Iran International
Iran’s ministry of communications has backtracked, possibly temporarily, from a plan to provide unrestricted internet access to foreign visitors to encourage tourism.
In an interview Thursday with Miras-e Arya, a government-run news website dedicated to cultural heritage and tourism news, the communications minister, Isa Zare’i, said blocking of WhatsApp and Instagram in Iran has created “a little difficulty” for foreign tourists and that his ministry was planning to design special sim cards for them to use to be able to have better and easier access to such platforms.
Many on social media reacted angrily to the minister’s remarks and said the Iranian people had an equal right to have free access to social media platforms and websites that they wish to use.
“It’s true that a tourist, anywhere in the world, must be shown respect by the host country but it is racial discrimination and apartheid if special sim cards are provided to tourist to have specially tailored internet access when the people of that country are deprived of it,” one of the critics tweeted.
Another tweeter user pointed out that issuing such sim cards would encourage a black market.
In a statement Friday, the ministry said the reason for the plan was that foreigners visiting Iran for a short time must be allowed to connect with family and friends through their favored platforms, which are banned in Iran by law, and claimed Iranians are increasingly immigrating to unfiltered domestically-developed platforms.
The ministry went on to say there had been requests to provide limited-time tourist sim cards, which would expire when they leave the country, to provide them with access to certain filtered platforms to resolve their communications problems. “[Issuing] tourist sim cards is only a proposal and no decision has been taken about it yet,” the statement said.
The Twitter account of the government portal, PadDolat, has now removed the tweet which quoted the minister’s original remarks.
Iran has been censoring the internet and blocked most major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for years. Amid recent protests, Instagram, the only freely accessible application which millions including small businesses and farmers used to promote and sell their commodities, was also blocked.
Social media users in Iran have largely shunned domestically developed social media applications such as Wisgoon and Nazdika, designed to replace Instagram, and Rubika, a messaging application, for various reasons including their quality and lack of privacy.
Experts have warned that domestic apps are very vulnerable to government intrusion and there are serious safety and privacy concerns including the fear that security services could be able to spy on people through them.
For years, many in Iran have relied on VPNs and anti-filtering software to navigate through government censorship and blocked social media and websites. The use of VPNs surged drastically following the recent nationwide protests. Farhikhtegan newspaper recently reported that based on a survey, 42 percent of all Iranians regularly use Telegram, and 38 percent WhatsApp and Instagram. All these platforms are only accessible if users install anti-filtering software or VPNs on their phones and computers for which they need to pay subscription fees of up to 2 million rials (around $4) per month.
Former Communications Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari-Jahromi has estimated that the market for VPNs is worth around 160,000 billion rials a year.
Iran has also been struggling with the mass cancellation of previously planned visits to Iran since protest erupted across the country in September following the death in custody of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who was arrested for not wearing her hijab “properly”. In November, the head of the Hoteliers Association, Jamshid Hamzehzadeh, said as much as 85 percent of all tours to Iran had been cancelled.
Sparked by International Mother Language Day, February 21, some speakers of Iran’s many languages including Turki, Kurdish, Balochi and Arabic, are demanding access to education in their native languages.
Heated discussions have flooded social media, especially among the opposition, with allegations of separatism for the government's policy to enforce only Persian language education.
Proponents of education in mother language argue that teaching only in Persian is detrimental to the development of many children whose mother language is different. Some suggest it can cause psychological pressures on young children when they begin their education, hindering their progress.
In a paper presented to the Second Development and Educational Equality Conference in 2016, prominent economist Mohsen Renani said over 65 percent of the children who had to repeat the first and second years of school were from nine provinces where the first language is not Persian.
“By forcing education in Persian, we reduce the speed of mental and personal development of around half of the country’s population and deprive them of opportunities in favor of Persian-speaking children,” Renani wrote. In the absence of any official data, Renani estimated the total population of non-Persian speakers between 42 to 49 percent of all Iranians.
Article 15 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic recognizes Persian as the “official language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people.” However, it also recognizes the the use of “regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools.”
