‘Resistance economy’, Iran’s agenda to curb sanctions

TEHRAN, May 17 (MNA) - Iran’s revolution of 1979 paved the ground for the establishment of a new political system in which according to its founders, was made to respect both democratic and spiritual values. Over the past three decades Iranian governments almost made no bow to the pressures of big powers and based on its officially annouced policiy, systematically relied on the will of its people to make progress. People and governments around the world are still inspired by Iran’s revolution which gave a momentum to the public awareness in the Middle Eastern and South Ammercian countries and finally led to the fall of some life-serving dictators in the region. From the very beginning of Iran’s revolution, western powers have used everything in their disposal to undermine Iran’s independence and this will continue until Iran’s keep insisting on its core national and spiritual values. After the full-scale war imposed on Iranian nation, global powers devised new plans, especially in form of economic sanctions, to break Iran’s resistance against their pressure. However, all this failed to significantly weaken Iran’s determination to make progress in various scientific and technological fields. Just like the process led to the overthrow of the democratically elected Mossadegh government in Iran in 1952 by the United States at the request of then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the current battle between Iran and the global powers is for sure an economic battle. Thus, Iran should be equipped with new economic solutions to counter the increasing wave of sanctions. Experience has proved the insufficiency of prevalent economic theories for Iran’s current situation, especially when the country is faced with various kinds of plots imposed on it. The best option for Iran to resolve its current economic problems is to develop a new economic agenda in which the sanctions are identified as opportunities for growth and not as threats. This will make Iranians less reliable on their huge oil revenues and more inclined to bolster their economic capacities. This should be called "resistance economy" and "resistance economics", because it is based on the idea that bowing to the pressure will end in nothing, but it is the resistance which finally results in victory. Tohid Atashbar is the researcher in the department of planning in Iran's Parliament Research Center. (By Tohid Atashbar)