BBC report: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62967381
A better source’s report: https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/khamenei-aide-visits-mahsa-aminis-family-media
Tudeh (communist) Party of Iran statement: https://www.tudehpartyiran.org/en/2022/09/20/statement-of-the-tudeh-party-of-iran-down-with-the-dictator-there-is-no-end-to-the-regimes-murderous-thuggery/
A woman was seemingly murdered by the IRI’s religious police after being taken into custody for not wearing her hijab “properly”. Iranian officials deny this and claim she died of a heart attack. Looks like no one is buying this line.
Danny Haiphong thinks a color revolution is underway because of Iran’s pivot to the east. I haven’t seen this sort of line taken by anyone else yet, but I’m more keen to trust the Tudeh Party than a non-Iranian, as much as Haiphong is usually right. From my understanding and their own statements, Tudeh is not clamoring for some relationship with the West and are very aware of and against NATO, EU and U.S. imperialism. I doubt they’d be in favor of these protests if they thought they were spearheaded by western NGOs.
Lots of protests all over the country. Many chants recorded such as “long live socialism, long live communism” and “death to the dictator, down with Khamenei”. Complicating matters is that the murdered woman was Kurdish-Iranian and fittingly a lot of the protests began in heavily Kurdish regions of Iran. This is not to dismiss the plight of Kurdish people or their capacity for revolutionary struggle, but Kurds have been insidiously used and abused by the West to forment ethnic tensions in Iraq, Turkey, Syria and elsewhere before, and western media outlets are seemingly attempting to continue that legacy by drawing a clear divide by Iranian Kurds and non-Kurds.
There is a fog of reporting currently, with a lot of protest info being relayed to western media by Chatham House, a British think tank known recently as having been pushing a lot of anti-Russia stuff. U.S. officials also immediately “demanded accountability” of Iran and claimed the act was “unforgiveable”.
Any MENA comrades have thoughts? Do you think this could be a revolutionary moment, or a cynical attempt by NGOs to weaken Iran after they’ve closened to China?
If a revolution does take hold, I hope that the socialists/communists are the ones to bring it. I am really only against the current Iran government personally due to the religious stuff. Same goes for any theocracy due to how they end up oppressing those that aren’t believers (or “true believers” when they oppress fellow followers that don’t agree enough). Too many of the ultra religious folks turn to fascism in the same horrible ways that the capitalists do. The difference is the capital being used/seeked being delusional narcissistic purity of faith. There isn’t a way to work collectively with folks that see everything as a literal holy war. The US has been allowing the religious fascists to run more and more elements of its own government for decades. And now we see them actually seeing purity and holiness in people that unironically would fit the bill for being some versions of the Antichrist. To be clear, I am not speaking of all followers of all faiths. While I am an atheist, I very much respect beliefs that bring people hope and support followers. But the religious fascists and monarchs that wish to see regression in knowledge in order to keep the masses stupid can’t be allowed to reign. I fully support the non-religious parts of Iran’s stance against allowing the US to just fuck with every other nation. So I don’t wish to see the US or NATO roll in to prop-up a new puppet government. Given the support that the US keeps giving to Israel and Saudi Arabia, we know that they wouldn’t give any fucks about this situation if the current government of Iran were pro-USA. The masses of all faiths should be free to live their lives without morality police and without police that are there to protect the elites. The US needs to lose its hold on the rest of the world, and it isn’t the only oppressor that needs to be stopped (it is just the largest one impacting the most nations and peoples).
Agreed. I think in an effort to express support for the anti-imperialist bloc, some criticism, some of the “critical” in “critical support” can go by the wayside, which is understandable, if sometimes it can lead to counter-revolutionary (in the literal sense) lines. Lenin said:
This is also not to forget the CIA and Five-Eyes influence globally, who fund and abet “communist” and “revolutionary movements” occasionally, such as their support for the Khmer Rouge, their alleged initial support for Iraqi ba’athists, their support for Maoists in Afghanistan and Eritrea, anti-communist trade unions in Eastern Europe like Solidarność, hell at one point feds made up almost the entirety of the Revolutionary Communist Party Avakianite cult in the U.S. This can, and should, lead to initial suspicion of and investigation into any movement calling for the overthrow of anti-western governments.
We also have not seen an actual successful communist revolution in a considerable amount of time, by that meaning the violent overthrow of the bourgeois state and the creation of a dictatorship of the proletariat. Communist parties world-round have, by and large, adopted more electoralist and legalist strategies, partially in a bid to remain legal and popular. Violent ‘revolutions’ and coup d’etats in the modern age more often than not lead to the installment of pro-Western puppets, and it’s healthy to be skeptical.
Things like support or disagreement in the age of globalized information and contact are difficult to traverse, especially without a new Internationale, and the importance of supporting communist movements worldwide has dwindled significantly with the fall of the USSR. I understand China’s refrain from formenting revolution internationally and their forming of bilateral relations with theocratic regimes, and I think it’s the right call, but it’s still depressing realpolitiking that I think is a far cry from true proletarian internationalism.
A question for the class: when a communist party like Tudeh, currently in exile from Iran across Europe, expresses support for the violent overthrow of their bourgeois, theocratic government, do you think it’s the right call? Does communist support or repudiation of that call to action actually even matter in an age without an Internationale? If non-Iranians express support for Tudeh online, does that only fuel the pro-imperialist fire, or is it an important expression of solidarity with a foreign workers’ movement?
Sorry for the very long post. Just thinking.
A common refrain in Iran is “Not capitalism, but Islam”
“Too many of the ultra religious folks turn to fascism in the same horrible ways that the capitalists do” what, then, of Stalin’s reconstitution of the church and promotion of socialist morality on the basis of orthodox teachings? Or do you agree with the CIA’s Hannah Arendt’s claim that communism is just “successful fascism”?
Religion can take many forms. It can be a tool of the oppressor (Christianity’s use in colonialism) or it can be a tool of the oppressed (Christianity’s use in Liberation Theology to fight against colonialism) … so too is Islam being used progressively to fight against imperialism and to fight on behalf of the oppressed (Iran has throughout its history lent support to oppressed peoples and their leaders such as the Black Panther Party)
I support women’s rights. I also expect more details surrounding these current events to continue to come out in due time. but first and foremost I will not criticize that which is in the crosshairs of US imperialism. I lend my full support to the Iranian government in its struggle against imperialism, and as a matter of secondary importance I lend support to those within Iran seeking to reform it in a non-western, non-capitalist way.