Re: [Marxism] What the Empire Learned from the Lesson of Iran

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Strange, capitalists don't agree with you:
> <http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/country.cfm?id=SaudiArabia>.
> :->  Saudi Arabia is ranked 62nd in the "Index of Economic Freedom -
> 2006," compared to Iran (156th)  and Venezuela (152nd).
> --
> Yoshie

I have no idea how they come up with these rankings. They state that the 
Iranian government consumed 14 percent of GDP in 2003, while Saudi Arabia 
consumed 23 percent. This statistic is obviously important to you since in 
your view Venezuela's 7 percent pales in comparison to Iran. But Iran pales 
in comparison to Saudi Arabia. What is the point? That you have to dig 
beneath the statistics and do a class analysis. Iran, like Saudi Arabia, is 
a class divided society. You can say the same thing about Venezuela, but at 
least Chavez states that his goal is socialism. By contrast, Ahmadinejad's 
revolutionary guards break up trade union meetings, which are seen as a 
threat to the capitalist status quo. Socialists support the right of bus 
drivers to organize a union in a capitalist country. That is why Monthly 
Review publishes books like Michael Yates's "Why Trade Unions Matter." 


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