Can Khatami break the shackles?
By Kesava Menon TEHERAN, FEB. 20. Omar Khayyam might have appreciated the international media’s understanding of the desire for change that the people of Iran expressed in voting for a reform-minded parliament. Telecasters have so often dwelt on the themes of “verse, wine and love” that audiences outside Iran might wonder whether the election was akin to a Khayyamesque revolution. People reply to the questions they are asked and the electronic media’s job is to punch in the message as tersely as it can. The danger, of course, is that the fundamental elements of the phenomenon that has just occurred in Iran is obscured by the sound bytes. The “wine, music and love” part of the Iranians’ search for a better life is really not that much of a problem. With a little care and the right connections, these ingredients for a good life are accessible. The procedures for procuring a bottle of wine or meeting a mate can be irksome but they are not impossible. In the earlier period of heightene
