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Protests, even vehement ones, should not be considered as political or security opposition. In other words, it is not decent that social demands be politicized or protesters' behavior be interpreted in terms of security.
Regarding Khorramshahr's protesters, though a little violent, no one can accuse the ones who have contributed most to Iran during the 1979 revolution and the Iraqi invasion of the country (1980-88) of being unkind to the Islamic Establishment or the Islamic Revolution or ignore their undeniable right to have access to basic facilities, including clean water.
One can analyze the protestors' grievance, or even anger, with tracking down the roots of public demands deep into the previous years and governments in order to prevent such events. What's worthy of attention is the necessity to rapidly solve the problem with devising and implementing relevant projects (in this case, water supply).
Slow progress, financial, managerial, and inspectional obstacles, which are seen in many social, economic, judicial, and constructive projects, can lead to damaging or even irreparable consequences. Therefore, through pathology, we can learn from such events and try to solve similar problems. Undoubtedly, most of the authorities, including managers, contractors, inspectional systems, etc. should be accountable and responsible try to solve the problems. Needless to say, coordination and synergy among sections and organizations and avoiding obstructions and blame games are very effective and decisive.
Countering such problems entails following two principles:
One, the existence of the problem should be openly accepted. Not only will any kind of justification and denial not help solve the problem, they will backfire and be considered as insult added to injury. The first condition to prevent problems and stop their spread is to accept and take them seriously. Two, blame game and pointing a finger at others are not good methods to deal with issues; it is not hard to find those truly or falsely accused of or responsible for the shortcomings, but it won't necessarily help to solve the problem.
When a problem arises, we can welcome it and, with accountability, synergy and collective cooperation, consider it as a chance of solving it; the first step to solve the problem id to inspect and recognize it precisely.
To solve a problem, we need not wait until it turns into a crisis; we can solve it through the necessary insight, acceptance of reality, inspection of the issue, prioritization and utilization all capacities. Of course, in a socially complicated situation, we need unanimity, synergy and mutual trust, especially among political elite and corresponding authorities. What's more, timely decisions and coordination between the authorities would be crucial.
To sum it up, forewarned is forearmed. The water issue in Khorramshahr is not the only one in Iran and the contractors and authority of water projects are not the only ones accountable. Our society is exposed to different problems, whose solutions need strong will and wit, and the necessary speed.
The story of Khorramshahr is the story of Iran: water, pollutants, drought, and the like are just a few of the problems whose efficient management needs national will, courage, insight, accountability and speed.
Preventing the problems are always less costly and bothersome; unarguably, any imperative task if not dealt with in timely manner, would be much more costly and bothersome to cope with and not as pleasing and rewarding.
* Zia Hashemi is the managing director of the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Translated by: Hossein Abolqasemi
Edited by: Javad Baqaeenejad
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