Is fixing the economic system or igniting the flames of unrest?

“As time passes, instead of fading away, some memories from the past occupy a more vivid and lively place in our minds. Perhaps this sentence is from a book.”

Understanding an ending.

“Julian Barnes’ work may be the most fitting definition for what the people of Iran are currently experiencing; a people who have survived war and tasted the bitter economy of rationing, only to have their rulers, after more than thirty years since the end of the war, once again impose a modernized version of rationing upon them without any tangible war to justify it. According to government officials, the “reform of subsidies” is underway and they intend to provide bread, medicine, and gasoline to the people through a coupon system and electronic cards, which are essentially a modernized version of rationing. This so-called “reform of subsidies” is taking place while various organizations and institutions have not yet reached a consensus, and executive managers are contradicting each other in their statements. However, unified inflation has engulfed the market and the prices of medicine and bread have sharply increased in recent weeks. Earlier, members of parliament had predicted that from the beginning of this year, the prices of

“History takes shape in moments when memory lapses and weak documentation puts hand in hand. The one who is currently wearing the presidential robe has worked in various positions in the judiciary during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. He has placed today’s economy of Iran on the same track that it was on thirty years ago: coupons; experiences that the young generation faces in its reconstruction with flaws in its memory. On May 9th, 1401, Ebrahim Raisi, in a television program, talked about the details of implementing the plan to reform the country’s subsidies: “For one to three months, when the infrastructure is provided, the first three deciles of society will receive approximately 400,000 tomans each, and the fourth to ninth deciles will also receive 300,000 tomans each in subsidies.” He emphasized that all members of society will benefit from subsidized bread and medicine. These statements come while earlier, Hossein Ali Shahriari, the head

Removing subsidies from the government’s perspective, “mass murder” from the people’s perspective.

“One of the differences between youth and old age is that when we are young, we invent various futures for ourselves, and when we grow old, we have various pasts for others.” This sentence is from the book.

Understanding an ending.

It is a historical irony that the statesmen of the Islamic Republic have ruled the country for over forty years. These days, as they are no longer young, they are busy inventing the past. For example, the President talks about subsidizing medicine and bread for all members of society, while according to the Health and Treatment Commission of the Parliament, only ninety out of around four thousand available medicines have returned to the market at the price of last year’s September. The situation becomes more complicated when we realize that many of these medicines are not covered by insurance, but by order of the President, all medicines are subject to price increases. The head of the Health and Treatment Commission had previously announced that more than half of the medicines, including those for diabetic patients, are not covered by insurance and people must obtain them freely. On the other hand, statistics show that by the end of 2021, between six to eight million people in the country were without any health insurance, and the Parliament has

“What we ultimately remember is not necessarily what we see with our own eyes.” The comparison of this situation to a “mass murder” was complicated after the announcement of the removal of the preferred currency for drugs on social media; the inflation that occurred in Bahman month last year due to the ceiling of approved drug currency. Mohammad Abdohzadeh, chairman of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Human Drug Industries, had told IRNA at the time: “Since late Bahman 1400, the Central Bank has not given any preferred currency to drugs and medical equipment. The total amount was about two billion dollars, which had all been paid by late Bahman; therefore, the Central Bank stopped paying for drugs and medical equipment after the approved currency ceiling was reached.” As a result, on February 5, 2022, the removal of preferred currency for drugs and medical equipment was conditionally approved by the parliament. MPs at the time announced that they would agree to this plan

Book.

Understanding an ending.

This sentence concludes with: “Talking about accumulation. Talking about responsibility and beyond that, talking about unrest, a great unrest.” Our current situation is not very different from these short sentences. Bread and medicine are two essential needs of every human society; livelihood and health. Now these two basic needs have caused recent unrest; unrest that no one takes responsibility for and people who are left wandering between the parliament, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the presidency, and the Food and Drug Administration. However, the judiciary has also come to the field to support the government’s plan and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary, has announced that at the request of the government, they have increased the powers of the disciplinary organization and the government is planning to provide new budget and resources for this organization, but what causes great unrest is the uncertainty of the situation of foreign nationals in the approval of such plans. There is no mention of the plan to reform the system