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July
11, 2003
David
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An Iraq War & Occupation Glossary
July
10, 2003
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Donahue
Bush and the Paramillitaries: Coddling Terrorists in Colombia
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S. Heard
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Sullivan
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The Intelligence Culture in the National Security Age
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July
7, 2003
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Blum
The Anti-Empire Report
Harvey
Wasserman
The Nuke with a Hole in Its Head
Ramzy
Baroud
Peace for All the Wrong Reasons
Simon
Jones
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Lesley
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Fear, Pain and Shame in Aceh
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Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 7/3
July
4 / 6, 2003
Patrick
Cockburn
Dead on the Fourth of July
Frederick
Douglass
What is Freedom to a Slave?
Martha
Honey
Bush and Africa: Racism, Exploitation
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St. Clair
The Rat in the Grain: Amstutz and
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Lenni Brenner
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Cassel
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How Free Are We?
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Madsen
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Lobe
Bush's Surreal AIDS Appointment
John Blair
Return to Marble Hill: Indiana's Rusting Nuke
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Walsh Thomas
Heavy Reckoning at Qaim
David Vest
Wake Up and Smell the Dynamite
Adam
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Queer as Grass
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The Lipstick Librarian
July
3, 2003
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W. Gavin
The Meaning of Gettysburg
Thomas
W. Croft
There Was a Reason They Called It the Casino Economy
David
Lindorff
Outlawing Subversives: Hong Kong
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John
Chuckman
Lessons from the American Revolution
Jackson
Thoreau
New Far-Right Scheme: Impeach Supreme Court Justices
Stan
Goff
"Bring 'Em On?": a Former
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Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 7/3
July 2, 2003
Diane
Christian
Good Killing and Bad Killing
Richard
Falk
After Iraq, Does UN War Prevention Have a Future?
Mokhiber
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Justin
Podur
Uribe's Onslaught Across Colombia
Reuven
Kaviner
Prosecuting Ben-Artzi, the Refusenik
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Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 7/2
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1, 2003
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Weapon of Choice: Nukes, Israel and
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Cassel
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Block
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Glahn
RIAA Watch: No, No Bono
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Weapons in Search of a Name
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Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 7/1
June
30, 2003
Karyn
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The Do-Nothings: an Exposé
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Col. Dan
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The Occupation of Iraq: Descending into the Quagmire
Tim
Wise
Race and Destruction in Black and White
Neve Gordon
The Roadmap and the Wall
Chris
Floyd
The Revelation of St. George: "God Told Me to Strike Saddam"
Elaine
Cassel
Kentucky Woman
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Avnery
Hope in Dark Times
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars Web Log 6/30
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June
28 / 29, 2003
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Alan Maass
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Rehnquist Family Values
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Tom Delay: "I am the Government"
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Keep Your Hands Off Iran, Please!
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The Anarchists' Wedding Guide
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Vest
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July
12, 2003
Resisting the Either/Or
Shades
of Gray in Iran
By RON JACOBS
Recently, as the question of Iran and its relationship
to the United States has pushed itself back into the front pages
of the west's newspapers, a debate has been simmering among antiwar
and progressive types as to what their position should be on
the threats directed at Tehran by the United States. Simon Jones
recently wrote an article that appeared in the online version
of Counterpunch that essentially argued that western progressives
should support the Iranian theocracy in the battle between Tehran
and Washington, DC. His argument assumes that there are only
two sides to this question: support for the reformers or support
for the mullahs. Using the example of the Cold War period, when
he was among those lefties who sympathized with the Soviet Union
because it was at least socialist in name (despite its authoritarian
political practices) and was therefore in opposition to US imperialism,
Jones suggests that progressives consider the current situation
with Iran in the same light. Unfortunately, not only does this
type of thinking create a situation where we find ourselves excusing
tyrannical behavior, it also limits the possibilities that exist.
There is a solution to the Iranian conundrum that does not require
supporting the clerical dictatorship or the liberal reform movement.
This solution is to continue the revolution that was brutally
hijacked by the reactionary forces around the Ayatollah Khomeini
in the early years after the Shah's fall and exile.
One of the arguments made by those who
support the regime in its contest with the US, a good reason
for progressives to support the Iranian government is because
it is, in Jones' words, a "socialism-averse socialist state"
and it is the reformers who are intent on handing the Iranian
economy over to the IMF. Consequently, it is these reformers
who are the enemy, exchanging the tyranny of the mullahs for
the tyranny of the IMF and its structural adjustments. This statement
conveniently ignores a portion of the economic history of Iran
since the end of its war with Iraq. According to Behzad Yaghmaian
in his 2002 book Social Change in Iran, ever since the revolution
there have been at least two factions competing for control of
Iran's economic policy. One faction represented a socialist tendency,
nationalizing industry and calling for controls on the price
of such things as food and housing, while the other came from
the bazaar and represented a free market approach based on competitive
pricing. It was Rafsanjani, who took over in the first election
after the Iraq-Iran war, who invited the IMF and its adjustment
policies into the country. These policies favored the free marketers
who took advantage of the restructuring and profited mightily.
Meanwhile, just like in every other country that the IMF intrudes
in, the poor grew poorer and their safety net collapsed, leaving
many wage earners and peasants impoverished and homeless. If
one adds the corruption and cronyism that runs rampant throughout
Iran's economy, they will discover an economic system that benefits
a very small part of Iranian society.
This small clique is composed of a handful
of clerics and their associates who operate behind the scenes
with Rafsanjani at their helm. How do they do this? After the
revolution, Iran's banks and most of its industries were nationalized.
This process put the profits of these companies into various
charity foundations that were supposed to distribute the wealth
to the poor in line with Islamic legal strictures. What happened
instead was the accumulation of this wealth into the hands of
a relatively small number of corrupt clerics and their associates.
