I wrote this proposed platform in July 2001, and my introduction to the Persian translation, explains more about why forming a party with a platform like this, is so critical for Iran's development. This Futurist Platform is the proposed party program for Hezb-e Ayandeh-Negar-e Iran. The aim is to achieve the following democratic and futuristic policies and principles in different political, social, and economic areas of Iran and Iranian life. The Iranian Futurist Party will strictly maintain an independent political and electoral identity, although this policy will not prevent it from forming coalitions and alliances with other parties and organizations.

POLITICS:

· FEDERAL STATE: Introduce democratic decentralization and restructuring of political institutions in a federal Republic of Iran.
· LOCAL ELECTIONS: Build up district elections for local Municipalities, Cities, and Provinces to further federalism in Iran.
· BALLOT INITIATIVES: Institute "Ballot Initiatives", with direct voting of all Iranians for Propositions, at State and Federal level, to go beyond representational democracy and to actualize participatory democracy.
· SECULAR STATE: Promote abolition of the Islamic Apartheid and Theocracy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and support a non-compromising full separation of state and religion and formation of a secular Republic of Iran. Abolition of all Islamic laws of persecution of heretics, and the Qessas laws such as laws prescribing stoning, amputations, etc.
· FREEDOM OF POLITICAL PARTIES: Ensure the freedom of association by allowing all political parties to participate in all elections and voting of the country. Allow primaries of these parties before the national election so that they become the vehicle of screening of the candidates rather than any organ like the current Council of Guardians of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
· PARLIAMENT: Support a parliament, as an independent legislative branch of government, ensuring representational democracy.
· CHECKS & BALANCES: Support division of power between judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government with complete checks and balances.
· DISCLOSURE OF COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES OF STATE OFFICIALS: Prevent corruption in executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government.
· FEDERAL RESERVE: Institute an independent Federal Reserve Board to oversea the Exchange Rate, inflation, interest rates, and the overall economic health of the federal Republic of Iran.
· FOREIGN POLICY: Promote professionalism rather than honor system in Foreign Policy. Promote Iran's independence, while recognizing the need for full participation in global economy and global institutions such as the UN.
· HUMAN RIGHTS: Actively support human rights organizations campaigning for Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
· RIGHT OF DISSENT: Build membership accountability to the Futurist Party program, nonetheless, fully support the right to public dissent by any member.
· INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: Promote and fully support the individual rights of every person and their pursuit of happiness.
· DEATH PENALTY: Abolish torture and death penalty for all.
· ECOLOGY: Support ecological and environmentally sound policies that at times may even undermine immediate financial gains.
· DRAFT: Abolish compulsory draft and conscription (sarbAzi-e ejbAri) and any needed army to be run as a paid enterprise of cadres.
· NEW ETHICAL ISSUES: Promote noninterference of state in new ethical issues of Euthanasia, Sex Change, Sperm Bank, Surrogate Mothers, Abortions, Methods of Birth Control, and Human Transplant, and when conflicts come up, the courts to seek the pro and con opinions of the experts in the field.
· WOMEN: Promote participation of women in every aspect of Iranian life, and at all levels of contribution by removing all the religious, legal and traditional obstacles preventing their full participation in the political, social, and economic affairs of Iran. Women are playing a very significant role in post-industrial economies and they can spearhead the development of Iran to a post-industrial information society.
· NATIONAL, ETHNIC, & RELIGIOUS MINORITIES: Expand the state and local organs to encompass all the needs of national, ethnic, and religious minorities in the federal republic of Iran.
· MASS MEDIA: Support full independence of mass media from the government interference and full guarantee of freedom of the press. Promote self-sufficiency and privatized radio, TV, newspapers, Internet_based news, and other forms of mass media.
· SOCIAL JUSTICE & WELFARE: Oppose the popular money and profit-centered view of people and the world; and to support the manifestation of a movement towards enlightened self-interest; for individuals, businesses, and governments. Support welfare programs that promote new technical investments, or compensate for unemployment, or provide public health and education.

