“We are hungry and desperate”

“Mr. President, your saccharine television addresses give the impression that all is fine and beautiful, but the reality of economic life in this country is quite different. The harsh truth is that we have to fight daily just to survive.”

Shahrzad News: An Iranian housewife has written an open letter to President Ahmadinejad, describing the economic hardship that she and millions of other Iranians are facing. She referred to his ‘saccharine television addresses,’ saying they were a far remove from the reality of life in the country.

Iranian newspapers and the Jahan News website published sections of the letter, which was written after the government replaced subsidies for basic commodities with a meagre monthly cash payment of $80 per person.

The following is a translation of the woman’s key points.

“I am an Iranian and a Muslim woman. I have nothing to do with the politics of right or left, and do not associate myself with any ideological colour, be it blue, green or red. In fact I am not political at all. I am simply a woman and a mother trying to run a family, just like many others.

“You said that replacing subsidies with cash payments meant that everyone would receive an equal share. I believed such payments would help to fill the deep economic holes of our lives, and was naïve enough to make plans accordingly. But once the subsidies were removed, everything became so expensive that the cash made virtually no difference. Put together, the overal price increases far outweigh what we receive in handouts.

“I am not an economist, and terms such as ‘economic growth’ and ‘single-figure inflation’ mean nothing to me. What I do know is that meat has become so expensive we can never buy it, that I have to tell my children to stop asking for fresh fruit. We are having to get used to doing without even a simple daily bottle of milk. You said repeatedly that subsidy reforms would bring a greater variety of food in larger quantities to the tables of hard-working low-income families. But come and see now how they are emptier than ever. Furthermore the cost of rented accommodation has become intolerably high and people are wilting under the pressure.

“Mr. President, economic conditions and spiralling inflation are breaking the backbone of the people. Your saccharine television addresses give the impression that all is fine and beautiful, but the reality of economic life in this country is quite different. The harsh truth is that we have to fight daily just to survive.”

Source: Shahrzad News