The system thinks about people when it faces a problem.

Political activist Sadeq Ziba Kalam in an interview with Khabar Online:

After the protests of January 2017 and November 2019, the then president of the University of Tehran, Dr. Nili, gathered a number of professors and held a meeting with about 20 to 30 people every two or three weeks to discuss the problem.

Why are protests taking place and what direction should the future of the system take? One of the most important arguments that the professors raised was that social capital is rapidly declining.

The discussion was about what should be done to prevent this decline and, if social capital is to be restored, where should we start?

But then, with the coming to power of the late Raisi government as president and the change of the university president, the academic board and group that had spent two to three years impartially investigating and providing opinions were completely sidelined; as if such meetings had never been held at all.

Unfortunately, the system usually thinks about the people when it is in trouble: when Israel attacks, posters are printed with titles like "All Together."

When there is a march on 22 Bahman, he calls on the people; when there is an election, he thinks about the people's presence. But after the Israeli attack, after the election, and after 22 Bahman, he has no regard for his credibility and popularity.

In my opinion, it is impossible for Mr. Pezzekian or any other president to solve the problems of water, electricity, and gasoline without gaining public trust and popular support.

At least some of the people should be supportive, but right now this support is lacking, and this, in my opinion, is the main problem.