Goftegu: Citizens and the Candidates – The Youth and the Provincial Council
The 39th public debate GOFTEGU of Armanshahr Foundation in the framework of the Face to Face meetings, entitled “Citizens and the Candidates – The Young and the Provincial Council”, was held at the Allameh Saljuki Hall of Herat on 9 August 2009. This was the third meeting of its kind that Armanshahr Foundation was holding in Herat.
During the meeting, eight young candidates standing for election to the Herat Provincial Council had been invited, all of whom stated their viewpoints and the plans they would implement if they were to be elected.
The speakers included: Mr. Ehsan Hajjizadeh, Ms. Monesseh Hassanzadeh, Mr. Seyyed Massoud Hosseini, Ms. Shahnaz Ghosi, Mr. Seyyed Vahid Ghatali, Ms. Fatemeh Jafari, Mr. Farhad Majidi, and Ms. Adila Haghmal. Mr. Hamid Saljuki, editor of the daily Salaam, was the moderator of the debate.
The meeting was attended by more than 300 people, half of them women. In the first part, the eight speakers made short speeches. The second part was a question and answer session.
Mr. Farhad Majidi, one of the candidates, pointing out that his goal was to achieve an ideal society where social justice would be established and based on one race, the human race, stated: “In my opinion, participation should take shape from the lowest levels of the society and move to the top levels. The educational units, as small communities, should enable the students to join the councils as a beginning to their participation in various areas.”
Ehsan Hajizadeh, another candidate, emphasising the need for attention to families of the martyrs, said: “Afghanistan is not in a position to solve all the problems yet. Therefore, I shall try to pursue the commitment that I and a team of young people made before the families of the martyrs, the Mujahedin and the hurt people of our country eight years ago. I shall endeavour to support the rights of those people who have been deprived of their minimum rights.”
Dividing the problems of Herat into the three political, economic and cultural categories and referring to the central government as a source of problems for Herat, Seyyed Massoud Hosseini addressed the economic problems: “The government has pursued a dual game in relation to Herat in regards to the economy. To give a simple example, when a businessman imports a commodity through Islam Ghaleh, he has to pay $4,000 as duties, but the same businessman would pay $1,000 if he imported it through the Nimrouz customs. The central government has tried to hand over the interests of Herat to other areas.”
One of the problems that has grown acute nowadays is the issue of ethnicity and tribalism in Herat. Ms. Fatemeh Jafari called this the greatest problem of Herat, saying: “The greatest problem is that we are moving more and more toward ethnicity and religiosity. Each ethnic group and clan in our society has one candidate in the Provincial Council. Also the essential criterion that should prevail is absent regarding the presidency. Elsewhere in the democratic countries of the world, it is important to elect the merited persons. For us however, ethnic, religious and lingual issues are important. They prevent us from electing the merited people. This could discredit Herat as the cradle of knowledge and culture.”
In the question and answer section, topics such as the status of the women in society, violence against women and urban development came up.
The record of Herat’s Provincial Council and what it had achieved for the young people in the past was also discussed. Ms. Shahnaz Ghosi, one of the candidates and a member of the outgoing Provincial Council, discussed the issue.
A large number of the intellectuals, civil society activists and students, media representatives from the Saaghi local TV station, Heri local TV station, Herat state TV, Kelid Radio, BBC Radio, daily Ettefagh Islam and daily Mandegar attended the meeting and Saaghi TV channel broadcast the whole meeting on two successive nights.
Invitation for 39th Goftegu Public Debate: Youth and the Provincial Councils
