani regime and the sloppy Central Bank would take the easy way out by labelling the cooperatives as illegal only “after they became bankrupt”. But should the people be blamed for losing their money?
Obviously, unlike other scams, the people of Iranian do not even know which institutions are licensed to operate as proper banks. This is the real reason why people who lost their money due to investment in the so-called “illegal financial institutions” protest on daily basis in different Iranian cities. But there’s one group of people who has worsened the situation for President Rouhani.
The Rich Kids of Tehran has essentially added fuel to the fire of protesters when the twitter account of the rich kids of the elite in Iran has spoken in support of President Rouhani. Last month, the Iranian president submitted a US$337 billion dollar draft budget to the countries parliament – calling on the government to publish the amount it spends on every institution.
However, the budget also cuts a cash transfer program for the low-income families, a move which quickly turned the otherwise peaceful rally into deadly protest against the entire political class. The working-class demonstrators set fire to government buildings and chanted both “Death to Rouhani” and “Death to the dictator.”
While the lower classes suffer, the ruling establishment and their families spend lavishly as the elite group receives money from government allocation without transparency and accountability, giving birth to widespread corruption. None of the banks involved in the cooperatives which subsequently goes belly-up were punished, let alone corrupt officials.
What the ordinary Iranians could see on the popular “Rich Kids of Tehran” Instagram were young kids of Iranian elite showing off US$1,000 Hermes sandals and luxury cars as they were partying all day long. The sight of the privileged elite’s daughters in bikini rubbing shoulders freely with the opposite sex, something which is forbidden in Islam, has only added salt to the injury.
Besides Heineken and Jack Daniel as their best friend, the lifestyle of the rich kids of Tehran also included toys such as designer watches, cleavage, sports cars, Louis Vuitton bags, loads of cash and whatnot. As the offspring of the country’s ruling class, the untouchable kids continue to flaunt their luxury and break every single law forbidden by Islamic Law.
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January 7th, 2018 by financetwitter
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Intriguing.
If this lot were just allowed freedom to interact with the world, Iran would likely become the same as any normal country.