Some of the programs of the state broadcaster’s local stations are broadcast in other languages including Turki and Kurdish, Arabic and Gilaki but none of the many languages of Iran are allowed to be taught in schools, whether public or private, despite the Constitution. Learning classical Arabic, however, is compulsory after primary education on religious grounds.
Authorities often shut down cultural and literary societies formed to promote other languages and teachers such as Zahra Mohammadi, a Kurdish language teacher, are often prosecuted on charges of acting against national security. Mohammadi who was serving a five-year sentence was recently released from prison.
The regime is particularly strict about the teaching of languages that are spoken in peripheral areas of the country such as Kurdish and Turki and accuses those who promote these languages of separatism.
Restrictions do not only affect teaching of other languages and publication in those languages. Names can only be chosen from a list of approved Persian and Arabic (religious) names. Mahsa Amini, whose death in custody sparked the recent months of unrest, was named Jina by her family but her birth certificate had to be issued as Mahsa.
A survey by Gamaan Institute a year ago found that 85% of respondents considered Farsi (Persian) as the most appropriate official or common language for Iran and 65% agree that schools should teach native languages in addition to Farsi while 19% of respondents disapproved of this option. On the other hand, 61% disagreed with the statement “I prefer my child to receive higher education in their native language rather than in Farsi”, while 18% agreed.
The survey was carried out between February 17-27, 2022. Over 20,000 respondents over the age of 19 participated in this study. The final sample used in the report consisted of 16,850 Iranians living inside Iran.
Ahmad Mazani, who was also a lawmaker, likened one group of hardliners to the Islamic State militant group. However, he said that both hardliner factions are reactionaries.
Speaking at the congress of the pro-reform Mardomsalari (Democracy) Party, on Thursday, Mazani said one of the two poles consists of political dwarves. He was presumably referring to the Raisi administration. Also, in an apparent reference to ultraconservatives who challenge the government from within, he called one faction an ISIS-like pole that has deprived Iranians from their right to run "an ordinary life".
Meanwhile, in an interview with the website of Iranian Sociologists’ Association, prominent academic Mohammad Fazeli said that the current situation in Iran is marked by people’s deep distrust of the government.
Fazeli argued that "in the absence of trust in the government people do not have any long-term plans. In an economy with a double-digit inflation rate and under economic sanctions, political pressures, and the government's intervention in the citizen's private lives, those who have the financial resources will not invest in a factory. They will instead purchase gold and foreign currencies for short-term profit."
Opportunism and short-term planning will become a characteristic of a society in which the people do not trust the government. Such a situation does not leave too many choices for citizens, he said. “
“When the house is on fire, you have only two choices, jumping out of the window or taking the fire exit to make it to safety," he said, adding that "In a society under pressure you cannot expect individuals to consider a series of options. Even if there are really some other options, people tend to choose the ones that help them save themselves as soon as possible."
Asked if Iran's future is going to be as horrible as some analysts portray, Fazeli said, "I cannot say for sure, but I can only say it can well end up that way. We have seen other countries in similar situations in the Middle East, the Balkans and Africa. Whether the same thing will happen in Iran depends on other factors," but did not elaborate.
Fazeli said, "The Iranian state television, for instance, has said that as a media outlet that has to convey the government's messages, it has been losing audience during the past years. This is an example of loss of social capital. So, the state television in Iran is no longer a media outlet for the people of Iran. It is a radio and television organization that broadcasts to a small group of people and likes to convince them, not the nation as a whole."
He added, "I believe the only thing on the Iranian state television that is meant for everyone is football. Because it lacks any ideological content and advertisers are happy to pay for commercials." Fazeli added that state TV officials have deliberately decided not to run a television station for all the people.
In the current Iranian crisis, there are also elements who advocate destruction, the sociologist maintained. They believe nothing will be made right before everything goes wrong. In fact, in a situation marked by distrust anything goes.
The academic reiterated that lost social trust cannot be restored easily. "The government needs to take the first step for confidence building by engaging in symbolic acts. It should offer gestures to the society that indicate there is a will in the government to make things right."