Post-Khomeini Iran hosted sixty feminist organizations and independent clerics

Evidence

Among other matters not even mentioned in the mainstream United States press, he alluded to the effect of computers and the Internet on the transmission, interpretation, and accessibility of religious texts in Qom. He also characterized what he called the second Islamic republic as undergoing a series of remarkable transformations as a result of all kinds of internal debates and clashes: there are now sixty extremely articulate and well-staffed feminist organizations that press for women’s rights, a large number of preachers, filmmakers, scholars, and independent-minded clerics, who challenge the still powerful administration of vilayet el faqih, and on the whole he gives one the impression of a volatile Islamic state, markedly more democratic than all but one or two of its Arab neighbors, resolutely disproving, or at least disputing, the formulas and stereotypes still put forward with few exceptions in the United States media about demonized Iran. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 295

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth checking whether Rouleau’s 1995 claims about Iranian feminist organizations and internet access in Qom hold up against subsequent history.