A number of members of the Iranian Academy of Arts (IAA) have criticized the
government's decision to change an article in the IAA charter. The Iranian
president is empowered to personally appoint the IAA director, based on the
modification in article 8 of the IAA charter, the government news website
Dolat recently announced, Mehr News Agency reported from Tehran.
| Source:
Mousavi's facebook
Ahmadinejad in an unprecedented act, as
the head of the Revolutionary Cultural Council, by issuing a new
memo changed the existing constitution of the Academy of Arts so
that it would lay the grounds for dismissing Mir Hossein Mousavi as
the president of the Academy.
According to this new amendment the
president of the Academy would be appointed directly by Ahmadinejad
even without any consultation with the members of the Academy!
During Khatami's administration it was approved that the president
of the Academy would be elected by the permanent members of
Academy's General Assembly and the president as the head of the
Revolutionary Cultural Court would approve the nominee as the
president of the Academy of Arts.
The new amendment was clearly issued
with the aim of dismissing Mir Hossein Mousavi as the president of
the Academy of Arts by Ahmadinejad.
Mir Hossein Mousavi has been elected
as the head of the Academy of Arts by the General Assembly for his
great performance since it was founded about ten years ago. Although
there are many speculations that Mousavi was going to resign as the
president of the Academy of Arts before the end of his current term
so that he would not need to get an "approval" (according to the old
amendment) from Ahmadinejad for the new term, but the latest act by
Ahmadinejad shows his desperation and determination in isolating Mir
Hossein Mousavi from the social and political scene of the country
even by entering politics into arts! |
read related news (in Persian) by
parlemannews.ir
According to the former article, the
director was selected by the IAA General Assembly from among three nominees.
"This is a critical situation and I don't what will happen to the IAA from now
on," actor and IAA member Mahmud Azizi told the Persian service of ISNA on
Saturday.
"The establishment of the IAA was one of the best events of our society... neither
friend nor foe can deny the achievements of this institution over the past
decade," he added.
Another member described the government's decision as illegal.
"Undoubtedly, many prominent IAA members would resign if a director is imposed
upon the academy and then it loses its international prestige as a consequence,"
painter Habib Ayatollahi said.
"We don't feel any sense of satisfaction that
culture is becoming political," filmmaker Majid Majidi said in a meeting at the
IAA on Thursday.
"The
independence of the IAA must be maintained and the government must not intervene
in the domestic affairs of the academy," he noted.
"We expected the government to inform us of its plan prior to making any
decision to make a change (in the IAA charter)," IAA member Ali Motazeri said.
No comment has yet been made by IAA director Mir
Hossein Mousavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's major rival in the 12 June
presidential election.
Mousavi has held the position since 1998 when the academy was established by the
Supreme Cultural Revolution Council headed by former president Seyyed Mohammad
Khatami.
The decision to modify the IAA charter is described by analysts as a means of
respectful dismissal.
However, it is rumored that Mousavi intends to resign before receiving any
official mandate from Ahmadinejad.
Similar modifications have been made in the charters of the Iranian Academy of
Sciences, the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Iranian Academy of
Persian Language and Literature.
... Payvand News - 11/14/09 ... --
