Will the backlash against the student protests also spur a backlash against the reformist policies of President Khatami?
We have seen not only a backlash against students, but also the conservatives and hard-liners using the opportunity of a mass rally to show their muscle and to bring their own supporters out into the streets in an attempt to squash the student movement. The student demonstrations have been attacked as having been infiltrated by foreign agents, outsiders and troublemakers. This will continue to be the theme from the right wing. As far as Khatami’s natural constituency is suppressed, this affects the standing and freedom to maneuver of the president himself. What do the week’s events tell us about Khatami’s leadership? Khatami has always hoped that the democratization process and building of a civil society could take place peacefully. I don’t think he’s temperamentally inclined to pursue his goals through street confrontation. On this occasion, like the hard-liners, Khatami was startled by the severity of the clashes. Sixty-five percent of the population was born after the revolution. H
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