Re: Iran:Shiite Lessons for Socialism

["Macdonald Stainsby" <mstainsby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>    Anti-capitalism is not a "nicer feature" of Shi'ite Islam, but lies at
> the core of the religion, which prohibits wealth being used for purposes
> other than "those dedicated to Allah."

I believe it was Mine who stated some discomfort in going this route, and I
must agree. If your argument is also tacked to Christianity,  it definitely
is an expression of anti-capitalism, both in the (approx) "it is easier for
a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle than the gates of heaven"as
well as the oonly physical attacks of Jesus being directed at the money
lenders inside the (tabernacle? it's been awhile since I brushed up on my
New Test.).

I don't see the anti-capitalist impulses (or more properly stated,
anti-imerialist impulses) of Islamic Fundamentalist movements having
anything to do with scripture. It has to do with the position of Islam in
the Mid East in the absence of a socialist alternative. The *only* front and
centre tasks of revolutionaries is to try and create an independant set of
relations for their states. That neccessitates attacking both political and
economic control, which, of course, becomes a nationalisation program.

One should do more than look at the nationalisation of oil in Iran for
example. Look at how badly those resources have been meted out, etc.

If the US were to be Islamic and the Mid East were to be Christian, then we
would constantly hear of Jesus the carpenter, who walked among the poor and
was sold out to the Roman Empire by a member of the Traders guild. It is the
historical tasks of the Middle East that leaves the Mullahs looking
"anti-capitalist", because, and this is the one good thing they produce,
they are representatives of a fight for national sovereignty.