Saturday 13 June 2009
Violence Continues in Iran
Despite the calls from the supreme leader Ayatollah Khameini for people to accept the clearly fraudulent election of Ahmedinejad, protests by large numbers of Iranians continue on the streets of Tehran, and according to the BBC tonight, it seems to be spreading to other cities. There were also rreports that reformist journalists had been locked in their offices by armed police.
According to the Huffington Post ,
"Potentially stunning development. The National Iranian American Council links to a Farsi language story saying the President of the Committee of Election Monitoring has requested that the election be canceled.
Hojjat-ol-Eslam Yali Akbar MohteshamiPour officially requested that the Guardian Council to cancel this election and schedule a new election balanced and moderated democratically with the widespread and national presence of the people.
Also from NIAC:
According to Mousavi's website, a group of employees in the Ministry of the Interior in an open letter warned that the votes have been changed and manipulated in the state election commission. In this letter, which was addressed to the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the President, the of Majlis of Iran, the heads of the legislative and judicial branch and several other government agencies, a group of employees stated that "as dedicated employees of the Interior Ministry, with experience in management and supervision of several elections such as the elections of Khamenei, Rafsanjani and Khatami, we announce that we fear the 10th presidential elections were not healthy."
Mousavi has called on his supporters not to resort to violence, but this is beginning to look s, though, it is moving out of his or other reformist politicians control, as Iranians vent their anger and frustration that has been suppressed by a reactionary regime for 30 years. Once people realise that they can come out on the streets, and video evidence shows that th demonstrators have been holding their own against the armed police and Revolutionary Guards, the fear that encompasses an atomised population can rapidly turn into its opposite.
It is important that Iranian workers use their organisations to establish leadership of he developing movement, and workers, Trade unionsts, and soialist organisations should send them fraternal greetings and support to encourage them in their struggle.
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8 comments:
The election is clearly fraudulent, Jesus, you are quick to make up your mind. We need to digest all the facts, filter out the bias/propaganda before coming to this conclusion.
It’s good to see an underlying progressive movement within Iran and the protests are a positive development, though it seems the reformists are mostly supported by the affluent members of Iranian society who probably feel their potential decadence restricted by the religious fundamentalism of the country. Socialists should have nothing to do ith them.
Shame the same unrest cannot be seen in that regions most oppressive, murderous regime, Israel. Shame also you couldn’t be bothered to comment on those elections.
1. The election clearly is fraudulent. According to the official result Moussavi is supposed to have lost even in his own stronghold!!! In addiiton the election procedure itself has not been followed in terms of the verification procedure etc.
2. No, of course workers should not tie themselves to a bourgeois or middle class agenda. I said so, I pointed to the Action Programme for France!!!
3. I was not commenting on the elections, I was commenting on the fact that for the first time in 30 years there is a mass popular protest against the clerical-fascist government of Iran! It is possible that a General Strike is going to be called for Tuesday.
Had there been such protests in Israel after the elections, if there had been the prospect of the Israeli workers calling a General Strike I would have commented on that, and called for support for the Israeli workers.
There wasn't. I didn't. In Iran there is. I have.
"the reformists are mostly supported by the affluent members of Iranian society who probably feel their potential decadence restricted by the religious fundamentalism of the country."
Potential decadence??? Bloody hell, you sound like one of the clerical-fascists yourself. What is "potential decadence" supposed to mean. They like a drink, women like to be able to wear what clothes they like, LGBT people want to be able to go down the street without being attacked, they might want to watch a bit of porn, or God preserve us, they might want to engage in democratic activity???
Of course, socialists should support the rights of people to do all of those things, as part of a modern, civilised society. There is nothing "decadent" even potentially about them!!! Doing so does not require socialists to suborinate themselves to the bouregoisie or middle class who would want to limit a struggle just to them.
This post and your previous post were commenting on the Iranian election, given the abysmal result in Israel, I would have thought some comment would have been appropriate and some proposals on a socialist response necessary. I would argue that a boycott of Israel should be called for.
It seems to me that Ahmadinejad won the election and with a voter turnout that puts the west to shame, it may not be your idea of democracy but Iranian people clearly have more faith in it than people in the west have in theirs. You need to digest this, accept it and start your analysis from that premise.
I am not against drinking, porn or any of the other things you mentioned, I was just pointing out that the wealthy are more likely to be supportive of unrestricted freedom as the only restrictions would then become economic, something they would not have to worry about. This is why socialist should steer clear and concentrate on winning over those poorer sections of society, because in the long run they are the only agent capable of real democratic change. This will require tactics relevant to their level of consciousness and development; otherwise all we will do is alienate them and they will keep on supporting the religious fundamentalists.
No, my posts were about the fact that a significant social protest is occurring in Iran. I would be commenting on that with or without an election. In fact, without the protests I probably would not have bothered commenting on the election because it is of no consequecne whether one bouregois politician beat another.
How you can conclude that Ahmedinejad won this election given all of the facts that have come out God only knows. And socialists should ALWAYS support movmeents demanding greater freedom even if it is the bouregoisie leading such demands for the reasons Lenin set out in his criticisms of the Economists.
I think you are allowing your willingness to stand up for any old reactioanry who happens to be an opponent of "Imperialism" get in the way of rational Marxist analysis.
Furthermore, at a time when there is the potential for a serious movement by workers in Iran, the possibility at least of overthrowijng a reactionary clerical-fascist regime, if not more, at a time when the first duty of socialists here should be to mobilise support for Iranian workers in that struggle, the fact that you are prepared to jabber on about Israel, and lend support to the enemies of the Iranian workers shows just how terribly grotesque your politics are!
Bloody hell! Calm Down. I said I thought the protests were a positive sign and recent developments are a definite sign of hope. However, to deny the size and demographic of Ahmadinejads support is to miss the reality of the situation and draw incorrect conclusions, it doesn’t amount to standing up for any old reactionary by pointing out the facts.
You talk about facts relating to the dubious outcome of the election but please provide the facts and the sources of the facts and how those facts were so quickly disseminated.
If you don’t think the election in Israel of all places, which effects the politics in the entire region, is not worthy of analysis, then it highlights how ignorant and out of touch you are with the intricacies of the region.
Facts:
1. Iran is a reactionary clerical-fascist state. I think that marxists can take it for granted that elections in such a state are of themselves fraudulent. The fact that only parties acceptabvle to the regime could stand is in itself a fraud.
2. Workers, students and others are protesting in their hundreds of thousands on the streets of Iran, with the potential of a General Strike tomorrow. Under those conditions the question of whether the election was a fraud or not becomes irrelevant. The job of a socialist is to stand alongside those opposing the regime.
3. Instead of doing that you a) come out and without any evidence claim that Ahmedinajad won the election b) instead of supporting those struggling against the regime not only witter on about "potential decadence", but go off on a completely irrelevant diversion to focus attention on Israel!!!!
That is not the action or politics of a serious supporter of the working class!
Events have moved on at a pace since my last comment, I must confess I not see this coming, even 2 days ago. You are correct that the argument whether this election was fraudulent or not is now irrelevant. We should support the demonstrators.
Let’s hope that the announcement by the clerics to have a recount doesn’t take the steam out of this incredible situation.
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