Iranian daily: Tolerance key to ending riots forever

“Saying or believing that people are just those, who think like us [like the establishment], or have always been there to support us, and others are hirelings and foreign elements, only increase social divide and is a source of crisis in itself,” Etala’at said in an article on Sunday.

The daily said it is a given fact that no patriotic Iranian would support arsons, killings and fueling crises along with undermining of national security and stability.

“But no Iranian will also support failure to hear the voice of the society and to understand its pain and grievances and failure to tolerate … to hear voices of opposition and protest against acts of neglect and foul-up,” the daily said.

The article also said no one can manage a pluralistic society of 85 million with the opinion of a limited group, whose religious viewpoints are being criticized even by other scholars of the same field, and attribute such “dogma” to religion and religious faith.

“If we want each and every minor or major incident not to trigger an outpouring of social anger in line with enemies’ wish, we should become open to dialog between generations and to hearing opposing voices,” the daily said.

“An atmosphere amenable to complain, to criticism of the establishment and the government and to civil protests … will forever end such incidents as riots, uproar, killings and sabotage,” it added.

The daily said the government, in line with the president’s recent comments, should figure out how to differentiate protest from riots.