The Situation of Our Youth

Interviewer: I would just like to ask you a few questions about the Iranian government.

Woman: No 

Interviewer: Its not about anything specific, I just wanted to ask about the upcoming presidential elections. Are you willing to speak? 

Woman: Go ahead.

Interviewer: Sorry, my question for you is: what are you expecting from the next Iranian government as a young Iranian? 

Woman: Expectations... It doesn't make a difference to me. Give a vote, for what? 

Interviewer: Imagine that your vote counts and can make a difference for your own future. What would you expect from the president that you would vote for? 

Woman: Good sir, four years ago (2009 Revolution), we had the same situation and on the 2nd of May, we went and cast our vote. But nothing changed. What changed of our situation? Our country's sitation, our economy's situation, the sitation of our youth? Nothing has changed. Myself... I am a youth. I study computers, at computers university. But I know I have no future. Nothing in my life will change. My nation is preoccupied. Preoccupied with insignificant matters. My nation is sick of its relations. I can't do anything. And how many youth with degrees like mine are stranded in the street? How many are there like me? How many people are there that have masters, Phds, because of poverty, because of a lack of money, go to private companies and work under uneducated bosses, and then a thousand other problems follow? Come and look how many young people like me are flooding these streets! We don't have anything! We had so many concerns but nobody answers! Who will answer us?! 

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The situation of youth in Iran is devastating. There are so many educated people with high level qualifications but will not find any jobs. This is an explanation as to why so many people leave Iran in hopes for a better future, in hopes for a better future for their kids. In Iran, you will hear many people chase other dreams, not have children, or fight to go somewhere else because they claim there is no emkaanaat in Iran: possibilities. Possibilities for a better future. 

Thinking about this is upsetting, but when thought about indepth, it is very difficult for a government to fix this situation. In order to create well-paying jobs, or jobs in general, the entire nation's structure needs to be changed. Everything has to be modified: the legal system (to deal with corruption and injustices in the workforce), the government's modification and adding of strategic public sector jobs, inflation,  and so much more. Everything would need to change -- and that would take a very long time, even if the government starts initiating this right now. 

The anguish becomes even greater when it is believed that the regime is a result of this issue. This is partly true. The economy and nation's structure has disseminated  into a way that undermines educated people more than under the Shah's regime. But even before the revolution, many people were in extreme poverty and in despair because of highly unequal distribution in wealth. In fact, the revolution was instigated largely by "peasant revolt": the lower class protesting due to their unfair circumstances. This is to say that although this problem is huge under todays government, there may have been many other problems under the previous monarchy's as well, although they may not have been the educated not finding jobs. This whole issue consists of "maybe's" and is very complex: an issue that I do not think I am qualified enough to speak of, nor could I find ever find enough evidence to prove that something "may" have been better. 

Although the employment situation is horrible, and Iran was on a more "modern" or "better" path before the 1979 Revolution, I still find myself comparing Iran to its neighbours or other Middle Eastern Nations. Afghanistan is currently war ridden and occupied by the US, with many people lacking basic needs, and Pakistan shares many of the same problems as it currently has internal conflicts making it unstable. To its West is Iraq and Syria: both of which are very unstable and where its innocent people are currently under threat of ISIS. Others Middle Eastern countries where its citizens have huge issues, many lifethreatening, due to national instability are Libya, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Palestine. 

If we were to make a list of Middle Eastern countries with the top ones ranking highest in wealth, stability, strength, safest etc., the first ones would most likely be Saudi, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and the UAE (not in that order). Following that, would probably be Iran, Turkey, Jordan, and so forth (not in that order). 

What I am trying to say is that Iran has many issues, but if you look at it as a whole, as where it is regionally placed and compared to its counterparts, it doesn't fare so badly. Yes, there is always the huge probability that its youth would have been better off, and so many of the problems it is having today internally and externally would be non-existant if it was under the previous regime, but it isn't so bad. Of course, there is always room for improvement, and we can compare it to some of the appparently "best" countries in the world to live in, such as Norway and Canada. But regionally, it isn't bad. If we want it to be comparable to some of the "best" internationally, the government needs to take serious steps and probably change, to see results within the coming decades.