Iran Bans Reform Party

[Crusade]

TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hard-line government said Monday it has banned Iran's largest pro-reform political party in a new strike against an opposition movement that has largely been swept from the streets since last year's postelection turmoil.

Full Article Here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/iran-bans-reform-party_n_500298.html


Wow. This jackass is begging for the US to come do some "liberation". -_- Iranians will most likely choose revolution. This + Iran's talk of developing nuclear weapons(I'm against all nuclear weapons, but everyone has them so it's their right) will give America the excuse it's been jonesing for to start ANOTHER war. Anyone still believe in democratic reform?

[Benjamin Hill]

Anyone still believe in democratic reform?

No. The workers in Iran certainly lost any confidence in Mousavi's ability to do anything at all many months ago. The leadership of the "reform" movement is just another part of the ruling class and the workers movement has moved far more towards an independent class position. This should be supported.

As for the banning of the "reform" party, this doesn't really come as a surprise. Mousavi's role was exactly that as a gatekeeper of the turmoil. Now he has no role to play anymore, he's being put aside. But these are interesting developments as they on the other hand also display some desperation on the part of Achmadinejad in his failure to effectively suppress the movement.

[Outinleftfield]

This + Iran's talk of developing nuclear weapons(I'm against all nuclear weapons, but everyone has them so it's their right) will give America the excuse it's been jonesing for to start ANOTHER war.

America is trying to get an excuse. But Iran is NOT talking about developing nuclear weapons. It denies developing nuclear weapons and says it's for peaceful energy purposes.

And we are being lied to again just like with Iraq. It is doubtful that Iran is building nuclear weapons. Khameini isn't going to throw away his power by violating his own fatwa and being branded as a hypocrit and impeached by the Assembly of Experts (Khameini made a fatwa against nuclear weapons). And Iran's peaceful nuclear energy aspirations go back a long time. The Shah of Iran had plans for an energy program. They're just carrying out a long-delayed aspiration.

The media goes out of its way to make Iran look as threatening as possible. We can see this with how much attention it pays to Ahmadinejad compared to Khameini. It's becuase Ahmadinejad is crazier. But Khameini has the real power. Ahmadinejad is just democratic window dressing for his dictatorship. The media keeps misquoting Ahmadinejad saying he said "wipe Israel off the map" when he actually said "The Imam said the regime occupying Quds(Jerusalem) must vanish from the pages of time." And in the context of the entire speech it becomes clear he's talking about regime change, not bombing.

I don't support Iran's regime and I hope Iran has a revolution, but we shouldn't be feeding imperialist lies and propaganda. There are enough bad things about Iran for us to oppose its regime without giving into the lie about nuclear weapons.