EDUCATION & CULTURE:

· RESPECT FOR LIFE: Promote reverence for life in all its forms and its interconnectedness.
· SECULAR EDUCATION: Ensure that Public schools do not promote any religion or ideology.
· NONVIOLENCE: Advocate personal and political nonviolence, peace and democracy in the classroom, as well as the workplace, and political arena; and recognition of the emotional and spiritual dimensions of life, as well as the intellectual and physical ones.
· PEACE: Oppose any form of tyranny, war, injustice, and aggression; and assist the overcoming of the human unconscious flight or fight programming, as the only guarantee for a lasting peace.
· DIVERSITY: Promote the diversity and contributions of each race, nationality, culture, religion, sex, and sexual orientation; the honoring of individual regardless of age and ability differences.
· STATE POLICY: Prevent any state interference and censorship of Music, arts, festivities, and other cultural activities.
· ART EDUCATION: Promote close association of educators and artists to decide how to introduce students to various art-forms, free of the interference of any state and religious institution.
· CULTURAL HERITAGE: Promote nongovernmental research, about art and culture, through nonprofit organizations of writers, artists, and musicians to help the youth to come to terms with our roots.
· SPORTS: Promote private sports enterprises and discourage government interference in sports.
· MEDITATION: Although supporting the separation of religious practices from the activities of government and promoting non-compromising full separation of state and religion in a secular Republic of Iran, support practices such as meditation, that enhance the sense of interconnectedness.
· AUTONOMOUS SYNCHRONICITY: Urge the democratization of all human institutions to achieve the pursuit of individual happiness and to outreach for autonomous synchronicity, as the ideal of interpersonal relationships of the individuals, and the institutions.
· RETROGRESSION: Oppose all the so-called "new age" propaganda that promote retrogression to Dark Ages, rather than moving forward to a post-industrial information society, as an alternative to the problems of the industrial society. Encourage new understanding of the universe and to favor the boldness to challenge popular philosophical and religious beliefs about the origins and the fate of humanity and the universe.
· TECHNOLOGY: Make use of the latest computer and communications technologies to raise the efficiency of schools, while not losing sight of the importance of the human factor and teachers.
· LANGUAGE OF EDUCATION: Fully support bilingual and trilingual education in areas of the federal republic, where various national and ethnic groups speak multiple languages.

HEALTH:

· STATE & HEALTH: Promote minimal interference in development of various forms of health institutions, while supporting the welfare programs to guarantee minimal health insurance for all.
· IMPLANTS: Promote development of artificial implants to fundamentally eradicate the savage practices of obtaining human implants from prisoners and needy.
· DRUGS: Join and work together with international associations that are addressing this worldwide problem, rather than trying to solve it in isolation. Also work together with the educational system to create joint programs at schools, to address the issue rather than trying to solve the problem by force and executions.
· FAMILY PLANNING: Work close with the educational system to address these issues in the schools and universities.
· MEDICAL RESEARCH: Promote active participation in international efforts in research in areas of AIDS, Cancer, Alzheimer, MS, and other deadly diseases.

ECONOMICS:

