Unprecedented debate

Ahmed Zaidabadi

Holding a debate about its leadership's career, hosted by a group of "valuable forces" and publishing it without any censorship, is an event that has absolutely no precedent in the 45 years after the revolution.

That Mr. Haeri Shirazi, as a seminarian born from a fundamentalist family, expressed his criticisms of the leadership's outlook and policy without stuttering and openly, and that Mr. Zulam, as a cleric of the "Provincial Leader", generally showed tolerance and rejected the blasphemy and Insults and threats have not been resorted to, both are signs of the emergence of a new space of possibility for discussion in our society.

If this type of discussion continues without creating problems for the critics, and the parties to the discussion do not deviate from the wisdom of the debate and avoid the destructive temptation of insulting the discussion, it will help a lot to build culture in the society.

The tolerance of the governing bodies with such debates and discussions, provided it continues, can naturally be considered as a sign of the government's self-confidence to "argumentally defend" its way, method, and performance against critics, protesters, and opponents. And reduce the range of political disputes and the usual take-and-holds caused by the feeling of weakness and helplessness in front of critics' opinions and words and open a new way for the country.