In addition, much of these monies were placed into currency markets
where these individuals not only made money from their speculation,
they also forced the value of Iranian currency downward. Foremost
among these men was Rafsanjani, who is now the chair of the so-called
Expediency Council-a group that resolves disputes between the
legislature and the mullahs who run things behind the scenes.
Rafsanjani was also the man who restarted Iran's nuclear program,
reopened the stock market, brought in the IMF, and opened up
the oil industry to foreign corporations. These so-called reforms
have made a few men very rich, while the average wage earner
brings home an average of $1800 a year.
As far as the reformist wing of the government
goes, they have not stated a strong position regarding the economy.
The president, Khatami, is in favor of neoliberal policies and
has supported the role of the IMF. Other opposition to the government
includes various clerics who have spoken out against the profiteering
of the elements in the government that grew wealthy since the
revolution, believing that this acquisition is against the tenets
of Islam. It also includes a number of (legal and illegal) groups
formed during and after the revolution and comprising a variety
of ideologies and philosophies. In addition, many of the students
and their supporters oppose the regime independent of any organization.
The more revolutionary among these groups and individuals believe
that Khatami and those who hope to reform the Iranian government
are doomed to failure, given the nature of the regime. That is,
no matter who is elected, their presence in the government at
any level is in the hands of the so-called Guardian councils.
It was these councils who manipulated the results of the 2000
elections, resulting in a number of results being thrown out.
In addition, the councils have consistently overturned and resisted
decisions made by the elected bodies where the reformists held
power.
Those individuals and organizations that
have given up on the likelihoood of reform within the system
seem to be growing. This includes organizations that existed
before and during the 1979 revolution and individuals and groups
new to the resistance. It is also these groups that the warmongers
in the U.S. government hope to enlist in their drive to overthrow
the government in Tehran. This interest by the neocon cabal in
Washington, DC is why some western progressives argue that leftists
should support the Iran regime-precisely because the war hawks
don't. This type of reasoning is shortsighted and illustrates
a lack of comprehension of the complexities and many facets of
Iranian politics and US-Iranian relations. At the same time,
the US government exhibits a similar lack of comprehension.
First and foremost, the organizations
and individuals working to overthrow the theocracy in Tehran
have indicated in their statements that they have no desire to
be part of any US project to install a client regime in their
country. They have also made it clear that they want to continue
the revolution of 1979 that they believe has been hijacked by
the reactionary and corrupt wing of the Islamic leadership in
Iran. While members of the opposition hold a number of political
and economic philosophies, they are united around the idea of
a secular and independent Iran. Secondly, a worldview that dichotomizes
US-Iranian relations into a simple scenario that puts those who
oppose empire into an alliance with the theocratic despots in
Tehran ignores the complex nature of these countries' historical
relationship and the long history of US duplicity in its dealings
with Iran over the years.
As I write this, my email box is filling
up with messages from Iranian acquaintances about protests and
confrontations with police that are occurring on this day-July
9th-to commemorate the 1999 uprising against the theocracy. These
protests are occurring around the world, but especially in Iran
and Europe. They were called by a myriad of organizations, with
the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) and People's
Mujahedin (PMOI) issuing the broadest call, most likely in response
to the recent crackdown on this organization by the French government.
This crackdown saw the arrest of hundreds of its members, including
their president Maryam Rajavi. Many news organizations and some
French politicians speculate that the crackdown is one of the
conditions placed on the French government as part of a recent
trade deal between the French and Iranian governments. Of course,
the French deny this. However, the timing is, to say the least,
suspect.
This crackdown has once again thrust
the PMOI and NCRI into the spotlight, with most of the attacks
on them labeling them as terrorist and without any genuine support.
As an outsider, it is hard to gauge the latter, but the former
accusation seems to be a case of how one defines terrorist. Indeed,
in a bit of irony, one of the advisors to the reformist Khatami
is the former spokesperson for the group of Iranians who took
over the US Embassy in Tehran back in 1980. Indeed, he has been
a member of the government since its inception. According to
Iranian sources, he was involved in the planning of the war on
Iraq, even encouraging youths of high school age to join the
military so they could become part of the human wave attacks
on Iraqi forces. These were essentially suicide missions, since
oftentimes the youths' weaponry was non-functioning or, even
more callously, the fields they were commanded to run across
were minefields. Yet, Khatami is one of those whom the US supports.
If nothing else, this fact is a small example of the complexity
of the situation. If one takes a look at the NCRI website, they
will discover that this organization includes in its membership
a variety of left organizations, Iranian athletes and artists,
former military men, a women's organization, and some progressive
clerics, along with thousands of others.
Who should progressive anti-imperialists
support then? If they are uneasy with the idea of supporting
the PMOI and other organizations on the left who oppose the mullahs
in Tehran, yet do not want to support the regime or its neoliberal
opposition, then what is left? Simply put, the most important
position we can take is to demand that the United States keep
its government and its military out of Iran and let the Iranian
people decide their own future. From my understanding, more and
more of them hope that it is a future free of the dictatorship
imposed by the theocracy and an empire imposed by the US. In
addition, it is essential for progressive forces to familiarize
themselves with the Iranian resistance and its politics, and
defend the right of these groups and individuals to speak freely
and to organize in Iran and internationally.
Ron Jacobs
is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground.
He can be reached at: rjacobs@zoo.uvm.edu
Weekend
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Frederick
Douglass
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Martha
Honey
Bush and Africa: Racism, Exploitation
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Lenni Brenner
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Wayne
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Lobe
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John Blair
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Lisa
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Heavy Reckoning at Qaim
David Vest
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Adam
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Queer as Grass
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Basement
Christian, Witherup, Albert & St. Clair
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