· AGRICULTURE: Promote applications of biotechnology, genetics and other new technologies to completely modernize the agricultural system of Iran.
· POST-INDUSTRIAL INFRASTRUCTURE: Support development of the post-industrial enterprises and fade away the smoke stack industries of the past. Promote the technologies of computers, communications, genetics, and satellite communications to make the infrastructure necessary for post-industrial development of Iran.
· NATIONAL VENTURE CAPITAL FUND: A capital fund focused on development of post-industrial infrastructure in Iran.
· COMMUNICATIONS: Support construction of Fiber Optic cables connecting the major metropolitan cities of Iran and connecting the Northern coast of Caspian Sea to the Southern Coast of Persian Gulf.
· TECHNOLOGIES: Focus on computer, networking, and communications technologies, followed by biotech, solar energy, artificial intelligence, and space technologies.
· ENTREPRENEURS: Support growth of entrepreneurs in the areas of new technologies. The entrepreneurs are the backbone of the growth of new post-industrial economies.
· TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIES: Support advancement of traditional industries such as carpet weaving to the 21st century standards. These industries need to be modernized, using the latest software for design, and more effective equipment for weaving. Such industries are being wiped out in global competition because of backward technology and old-fashioned marketing.
· SKILLED WORKFORCE: Promote close cooperation of state, universities, and research centers to develop a highly advanced workforce. Post-industrial society requires very advanced workforce with high technical expertise.
· BAZAAR: Oppose favoring Iranian traditional bazaar by government, over other forms of property relations in Iran.
· STOCK MARKET: Promote enhancement of Iranian Bourse to get on par with international stock market exchanges. At the same time, to form a security and exchange body, to monitor the proper practices of the exchange to prevent fraud.
· PROPERTY RELATIONS: Government not to interfere in supporting one form of property relations over others, and discourage state ownership as much as possible. Property relations can range from private ownership of a telecommunications equipment-maker business, to employee ownership of an airline, to private or nonprofit ownership of a radio or a TV station, to state and city ownership of a park or a recreation area.
· ANTI-TRUST LAW: To protect consumers and to ensure fair competition of business enterprises.
· ECONOMIC JUSTICE: To nurture social justice in every corner of the world, support a comprehensive welfare sector in the world economy, to encourage the unfolding of the most far-reaching creative activities that are ahead of economic feasibility.
· MINIMUM WAGE FOR ALL: Establish min wage for all and Max wage for state and public officials (exception to be private entities).
· UNEMPLOYEMENT: Promote fundamental training and retraining programs for new economy, rather than frivolous plans of creating not-needed jobs just for the sake of creating pseudo-employment.
· POVERTY: Support plans that create more economic activity for the poor. Even the charities that promote new job skills, alongside food and shelter, are the ones that better help the poor by enabling the poor to become independent.
· STATE PLANNING: State planning especially in the areas of energy and telecommunications is still very important for any nation state. The planning body should work closely with the private sector for the goal of providing fundamental research and infrastructure for such mission critical enterprises, rather than making the government the sole owner of such industries.
· MANAGEMENT OF STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES: State-owned enterprises, such as oil and copper industry, should work towards enabling the private sector to grow in these industries, rather than keeping their monopoly status in these industries forever.
· NON-COMPETING LAW: The state should not be allowed to compete with non-government organizations in any commercial and cultural areas.
· NATIONAL UNIT TRUST: A structure to replace the State Ownership and create opportunity for direct participation of people in social ownership.
· ANTI-PROTECTIONIST POLICIES: Oppose import and export policies that are based on any protection of local industries, rather than protecting the consumers. If the local industries cannot develop the price, features, and quality that Iranian consumers desire, they should not be helped by import/export policies. They should be helped by technical and scientific programs to get them become on par with the leading-edge industries worldwide.
· EXPORT PROMOTION FUND: A fund focused on Iranian exports and active participation in global economy.
· INDUSTRY_SPONSORED RESEARCH: Promote more industry_sponsored research than government_sponsored research. The former is extremely weak in Iran and most research is in the form of the latter.
· SCIENCE: Promote efforts of close relationship with international scientific activities ,and not in isolation, to ensure staying in the leading-edge of scientific discoveries. Strength of Iran and Iranians in basic sciences will guarantee the prominent role of Iran and Iranians in the post-industrial society.
· REGIONAL COOPERATIONS: Support forming co-operations with those states such as Singapore, that can help Iran the quickest way to develop towards the post-industrial information society. In the global economy, geographic proximity is not the most important factor in forming international cooperation.
· OPEC: Promote an OPEC policy to expedite the post-industrial infrastructure development of Iran and to help Iran develop alternative sources of energy. Although Iran's OPEC policy is of utmost importance to Iran's current income, and to the oil companies and others that benefit from the oil, we should try to use our OPEC policy to promote cooperation with other countries in the world,
· ENERGY ALTERNATIVES: Support efforts to make Iran the leader in alternative sources of energy of the future, rather than a leader in the old oil industry. Solar, fusion, and other alternative sources of energy may not be economical today, but a break-thorough in these fields may change the whole balance of power in the field of energy. Also promote building of power plants in a central remote area in Iran and deliver electricity over a nationwide high-voltage wiring. The new high-voltage wiring has minimal loss over long distances, and thus a centralized energy development area, is a better strategy for many parts of the world today.
· TAXATION: Transition those state-owned industries, such as oil industry, that can become privatized, to private corporations, and create a tax system to charge those corporations, by promoting a progressive tax system, that can support the state in its activities, and make the state less dependent on state-owned industries, and more dependent on the tax-payers.
· LABOR UNIONS: Support independent labor unions and oppose compulsory governmental labor unions.

Hoping for a Futurist, Federal, Democratic, and Secular Republic in Iran,

Sam Ghandchi, Editor/Publisher
IRANSCOPE
Iran Futurist Republic
Original Version
Written: Sept 2, 2004
Republished: January 29, 2007