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We begin tonight’s edition of A Window to the Fatherland with Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh reading one of his poems from the book of his collected works.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
In tonight’s program we have the pleasure of having the economist Dr. Manouchehr Farahbakhsh as our guest to discuss with him the ongoing workers strike at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Factory as well as other economic and political issues of Iran.
Dr. Manouchehr Farahbakhsh:
The Haft Tapeh strike has been dominating the news about Iran these last few days but we really need to look at the roots of this crisis which is the very existence of the Islamic republic regime that has squandered more than 1.3 trillion dollars of Iran’s oil revenues by spending it on the war with Iraq, fighting the sanctions, paying Hezbollah and other radical groups and on propaganda among Arab countries’ populations.
Not many people know that the Haft Tapeh Factory was a jewel in the crown of Iran’s industries before the Islamic revolution as Iran was progressing fast as an industrial country and we had massive foreign reserves in our national and foreign banks.
The late Shah believed in economic progress more than political wrangling and like his father he wanted to advance the country with a solid economy.
All other Iranian leaders like the late Dr Mossadeq were politically minded and while they served the country, their political arguments affected the economic progress of the country negatively.
The Islamic republic regime took over a countrythat was in the midst of fast economic progress with solid foundations and massive investments and turned it into the bankrupted country that is in front of our eyes.
The Shah had invited the renowned economist Abolhassan Ebtehaj to set up the Organization for Budget and Planning, which led Iran through several major social and economic construction plans including the Haft Tapeh Sugar Factory, but it is now reduced to a bankrupt and disused plant under the current regime.
