What is the relationship between the intensification of revelations from within the Islamic Republic's government and the collapse of government forces and the suppression of livelihood protests?
The disclosure of an audio file of a conversation between high-ranking officials of the Revolutionary Guards about the dimensions of economic corruption in this powerful governmental institution once again drew attention to the inefficiency of the country's ruling apparatus and, of course, angered public opinion.
Why has the disclosure of such a document gained special importance and attracted more attention in the current conditions of Iranian society? Why have the disclosures become more and more frequent at a time when the government has no solution to overcome the current situation? Is the frequency and variety of disclosures related to the collapse of forces close to the government and the oppressors at various levels of power? What was the reaction of the government and the media organizations close to the government to this disclosure, and what does this reaction indicate? The intensification of livelihood problems among different strata of society has caused anger caused by inefficiency and widespread financial corruption in the upper echelons of the government to flow more than ever in public opinion, and they consider the indifference of legislative and judicial authorities to be an insult to human dignity. On the other hand, it can also be emphasized that this form of government's confrontation with the livelihood problems and sufferings of citizens and the further exposure of corruption and inefficiency have led to many stories of the collapse of repressive forces.
From the revelations of the oppressors to rampant corruption at the top of power
روند افشای برخی اسناد و تصاویر مربوط به نهادهای امنیتی و نزدیک به راس حاکمیت، از دستگاه قضایی گرفته تا سپاه پاسداران، در ماههای اخیر شتابی کم سابقه داشته است. از طرفی حضور تعدادی از نیروهای نظامی و سرکوبگر در دادگاه بینالمللی مردمی آبان و افشاگریهای آنان درباره سرکوب اعتراضات مردمی، افکار عمومی را در مواجههای تازه با حاکمیت قرار داده است. مواجههای که بر پایه این روایتهای افشاگرانه و همچنین تجربه زیسته این روزهای جامعه ایران که از هر طرف تحت تبعیض و سرکوب قرار دارد، بنا شده و شاید بتوان گفت بیش از هرچیز خشم افکار عمومی را برانگیخته و باعث شده تا یقین جامعه به ناکارآمدی و فساد گسترده در حاکمیت بیشتر شود و معدود پلهای شکننده اعتماد میان جامعه و حاکمیت رو به نابودی بگذارد. نگاهی به دو افشاگری اخیر یعنی نوار صوتیجلسه گفتگوی مقامات اقتصادی وقت سپاه پاسداران و متن جلسه گفتگوی مقامات نهادهای امنیتی و اطلاعاتی کشور در قرارگاه ثارالله سپاه با محوریت اعتراضات مردمی، نشان میدهد که رویکرد حاکمیت نسبت به اعتراضات معیشتی اقشار مختلف جامعه چیست و چگونه تبعیضی فراگیر و همهجانبه علیه عموم مردم حاصل میشود. روز پنجشنبه ۲۱ بهمن (۱۰ فوریه) یک فایل صوتی حدودا ۵۰ دقیقهای در رادیو فردا منتشر شد که بیشتر آن شامل گفتوگوی محمدعلی جعفری، فرمانده وقت کل سپاه پاسداران و صادق ذوالقدرنیا، معاون سابق اقتصادی و سازندگی سپاه پاسداران در سال ۱۳۹۷ درباره فساد گسترده مربوط به بنیاد تعاون سپاه، نیروی قدس سپاه و شهرداری تهران است. در این فایل صوتی به نقش پررنگ محمدباقر قالیباف، شهردار وقت تهران و رئیس کنونی مجلس شورای اسلامی، قاسم سلیمانی، فرمانده سابق نیروی قدس سپاه، جمالالدین آبرومند، معاون وقت هماهنگکننده سپاه و حسین طائب، مسئول اطلاعات سپاه، در فسادهای گسترده اشاره میشود. رقمهای مورد اشاره در این مورد، از فساد گسترده اقتصادی در بالاترین سطوح سپاه پاسداران چیزی معادل دو میلیارد دلار به ارزش سال ۹۷ خورشیدی است. دسترسی مقامات ارشد سپاه به منابع مالی و سرمایههای هنگفت و واکنش منفعلانه آنها به هدر رفت این منابع و سرمایهها به روشنی نشان میدهد که آنچه مقامات ارشد قدرت و ثروت در صددش هستند افزودن به ثروتهاییست که از سرکوب روزافزون معیشتی بر جامعه تحمیل میشود. از طرفی میتوان گفت نقش پر رنگ مقامات ارشد نظامی و امنیتی مملکت در فسادهای کلان اقتصادی، ارتباطی مستقیم با سرکوب اعتراضات معیشتی مردم دارد. نیمه دوم دهه ۹۰ خورشیدی، شاهد بیشترین و گستردهترین اعتراضات مردمی در سراسر ایران بودهایم. اعتراضاتی که در بیشتر موارد با یک پاسخ همیشگی از سوی حاکمیت روبرو بود؛ سرکوب خشن. اوج این سرکوبها در آبان خونین ۹۸ شکل گرفت که به گفته رویترز در جریان این سرکوب بیسابقه در ایران ۱۵۰۰ نفر به دست نیروهای نظامی و امنیتی جمهوری اسلامی ایران کشته شدند. نگاهی به تعداد و تنوع اعتراضات معیشتی اقشار مختلف جامعه از کارگران و معلمان و بازنشستگان گرفته تا کشاورزان و دامداران در سالهای پایانی دهه ۹۰ خورشیدی، علیرغم شیوع گسترده کرونا در ایران از اواخر سال ۹۸، نشان میدهد که مقامات ارشد حاکمیت و تصمیمگیرندگان اصلی توزیع ثروت و بهرهگیری از منابع اقتصادی، نه تنها هیچ نگاهی به سرنوشت و آینده شهروندان نداشتند، بلکه بنا به سیاست و سیاقی مافیایی سعی در لاپوشانی فسادهای گسترده اقتصادی و سرکوب هدفمند اعتراضات و اعتصابات مردمی داشتند.
