Source: Financial Times
Fatemeh is a 46-year-old "commander" of hundreds of Iranian women who voluntarily serve the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force, in a poor satellite town near Tehran.<\/p>\n
Operating as part of the Basij Resistance Force – the eyes and ears of the Islamic republic – she attended a rally this week ahead of tomorrow's parliamentary poll in support of the main fundamentalist coalition, which embraces supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the president.<\/p>\n
"It is our religious duty to back the government and not let the country fall into the hands of aliens," says Fatemeh, who lost two brothers in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.<\/p>\n
With 12.5m members located in 70,000 bases in government organisations, mosques and universities, the Basij – meaning mobilisation – has a ready-made network that functions quickly and efficiently, a crucial asset in a country where effective political parties are absent.<\/p>\n
Iran's constitution prohibits all military forces from interfering in politics but the support of Basij members was seen as crucial in -getting Mr Ahmadi-Nejad through the first round of voting in the 2005 presidential election, which he went on to win. Tomorrow's poll is seen by many as a guide to Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's continuing popularity ahead of next year's presidential election.<\/p>\n
Fatemeh says she and 800 women under her command, all dressed head-to-toe in black Islamic cover, encourage people to participate in elections as individuals and not as members of the Basij because of the block on -military forces' involvement in politics.<\/p>\n
The core land, naval and air forces of the Revolutionary Guard – all functioning separately from the conventional army – stand at 125,000. Recent comments by Mohammad-Ali Jafari, the Guard's commander, that his forces "have to value and support the fundamentalist trend", created a political uproar that forced him to clarify his comments.<\/p>\n
Mr Jafari, who took overall control of the Guards in September, has prioritised dealing with "domestic threats" over even the possibility of military action against Iran's nuclear programme. He has pushed for a "structural reform" to further highlight the role of Basij, including expanding it to 20m members.<\/p>\n
Reformists have alleged that the Guards have violated the law governing impartiality and accused fundamentalists of enjoying the support of "garrison parties" which make any fair competition impossible.<\/p>\n
Fatemeh says they never tell ordinary people "to vote for Ms X or Mr Y, unless people ask for advice, in which case we help their understanding".<\/p>\n
But she admits that, "after doing research on candidates and consulting clerics, we hand out leaflets in nearby villages introducing fundamentalists".<\/p>\n
"We tell people that as they like to buy the best -carpets, food or clothes, they need to seek advice on the best candidates," says Fatemeh, who hopes the fundamentalists will retain their majority in the parliament after the election.<\/p>\n
"Our concern is, first, political, including the threats from the US, then economic, because people need to live comfortably, and then religious."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Source: Financial TimesFatemeh is a 46-year-old “commander” of hundreds of Iranian women who voluntarily serve the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force, in a poor satellite town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-4943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-regime","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n