Iran’s state-run website Youngsociologists.com: “This (people’s) frustration is very worrying and is a serious warning to the managers, the government and the management and political system of the country, for which they must find a fundamental solution.” (Youngsociologists.com)
The concept of the public trust relates to the origins of democratic governments, while Iran’s government is far from such an idea. The seminal idea that within the public lies true power and future of a society. Therefore, whatever trust the public places in its officials must be respected.
But in Iran public trust has no role to play and does not matter. Because the key person of the country which is the supreme leader Ali Khamenei is not elected by the people at all. And he being the spiritual leader has both the political and religious power in his hands and therefore, in his view he has no obligation to be responsible in front of the people.
In all political and economic relations, the reason that bribery is regarded as a notorious evil is that it contributes to a culture of political corruption in which the public trust is eroded. But in Iran this is the main tool within the government’s officials to gain their private benefits.
The other issues related to political corruption or betrayal of public trust are lobbying, special interest groups and the public cartel. And again, in Iran where the country is controlled and led by different mafia groups and interests, this does not make any sense either.
Therefore, speaking about public trust in Iran is wrong altogether. There is no public trust, and the people accept everything because of the violent repression.
Now before the presidential election in Iran, many officials, affiliated social, political, and economic experts, and the media are speaking and in the search of the public trust which by their own expressions was lost a long time ago and is getting worse by the day.
To restate this claim, below are parts of an article about this subject published by the state-run website Shafa online, on May 5, 2021, entitled ‘From November 2019 to the vaccination of 2021’.
“In the last four years and at the time of the corona outbreak, the gap in social trust has reached its highest level in the last forty years, which is not hidden from anyone.
“In simpler terms, social trust is the cause of the emergence of social capital. Social trust is one of the major and key conditions for the ownership of any society.
“So that if social trust at the community level is eliminated, then economic, social and political developments will disappear.
“For example, whenever the legitimacy and acceptance of people to government institutions and organizations is lost, for any reason, we will definitely see a reduction in social trust.
“The decrease in social capital in our country is not unreasonable, from the sudden announcement of gasoline prices in November 2019 contrary to the promises of the officials, then the story of secrecy in the case of the crash of a Ukrainian plane.
“Then the coronavirus further exacerbated this secrecy, or we should say lack of transparency, in the official announcement of the coronavirus arrival in Iran after the parliamentary elections, the discrepancy between the death statistics of the Ministry of Health and provincial officials, and more recently the vaccination and the corruption around it by the officials, which have deepened the social divide in the country.”
Fearing the consequences of the people’s non-participation in the upcoming election, it added: “Undoubtedly, with the loss of social trust, we will surely see the loss of popular participation, which in itself can have negative effects on society, as we will soon have the biggest event and elections in the last four years, and this gap must be filled as soon as possible.”
Then expressing the most feared concern of the regime which are protests and uprisings, it added: “Decreased social trust can lead to the loss of social discipline.” (Shafa Online, May 5, 2021)
Source » irannewsupdate