Angry Arab: "half the kids throwing rocks at the police didn't even vote."

[Agrippa]

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-iran.html

Alexander sent me this (I cite with his permission): "As an Iranian and avid reader of your blog, I wanted to share my thoughts on your "Iranian developments" post with you. First of all, your point about Western coverage of Iranian democracy vis-a-vis other countries in the region is spot-on. I think you are right to criticize the impact of Ahmadinejad's rhetoric on Palestine, and I would like to explain a little about that. In the past, Palestinian liberation was a cause championed by the Iranian secular left, but nowadays it is strongly associated with the religious right. This is not due only to Ahmadinejad (every Iranian leader since Khomeini has expressed the idea that Palestine is a "Muslim issue" that Iranians should be concerned about) but it has gotten worse under Ahmadinejad. It's not just the statements he makes in international settings, but more importantly the way the issue is used domestically in order to distract people from their own issues. People are told not to protest economic stagnation, repressive government, etc. because they shouldn't complain when Palestinians have it so much worse. "Pray for Gaza" is shoved down their throats in the same breath as "fix your hijab." In addition, many people resent the fact that the Iranian state spends so much money on Palestinian and Lebanese affairs when there is such poverty and underdevelopment at home. Incidentally, one of the popular (and hyperbolic) chants at the protests that are going on right now is "mardom chera neshastin, Iran shode Felestin!" (People, why are you sitting down? Iran has become Palestine!").
Finally, I am glad that you are defending neither Ahmadinejad nor Mousavi. It is frustrating that everyone I talk to from Pakistan to Egypt loves Ahmadinejad and is shocked to hear that many Iranians think he is ineffective and embarrassing. Meanwhile every Westerner seems to think that Mousavi is a great reformist or revolutionary, and some kind of saintly figure beloved by all. He's an opportunist crook. That being said, I support the students and protesters in Iran, even the ones chanting Mousavi's name. I believe they are putting their lives on the line to fight for greater freedom, accountability, and democracy within the Islamic Republic, and they have to couch that in the language of Islam and presidential politics in order to avoid even greater repression than that which they already face. A friend who is in Iran right now confirms: "half the kids throwing rocks at the police didn't even vote." To me, that means that they are not fighting for a Mousavi presidency, but for more freedom, which they must hide under a green Mousavi banner in order to have legitimacy in the eyes of the state."

[MilitantWorker]

Agrippas right! Focus grasshoppers!


In the past, Palestinian liberation was a cause championed by the Iranian secular left, but nowadays it is strongly associated with the religious right.This is a tendency also evident in the election of the Hamas in 2005, or in the ever-growing popularity of Hezbullah in the Mid-East.

The national Bourgeoisie of the Arab countries, in collaboration with Western imperialists, have effectively wiped secular Arab leftism off the map. Historically, I'm sure Arab socialism will be seen as a much more legitimate threat to the capitalist hegemony in the Middle East.

[Agrippa]

Iranian people are Persian. Not Arab. If you have to highlight race, get the terms right!:laugh:

Angry Arab is the name of the blogger. He is an Arab, obviously

[khad]

Iranian people are Persian. Not Arab. If you have to highlight race, get the terms right!:laugh:
Unless you count Khamenei, Mousavi, and a quarter of the Iranian population as Azeri. That and their Arab minority.

[Agrippa]

At the risk of being impolite, I did not create this thread as a "Iranian Ethnicity 101" thread. We are all educated adults and we all know, as a general rule, about Iran's ethnic demographics, and, if you hapen not to, you can always go and read the Wikipedia article on "ethnicity in Iran".

I created this thread to respond to the social imperialist "anti-imperialists" who support Ahmadinejad's right-populist regime, and also support the brutal state suppression of Iranian popular insurrection because they have deluded themselves into believing this would somehow hurt the increasingly irrelevant U.S. bourgeoisie. (as if they needed any more hurting)

If anyone is truly perplexed that an Arab is commenting on events occurring in a Persian region of the world, sorry, I hate to break it to you, but welcome to the Internet. There's probably, out there, on the Internet, a Polynesian blogger commenting on the politics of Kazakhstan.

[Pawn Power]

An interesting piece. I think many of us have already came to the conclusion that the protests are not just about the election results and the fraud but about the system of governance in general. Some even hinting at the legitimacy of the ayatollah- which is some courageous shit since he is suppose to be the decedent of Muhammad.

But it is frustrating at how the Western media is framing it as merely a Mousavi-based movement. Especially the right (like McCain) who wouldn't set foot near a protest and would lambaste any that would go here. For him to cry afoul at the repression (while correct) is the ultimate hypocrisy. Hell, at his own convention less then a year ago protesters where brutalized and arrested not only for "practicing democracy" but also for reporting on it or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Agrippa]

But it is frustrating at how the Western media is framing it as merely a Mousavi-based movement.

Frustrating yes, but totally predictable. Remember how the Soviet imperialists used to evoke racial violence in the US in their propaganda? Do you really think a bunch of Soviet bureaucrats really gave a shit about working-class blacks in the US? Do you think the US really gives a shit about the Iranian proletariat? This is an old trick, used to divide the working class We must maintain solidarity with the participants of the Iranian uprising, a good portion of which are anarchist and Marxist-Leninist comrades. All imperialists are our enemies, not just the imperialists allied with the US....

[progressive_lefty]

The hardest thing about the current situation in Iran at the moment, is who to trust. Because at the moment, you have the Israeli and American Governments getting gratification out of the rallies, in the hope that the country might become more Western and more silent on imperialism and modern-day zionism.

[MilitantWorker]

someone mentioned Sen.McCain...

The hypocrisy put forth by this idiot is astounding. I mean...does anyone remember this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg

A year or two ago, he's singing "Bomb Iran", and now he's on TV pretending to give a fuck about the Iranian people. Justice this, freedom that...WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

[ArabRASH]

Amen to the OP!


Agrippas right! Focus grasshoppers!

The national Bourgeoisie of the Arab countries, in collaboration with Western imperialists, have effectively wiped secular Arab leftism off the map. Historically, I'm sure Arab socialism will be seen as a much more legitimate threat to the capitalist hegemony in the Middle East.

And AMEN to that! But that is exactly why we have to fight against the religious right as well as the bourgeois right in these Middle East. In some cases they have been merged together(Saudi Arabia). In others, islamic radicalism has is a response to the bourgeois right(Hezbo in Lebanon, Iran). Both of these situations have contributed to the eradication of Arab leftism. But there are still some parties. In Lebanon there are many leftist parties still in existence, although many of them the majority of people wouldn't support. The Lebanese Communist Party(pretty much now a bourgeois nationalist party and support Hezbollah), the Democratic Left Party(bourgeois and Hariri supporters). There's various Nasserite parties in Leb and all over the Arab world. He was the starter of "Arab socialism" but many here i'm sure would just consider him a bourgeois nationalist.

The failure of bourgeois leaders of these countries to respond to the needs of their people, coupled with the failure of religious fundamentalism, which leads to nothing except death, misery, and OBSESSION with the "Zionist entity", will lead to the eventual rebirth of the Arab Left, inshallah!