BEING MODERN IN IRAN.

BEING MODERN IN IRAN By Fariba Adelkhah Published by C. Hurst & Go Ltd ISBN 1-85065-518-9 Price 14.95 [pounds sterling] paperback ISBN 1-85065-516-2 Price 35.00 [pounds sterling] hardback

In May 1997 Iran's voters astonished the world and maybe astonished themselves even more by electing Mohammed Khatami as president by a comfortable majority. The right-wing candidate Ali-Akbar Nategh Nuri, speaker of Iran's parliament, was generally thought certain to win this regular political event. Yet the candidate who had appeared as an outsider and had only declared himself at a late stage won hands down, thanks to massive and cheerful mobilisation of his supporters, including women, young people and even children who at times gave the election a carnival atmosphere. Some months later, similar scenes of joy were observed all over Iran to celebrate the national football team's qualification for the World Cup. When the players, on their return to Teheran, were taken by helicopter to the Azadi (Freedom) stadium, even women broke through security cordons to take part in the ecstatic welcome for the heroes of the hour.

These were certainly disturbing mass reactions for the authorities, who did not necessarily like to see such popular mobilisation, alien to their ideas and to their experience. Disturbing, also, for most observers, who had been quick to describe the system as authoritarian or totalitarian, their vision being obscured by the analysis of real or supposed power relations among the various factions; they were used to noting points scored by the leader of the Revolution, All Khamenei, or the outgoing President of the Republic, Hashemi Rafsanjani, in what was seen as an implacable rivalry. Anyone who reminded people that the Islamic Republic of Iran had more to it than a simple system of control and repression, that they had to deal (however unwillingly) with a real human society, was until recently accused of showing reprehensible tolerance towards religious fanaticism, and providing moral support for a hateful regime.

The high turnout in the last presidential election and the enthusiasm of the citizen-soccer-fans brought fully to light processes that had been discernible for several years, even if it was not always thought a good idea to take account of them. There bas been, for a start, the creation of a real public space, if not a civil society. Evidence of this can be found in the rationalising and bureaucratising of more and more features of daily life; the craze for sport among all categories of people; modernisation of the religious sphere; development of private enterprise; the birth of urban culture; social activism among women; the stress on individual autonomy, and respect for legal and other regulations. This book is an original, informative and challenging study of modernity in Iran.