Not long ago, a confidential document was published regarding discussions between security and military officials at the IRGC’s Sarallah headquarters, in which officials acknowledged that the number of livelihood protests had increased significantly in 1400. In the leaked transcript of the meeting of the “Working Group for the Prevention of Basic Livelihood Security Crises,” Colonel Kaviani, a representative of the Intelligence and Public Security Police of the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NAJA), presented a report on predictions about protests in the final four months of 1400, saying that “gatherings in 1400 increased by 48 percent compared to 1399, and the number of demonstrators increased by 98 percent.”
What emerges from juxtaposing these two documents helps, more than anything else, to explain the systematic process of livelihood repression. Repression that has always been applied in different ways and at different times to different segments of society so that those with power and wealth can continue to pursue profit-seeking and economic opportunism with ease.
Meanwhile, the holding of the November International People's Court and the presence of some repressive forces showed another side of the revelations of forces close to the government; during the holding of this court, some members of the main repressive forces in the November 2019 protests and judicial officials, without introducing their names or positions, gave detailed descriptions of the methods used to suppress the protesters.
The disclosure of the audio file related to economic corruption in the Revolutionary Guard Corps came during the days when the streets of many cities in the country witnessed protests by social security retirees who held protest rallies across Iran after a call was issued. It could be said that the semantic connection between the retirees' protests, which is unprecedented in the history of Iranian protests, and the widespread economic corruption of the mafia institutions of power and wealth, indicates that the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran easily trample on "human dignity" to advance their goals.
The government's repetitive narrative about dealing with corruption and ignoring reality
A few days after the audio recording of a conversation between IRGC officials about widespread corruption in various layers of this powerful institution in Iran was leaked, pro-government media outlets such as Kayhan newspaper claimed that there was nothing wrong with the officials’ discussions at the meeting. Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, wrote on Monday, February 15, that “in this audio recording, the other party to the conversation, Sardar Jafari (former IRGC commander), presents a report to the IRGC commander about an abuse and financial corruption that had occurred in one of the IRGC’s front companies… and Sardar Jafari, the then IRGC commander, after listening to the report and ensuring its accuracy, immediately orders the dismissal of Sharifi – the abuser – and introduces him to the judicial system.”
The IRGC officials’ account of the incident ultimately relies on the claim that the judicial system is investigating and dealing with the violators. On Monday, February 15, IRGC spokesman Ramadan Sharif claimed that: “For the past 5 years, the IRGC’s supervisory agencies, in line with their current methods and continuous monitoring, have suspected a phenomenon of mismanagement and violations in one of the companies affiliated with the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, and after a thorough and professional investigation, the case was referred to the courts, and the judiciary, in cooperation with the IRGC, issued sentences for the violators, who are currently serving their sentences.”
The Fars News Agency, a media outlet close to the IRGC, also published a report on the same day, seeking to impose the narrative that Baqir Qalibaf and senior IRGC commanders such as Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari were individuals who played a key role in pursuing corruption cases and prosecuting the accused. This is while the tangible reality for the people is the continuous and permanent immunity of the main figures behind the scenes of macro-economic corruption; people such as Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf, the speaker of the parliament whose many decisions have a direct role in determining the livelihoods of the people.
After the unrealistic reactions of media close to the government intensified to impose an inverted narrative of the existing reality, journalist Masoud Kazemi wrote in a series of Twitter messages that "Mohammad Ali Jafari's son is one of the defendants in the corruption case at Sarmeh Bank, whose charges were never investigated."
Another point that is being revealed in the wake of the constant revelations of widespread economic corruption among senior government officials is the government officials' efforts to prevent transparency. The efforts of media outlets close to the government are proceeding in exactly the same manner, and even in response to documents such as the audio file related to corruption in the IRGC, they are trying to eliminate the existing reality, namely the prominent role of senior government officials in rampant corruption.
It can be said that the intensification of such revelations has a significant relationship with the decline of government forces. A few days after the disclosure of the audio file related to the widespread corruption of the Revolutionary Guards, Vahid Ashtari, a media activist and former member of the government, took to Twitter to examine the issues in the Fars News Agency report and the authorities' approach to dealing with this corruption, and highlighted the ambiguities in the report. For example, the Fars News Agency report does not provide any explanation as to why "the analysis of the intelligence of the IRGC and the protection of the IRGC in the violation were so different, and officially one was behind the violators and the other behind the accused."
There is no doubt that the disclosure of the audio file of senior IRGC officials about multi-billion dollar corruption is just one corner of the deep and widespread corruption of the power and wealth circles in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The powers that be, regardless of the increasing economic pressures on the people, were seeking new ways to suppress the demands and protesters.
A few days ago, Mohammad Habibi, spokesman for the Teachers' Union, announced that education officials had issued directives to create fear and panic among teachers and try to prevent them from attending rallies and sit-ins.
The main objection of the teachers is the non-implementation of the ranking plan. The implementation of the plan has been delayed for several years due to lack of financial resources. A look at the amounts announced in several cases of financial corruption in recent years shows that a small part of the amounts looted in widespread financial corruption have been the guarantee for solving many of the problems and livelihood woes of various segments of society, especially the budgets approved for projects such as the ranking of teachers or the equalization of pensioners' salaries. The disclosure of the details of widespread economic corruption and the widening class gap among groups in society is generating serious anger from a society that, according to the admission of security agencies, has reached a state of explosion.
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
