On 5/12/07, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
from SLATE: >The Wall Street Journal reports that Iranian hardliners
are currently battling to rid their country of ... Western-style
neckties.<
it's about time they've chosen a good cause.
The WSJ claims that it's new (at
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117892880341600648.html>), but this
is a periodically recurring culture conflict in Iran, fitfully revived
by the police, which answers to The Leader:
<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010819/ai_n13919133/print>
Chicago Sun-Times, Aug 19, 2001
Clamping down on Tehran 'decadence' Hard-liners target T-shirts, ties
Ali Akbar Dareini
TEHRAN, Iran--Police in the capital have issued an order forbidding
restaurants from serving women wearing makeup, stores from selling
T-shirts emblazoned with movie stars, and men from going to work in
neckties--a symbol of Western decadence.
The order was the latest measure by the hard-line judiciary to crack
down on so-called social vices in a campaign that reformists say aims
to undermine President Mohammad Khatami's efforts to ease Islamic
regulations on public dress and behavior.
The police are under the direction of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, who also appoints the head of the judiciary.
The orders were issued late Friday and carried Saturday by the
official Islamic Republic News Agency. A similar order was issued by
police in the holy city of Qom, IRNA reported. Reformists insisted the
rules had no legal basis.
Reaction in Tehran's streets was mixed.
--
Yoshie
